THE AC50 PILOTS: ALICIA SORNOSA

Madrid, September 2011: ‘My motorbike was so loaded up that I didn’t dare move my head to left or right when I reached the last slip road before the motorway. I shifted into first gear, gently released the clutch and let the 300 kilos under me slowly start to move forward. Third, fourth, fifth… in the rear-view mirror I could see what I was leaving behind; everything I was familiar with grew smaller and smaller, and everything became a blur as the kilometres sped past, with me on my motorbike: my home for the next 17 months. Ahead – a whole world to discover on my two wheels, and hundreds of kilometres of unknown roads. A myriad of new experiences, with some fear and lots of excitement mixed in. This is how I started my round-the-world tour on my motorbike, which I completed a year and a half later, and during which I got to know five different continents.

I’ve always relished excitement and moving out of my comfort zone, and the phone call from Acerbis set my heart racing:

“Males or females sought for a long, perilous trip. Extremes of heat, cold, wind and rain guaranteed. Long periods on the road on your motorbike. Return: only after covering many thousands of kilometres, and hopefully with a world record!”

This was made for me! I thought to myself. Once again, a challenge had entered my life – a trip featuring many different experiences, with a little fear and loads of excitement thrown in.

I could already see myself on the AC50, setting out on this big adventure: pushing the righthand lever and gradually engaging the clutch: first, second, third… I knew that the journey to this new Ithaca would be very different to any of the great adventures I had experienced before. I was so excited to be part of this arduous, unique, incredible, fun trip!’

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Alicia Sornosa is the first woman in Europe, and the first Spanish-speaking woman, to have completed a solo round-the-world motorbike trip in the twenty-first century. She spent a year and a half on her trail motorbike, travelling more than 170,000 km (105,630 miles) over five different continents. Since then, the journalist has covered many more kilometres on her Ducati Scrambler, travelling to different parts of the world. She has received several awards for her trips, which are always linked to social causes, and has authored two books.