ACT ITALY PRELUDE // OFFROAD MOTORCYCLE TOUR // KTM 1290 Super Adventure R / BMW R 1250 GS

Guys, you know that feeling right before you start a trip? That feeling of excitement before you go on a two-week journey? Well, this is it for me right now. And I'm heading off to Munich right now. So guys, I've got to fight my way through Friday afternoon traffic. We were expecting to ride this in the rain. So far, so far it's been dry. So it's wet and cold and I'm on the Midas EOS 7, plus the car tires are 50-50 higher. So I can't really overdo it here in the corners. It kind of smells like snow now, too. Passa Giovo. We're going to stop. So guys, we made it up to Passa Giovo, Jaufenpass in German. It's about 2,000 meters and it's snowing a little bit. Well, it's 2 degrees up here, so it's cold. And that's where we're going to take a break in there. At least I saw some snow this year. That's something, even if it was only up here. So guys, it's snowing. This is where we had Apfelstrudel in the place. And now we're going to head down to the valley. And it's cold and snowy. So let's get going. I'm going to go. I just went in and said, Jaufen, close your bag. I saw that. That would be bad. But luckily you can see it in the rearview mirror, right? I just drove off and looked to the side and saw it. That happened to me, too. So it's snowing and the weather is fogging up. Just leaving the peak of the Jaufenpass, Passa Giovo. This is probably all the snow we're going to see on this trip. And then we met up with Sebastian, who was already waiting up here for us. And now it's down to the valley. Cold tires. And it's wet and slippery, so it got a little bit easier. It's really crazy. We just came from 2 degrees on top of the Passa Giovo. And now it's 60 degrees in Milan. It's always warmer here in the valley. Both at the same time. I remember this place because I was here before. I remember that big rock. It's also very popular with cyclists here, which we just passed. So we're almost about 20 kilometers out from our destination, which is really cool. So to summarize today, we left Munich early in the morning. Because there was bad weather forecast for the Passa Giovo, the highest pass we were crossing today. So we wanted to get out of the house as early as possible. We also took the small Brenner Pass, the old road that's not the toll road, in order to get to the Passa Giovo. It was really, really cool. It was cold out there, 2 degrees. And we had some snowfall, but it wasn't really bad. So that was the point where we had a break. Had some Apfelstrudel, which was really good. I mean, that Apfelstrudel alone is a full meal. So we didn't eat lunch after that. That was really, really cool. And then we just kind of made our way through smaller roads to very close to Lake Garda. Lake Garda is only probably like 30 kilometers from here to my right. And now we're going to look for a place to have a beer before we then head to the hotel. Is someone in a hurry? All righty, guys. Now we had a beer and we're going to our hotel now, which is in Arco. That's the next town north of Riva del Garda where we just had a beer. And then we have to find something to eat. And it looks like we're going to go over some kind of a mountain pass. That's kind of cool. The hotel, the location is awesome because it's going to get us straight into a very curvy section tomorrow morning. And this looks great, too, actually. I wasn't expecting some curvy roads again, but there's traffic, so it's kind of annoying. All righty, guys. So we are leaving Arco right now. Today, the entire gang is complete. It's the five of us. It should have been six. Rob couldn't make it because he had COVID symptoms. We're not even sure if he has COVID or not, but he decided not to come. He wasn't quite sure. So it's five of us today. The entire gang came together over the past three days. And we're going to head into parts of the Italian TET. Do you see that to the right-hand side, the mountains? That's where we're going to go. It's mostly on-road. There's going to be a very short section of gravel road, very simple stuff. But it is part of the Italian TET. As you know, the Trans Euro Trail isn't all off-road. But I think the whole idea was just to connect some of the parts. And, of course, it connects to some of the paved stuff. So I'm very curious. It's going to be a curvy section right from the get-go. Very curvy. It's really cool. So it's a little wet this morning. 14 degrees. Relatively humid. And this is where we're going. And it should stay dry, looks like it at least. For most of the day. What a good way to start the day. A nice curvy road like this. So Thomas and I stayed up a bit longer last night until I was past 12.30, I think. Chat, a couple beers. So I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. And we skipped breakfast at the place. So we're going to find a place of breakfast on the way. It wasn't that nice of a place of breakfast. And they offered it, but we just skipped it. So we got going early this morning. It's 8.30 now. We left about 10 minutes ago. See, it's definitely worth it to look at the TET track. Even if you're not into off-road riding. But they do have these really small paved roads, too, that you may not find that easily. I mean, I wouldn't have had this on my radar for sure. Look how small it is. It doesn't look like there's anyone coming up here, really. Aha! So there is some crowd over here. So we're above the clouds now. I think this kind of weather just adds to the mood. If it was all sunny and nice, it would be a very different experience. I think having some cloud cover like this, it's kind of cool. Yes, this is cool. Look at the clouds. I've been waiting for the entire time. So the TET track is taking us on some really interesting roads here. Very steep and narrow roads. I'm obviously not in the best shape on those roads. Church services? It's Sunday today, so maybe that's what it is. So... So this is a nice prelude to the ACT track. This is part of the TET, a relatively easy gravel road. Well, it's nice. It's nice and cool up here now because this is a bit more of a workout. And it's a good warm-up for the stuff that's to come. It's beautiful up here. It's a good thing I brought my goggles because the visor is fogging up when I'm putting it down. That's why I have it up. I don't see anything anymore. It's definitely different with 30 kilograms of luggage. In the West Alps in 2020, we had no luggage, which is really nice. Obviously, bikes are heavy enough as they are. It's nice when you can leave the luggage at camp. But obviously with this trip, where we will sleep in different places every night, we have to bring a lot of stuff. So it looks like we're back on pavement here in any minute. Where are the others? That doesn't look good. With all the new canals they built there. I'm trying to jump, but with the heavy weight. It would be better the other way around. It's quite good to warm up here a bit. I haven't been on the loose stuff for a long time. It's good to get back in. Let's see what's going on there. What's up? Thomas or what? It was a good warm-up. After Jochen fell down, Thomas just tipped over in the corner. That's why we had to wait for them. But nothing happened, luckily. It's probably going to happen to all of us at some point. You can sit here if you want. At least it's dry, that's good. It's a bit further south, it's brighter again, you can see it. The best motorcycle weather. So a little update, this is the weather we're looking at right now. It's raining buckets. So we're going to hang out here a little bit and then go. We had some really nice roads up until now. It's not for coffee and then the rain caught up to us. I just had a nice power supply in there. Rain suit is awesome, right? It's fun. No adventure without a rain suit. It's all shit. Yes, wear your gloves. It's not raining anymore. I would have ridden without it. You can take it off now. But it could be that we come in again now, right? That's right. What was the name of the place again? Let's see where we have to refuel. Well, quick update. We're still caught in the rain. We tried to wait it out a little bit at the cafe place. It kind of sucks to leave when it's raining. But I think we're going with the weather at the moment. So it's going to be a little while before we get out of this rain. When it gets lighter over there, this is where we're going. I've got the rain gear on. My hands are cold. It's 8 degrees now. I can't turn the grip heat on, otherwise the waterproof membrane is going to let the moisture into the gloves. So I'm going to keep them off as long as I can. But I have cold fingers. It's good to have a little cash with you, right? If it really gets tight. Or we could do without it. That's even better, of course. Then we would have to plan in advance. You can let it run on both sides. It won't be noticeable anymore. So guys, we're not only stopped here for gas, but Jochen has an issue with his bike. The first gravel road that we did, he tipped over the bike. And the electronics in the BMW are just kind of messed up. So this whole suspension setup is weird. And it doesn't really work. So he pulls the battery off for a little bit to see if that will change anything. So we'll have to wait and see if this works indeed. Do you also take them as a starting point? Yes, until the dark one. Until the red one. And then there's a dark one. So this is the Autobahn section of the day 5. You can see there's really bad weather. Pretty much in the direction we're going right now. It almost hurts. God damn it.