Before the Tourstart itself, some of our Guests took Advantage of our Alps Prep Course, kind of a "Riding School" to get to the Bike in the Alps, and the Guided City Tour in Innsbruck. Four Guests, all Canadians, arrived a day early in Seefeld and met their Tourguides Dominik and Nicolas on the parking lot of Hotel Bergland, when we arrived with the trailer full of bikes. In the Evening we had a nice Dinner together to get to know each other and talked about the following day. 

On Friday morning after breakfast Dominik took one of the Guests to a nearby training area for a little 1:1 training. But after a few practices to get a hang of the new and unknown BMW F850GS, his "student" was ready for a nice half day trip through Tyrol, over the Hahntennjoch into the Lech Valley, Fernpass and Leutasch Valley. What a great way to get used to riding in the Alps and explore a little of Edelweiss' backyard.

Meanwhile the others spent a really nice day in Innsbruck with Nicolas. We took the train from Seefeld to Innsbruck, walked towards the old town and checked out few historical places before taking the cable car and two gondolas to the "Top of Innsbruck" - the 2256m high mountain Hafelekarspitze. After enjoing the breathtaking view we had a nice Lunch at Seegrube before we went back down to the city and back to Seefeld where all of the other guests were waiting for the Welcome Briefing. We concluded the day with the bike handover and a nice Welcome Dinner with the whole group and are all excited for tomorrow. 

The first Riding Day is always exciting. For the group and the tourguides. After our first Daily Briefing in the sun we went on the road towards Sölden with a slight delay because one of the tourguides had a loose screw. Not in the head of course, but on the bike. Talking about construction, we were extremely lucky this morning because the heavy rain of the last weeks washed away the road through the Ötz Valley and it was reopend again this morning.

The austrian side of the Timmelsjoch is easy going and at the top it was time for a first coffeestop at the newly build motorcycle museum. After riding down the Italian side towards Meran everybody was hungry and the lunchstop in the garden of a nice Restaurant was very welcomed.

We spend the afternoon on another stretch of fun and twisty roads, apple trees and vineyards. After the quietness of Hofmahdjoch many were surprised about the ruthless driving and riding on the Mendelpass down to Bolzano. Do the Italians think Mendelrace (a Roadracing competition) takes place every saturday?

Today we had a relaxed start out of Bolzano with less traffic, thank god it's sunday. We then followed the Etsch Valley a little bit south through the Vineyards of the south tyrolian Wine Street before heading east into the mountains near Lago di Caldaro. We are scratching the southern parts of the dolomites today. One of the big higlights in Trentino was Passo Rolle, which we rode right before the Passo Cereda, where we crossed the border into Veneto. After we left the Dolomites, we had one mountain range left that seperated us from the flatlands all the way to the adriatic sea. Of course you have to cross this mountain range on Passo San Boldo, a mountain road with a very intersting history. During World War 1, the Austrian-Hungarian Army was building this technical masterpiece in only three month to support the troops in the valley. To reach them, they build switchbacks inside the tunnels and 6 bridges between the sheer rockface. Our plan wasn't to reach the frontline, but another Hotel located in an old Castel.

Riding day three was a short day. Our Van Driver Markus had the shortest way of all, because our Hotels are only located about an hour drive from each other. But of course we are here to ride motorcycles. So we took a longer route back into the mountains. In the Morning we rode through the hills of the prosecco vineyards near Valdebaddione before aproaching Monte Grappa. On the very enjoyable road up to the top the sky cleared and we enjoyed the scenery and farms on the way. But what is that? Suddenly the two groups were captured in thick fog and clouds. So it was not really worth it to walk around the monuments on top of Monte Grappa - another prestigious memorial area of World War 1. So we decided to make another foto stop before heading to a very nice and fulfilling meal in Bassano del Grappa. An early arrival time in Asolo gave us enough time to visit the historical City Center before Dinner.

Day 4. Is it Halftime already? Certainly it doesn’t feel that way. Let's make the most of our riding day then, before the Rest Day. Todays route took as a little bit north from Veneto back to Trentino. After beating the morning traffic around Bassano del Grappa we quickly headed back into the mountain. We had our first coffee stop near Asiago - you may know that town for their famous cheese. As it was not far from coffee to lunch, we took the opportunity to take some Action pictures of our groups, which was great fun. Unfortunately we had to make a significant detour in the afternoon. Combined with some bike problems, that led to an shorter, alternative route to Verona and a later than usual dinner. Glad, tomorrow is a rest day.

Rest Days look different for everybody. This time we all split apart and spent the day very different. 4 of the guys had the "Best ride there is" with Dominik. He made up for the missed out roads of yesterday afternoon and took them on a fast paced ride back into the mountains. In the meantime a few other guests took the train to Venice (pictures below) and most of the group just enjoyed Verona to its fullest. From the big piazzas to the small busy streets in the old town, visiting churches and bridges - and a little coffee stop in between. We were all happy to share our stories over another nice dinner at an oldschool Trattoria/Pizzeria.

With a refreshed mind the whole group was excited to be on the bikes again - yes, we managed to solve the technical issues on our rest day. After a stop at the gas station we quickly left the city behind us and were challenged by the first really narrow mountain roads. A nice outlook of todays 209km/124mi. Apart from a couple of connecting roads in the valleys, we stayed almost exclusively on the small backroads and mountain passes east of Lago di Garda. 

... (to be continued)