60s enduro trip
For a really long time I was dreaming of organising a multi day vintage trip with The Roadshow, the stuff they did in the California desert in the 60s and 70s. Think: desert sled, open face helmet, jeans or leather pants, T-shirt, waxed jacket and leather boots. So after daydreaming for a long time I knew it was time to try and create a 60s desert trip. So that’s what we did.
We have the perfect place for this in Spain. In the mountains of Mijas Andalucia, we have a guesthouse ‘The Collector’s House’ and can host up to 10 guests.
As a vintage racer and enduro rider I have a shed with everything needed to maintain and repair our bikes. Lots of spares and worst case scenario solutions and ofcourse a bunch of bikes.
We launched our 60s desert trip, everyone had to subscribe by showing their bike and swear scouts honour to follow the guidelines for vintage bike and gear. It didn’t take too long to get fully booked, the trip was going to happen.
The participating bikes: Husqvarna WR250 fully desert prepped by Chris, BSA Goldstar by Leo, BSA B25 by Steph, BSA A65 by Jörg, Triumph Cub by Tim John, 1958 TRIBSA by Noah, Norton P11 by Fiete, Gilera 175 Competizione by Giuspeppe, BSA B44 by Dirk, Honda XL250 by Eddy and my own California build Dick Mann inspired 1966 TR6SC TRIBSA.
Our support vehicle is a Lada Niva with on board Louis Borra, a super8 camera man and Christian Fussi a photographer. A great team who were going to capture the whole trip.
The participants were from Germany, Belgium and Italy making it an awesome group of people. Those who weren’t friends yet, are friends for life now.
Day 1:
120km to Ojén
We were 6 days on the road riding between 100 and 175km per day. Crossing mountains, open fields, desert, rough terrain with steep uphill and downhills and going around a picture perfect lake with crusty dry lake traces around it. Non of us expected to ride in these beautiful sceneries in Europe. We stopped at Spanish local ventas for lunch and refuel to continue.
For us we weren’t reliving the 60s, it was the 60s. The bikes and riders did great.
Every night we were dirty, happy and crazy full-filled from that day. Dusty smile and a cold beer in the hand while looking at each other saying ‘hell yeah’.
‘On Any Sunday’ isn’t just a movie, it’s a way of life.
Day 2:
190km to Guadalhorce
In the middle of the desert we found a group of dirt bikers with one bike without chain. Their trip was over with the closest shop 100km away. And what do you think? A group of 60s bikers to the rescue. We had a spare chain with us, mounted it and the guys could continue their trip.
Day 3:
Wrench & ride slow day
Words by Louis Borra
“SURREAL, That’s one word that describes this whole experience! This from the viewpoint as a friend behind the film lens.
As cliché as it sounds this whole trip can almost not be put in words except for “You should’ve been there to understand.”
To start with it is already mental how our hosts Gille, Lana & Lupo (the dog) took care of us, planned the whole route, made sure we got a nice Yeti water bottle, The Roadshow stickers, every little detail was taken care of!
I could talk for hours about the landscape, but it would sound like I’m telling a fairy tale! Every 10 minutes we rode was a moment of awe, something you only see in movies, as if we were on a different planet every time!
But what makes this whole experience stand out the most, was the characters that formed this amazing, crazy bunch of people! A lot of people that had not even met each other before, formed a small dust, dirt, oil and motorcycle loving family.
I am your best grandma like car driver, but Gille trusted me with his oldschool Lada Niva 4 by 4.
A whole new driving experience for me, he even trusted me so much to drive of-road on some of the same tracks the motorcycles rode! He just convinced me by saying, “Don’t worry, you got this!”
So with this perfect little 4 by 4 we rode some of the craziest tracks I’ve ever ridden!”
Day 4 & 5:
220km through Gorafe desert
Words by Giuseppe
“I drove 2500km from Milan to Malaga with a 20 year old van with no AC and really slow pace, it was definitely worth it! Cool people, amazing place, legendary bikes,…
I drove my Gilera 175 4stroke amongst twin cilinder BSA’s, Triumphs and Nortons and it’s surprising to go as fast and as high. Size doesn’t matter, same fun same joy.
An amazing thing was crossing paths with other groups of cars, bicycles or motorcycles and you could read their eyes “gosh who are these crazy dudes? They are the coolest ever”
What this journey really proved is that you can try as hard as you want, you’ll never be as happy as riding an old motorcycle through these terrains. The older the more fun.
On top of every climb you keep thinking “man what a machine, FUCK YEAH.”
Images: Christian Fussi
