Epic Motorcycle Ride , Europe 2017 , Nordkapp-Black Sea-Adriatic Coast-Portugal , Part One "Introduction"

For over 20 years i ride motorcycles . My first ever ride was when i have had 12 years. From that day i have been hooked on.

I am a hard core biker , traveled more than 200.000 on a bike . In early years when i got my driver licence i have gathered much needed experience on various models from 125 cc as a starter to 600 cc super sports. I have driven MX , Nakeds basicaly all on two wheels. 

Later on as i grown in confidence and experience i switched to larger 750 an liter models. My love at that time was Suzuki GSX-R . Today i can say that i'm a responsible and  cautious rider but back in a days i was not. All i care about was speed and more speed .

So me and my friends loved to take a weekend rides somewhere , usually 1000-2000 km trips to Italy,Austria,South Germany... . But for me that was not enough. And in my head idea has started to eat me , a trip that will take me far away , a trip that needs to last 2-3 months , a trip where i will cross 20.000 kilometers . A trip to countyes where i never been before. So i have started to make plans . 

In mean time i got married , i got a really good job , i was having so may obligations but from time to time i was throwin my eyes on a maps . With family life, work , and many other things there is no possible way to make such trip. But the dream was bigger and bigger in my head . It was like someone is calling me , come here , ride , you can do it. 

I was back at maps , planing routes to where , what city to see , where to sleep , where to eat , gas stations locations , workshops in case of repairs and tons of other things that are in need to take care of before one even start journey.

Initialy , i have made plan for me and my 3 friends. In that time we all have slightly passed 30 years of age , all married and responsible , all working for good money.  So in 2006 we all exchanged our old bikes for new ones , i have sticked to Suzuki GSX-R btw. That year we went to Imola in Italy to Formula 1 race , toured around Lake Como just to get feel for new bikes . And winter has arrived , bikes are in my garage and we could not wait enough for spring to arrive . 

We were planed to head to far west of Europe , to Portugal . It was a round trip of around 10.000 km . 

So spring of 2007 started. 

DISASTER

We waited for first sunny day in March of 2007 to drive bikes out . It was saturday , we headed out of town to warm the bikes and tires but i was little cocky and pushed a bit harder . In one curve i was in 3rd gear , maybe 120 km/h , back tire lost grip and .....dang.  I was sliding over asphalt with my bike on my right leg , all of 40+ meters of a slide bike was crushin my leg . My friends arrived , picked my bike from me , picked me up and then i felted pain . Oh my god . Pain was unbearable. Some guy stoped wit the car and offered to drive me to emergency not far. 

Long story short , i was in hospital for 10 days , fixators stickin out of my leg , then at home for next 4 months. After removing fixators doctor pushed me to a therapy to get me on my feet again. All in all from the hospital to end of therapy 9 months passed . I was able to walk again without help. All that time i was really sad not for leg but for missing a great trip. I can't thank enough to my wife , friends and family. They where so supportive during that period of time .

As i was in bed my wife sold my bike , my riding gear, boots,gloves ...everything. On top of that she asked of me to make her a promise that i will never sit on a bike again. So i promised . Mostly because i know that she was worried about me , she was scared that i will not be able to move my feet again. But all went good and i stayed alive. 

Until this summer . 9 long years i was separated from my love . Riding. 

My friend comes in front of my house with a brand new Honda CRF 1000L , the Africa Twin . I could not resist the temptation when he handed me the keys and words "bring her back in one piece" !

In just 100 meters all my dreams returned , all my feelings , that sensation of freedom , everything. I was owerhelmed . One hour later i was at dealership trying to arange some test drives of few models that i wanted to ride for so long.

In next posts i will try to discuss with you guys few models and from that i will pick one to buy. I have narrowed down 4 models so it's goin to be hard to pick.

Also i need to purchase all new gear from helmet to boots , for that i already know what is goin to be.

I will lay down my planed route with countryes that i wish to visit . So i will need some advices regarding places that needs to be visited . Feel free to leave comments in incomming posts.

Upvote,comment and follow me on my planing and my Epic Ride for 2017.

Thx for reading , hope that you guys are not bored to death :))