HAT Sanremo Sestriere 2020 a beautiful adventure and off-road experience between the dirt roads of Liguria and the military roads of Piedmont. Here's what you need to know.
Despite the failures, our experience (halfway) was still very positive, for this reason we are going to talk to you about a few things to know if you have never done it and are thinking about it for next year.
Content index
Location
The departure from Portosole to Sanremo is beautiful. Many stands of the companies, both to give support to the pilots and to show their products. Among the "technicians" were ANLAS, who changed tires relentlessly, Garmin, who loaded tracks and explained how to use them, Enduristan who sold bags and helped to fix them on the motorcycle or to find the best one, TUR, who dressed the pilots who had started with little clothing technician, and then many others such as A Manetta, Klim, Nolan ...
Under the promenade, inside the port, the stage for the briefings had been set up, directly in the “showroom” truck of Nolan, one of the sponsors, and the beautiful starting platform, super scenographic especially at night.
The event
At 23pm on Friday evening the "madmen" of the extreme, led by Aldo Winkler, former Paris driver Dakar Rally, and his son Andy, who rides Supercross in the United States. A real thrill to see them start together, followed by all the other groups of the long 900 km track.
On the day, the Discovery and Classic groups left, including myself, with a beautiful 90's Dominator, prepared for the occasion.
The 560 km route climbs up the Ligurian hills and, after a few tortuous off-road rides, heads towards the Tenda, then Boves and then climbs the high Piedmontese mountains, up to Assietta, and then descends towards Sestriere, where the arrival it is scheduled 24 hours later more or less, together with the discovery and extreme groups, to celebrate all together.
The motorcycle
Our travel companion was a 1990 Honda Dominator. Beautiful, with the Rally Kit by Only Motorcycle Preparations. Stylish front fairing, custom-made fiberglass fairings, led headlights, modified mudguard to which we have added a handlebar renthal, digital instrumentation Trail Tech, brake hoses of Frentubo (essential for the Dominator) with carbon braid, fork springs and the mono shock absorber of the Hyperpro, provided by Rinolfi Motorcycles Parts, distributor for Italy, and tires Anlas Capra-X, distributed by Innovabox.
Things to know
Before talking to you about my misadventure it is good to provide you with some useful information:
1) Bring your own food and drink, because if you get very tired on the route before the refreshment points, you can regain energy and not tire yourself out.
2) Bring spare parts and tools for any repairs, including a nice tube of two-component. Maybe ask your trusted mechanic what to bring and how to change any parts of the bike or replace the inner tubes for example.
3) There are no brooms and there is no assistance: if you break the bike you have to get by among yourselves, for this reason you travel in groups of at least 3 people. Obviously if you get hurt, no one will leave you, don't worry.
4) The tracks are divided into only two "segments" so be very careful because they are not very clear in some points (indeed perhaps a bit messy I would say). Stop and read them carefully because even if you have experience, a lightness could mislead you.
5) cover up well, as mom would say, because if it's hot you always have time to undress, but if it's cold it's bitter cabbage and you have enough layers. In fact, I remind you that you are in the mountains shortly after starting and that the weather often plays tricks on you
6) the bike: the less it weighs the better. If you have a big maxi enduro, first do some off-road practice and evaluate well if you are able to control it for many hours in a row on sometimes very bad surfaces.
What happened to me
Unfortunately, a 1990 motorcycle will never be as fit as a recent motorcycle. Age and wear are felt and breakdowns are just around the corner. For this reason, I always recommend using a recent bike for these events that do not provide assistance on the road. In this lap we were betrayed by the reel that forced us to retire.
Furthermore, due to the delay accumulated by the motorcycle breakdown, after the first refreshment, I joined some riders who have misread the track, ending up on the wrong path and then being forced to fall back on Sanremo also due to the breakdown. Among other things, there were not a few riders who made a mistake in that point, after the first refreshment. For this reason I think it is better to divide the path into several tracks, as they do in other events, and avoid following a single track, which is too long and convoluted.
Then a
We never stop, the reel has been set on fire, and we are even more loaded with waiting for the Sanremo Sestriere 2021. I am not saying that we want to avenge ourselves by doing the Extreme, but honestly we are doing it a little thought ... See you next year!
PS: I thank all the HAT team for the welcome, Danilo and Giacomo for their patience and Lele for the passage.
