Hi Ivan,
Very kind of you. Perhaps should let you know that at my age I no longer plan to ride in groups.
Perhaps if I'm lucky to find another like-minded biker who enjoys riding as a means of touring the country in a less restricted way unlike a car, then maybe in 2's or 3's at most.
In my younger days, used to ride every weekend with 2 close biking buddies but that was hard core open-class sportsbike riding. The destination wasn't important but purely looking forward to carve the winding roads was. I never enjoyed riding in those big groups as its very restricting although we also organise those type of rides to Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, etc.. I always felt that it was more for show than go.
Getting older, I prefer no peer pressure and to ride strictly for touring at my own pace, combining it with photography as a purpose, hence the switch from hard-core sportsbike to tourer.
Anyway I'm still pondering on when to take this up again but the calling is getting stronger ever since I dropped by Motorrad a few weeks ago
.
Incidentally, instead of shipping the bikes to US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand to ride, its far less hassle to rent and ride there e.g. the Alpine riding route (Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland) by Edelweiss Tours.
You just pick up the bike of your choice where you land, e.g. Berlin and ride the Alpine route and drop it off at the end.
Jos if you want, I can put you in touch with a couple of hard core guys who are very into biking. Not sure if they into off road, but they have been to Thailand, Cambodia, USA and lots more.