Mount Etna erupts!

Wow, check this out! Mount Etna, the volcano in Sicily is erupting! The giro will go right by this as our route goes up the side of the volcano! See incredible footage from the BBC here!

And more info and video here.

Guide to the Motogiro!

The last couple weeks I have been writing a guide to the motogiro for new riders. After doing the giro for a couple years, I started to think that a couple hints would really help some of the new riders. You can find it here:
Vintage Veloce's Guide to the Motogiro
If you have ridden the giro before and have any comments or good additions for the guide please let me know!

Prepping

Registration this year has been a little more complicated than I expected! To register in the Motogiro, you need to produce a bunch of documentation.
Some of that is documentation for the bike, like legal registration and insurance. Given that my Mondial lives in Italy and has never been to the USA, this can be a hurtle. The process is completely legal but complicated. I actually insure the bike in California where I live. This insurance is actually useless since the bike isn't here in California, but it is require to register the bike. Now, California won't register a bike it has never seen so I actually register the bike in another state! And then I get international "Green Card" insurance from a company in the Netherlands, though a broker here in the USA. The green card insurance is my real insurance for riding the bike in Italy. It's a real paper chase, and the company doing the registration lost the paperwork for a bit so things have been delayed and took repeated calls to clear up!
At any rate, I now have all the insurance and a fedexed copy of the registration, the real copy is "in the mail". Hopefully that will be in my hands early next week.
I also picked up an International driver's license from AAA. It's not strictly required, but I always get one and make sure they stamp the motorcycle authorization.
And the Motogiro requires a "Medical Certificate". I just go to my doctor who gives me a physical and then writes a letter saying I'm in good health and "medically qualified to do the participate Motogiro d'Italia".
I just scanned all of this stuff along with my passport and sent it to the organizers. The scans are also good backup copy in case of emergency and I carry these with me on a USB flash dongle. Dream engine has confirmed receipt of everything, so my paperwork should be all set!

Progress and the Itinerary!

I've been making slow but steady progress on my to-do list. That includes
- renewing the registration and insurance on my Mondial
- getting special international "green card" insurance, etc.
- ordering a new stopwatch
- breaking in my new boots, I'm wearing them right now ;-)
- ordered a good Italian made map of Sicilia

Speaking of maps, the organizer has put up simple maps of the route...
Here is the itinerary:

20th May 2007 – Leg 1:
Sciacca – Cattolica Eraclea – Autodromo Valle dei Templi (Racalmuto) – Milena –Chiusa Sclafani – Sambuca di Sicilia – Sciacca

21st May 2007 – Leg 2:
Sciacca – Porto Empedocle – Valle dei Templi – Favara – Caltanissetta – Piazza Armerina – Lentini – Brucoli

22nd May 2007 – Leg 3:
Brucoli – Siracusa (Teatro Greco) – Autodromo di Siracusa – Noto – Modica – Ragusa Ibla – Giarratana – Brucoli

23rd May 2007 – Leg 4:
Brucoli – Catania – Mascalucia – Nicolosi – Zafferana Etnea – Milo – Giarre – Acireale – Acitrezza – Catania – Lentini – Brucoli

24th May 2007 – Leg 5:
Brucoli – Grammichele – Caltagirone – Palma di Montechiaro – Siculiana – Sciacca (premiazione)