Be prepared. Bring your raincoat along.

Although Greece in general is well known for the joyful sun and the benefits that comes from it, the Greek mountains are often suffer from a phenomenon called in greek language “mpourini”. This is very fast moving, tall clouds, full of humidity and in a shape of anvil. Usually, can cause heavy rain for short periods of time. If you are away from shelter, stop and wear your raincoat. If rain comes drive very carefully because it pours a lot of water. If you are near a shelter is preferable to stop and wait. Usually, the phenomenon lasts half to one hour.

Well, may the cape Tenaro at Peloponnese be the second, most southern tip of mainland Europe, the northern Greece mountains though, are north and high enough to make you feel the chill. Three or four season clothing is preferable unless is full summer time (mid-June till early September).

Distance matters.

The total distance covered to the 11 nights journey, it is calculated to be something near 2500 km plus or minus. Depend on the distance, that someone has to cover, to reach the first hotel, it means that it is a good idea to fully service the motorbike prior departure. Be on the safe side and have your “lady” prepared to make your trip as carefree as possible.

Bureaucracy lives long.

“May I see your papers please?” is a common question by police force officers. In order to avoid unpleasant situations don’t forget your paper work. Driving license, vehicle license, technical inspection certificate, insurance policy, green card and passport or any other official ID must be in close hand.

Hit the road, Jack!

As long as we like both the song and the act, we also have to take care of our self. Especially when driving long distances. After so many years of long hours on a motorbike for the transition to another place-base, I learn that keeping my self-hydrated during the day and having a very light snack twice or thrice per day is the best way to achieve the daily distance goal. The best way to keep hydrated yourself is a camel pack containing two or three liters of water and electrolytes. Cereals bars or something equivalent are a good way of keeping your diet light during the day.

Anticipate!

Going on a long-distance journey usually need to make some compromises with things that you can carry with you. So, adjust your load to optimum. You are not going to be alone, so it may be not necessary to have with you all this emergency gear that you used to carry on your top-case luggage. We will provide for you, so save space and load.

Lock and Load……. The loading mystical script.

Well, the story goes with physics and is simple to comprehend. First of all, we need to ride a stable motorcycle. To find how we make our motorcycle stable we have to understand the following.

All kinds of materials and shapes have a geometrical center called Center Point (CP). Same is true for motorcycles. This point is based on the shape of the motorcycle and as we can get it, in our minds, it is different for any given ride. But there is one more factor to be taken under consideration that affects stability. The Gravity Mean (GM) or center of gravity. This GM is depended on the masses allocation and usually it is at a point close and below CP when the rider is not on the motorcycle and she is on an upright position. As close as these points are, the more stable the motorcycle is. As far as they are the more unbalanced the motorcycle becomes, especially when the GM moves above and back of the CP point.

So, try to load your motorcycle even with the heaviest at the bottom and forward of your side luggage system and the lighter at the top and back. Avoid overloading the top-case luggage and if you are alone using a tail-bag luggage for extras. Keep tank-bag for easily accessed things like paperwork, cameras, chargers, battery packs and other minor stuff. Nowdays with the extensive use of protection bar there is some small bags attached to those. Try to fill these bags with the heaviest equipment you can in order to make better balance. Wow…. that was long!