‘I’VE TURNED A BIG CORNER IN MY BIKING LIFE’
Vanessa rides a KTM off-road, a Harley-Davidson on it, and says now is the time to hit the switchbacks of Europe’s finest roads
With Brexit’s ugly face looming ever closer and its predictability being on a par with a herd of pissed-off cats, I thought it was about time I utilised the playground of European riding that lays on our doorstep. Older generations talk of times when every border required passports, so when you can travel without even realising you’ve left one country and entered another, a trip across the Alps and Dolomites is a must-do. It’s particularly awesome if you want to conquer the art of switchbacks.
Without a single hairpin bend within proximity of home, riding across some of the best mountain roads in Europe was going to be a new challenge, but I didn’t realise quite how much fun it would be. We completed over 35 mountain passes, but the highlight was the renowned Stelvio Pass.
As the third highest pass in the Alps at 9045 feet, the Stelvio offers 75 hair-raising hairpins. It’s definitely a bucket list destination. I was tailing a very experienced rider from New Zealand as a group of us rode en masse; the sun was shining and the race was on. Hot on their heels, my goal was simple: don’t lose them! This was the ultimate test of my riding progression. A week earlier and I’d never ridden a hairpin bend, let alone one with a drop-off like jumping out of a plane.
The potato-potato of our V-twins kicked in as we hit the first hairpin, winding on the power. Dab on the back brake entering turn two, head up through the tight curve. Bend three, bend four… six… nine... pegs kissing the ground on ten, rubber gripping the abrasive tarmac as we glide around hairpin after hairpin… 13… 17… 21. Mid-corner and the throttle’s wide open, revs flying as we climb… 25… 27, gears rapidly changing, up and down… 31… 34… 35… Pushing hard on the straights. The air starts to thin as we hit 37, more throttle needed. Left turn, right turn. At turn 48, the summit is in sight. Heart pumping, we pull over. Jagged mountains all around and something totally new flooding through my body: I’m throbbing with adrenaline. And then a random English bloke approaches me and says: “I don’t get you bikers, once you’ve ridden one hairpin, you might as well have ridden them all.” He’s clearly never ridden a motorcycle.