One Hell of A Week Hellas Rally Raid, Greece

I started riding motorcycles some six years ago in Peru, and it wasn’t because I was always a die-hard moto fan or knew anything about bikes.

- By Eglė Gerulaitytė. Photo by Actiongraphers

It was because, somehow, I kept meeting motorcyclists on my backpacking trip who, although they were traveling the same routes in the same country as me, were having experiences that were wildly different. I got intrigued: what did these riders know that I, a lowly bus-riding civilian, didn’t know? To find out, I bought a small Chinese motorcycle in a washing machine shop and took off across the whole South American continent.

Similarly, I didn’t decide to enter Hellas Rally, the biggest cross-country roadbook navigation rally in Europe because I’m an expert rider or because I have a shiny KTM. Quite the contrary. It all began when I chased Rally Dakar in January this year; after one of the early stages, I pestered Nathan Rafferty, a U.S. privateer, for a short interview. By then, I was already so fascinated with the Dakar riders that I found myself wondering, once again, what did these people know that I, a mere mortal adventurer, didn’t? As if guessing my thoughts, Nathan casually mentioned, “Hey, maybe you should enter a rally yourself, you know? A smaller, easier one, just to get a taste.”

Two months later, I was loading Lucy, my DR650, on a container ship in Chile bound for Europe. By some amusing twist of fate, I got invited to race the Hellas Rally in Greece and, although I was absolutely terrified, I knew I had to give it a go.

Hellas Rally Raid is a seven-day roadbook navigation rally that takes place in the mountains of Greece. There’s plenty of technical riding, demanding terrain, tricky roadbook navigation, and jaw-dropping scenery. But the best thing about Hellas is that it isn’t just aimed at the pros. It has