From Italy to China by Motorbike by Daniele Somenzi

21 July 06, from Massa and Casalmaggiore by motorbike to China, 49 days

I set off on the morning of 21 July 06 with my 15-year-old Yamaha 600 Ténéré, but with only 75,000 km on it, from Cinquale, Massa; I stopped at the appointment with the photographer of the daily La Nazione for a few photos; the article came out the following day. I got on the motorway at Massa and then came off at Berceto to enjoy the beautiful mountain roads, passing also beside the new big motorway bridge under construction. Arriving overloaded, with the top box mounted on the rack and an extra one with the Canadian tent and a sleeping mat, at Casalmaggiore, at the home of my friend Giorgio Zanella, who put me up for that night.

The following morning, before leaving, last purchases at the pharmacy of medicines that might later be useful (fortunately I didn't need them) and a quick stop at the newsstand to buy the 2 local dailies, La Cronaca and La Provincia, these too with my article and photo. It's not every day that a fellow townsman sets off for Beijing by motorbike. In fact La Cronaca even published me on the poster displayed outside the newsstand: "Today the departure for Beijing of Daniele Somenzi". The appointment with the rest of the group was at Tarvisio, the border with Austria. So, having entered the motorway at Mantova, I found myself at a service area with my first 2 travel companions: Carlo, the coordinator, on an Aprilia 1000 Caponord enduro, and Maurizio from Rome on a BMW 650 enduro.

After a good long haul, all on the boring motorway, here we are at Tarvisio, chilled and drenched by the downpour that had just come. Here I meet the other members of the trip: 6 motorbikes, 5 cars and 21 of us including 2 children aged 7 and 9. We all sleep in a small hotel. The following morning at breakfast, the coordinator's first briefing on how the trip will unfold and how each of us should behave. The Austrian motorways are impeccable; the whole thing seems an enormous green garden, clean and well kept; the sun accompanied us too, as far as Budapest in Hungary, where we tasted our first chaotic city. I don't like cities. TO BE CONTINUED............ From here, article published in the magazine of ACI Turano, Massa, Italy. Daniele Somenzi's self-service laundry is a window on the world.

A long room, with the walls lined with washing machines and dryers and, above them, photographs that come from every corner of the globe. A map of our Earth, almost as large as the whole wall, is dotted with red markers. Australia and South Africa are almost completely coloured. A long line of dots crosses Asia, the Andean ridge, the United States and Canada. Dots cover the Pacific islands, Greenland, Antarctica. "The markers indicate the places I've visited," Daniele Somenzi begins straight away, "for the motorbike trip, from Florence to Beijing, I had no more left, so I used the little flags." A series of colourful cocktail flags, in fact, traces the route that Daniele Somenzi and the other travellers covered from 22 July and for 49 days. The trip is called Silk Road Raid, and it re-enacts, precisely, the Silk Road.

Our traveller, Daniele Somenzi, is thin, cheerful, speaks and gestures vivaciously and with evident pleasure, excited, quick. He doesn't dwell, but jumps from one concept to another, from one country to another, restless, eager to experience new emotions, to discover different worlds, as he does in his life as a modern explorer. "Among my destinations there's also the Trans-Siberian. I've been to Australia 15 times, the last in March. My next trip will be in a week. I'll set off with a friend, and Micronesia, New Zealand and China await me, with the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square." Q: how did the idea of taking part in the Silk Road Raid come about? A: The Silk Road Raid was my first motorbike trip. I've had a Yamaha 600 Ténéré for 15 years; I've only used it on the trips from Cinquale to Massa.

Yes, it's true, I went once to Monte Carlo and then to Yugoslavia, but these certainly can't be considered trips! I wanted to put it to the test with something more demanding... For a long time I looked for a friend who fancied accompanying me, by motorbike, around the world. No, I don't like travelling alone... After a little while I get sad... Those who love being alone with themselves are very fortunate. In the end, I decided to join the Silk Road Raid, organised by "Avventure nel Mondo". They had many proposals; I chose the longest trip. Next year I'd like to take part again. If I found a friend — by the way, write that if anyone's interested they can contact me: storyvil@tiscalinet.it — I'd like to reach Alaska or to do the circuit of Australia again. Reaching Alaska from Boston, as I'd very much like to, means crossing Canada.

In summer it's beautiful, with its conifer forests, calm and eternal like natural monuments." Q: Canada is calm... but the countries you crossed by motorbike, during the Silk Road Raid? A: We didn't have major difficulties. The only country that wasn't very safe was Kyrgyzstan. With me there were another 19 people: 6 on motorbikes, including a rider sponsored by KLM, which had given him the bike to test, and the others distributed in 5 cars. I even met a family from Rome, with two children aged six and nine. I couldn't help complimenting them: my daughters certainly wouldn't have been so calm and obedient. In the end they were forced to stay in the car all day, with very little to do... I felt a few little aches too, even though I had the whole wide seat of my Yamaha available..." Q: "Was the trip more interesting by car or by motorbike?" A: "The motorbike is certainly better.

It's another adventure. Besides the wind in your face and the chance to feel closer to the countries you cross, the cars had more difficulty than us on the mountain passes, on the uneven roads. With the motorbike, it's enough to stand up to get over the obstacles. The cars struggled, even with four-wheel drive. The only moment we envied them was when it rained: the cabin, dry, became a truly desired place." Q: "Any adventure to tell?" A: "Right now my motorbike is at the mechanic's, and I can't see it in front of me anymore! The control unit gave up, right at the end, on the day when we were supposed to transfer the bikes to the port to ship them and send them home. The engine didn't suffer any damage," Daniele adds at once, with pride. "One day, in Kazakhstan, at 42° degrees, I was hit by a whirlwind. Usually, for safety reasons, I took the central positions of our caravan.

In that case, instead, I was the last. I had on the air bag jacket, bought at a high price and not yet tried, which I'm proud of. I'm about to set off —" Daniele makes the gesture of placing one hand on the motorbike's handlebars, with the other shielding his eyes, remembering those moments — "when on the horizon I see this big whirlwind rising, one of those that sometimes form even here at the seaside. In uncertainty, I stay still. The whirlwind sweeps me up, throws me to the ground with the whole bike. I roll. The jacket inflates. The others have set off and I find myself alone in the middle of the desert, pinned by the motorbike with a full tank of fuel. It was so heavy that I couldn't lift it! Fortunately I asked for help from some Uzbeks who were approaching.

The jacket behaved splendidly: after a minute it was deflated again, and it allowed me to move freely." Q: What are the roads like in those parts? A: In China the roads are all good, except for about 10%. Above