On Day 1, riding the ?Goat Road? (A-4050) through Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama Natural Park on our way to Granada.

Every international motorcycle tour is special, but none is as memorable as your first one. For my wife, Carrie, and me, our first international tour was in 2010 ? a two-week tour of Spain and Portugal with IMTBike, a motorcycle tour and rental company based in Spain with office locations in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Málaga, and Lisbon, Portugal.

Carrie and I have had the good fortune to go on many international motorcycle tours together. Riding two-up, mostly on a big BMW GS, we?ve explored a dozen countries in Europe, as well as Canada and Ecuador. We got engaged at the top of Stelvio Pass in the Alps and spent our honeymoon on a tour in Norway. But for that first tour, our guides were Scott Moreno, IMTBike?s founder and CEO, and ?Super? Chano Lorenzo, IMTBike?s longest serving guide, who?s been with the company since 1998.
Related: Scott Moreno: Ep. 30 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast

Like old friends, Scott and Chano shared their unabashed love and deep knowledge of Spain and Portugal with everyone in our group, treating each one of us as special and taking time to get to know us so they could tailor the tour experience to our particular needs or desires.

Chano is part toro.

Wake-Up Call

Of all the tours Carrie and I have been on, our most embarrassing moment happened on Day 1 of that first tour in 2010 ? before we had even got...