[Ducati] Motogiro D'Italia 2008?

[Veloce916 at aol.com]

I think most of these questions have been well answered but it's worth  
mentioning that this years event included 2 extra nights in the hotel - the  start 
and party evenings were not extra as they have been in the past. Seemed  like 
this just got us all to show up early - I came in Thurs for a Sat start and  
the place was hopping with giro folks by days end.  It's absolutely  possible o 
do this event in the time frame you are asking, it's more fun to stay  longer 
but not necessary. FWIW I don't speak Italian but I understand a lot of  it. 
It's only a problem not to speak it when you are off the beaten path, most  
folks in the cities under 40 speak at least some English. On the Motogiro there  
is staff to help out - at one point this year I found myself in an inner city 
 moto rental agency trying to arrange 5 rental bikes of various types with 
drop  off of some and pick up of others not to mention the hoped for discounts 
for  renting so many bikes. When I felt the man wasn't clear on what I wanted I 
just  dialed one of the Motogiro staff by cell phone and they explained what 
I wanted  and all was organized easily. Another nice thing is the comraderie 
you'll find  among the people that attend. Lost luggage, broken bikes, whatever 
the event  dishes out, there always seems to be somebody ready to lend a hand 
to save  (sometimes a total strangers) vacation. I tend to be in the middle 
of this sort  of thing as a long time group organizer and I can tell you this 
event is like no  other for bringing out the absolute best in people. 
I'm not sure if anybody posted the address for the Yahoo group that I  
moderate for the event: _http://groups.yahoo.com/group/motogiro/_ 
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/motogiro/) 
New members have to be approved (it's just because of spammers that stalk  
open groups) but there's a TON of info there - files, links and lots of great  
folks that have attended ready to dole out advice. 
And of course, anybody that wants to speak to me directly about the event  is 
free to contact me at this address.
Vicki
 
 
In a message dated 5/31/2007 8:50:27 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
scloninger at astecinc.com writes:

Yesterday I was talking to George Betzhold and we thought it would be a  
great idea to attend next year's Motogiro.  "You only live once" and "You  can't 
take it with you" were bantied about, but when it comes down to it we  both 
want to experience riding in Italy sometime before we shuffle off this  mortal 
coil.

To that end, we had questions.

1)  When should  we begin planning this trip in earnest?
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)
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?
4)  Is lodging included in the Motogiro price?  Is  rooming individual or in 
pairs?  
5)  Where is next year's  Motogiro?  I hope northern Italy, but I'm not real 
picky!
6)   When are any sorts of deposits due?
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?
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!

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

All help is greatly appreciated.

Scott  Cloninger


 



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