Touratech Presentation Series
Twelve days on rented BMWs through central Cuba, where the route is simple and everything else is improvised.
Cuba stripped away every backup system we normally trust. The trip became a test of what still works.
The Riders
Adventure motorcyclist - Boeing Engineer - Ski Patroller - Search & Rescue.
Don rides for real-world problem solving: remote terrain, imperfect information, and decisions that have to be made before everything is clear.
Cuba fit that pattern. It rewarded preparation, but only when preparation was flexible enough to survive contact with the road.
Tech Entrepreneur - Adventure Motorcyclist
Justin rides for the experience more than the itinerary: unfamiliar places, unpredictable conditions, and the work of figuring things out on the fly.
For this trip, that mindset mattered as much as the motorcycles. The plan was useful. Adaptability was essential.
Route
A central Cuba loop where each leg tested a different kind of backup plan.
Why Cuba
Havana
Casas particulares kept the trip local, legal, and personal.
Inventa is the practical philosophy: nothing is discarded if it can become a part.
The Cuban game is friendship, stories, and maybe a larger bar tab than planned.
Money
Two exchange rates. No U.S. cards. Every choice started with what cash could solve.
Day 3
Three days in 1961 still shape how this coastline is remembered.
Playa Larga / Playa Giron
Days 5-6
Deep enough that horses almost had to pull a bike out. Nothing a Cuba libre could not fix.
Day 7
One of the oldest Spanish colonial cities in the Americas. Casas particulares above the plaza. People very happy underground.
Road Stories
After 1959 the state nationalized cattle. Milk and beef mattered so much that unauthorized slaughter could bring severe penalties.
So people got creative: if a cow died by accident, the meat could sometimes be handled legally.
Inventa, again: a train track can become a legal argument.
The gallery