I will begin my solo journey on August 1st and return well before mid-month. In a dozen days I will ride along the 8,000 kilometers necessary to reach the Lofoten Islands in the North of Norway and back to Turin. Madness perhaps, but there is a reason, two indeed.
The first is the most important. I will visit my son who lives up there in the fjords and I want to do it this way, to prove something to myself and to him too. The love between father and son has a particular flavor, it involves a bit of madness and a spirit of adventure.
In Norway he works as a surf instructor. I know, it sounds like a joke from Lercio.it, but no. He really is a surf instructor in Norway. A bit controversial I know, but he is my son, he clearly takes after his father.
When I was just a young boy I had two dreams: to be a surgeon and to have a powerful bike. I was lucky enough to crown them both, and I want to experience them fully. So after a year spent performing operations I decided to grind kilometers, with the goal of reaching him for a chat and a pat on the back.
The second reason for the trip was inspired by this crazy idea. I decided to take advantage of my passion and militancy in Lions Club International, which, it is worth remembering, is the largest non-profit organization in the world, to be able to observe a piece of Europe with my own eyes.
I believe it is in some way also my duty, because I believe in Europe and I hope that its future will be that of a single civilized and advanced State. There are many initiatives capable of pushing our continent towards a true social, economic and political unity, but among these, one caught my attention: the “2030 Agenda for Social Development” signed by both the European Union and the United Nations. Among the many points on the Agenda, I found two more important than others: environmental impact and gender equality.
So, with the help of the Lions Clubs that I will meet on my journey, I will observe with my own eyes the reality that surrounds me and I will share it day by day both on my Facebook page and on YouTube.
I love travelling and while doing so I noticed that the realities which are geographically distant from us are almost never as they are so frequently depicted. So I’ll go and see for myself how gender equality and environmental impact is taken into account in every place I stop along the way.
The idea we have at Lions Club Venaria Reale Host (VRH), which I have the honor of presiding over this year, is to create a map of these realities and perhaps in some time retrace and verify any changes.
I will make technical stops, of course, but they will be stops that also include a meeting and greeting with local Lions and Leos, which will help me observing their reality.
I will also be able to count on the support of my club’s Leo Lions. They are the young fresh minds of our organization who will share this adventure with me and have decided to come along for the ride. They will support me in organizing the trip and as the journey proceeds, the meetings and opportunities for exchange with local groups. They will be my guardian angels as I make my way up North between uncertainties and tiredness, all the way through distant places and with a pace which I have never experienced in my previous travels.
Any unexpected circumstance will find a solution thanks for the support from Turin that can reshape the track along the way. It is an experiment, but we want to understand if this idea of going to observe with our own eyes (which for an ophthalmologist sounds almost imperative) can become a nice habit to repeat.
All this will have a name: “ROADING. A motorcycle trip through Europe with a Lion gaze”. A motorcycle tour around Europe with the eyes of a Lion, which would be me.
For curious bikers, I will ride on a Harley Davidson Pan America 1250cc, the first new bike of my life and I will travel alone because there is no madman who has decided to follow me on this adventure …
Someone asked me: “Isn’t that too much for an ophthalmologist who is no longer a spring chicken?”. Maybe, though
there is an old saying of the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho which says: “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It’s letal.”
