About the event

Back in 2001, Ducati officially introduced the Ducati Multistrada during the Milan Motorshow. It was the first non "sportbike" in the stable of the manufacturer from Bologna and anxiously the official delivery of the bike in 2003 to the market was followed. In the first few years the sales numbers were very very successful and the bike seemed to become a hit for the factory.

In those same early days of the new Ducati Multistrada, a Dutch guy (Jan Dolman) was one of the first to order the Multistrada. Looking for information on the internet found him with no decent back-up from the factory. No significant technical or emotional information could be found and due to his enthusiasm for the bike, he started a website for Multistrada owners as a soundboard for the new type of bike. It was April 20 in 2003 when the website "www.multistrada.net" saw its first daylight.

Since then 15,720 official registrations have been counted, hundreds of thousands articles have been posted and people who have shared their emotions and knowledge with the rest of the world. In this list of people from all over the world, also a Dutch guy thought to bring the Multistrada members of the site together somewhere in Europe. It was in 2005 that the first group of 8 people met in Germany to share the passion of the bike. As far as I can remember there were people from the UK, Netherlands and Germany present for a week-end on the bike. During that meeting I already realized that this event should be able to see the light of existing...

It took me until 2007 to get the 2nd EMM2007 in the air. The venue was Bologna... the cradle of the Multistrada. After two flights from London to Bologna, several e-mails with Livio Lodi (museum Ducati) and Marco Rimondi (DOC), telephone calls and faxes I had the trip lined up. 13 people from a nice variation within and outside Europe decided to continue the life of the European event for the bike(rs). Besides the regular suspects from France, the Netherlands and the UK, we were pleased with the participation of a couple of Romania, a guy from New Zealand and a guy from the USA.

As I told myself in 2007 to do this organization once, and once only, I realized what a fantastic meeting this was, when overlooking a dinner table outside a nice restaurant in Italy during this meeting, I knew that I was f*cked and had to continue. Besides that fact that all of us were infected with the Multistrada virus, I was infected with the European Multistrada Meeting virus. Together with Didier from France, we started the organization of the 3rd EMM2008 in the French Alps.

From there the meeting started growing in unexpected proportions. In 2008 a total of 33 people signed up for the meeting in the French Alps. Spain, Lithuania, Poland and Italy were countries that joined the event for the first time. I could see the returning people from the UK and France. The enthusiasm for the meeting increased by the day, and during the meeting, it was already decided to organize the 4th EMM2009 in the Spanish Pyrenees.

Together with Anton I started working on the next stage of the event. 48 people signed up for the 2009 event. Within the first week after the subscription form was uploaded and online on the internet site, already 15 people sent their form to me. I was astonished as well afraid of what was going to happen. But everything went great. More people returned after the 2nd and 3rd meetings. New people that had been lurking around the event for a while decided to join the event and .... well, I can write a book about my experiences of the organization and the event itself.

Working together with Andrea from Italy (living in London) the 5th EMM2010 was born. This year we went a bit more professional with a dedicated website and online registration form. I was also contacted by David who is connected in the wine trade. He offered to set up a tasting and a lunch at one of the wineries, how could I say no?? But, wine tasting and riding Multistradas quickly in the mountains does not go very well together, so next year we vowed to the tasting onsite. We also breached 50 registrations this year and what an event it was.

EMM 6 in 2011

The 6th EMM was born around many beers in the bar in after day of riding in the Dolomites. We took the decision to return the event to the high Alps in France, home to some of the finest and most scenic roads in the world. We had plenty of on the ground experience for route planning so we were ready to roll. We found a nice little family run hotel located at the base of the Col du Galibier in VILLAR D'ARENE LA GRAVE LA MEIJE, dates we set, and the registrations just rolled in. This will be remembered as year of the Spanish Inquisition with more registrations from Spain than any other country.

The 6th EMM was born around many beers in the bar in after day of riding in the Dolomites. We took the decision to return the event to the high Alps in France, home to some of the finest and most scenic roads in the world. We had plenty of on the ground experience for route planning so we were ready to roll. We found a nice little family run hotel located at the base of the Col du Galibier in VILLAR D'ARENE LA GRAVE LA MEIJE, dates we set, and the registrations just rolled in. Greg took over the organisation of the EMM for this year. This will be remembered as year of the Spanish Inquisition with more registrations from Spain than any other country.

Highlights of EMM6 in 2011:

The French contingent organised some incredible roadbooks which took us on some of the best riding roads and through some of the finest mountain scenery in the world.
David Cobbold organised a fantastic tasting of local wines for us at the hotel. All the wine was there waiting when we arrived, much to the amusement of the hotel staff. But, our wine expert was bogged down with work in Paris and could not make it, leaving the kids in charge.
Glorious weather- arranged by Greg
An offroad excursion on the decent of the Col de Vars
For the first time, Michal did not attend after an argument with an angry ladde

EMM 7 in 2012

After a stunning EMM6, we decided to be more scientific in organising EMM2007. I built nice little internet based survey with 4 options. In the end the Italian alps was a close winner, with Portugal close behind . The event was based in the tax free state of Livigno at he the family run Hotel Astoria in June 2013.

Highlights of EMM7 in 2012:

Arriving in Livigno and not being able to find the hotel due to a large mountain of dirt and a JCB parking in the front car park
Ian demonstrating best practices for deploying tyre repair kit in the storage compartment of a Multistrada
Wondering if we would have any power for our first evening
Stunning weather again organised by Greg!! 2 days earlier it had snowed and the surrounding mountains reflected that
Extended EMM to the Dolomites for a subset of the group, and then on the World Ducati Week
Most culturally varied EMM with 11 nationalities represented

At the end of the day this trip offered some of the best riding I have ever done in my life- a truly special event!

EMM 8 in 2013

The EMM8 went to Portugal after two years of intense lobbying by the Portuguese tourist board, or armada as they are known to us. They convinced us that they could host a great EMM and it would be worth the extra kilometres for the northern Europeans, save the English who will grab the ferry to Bilbao (one of the world’s longest booze cruises)

And what a great event it was, save the weather! (Weather not organised by Greg)

Some highlights of the event for 2013
- On the 1st ride of the event- Ice warning coming on and freezing fingers- were we really in Portugal in June? But the road was stunning and as you can guess, completely empty as the locals were all inside trying to stay warm and dry.
- A 14 course lunch for 14 euros (including wine) in a rustic village up in the hills. I was done after the starters, they just kept bringing food and wine.
- After lunch, the EMM being led out of town by a German on a Triumph!. This did not end well as Multstradas blew out in multiple directions- but at the end everyone made it back to the hotel before dark.

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- Morning day two, stunning roads again treading thought the deserted mountain roads of central Portugal.
- Another voluminous lunch, followed by the post lunch clusterf$%K with Mutlitistradas heading off in every direction.
- One Inquisition pilot who arrived ready for all eventualities; not only with a full tool kit and mini compressor in the Panniers, but also a Jamon and a create of Rioja just in case the local wine did not measure up
- The weather just getttig better and better the further north we rode
- Following ZDman up a canyon and over a pass in fog and rain for over an hour only to be told by a local on the other side- “Mate, you’re at the end of the world and there is only one road back!

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- Getting up at 6am to go ride “the road we missed” when we instead visited the end of the world the previous day, then having an all-day ride back to France….

EMM 9 in 2014

OK, for the EMM9 we return to Italy, this time to the nothern Dolomites right on the Austrian boarder. As usual, this is going to be an outstanding event!!