[Ducati] Motogiro D'Italia 2008?

[Andy Smith]

Cloner & Dlist,


Scott says "To that end, we had questions."

1)  When should we begin planning this trip in earnest?

NOW

2)  How much time off (from work) would be required for the trip?  I'd have 
a difficult time with more than a week (that's nine contiguous days 
including bookend weekends)

Probably would work out, if you don't crash.

3)  How much money is involved to ride in the touring class including 
airfare, transportation, food, motorcycle rental, fuel, Motogiro entry, 
incidentals, and mememtos?  Basically, how much should I budget?

 Here's this year's estimate:

The actual costs vary, I will list the things you might want to buy and you
can add up the costs based on your needs and your  location:

Event entry: (copied from the official website _www.motogiroditalia.com_
(http://www.motogiroditalia.com) )

First - Pick your class:

VINTAGE RACING CLASS: 960,00 EURO
Price includes: 4  nights in 3/4 star hotels . breakfast . Dinner. Luggage
Transport . Mechanical  assistance for minor repairs. Medical assistance .
Race numbers . FMI insurance  . Bike transport in event of breakdown . 
Transport
for rider\passenger in the  event of bike breakdown . Prize-giving 
ceremony .
 Souvenirs, prizes and  participation kits.

TAGLIONI MEMORIAL CLASS: 960,00 EURO
Price includes: 4 nights in 3/4 star hotels . breakfast . Dinner.  Luggage
Transport . Mechanical assistance for minor repairs. Medical assistance  .
Race numbers . FMI insurance . Bike transport in event of breakdown . 
Transport
for rider\passenger in the event of bike breakdown . Prize-giving 
 ceremony .
 Souvenirs, prizes and participation kits.
TOURIST CLASS: 1.200,00 EURO
Price  includes: 4 nights in 3/4 star hotels . breakfast . Dinner. Luggage
Transport .  Mechanical assistance for minor repairs. Medical assistance .
Race numbers . FMI  insurance . Bike transport in event of breakdown . 
Transport
for rider\passenger  in the event of bike breakdown . Prize-giving 
ceremony .
 Souvenirs, prizes and  participation kits.
PASSENGER: 750,00 EURO
Price includes: 4  nights in 3/4 star hotels . breakfast . Dinner. Luggage
Transport . Prize-giving  ceremony . Souvenirs and participation kits.
Single room supplement: 150,00 euro (If you prefer  not to share a room,
total cost for single rooms the entire event)
In addition to this:
Airfare - roughly $1200 r/t
Bike cost - modern rentals are roughly $100e a day  depending on what you
rent. There are a couple of places that rent bikes  and where you get the 
bike is
up to you.
Vintage class: cost of bike, shipping from the US  could be $1500 each
direction or less depending on how long the bike is in  transit.  Longer 
shipping
lowers the cost. So does starting someplace  closer to Italy.  The Brits pay
500e for r/t trucking. Some of the guys  just store a bike in Italy or 
Europe and
ride that every year. This works for  all three classes obviously.
extra nights in the hotel (you need 2) $100e per  night
There are no extra charges for luggage transport, or  food once the event
begins.  You are only responsible for fuel for your  bike and gelatos. :-)
For what it's worth, riding a vintage bike in this  event might be better
than bicyling, soccer, bull fighting, motocross or  whatever.  8 hours a 
day, 5
days straight on the pegs gets you in shape  fast. I have to train for 
this - I
did it the first year with no advance  training (I had NO clue how hard it
was) and I NEVER want to feel that sore  again. Well, that and an AirHawk. 
:-)
Vicki


In a message dated 6/8/2006 2:56:16 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
mikielk at gmail.com writes:


Cambo,

I went this year in the tourist class.  Between  airfare (fron Los Angeles),
the bike rental, the race entry, a few hotel  stays (we arrived a few days
early and left a day late), and beer I figure  I spent about $4500.  Worth
EVERY SINGLE PENNY.  No  kidding.  I'm still surprised at myself that I
hadn't done it sooner  considering all the glowing reports from others in
years past.  Other  than the long ride in the plane the trip was wonderful
from start to  finish.  Riding in the Motogiro is like doing an 8-hour track
day 5  days in a row.  Sure, it's on public roads, but in the tourist  class
you get a friendly police escort who rides one of those big BMW  police 
bikes
like a banshee.  We broke every traffic law Italy had,  and then we made 
some
up so we could break those too.

The one thing  that really surprised me was just how technical the riding
was.  I  thought the tourist class would laze along and look at the scenery
and make  frequent stops for gellato.  Well, we did stop for gellato on  a
regular basis, but when we were on the bikes the pace was very fast on  some
of the most challenging, twisty roads I've ever seen.  Most of  the day you
never get above 3rd gear.  A 250 kilometer day takes 8  hours.  It's left,
right, left, right, left, right all day long.   When I turned my bike in I
think I had more wear on the sides of the tires  than on the centerline.
Even in the tourist class this is not a ride for  newbies (as one guy in my
little group found out the hard way).  Each  day is exhausting but
exhilerating.  The people from Dream Engine take  very good care of you. 
The
bikes were great (though I think those of  us who rented universally hated
the tires they came with), the food was  outstanding, the hotels were
terrific, the country spectacular, the people  were wonderful (though I 
never
could figure out the damn gas  stations).

I definitely recommned going, but I think anyone even  considering it should
get in a few track days beforehand.  I wish I'd  brought a video camera to
strap to the tank, because I can't do this trip  justice by just talking
about it.  I made a little slideshow montage,  but I don't have the 
bandwidth
to host it from here.  Anyone out there  with a big enough pipe to host a
10MB file?

One more thing: bring a  GPS!



4)  Is lodging included in the Motogiro price?  Is rooming individual or in 
pairs?

Yes, either way is available.

5)  Where is next year's Motogiro?  I hope northern Italy, but I'm not real 
picky!

Sardina, is my understanding.

6)  When are any sorts of deposits due?

This winter, Nov - Feb '08

7)  How much Italian should I learn before I head that way?  Do any, some, 
most of the people understand any, basic, most English?  What's Italian for 
toilet?

Lots of English speaking participants. And I just do the little happy dance, 
when I get off of the bike..
They'll point you in the right direction !

8)  How can I have NCR build me a shiny new bike and call it Ms. Scotty...or 
Mr. Scotty...or something cool like that?  OK...this part was a joke, but I 
couldn't resist asking it!

Now that's my question too ! !  I'd really like to do what Rich did this 
year.
Dis-assemble bike, ship and reassemble, race (and win!), repeat in reverse.
But no way you could do that in 9 - 10 days without costing a fortune and
there'd be NO room for error.

Unless, there was a team effort ! My constraint is the end of the event. I
almost always have a committment on Memorial Day here in the US. So.
that leaves me almost 0 time after the close of the Motogiro to do anything
before the hop back across the pond.

Basically, what's the scoop on the Motogiro?!?

I was hooked up for the Tourist class  this year, and due to recent & 
upcoming
bike swapping I decided to take the gamble that the new Presedente would not
shitcan this event. There are a bunch of others here on this list that have 
been, but
I can tell you the truth.... Don't start asking if your not set on going. 
The folks here
and on the other lists gave me lots of help and even better stories (some 
with pics).

I hope this helps...


Ride On,

Andy