By Nick Vleisides

Hey! I’m putting a trip together to ride the German, Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps this summer, do you want to go?”

When invited on a ride like that, no lover of motorcycling would ever say, “No,” at least not right away. You gotta say, “I’m in.” Right?

When my friend, Todd Winslow, put the question to me, my head nodded before my brain started calculating the cost, time and permission needed. Coaching high school volleyball at the time and with two kids in college, I didn’t know how I was going to float the expense and time. But hey, you only live once.

My wife’s way of saying yes to these requests is to roll her eyes and say, “Sure.”

The trip was on! I was going with six other guys.

The Crew

I decided not to coach another season—which would have conflicted with the trip—believing this trip was a sign from God. Our trip instigator, Todd, is a thrill seeker with an off-road vehicle racing team that competes in all the Baja races and recently won the S.C.O.R.E. Championship for Class 10. I’ve known Todd since he was in high school. It was his father, with whom I worked, who first got me into riding off-road motorcycles some 30 years ago.

Six months after I met Todd, along with his brother Troy and their dad, we rode 2,000 miles off-road across the Australian Outback. Since then we’ve covered a lot of miles together.

Todd arranged for his motorcycle suspension expert, Dick Wilk of Dick’s Racing, to guide our trip. Dick had done this Alps ride by himself five years earlier and spent a whole year beforehand investigating and discovering the best mountain passes and roads a motorcyclist could ever dream of riding.

Along with his brother, Troy, Todd invited two other buddies, Jeff and Bill. Jeff and I met about 16 years ago when I put together a ride in New Mexico with 15 dads to bring their young sons for a four-day off-road epic adventure.

I’ve ridden with Bill over the years whenever Todd drags him along. I invited a recently retired firefighter friend, Mark, with whom I’ve done a few rides through various Sierra Mountain passes.

Since I am a law enforcement and fire chaplain, I considered Mark a possible excuse for writing off the trip as a ministry expense. That didn’t happen, even though Mark needed a chaplain on this overwhelming ride!

All kidding aside, it was an excellent group of men who could all hang with each other on the road and around the dinner table. The “magnificent seven.”

The Bikes

In May, we rented our bikes online through Adventure Motors, and they arranged for us to pick up and drop off our bikes in Munich. Three KTM 1290 Super Adventure S models, one 1290 R, and one 1090 completed the KTM Adventure models.

A lone wolf (Mark) rented a BMW S 1000 XR. He figured we had to rent at least one BMW because we were starting out in Munich. Dick chose the KTM 1290 Super Duke, because he thought he could out ride the adventure bikes on it—wrong!

Spectacular Scenery

Our ride plan was to start and end our adventure on a Monday. Naturally, on Monday, Aug. 4, we hit Europe during a heat wave. But we figured once we headed out of the lowlands into the mountains it would cool off.

Day One, speeding down the Autobahn at 120 mph helped provide some relief leaving Munich. Heading into the Alps for eight days of motorcycling bliss!

It is tempting to tell the story day by day, but the reality is that every single day of riding was spectacular in every way possible.

Dick had put together an eight-day loop that possibly could be considered the most incredible in the history of motorcycling. At least, I felt that way.

We spent every day going up, through and down gorgeous mountain passes three, four and sometimes five times in a day. We rode the best roads ever built through mountains—smooth and well laid out, successfully avoiding any significant Autobahn/freeway sections. No pot holes or asphalt crevices, dips or bumps.

Every time we got up toward the top of a pass, the views became more breathtaking, causing each of us to make life or death decisions: Do I dare stare at the scenery? Or should I keep my eye on the road?

We gave each other permission to stop whenever we felt we just had to take a picture, but our group was mostly fast and furious covering 250 to 300 miles a day on these tight, twisty single-lane roads.

It soon dawned on me that the majesty of Yosemite in my home state was but a small sampling of what we experienced every day, all day, in the Alps. I can’t count how many times I repeated the word “wow” while negotiating a switchback turn and catching an incredible view while ascending or descending Stelvio, Grimsel, Furka or countless other passes. “OMG” took on a whole new meaning. It was pure eye candy all the time!

Maneuvering Through Traffic

While enjoying the incredible scenery, we rode the eight days with “our pants on fire.” There was a bit more traffic in August, as opposed to other months, because many Europeans take “holiday” during that time, and many businesses close for the month. That meant a lot more passing than usual.

Seven dudes attempting to stay somewhat together while passing bicycles, cars, trucks, buses and other motorcyclists was a regular occurrence throughout the ride. There were very few solid lines dividing the road. I can speak only for myself, but most of my passing was done with a reasonable assurance as to what my bike could do without putting anyone at risk. Having communication devices helped make the passing a bit safer regarding oncoming traffic.

The Performance

And the bikes … Holy cow! I’ve been riding dirt bikes for 30 years and have only been riding street for six years on my 2005 FJR 1300.

I was very excited to try the 2018 KTM 1290 Super Adventure S and compare the two. I loved that bike. The curse of the trip was that I didn’t know how I could go back and ever ride my older FJR again.

The KTM was flawless and a natural in the cornering, having a bit of an off-road ergonomic, which suited me just fine. The torque uphill while passing was instantaneous and very responsive. As you might have guessed by now, our ride time in the saddle was a bit ambitious and, despite enormous amounts of Monkey Butt powder spread throughout my riding shorts, I ended each day needing to do the alternating cheek hang off the seat.

Wrapping It Up

On Day Seven, we did a one-hour ride from our hotel to Spielberg, Austria, to watch the Austrian MotoGP race, along with 80,000-plus other fans.

We arrived a couple hours before the main event to watch some preliminary races, a great air show and then the championship race. What a race and what a show!

We left around 4 p.m., and Dick had another 250 miles for us through more passes before arriving at our hotel. I’m telling you, it was a nonstop adventure every day.

As you can imagine, each night we gathered around a dinner table to enjoy the local brews and grub and act like giddy school children recounting the day’s ride. We talked about the bikes and how they handled, shared insights about riding, shared how awesome the views were for each of us, got on each other for some of the crazy passes we should not have made, and laughed about having to share rooms with twin beds that you couldn’t pull apart.

We poked fun at each other for the numerous faux paus that occurred each day. Somebody made a wrong turn or got confused at a roundabout. We circled several roundabouts more than once before figuring out which direction to go. It was quite a site seeing seven bikers stuck in a roundabout going round and round.

One time, in the rain, we got separated due to a landslide on one of the mountain passes. A couple of the guys were caught on the wrong side when the road closed and had to spend hours going around, at night, in the rain.

Several times Dick’s GPS couldn’t keep up with his speed, and we would all venture some distance the wrong way.

My only error, which I’ll regret putting in writing here, is when I attempted a U-turn too slowly in the middle of a country road. I went to dab my left foot, allowing the bike to lean past the upright threshold, and it started to go over while I tried my hardest to hold it up at a standstill and regain it.

No go. I laid it over, while two Italian police officers watched me across the road as they were setting up a speed trap. They both ran over speaking Italian and helped me quickly get the bike up.

Riding the German, Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps was the trip of a lifetime. As I write this, I’m discovering how impossible it is to put into words the exhilaration of riding the way we did and seeing the sights we saw.

As impossible as it is to describe, those of you who have enjoyed even a short ride with good friends can begin to imagine what I’m talking about. It is a brotherhood—or sisterhood—thing. Ride on!

Nick Vleisides is an AMA member from Danville, Calif.