Category: 2014-2022

Solo ride Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria 1.929 km, 4 days Another human-factors conference taking place in an interesting location, Krákow. Why not heading east on a motorcycle? Well, after that trip I realized that it’s not really my cup of tea… ↑

Ride with Sebastian Germany, Austria, Italy, France 2.830 km, 8 days Marseille might not seem like the typical location for a city holiday in Provence, but it is a very interesting place. Sebastian joined me for the first part of the trip through Austria and South Tyrol. Mendel pass and Tonale pass are still some…

Ride with Sebastian Germany, Austria, Italy, France 2.864 km, 8 days Well… how should I call this trip…? Intended to go to Barcelona on my reliable R 100 R. Sebastian and me rode via Black Forest (Highlight: “Hotel Lawine”) through the French Alps to Nice. On the way to the Verdon Gorge I took a…

Solo ride Germany, Austria 378 km, 1 day The Triumph Tridays transformed the Austrian market town Neukirchen am Großvenediger to a kind of British Motorcycle Embassy every year. With my Bonneville freshly (moderately) customized I felt it was finally time to visit this amusing event. First time seeing the breathtaking “Original Motodrom” Wall of Death…

Ride with Marcus Germany, Luxembourg, France, UK, Belgium 4.534 km, 12 days And now for something completely different again! As my good friend Marcus moved to London and re-engaged in riding motorcycles it was time for a tour together, this time taking my Triumph Bonneville “home”. The weather was mostly… British, but didn’t stop us…

Ride with colleagues Portugal 1.426 km, 4 days Some years ago BMW offered an unbeatable deal to the motorcycle lunatics in their staff (if you qualify target criteria). We provide a week of spare time, they provide travel, lodging and preseries motorcycles for thorough customer testing. Riding was more ambitious than I assumed with very…

Ride with Marcus’ family and friends Germany, France 1.639 km, 3 days This time it was me that joined a group, rather than the other way round. Marcus et al. started in Western Germany (Ruhrpott) and we met near Koblenz for a ride through the Eifel region, visited Nürburgring and went on through Alsace. While…

Ride with Sebastian and for some parts Sabine and Häupi Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland 4.534 km, 12 days That was the kind of honeymoon trip I’ve been dreaming of.  My wife and me visited wonderful places in Northern Spain and the Pyrenees, had excellent Spanish and Basque food and on top of that…

Solo ride Germany 1.344 km, 2 days At the end of 2015 I moved on from the car side of BMW to my new and always-in-my-heart home BMW Motorrad. Now talking about motorcycles the whole day long was no longer tolerated nerd behaviour but actually part of the job. When getting acquainted with the product…

Ride with Matthias and Sabine Germany, Austria, Italy 896 km, 3 days Getting acquainted with the BMW Motorrad product range part 2, this time with the S 1000 RR. Note to self: Hairpin turns are not the best spot for a first trip on a superbike  😆.  I seem to have a talent for bringing…

Ride-out with colleagues Germany 42  km, 1 day Hechlingen: That’s where you get the best smile to km ratio. Still surprised that we did almost 40 kilometers inside the park area, only leaving it for lunch. Huge. ↑

Ride with Marcus and Sebastian Germany, Austria, Italy 1.120 km, 4 days Finally found an opportunity to bring my best riding buddies Marcus and Sebastian together. Didn’t know back than that this started a tradition. Saying it with Willy Brandt “Now grows together what belongs together”… or maybe better with Anthony Kiedis: “Road trippin’ with…

Ride-out with colleagues Germany, Austria 699 km, 3 days Had a workshop in Austria with international BMW Motorrad colleagues. As soon as the job was done during the day, we jumped back on the bikes. Still feeling honoured that our Thai colleague whose international motorcycle driving license was not valid yet joined me riding pillion.…

Solo ride Germany 1.815 km, 4 days Went to Northern Germany for the wedding of my good friends Marcus and Vanessa. Krabbenbrötchen (crab sandwiches) never taste as good as when arriving directly in the harbour with your motorcycle. ↑

Ride-out with colleagues Germany, Austria, Slovenia 2.300 km, 4 days Team ride-out in Slovenia with off-road focus. Bled is a beautiful place. And Samo is one of the best colleagues you can ever imagine. ↑

Ride with Marcus and Alisa Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France 2.048 km, 6 days Met with Marcus in Belfort (he came from London. Went through Switzerland and Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse to Northern Italy and did some classics there (Stelvio, Gavia, Tonale, Mendel, Fedaia, Valparola, Sella). Alisa rode the last part with us via Jaufen Pass and…

Ride with Marcus and Sebastian Germany, Belgium, France, UK 3.355 km, 7 days And here we go again to the UK. Or Wales. Which clearly is not the same. Marcus, Sebastian and me were impressed by accurately cut green and flowers next to race tracks, not so well done motorcycle service with a dangerously loose…

Ride with Alisa and Bernie Germany 381 km, 1 day Short but beautiful daytrip with remarkable food and view at Wirtshaus Hafner in Perlesreuth. Always happy to find traditional restaurants with real hand-made regional dishes. ↑

Several short rides Spain 37 km, 1 day My first international press event with BMW Motorrad Connectivity. Ample opportunity to talk to journalists on the first days as riding was close to impossible due to pouring rain. Colleagues from the press team advanced to expert meteorologists in finding dry slots in the rain radar so…

Several rides Italy 378 km, 3 days First product launch training with BMW Motorrad Connectivity and getting into direct discussion with retailers from all over the world. ↑

Ride with Alisa, Sabine and Theresa Germany, Austria, Italy 1.501 km, 5 days A statistically very unlikely event: a motorcycle traveling gang with 3 girls and just 1 guy. Higher mountain passes still very cold at the and of April. Lots of snow. And some pigs. Normally I avoid Lago di Garda as it is…

Ride with Marcus and Sebastian Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland 2.927 km, 9 days AKA “Frankreich ohne Regen”. Go to the Maritime Alps they said. It will be sunny there they said. True: In breaks between pouring rain we saw sun behind the fog sometimes 😆 ↑

Several rides Germany, Austria, Italy 895  km, 3 days Second international press event for me with the C 400 X scooter and connectivity for urban navigation. Even after more than two years at BMW Motorrad I was still thrilled by the atmosphere amidst people working professionally on motorcycles (or scooters). Journalists are much less “problem…

Solo ride Germany, France 2.992 km, 6 days My sister and her family were spending their vacation in a summer cottage in Brittany with a spare room (=mine for a few days 😊). Brittany has an astondishing landscape and people, weather not so great for riding but still fine in summer. And nothing beats a…

Solo ride Germany, France 1.136 km, 4 days Going to Strasbourg for a long weekend. Visiting Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Heidelberg, getting one of the best Döner Kebap in Mannheim and saw the Graduation Tower (Saline) in Bad Dürkheim as well as the German Wine Route. ↑

Ride with Diego Germany 173 km, 1 day Although only a short one-day trip, this one holds fond memories. Diego, a friend from Spain, came to visit with his family and we managed to find some time for a ride through the beautiful landscape around Lake Starnberg and Lake Ammer with snacks and drinks in…

Ride with Alisa and David Germany, Austria, Italy 896 km, 3 days Took some days off for a kind of classic ride through the Dolomites with Mendel Pass and Timmelsjoch. ↑

Solo ride Switzerland 583 km, 2 days Last ride of the season. Tried (successfully) to find a bit of autumn sun in Ticino. And the old cobblestone road at St. Gotthard Pass is truly amazing each single time. ↑  

Solo ride Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland 2.962 km, 8 days Yesyesyes! First ride with the Scrambler with real offroad segments. While the Unteralp in Switzerland near Andermatt was a very easy-to-ride gravel road, some parts of the TET in Northern Italy were much more difficult. My absolute highlight was the Alta Via del Sale between…

Ride with Marcus and Sebastian Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland 3.252 km, 8 days AKA “Pommes für alle”. About time!! After half failed or completely failed attempts in 2020 and 2021 due to personal circumstances, lockdowns, bad weather, bad karma or bad whatever the three of us urgently needed to hit the road again together.…

Solo ride Switzerland 842 km, 2 days While I drove quite quickly North of Zurich and Bern to Lake Geneva, I spent a relaxing time there and went for a round trip crossing Gurnigl Pass on the next day. Riding back to Winterthur, I passed Lake Lucerne, Grimsel and Furka Pass and wanted to go…

Solo ride Switzerland, Germany 308 km, 1 day First trip with my new Swiss-Bavarian BMW R nineT Scrambler made by VTR Customs. Wonderful bike, but riding with off road tires on tarmac for the first time made me feel like a complete newbie again. Thanks to the winding roads in the Black Forest that improved…

Solo ride Switzerland 1.282 km, 7 days Me wife and me found a new modus operandi when in Switzerland: She uses the comfortable and insanely punctual trains from SBB or the “Postauto” (Swiss bus network that goes everywhere. If the Swiss will ever get to the moon, they will do so with a Postauto connection).…

Ride with Marcus and Vanessa Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy 1.277 km, 5 days First mid-pandemic tour where we faced ordinary challenges: Too hot, too long distances on some days and similar customary obstacles. In summary, I’m simply thankful for a few normal days on the bikes. ↑

Ride with Marcus Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France 1.975 km, 5 days We were young and naive. Ok, not that young and not fully naive. But still: as we tried to tour pandemic-shaken Europe to the Maritime Alps we thought we could make it. On the exact same day we drove into France, we heard…

Ride with colleagues Germany 609 km, 2 days As the same travel restrictions were still on during our annual team ride-out, at least we managed to two very nice days. My colleague Max found very attractive routes I partially didn’t know.  Although I have been living quite nearby, it was my first trip to Kuchelbauer…

Ride with Marcus Germany 728 km, 3 days AKA “Flachlandjochen”. Being confined to stay in Germany and being ordered by our company to take at least half of our annual vacation in the first half of the year, we thought: Let’s make the most out of it. Beginning was fine, I do not think that…

Ride with Marcus Germany 406 km, 1 day Oh boy, travel restrictions everywhere you look. So Bavarian Forest it is. Hmpfh. ↑

Several rides Spain 212 km, 2 days International press event for the new BMW F 900 R, F 900 XR and the S 1000 XR with the latest evolution of the BMW Motorrad Connected app. My job: Jump on one of the new bikes in the early morning, ride about 40 minutes to the first…

Solo ride Germany 2.176 km, 6 days About time for another round trip from South to North and back. Visited friends and Family in Hamburg and Lüneburg via Essen (Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex is an absolute must-see!) and found out that a BMW R nineT Urban G/S is not the wisest choice to ride…

Solo ride Germany 702 km, 2 days Visited my brother-in-law and his girl friend with friends and family in Stuttgart. Took the opportunity to visit the famous Blautopf (blue pot) spring in Blaubeuren. Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart planned by Mies van der Rohe is also impressive every time. I especially like the interior design of…

Ride with colleagues Germany, Austria 608 km, 3 days Team ride-out to Austria. Couldn’t find photos and / or memories anywhere. Must have been good. ↑

Ride with Marcus and Sebastian Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy 4.053 km, 12 days AKA “Bella Italia”. Sebastian, Marcus and me riding for a wedding to Apulia! Via Austria, Slovenia and Croatia (somewhat shortened due to rain) where we took the night ferry to Ancona. Then crossing Abruzzo and visited Campo Imperatore where they used…