Ride with us during Day 4 of the BMW Motorrad The Great Getaway motorcycle tour.
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There’s nothing like a multiday motorcycle touring trip to reinvigorate the soul. That’s exactly what BMW Motorrad is going for with its The Great Getaway, a motorcycle tour that visits the Central American isthmus of Costa Rica for a week of relaxed cruising aboard BMW’s R 18 cruiser. Get up to speed on the first few days with BMW’s The Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour, Day 1 - 2022, BMW’s The Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour, Day 2 - 2022, and BMW’s The Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour, Day 3 - 2022.
For the fourth and final day of our tour, we left the tropical rainforest near Arenal for a special surprise event planned by the generous folks at Elephant Moto. Want to find out the surprise? Watch the video and see for yourself.
Full story here: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/bmw-motorcycle-great-getaway-tour-day-four-2022/
Photography: Hermann Köpf
Video: Adam Waheed, BMW Motorrad
Edit: Joseph Agustin
Motorcycle Gear Worn
Helmet: Shoei RF-SR
Jacket: REV'IT! Blackwater
Gloves: REV'IT! Kinetic
Pant: REV'IT! Piston
Boots: TCX Rush 2 Air
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
--
There’s nothing like a multiday motorcycle touring trip to reinvigorate the soul. That’s exactly what BMW Motorrad is going for with its The Great Getaway, a motorcycle tour that visits the Central American isthmus of Costa Rica for a week of relaxed cruising aboard BMW’s R 18 cruiser. Get up to speed on the first few days with BMW’s The Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour, Day 1 - 2022, BMW’s The Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour, Day 2 - 2022, and BMW’s The Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour, Day 3 - 2022.
For the fourth and final day of our tour, we left the tropical rainforest near Arenal for a special surprise event planned by the generous folks at Elephant Moto. Want to find out the surprise? Watch the video and see for yourself.
Full story here: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/bmw-motorcycle-great-getaway-tour-day-four-2022/
Photography: Hermann Köpf
Video: Adam Waheed, BMW Motorrad
Edit: Joseph Agustin
Motorcycle Gear Worn
Helmet: Shoei RF-SR
Jacket: REV'IT! Blackwater
Gloves: REV'IT! Kinetic
Pant: REV'IT! Piston
Boots: TCX Rush 2 Air
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 All right, folks, we are on the fourth and final day
00:14 of our Condensed The Great Getaway
00:18 BMW Motorrad riding tour.
00:22 And we are leaving the Los Iguana Resort Hotel
00:29 here in Costa Rica.
00:30 This Los Iguana place is awesome
00:34 because it's just like being, or not just like,
00:37 because you literally are in a rainforest-style jungle.
00:42 It is beautiful.
00:44 It is green, humid, moist, tropical,
00:49 and above everything, it is peaceful.
00:53 The level of serenity is definitely high at this place.
00:59 The accommodations were very nice too.
01:04 Everyone in Costa Rica, all the hotel staff and host staff,
01:11 and at all of these hotels we've stayed at,
01:17 I can't believe how accommodating
01:20 the people of Costa Rica are.
01:22 And not only are they extremely accommodating,
01:25 they're just so polite.
01:27 They speak really good English.
01:30 There's a lot of people out there, myself included,
01:33 who aren't very good at Espanol.
01:37 And the English skills of everyone here is so high
01:40 that it almost renders Google Translate useless.
01:44 You don't even really need to know how to speak Spanish
01:48 because everyone speaks English.
01:49 So, kinda neat.
01:52 Today for our ride, I mistakenly spoke yesterday,
01:55 and I think I said we cover 150 kilometers.
01:58 We actually did 200 kilometers.
02:00 So, right around 140 miles, I believe.
02:06 So, it was, I'm sorry, 120 miles.
02:14 I'm so bad at math.
02:15 So, definitely a good day in the saddle.
02:20 I was so pleased to get off the bumpy highways,
02:25 near the ocean, and head into the mountains
02:28 where we had much smoother asphalt.
02:30 I was starting to question the handling
02:34 and overall comfort quotient of this vehicle,
02:39 but turns out it just, this bike doesn't jive
02:42 over bumpy, pothole-laden surfaces.
02:46 It's just the suspension travel's too limited.
02:48 But we're on relatively smooth asphalt.
02:51 This thing rides real nice.
02:53 The handle's really good for a 900-pound cruiser.
02:56 So, for our final day's agenda,
02:59 we are going to do another loop.
03:03 We are stopping at some place, they say, here
03:07 for some jungle experience, some TBD jungle experience.
03:12 I'm always up for a little adventure.
03:15 They told us to pack our hiking shoes,
03:17 so that's what we did.
03:18 So, we will see what's up in a little bit.
03:21 Then we are heading to the hotel of our first day,
03:26 where we departed from the first day, to wrap things up.
03:30 Look at that huge volcano right to our right.
03:35 They say that the volcano is inactive,
03:41 but we never know when the lava can start spewing.
03:46 We are here at Sky Adventures.
03:51 I wonder what's in store for us.
03:54 I would probably assume zip line.
03:57 We are signing our lives away,
03:59 and then we are gonna do the zip line tour.
04:02 That is why he's got the zip line bungee on.
04:06 So, we're gonna get outfitted,
04:08 and then we're gonna swing from the jungle vines like Tarzan.
04:13 (upbeat music)
04:16 (upbeat music)
04:44 Here we are on the highway to hell.
04:48 Just joking, ha ha ha ha ha.
04:50 We are here on the zip line express.
04:52 We have our green DOT not approved helmet,
04:57 and we have our harness.
04:59 Look at our harness to keep us hung
05:02 from the zip line machine.
05:05 This will be fun.
05:06 I've never done any form of zip lining in my life.
05:10 I'm a tad bit of a control freak.
05:12 I always like to be in control of every vehicle I operate
05:15 in the whole wide world,
05:16 so I probably won't like this, but we'll see.
05:19 Look at that volcano.
05:20 That is beautiful.
05:23 And here we go, guys.
05:25 We're going for a ride.
05:26 And here we are, guys, on the tram.
05:31 Lift on the way up.
05:33 I hope no one's scared of heights,
05:35 'cause look how high we are up.
05:39 Wow, that is crazy.
05:42 Oh my gosh.
05:43 Whoa.
05:45 We are here on the platform,
05:47 and now I know why they said you can't hold a GoPro.
05:50 Look at that person take off there.
05:52 That is crazy.
05:55 Look how fast they're going, and look at the height.
06:00 That is wild.
06:01 And there are the people getting ready to take off.
06:04 Jeez Louise, man.
06:07 That was scary.
06:10 Okay, we are scared of everything.
06:11 I was just joking.
06:12 And here we are, guys, overlooking the beautiful lake.
06:17 Look at that.
06:19 Look at this giant hand here.
06:21 Look at me, America, I'm living.
06:24 - Living before you're dying.
06:28 - Look at that.
06:29 These guys are gnarly.
06:31 We are about to go.
06:37 It was nice knowing everyone.
06:39 (plane engine roaring)
06:43 All right, folks, now we've done a couple of these zip lines
06:54 and they do not get any less intimidating.
06:58 Each one is pretty gnarly.
07:02 It's crazy to feel the speed.
07:04 You are just flying.
07:05 You're literally flying.
07:07 Humankind wasn't meant to do what you're doing
07:11 with this zip line.
07:13 It's kind of like you're swinging a little bit,
07:14 and then you have this contraption that you hang onto
07:18 and you twist it, which adds friction to the steel cable
07:23 and allows you to slow down.
07:25 The braking function on this isn't super robust though,
07:29 so you definitely need to use it when you're coming in.
07:34 But they have this crazy safety brake system.
07:37 This thing, this black thing right there,
07:40 which is like a safety brake.
07:41 And they have this mattress style spring.
07:44 So if you come in full throttle, you can still stop
07:47 as long as you don't weigh 5,000 pounds.
07:50 Well, folks, that was pure exhilaration.
07:55 That was so fun.
07:56 That was my first time zip lining.
07:58 And I had no idea how fun and exciting and euphoric
08:04 that sport is.
08:08 The first couple times, I was certainly timid,
08:11 but after a couple times, you kind of get the swing
08:14 of things like everything in life.
08:16 And then by the last few, you're being able to manipulate
08:19 the controls more effectively.
08:21 And it was just awesome to see how fast you could go.
08:25 It felt like you were like a torpedo
08:28 just moving through the air in this 360 degree,
08:34 just panoramic view of just earth.
08:37 It was just awesome.
08:39 What a cool experience.
08:41 That's actually quite similar to riding a motorcycle.
08:45 That was really neat.
08:47 (upbeat music)
08:49 (upbeat music)
08:52 (upbeat music)
08:54 So that's pretty sick.
09:21 Look at that waterfall, folks.
09:25 Just carving out earth as it shoots a bazillion gallons
09:30 of H2O right into the pond below.
09:34 That is sick.
09:35 Can you believe that there's a pathway
09:38 all the way to this thing?
09:41 That's crazy.
09:42 Oh yeah.
09:45 You can feel the power of the water.
09:48 Like you can feel it in the ground here.
09:51 That's crazy how much force all of that water
09:55 is putting into the earth.
09:57 Wow, that's terrific.
10:03 Don't fall in.
10:04 Oh wow, that's some cold water.
10:08 Don't fall in.
10:09 You do not want to fall down there right now,
10:13 boys and girls, that would not be sick.
10:16 Wow, folks, how cool was that waterfall?
10:19 I love being up close and personal
10:23 with mother nature's power and beauty.
10:27 I love just being in the water too.
10:29 So that was a really special thing
10:31 for me to participate in.
10:34 Well, folks, our time in the saddle of this R18
10:38 is coming to a close.
10:40 All said and done, after four days of riding,
10:43 we have logged about 484 miles.
10:47 That's about 780 kilometers.
10:49 So I'd be lying if I didn't say the first two days
10:55 of riding were a little bit ho-hum for me.
10:57 Even though the beach area of Costa Rica is pretty,
11:03 the roads are pretty beat up, pretty straight, pretty boring.
11:07 That wasn't really my deal.
11:09 But this third and fourth day riding on these curvy roads
11:13 and through these towns in the mountains,
11:16 I enjoyed that very much.
11:18 I like the mountainous region better.
11:20 There's more moisture, everything's more lush,
11:23 the temperature's better, the roads are in better shape
11:26 because less people traffic them.
11:30 And the mountain area is definitely
11:33 what I like to be riding.
11:35 And still, it was good to be able to see
11:36 a lot of the country over the course of four days.
11:43 Now, would I pony up for this curated,
11:48 all-inclusive, eight-day BMW Motorrad,
11:51 The Great Getaway Tour?
11:53 Well, it's an interesting little conversation to have
11:58 because first off, for me, doing motorcycle riding,
12:03 that's my job, that's my profession.
12:08 So most likely, if I was going on vacation,
12:11 I would probably not wanna do my profession.
12:14 So first off, for me, for vacation,
12:18 I would wanna go somewhere, toes in the sand,
12:21 pina coladas in my hand with umbrellas on the top,
12:26 and I would wanna drink those things morning, noon,
12:28 and night, all day, all night, and do that for four days.
12:32 For me, being gone for eight days is too much.
12:35 I can only be gone for four days.
12:36 I have a real busy life and I get bored really easy.
12:40 So four days away from my home is about all I got.
12:45 But if you were someone who wanted to try a new motorcycle,
12:51 the R18, wanted to visit a new place, Costa Rica,
13:00 wanted to burn some miles with like-minded people
13:06 and have all of the ancillary pain in the butt
13:10 type of traveling hiccups and kinks worked out,
13:15 excellent hotels and spas we're staying at,
13:20 excellent meals, activities and things to do,
13:25 you know, having the safety of a ride leader
13:30 and ride trail person so you're never gonna get lost,
13:33 you're always gonna know where to turn left or right,
13:36 you're never gonna have to put fuel on the bikes.
13:39 We have a paramedic squad with us, Ricardo and Alvaro.
13:44 These guys have been trailing us in that Land Cruiser
13:48 which we talked about earlier.
13:49 These guys are awesome.
13:51 Ricardo's been literally saving people's lives
13:54 for over 40 years.
13:57 We were having dinner last night, he pulls out his iPad.
13:59 In addition to being a super helpful man of medicine,
14:04 he is an ace at working GoPros and flying drones
14:09 and all that kind of stuff.
14:10 So on his iPad, he's got all this footage of all the trips.
14:13 He whips out the footage, he's like,
14:14 "Look at this time when I found these guys.
14:16 "I saved their lives in the jungle, I found them.
14:19 "No one else could find them for four days
14:21 "and I flew out there in 20 minutes, I found them."
14:23 He's showing me the video.
14:24 I'm like, "Oh my God, this guy's the man."
14:26 And he's like, "Look at this video of me
14:27 "flying the helicopter."
14:28 He's got GoPros in the helicopter
14:30 and he's flying the damn thing.
14:31 The guy's sick.
14:33 He's one of those, you know, get 'er done kind of guys
14:36 and I have a real affinity for people who get 'er done.
14:40 So shout out to those guys.
14:41 It's really nice knowing, you know,
14:44 God forbid something happens.
14:45 You know, I don't really have accidents very often or ever.
14:49 So it's not really myself who I'm worried about,
14:52 but anything can happen, that's life.
14:54 And having that knowledge and security that you have,
14:59 a team of guys to look after you.
15:01 Well, we all have bills to pay,
15:02 we all have families to go home to.
15:04 So, you know, it's nice to know that Elephant Motoring,
15:09 the contractor for this tour and Motorrad
15:14 really care about your safety.
15:16 They also have a gentleman by the name of Christian.
15:20 He's almost like a concierge,
15:23 where he is driving another vehicle
15:26 and he's got our cooler in there, all of our snacks.
15:29 He's got our knickknacks, our swimming trunks,
15:32 our shoes and any personal effects that we might need
15:35 while we're on the ride.
15:37 He also helps us communicate with locals.
15:39 If we can't speak Spanish,
15:40 he's kind of like your personal concierge.
15:45 Just helps with everything.
15:46 And he's done a really marvelous job.
15:48 And just those little details really make a trip
15:52 from good to straight up awesome.
15:55 You know, we all need help.
15:56 We all need a little bit of looking after.
15:59 And if you don't, you know, having that,
16:01 it really does make things better.
16:03 So realistically for $9,800 for eight days of riding
16:08 with pretty first-class style experience,
16:11 I would say that's well worth it.
16:13 Especially if you wanna try out a new bike, new category,
16:17 you wanna see a new place
16:18 and you don't wanna mess with anything.
16:19 You just wanna show up and have a good time.
16:22 To me, that's a pretty good value.
16:26 It really is.
16:28 Well, folks, that wraps things up on this BMW,
16:33 the Great Getaway Motorcycle Tour.
16:39 Now, if you wanna learn more about the R18 derivatives,
16:45 check out our website, MotorcyclistOnline.com.
16:49 We've written reviews on each of those motorcycles.
16:52 We've also published hours of detailed review content
16:58 on the MotorcyclistMag YouTube channel.
17:00 So check out all of our content there.
17:03 There's a lot of good insight that we cover
17:05 on each of the bikes that is really good,
17:08 just information if you're thinking about
17:12 purchasing one of these vehicles.
17:14 (upbeat music)
17:17 (upbeat music)
17:19 We made it.
17:30 We made it back to Elephant Moto here in Costa Rica.
17:35 This is their office in downtown San Jose.
17:41 I think it's actually in Santa Ana or Santa Fe
17:45 is the city next to San Jose here.
17:49 And this is what they do.
17:50 They actually rent these vehicles from the R18
17:55 to the R1250GS and the 750 and 850.
18:01 So even though you don't wanna go,
18:03 you might not wanna do the Great Getaway
18:05 or have the money to do it, there's my place.
18:08 That's my office right there with the beers.
18:11 And so you might not wanna have the money
18:14 to participate in the Great Getaway,
18:17 but you can always come here and rent a BMW Motorrad vehicle
18:22 and go on your own tour at a much reduced price.
18:27 They are very accommodating bunch as you can see here.
18:31 So they are always willing to give you a helping hand
18:36 if you're looking to go on a motorcycle tour in Costa Rica.
18:43 Well, folks, that's a wrap from today's final day adventure
18:47 and for our four day motorcycle tour saga.
18:51 We'll see you guys later.
18:52 Thanks for riding with us today.
18:54 (upbeat music)
18:56 (upbeat music)
18:59 (upbeat music)
19:02 (upbeat music)