There is a phenomenon that occurs every time I see another BMW. By now Marie knows it well. We’ll be walking somewhere and all of a sudden I’ll cross the street without saying a word. By the time Marie catches up to me I am standing in front of a Beemer. I mention this because last week when we were in Playa Del Coco I saw a BMW. And as has been my habit, something switched on in my mind and off I went running (literally) towards the bike in question. It was an 1150GS Adventure (my dream bike, the grey one). The owner was just getting off his bike and we struck up a conversation (rather Marie struck up the conversation while I stared at the bike for a while). Turns out he was in town for a day of off-roading organized by the BMW dealership in San José, Costa Rica. He explained that he and about 15 other people were leaving the following morning at 7:00am to circumnavigate the Nicoya Peninsula using only back roads. He invited us to tag along so the following morning we met with the group bright and early. My first impression of the group was that I was way out of my league. The bike of choice was the 1200GS (a fair bit more evolved than our 1100GS) and almost everybody was decked out in motocross protective gear. Needless to say we were the only ones riding 2up (2 people on one bike). As it had rained heavily the night before I was more than a little apprehensive about what to expect. The leader of the group explained that there was a bit of gravel and maybe a river or two to cross. After a brief consultation with my Minister of Health and Safety (Marie, who also doubles as Minister of Finance) we decided that we would spend a half day with the group and double back since they were not returning to the point of departure but rather going on to San José.

I think I understood what we were getting into when the group leader explained that we should be careful at kilometer 9 because the road might be “a little muddy” and was “quite steep”. He emphasized the “quite steep” part by putting his arm at an obscene downwards angle and jabbing it repeatedly towards the ground. Within minutes of this warning we were off. After a brief warm-up on paved roads we took a turnoff on a small gravel road and the fun began. Marie and I were not really sure of where we were going but one thing was clear: we did not have much time to get there. The average speed on the gravel was 80 kilometers per hour. This is fine if you are familiar with the road and are riding solo but when you are in a foreign country on roads you do not know and are riding 2up it is a whole other story. After about 20 kilometers of this (yes, we succeeded in going down the “quite steep” hill without falling!) we both started feeling more confident. We were able to keep up with the group without any problems. Then we saw the beach.

As far as beaches go it was stunning. Clear blue waters and nice white sand (with some palm trees thrown in for good measure). As a driving surface it did not fare so well. The trick to driving in sand is to go fast. Your instinct tells you to slow down but if you do you will only succeed in getting stuck. If you keep your speed up the bike will “glide” over the sand. I am happy (and maybe a little proud) to say that we did not take a spill on this section (nor did we the entire day!). After about 50 kilometers of various driving conditions we ended up doubling back to our starting point. It would have been fun to try and cross the rivers but we did not go that far.  

A big thank you goes out to the BMW Motorcycle Club of Costa Rica and Motocicletas Bavaria of San José for letting us tag along for a while. We had an amazing time!

Brian