The project
Diário de Motocicleta
In ten years, over 1,000 articles were published on my website, many of which were directly written on the road, to detail over 150 destinations
One year short of travelling, I started sharing our small adventures, with tips on destinations, maps, hotels and many tourist attractions.
In ten years, over 1,000 articles were published on my website, many of which were directly written on the road, to detail over 150 destinations between 13 countries, in South America, Europe, Africa, and - obviously - Brazil, which we explored thoroughly through many short trips and five grand tours across it.
The website was entrusted a mission, I then took up as my own:
“Educating, spreading and promoting Moto-Touring and Adventure.”
If the freedom of choosing a destination and setting off, if the wind on my face makes me smile and feel good, why shouldn’t it have the same effect on many other friends?
When we created the website, Elda and I moved together to São Paulo (Brazil), decided to pension off the old Yamaha Virago 250cc, and bought a Honda Shadow 600cc together.
Oh boy, did my life become simpler!
With this motorcycle, we gained the confidence to explore destinations farther than the usual 500 km we used to ride with the 250cc. We began exploring destinations such as Paraty, in the Rio de Janeiro State, the historical towns in the Minas Gerais region, the iconic Serra do Rio do Rastro, and many other incredible places, with a little more comfort, autonomy and power.
Nevertheless, it was not all fun and games.
Despite being a journalist, I worked in the IT development sector, and to that kind of customers, Saturdays, holidays and Mondays make no difference.
Sometimes work kept me off the streets, and I was often happy to work overtime. I worked as a project manager in a start-up company, and supervised a team of 10 people in the development of a social media platform, until the customer abandoned the project, and the company closed overnight.
I hadn’t taken a leave in eight years while I worked. I lived from one weekend to the next, with very few holidays and a lot of work from home. But I wasn’t dead yet! In the few free moments I had, I dreamt about being free.
I dreamt about getting on the motorcycle, travelling, exploring, learning, and enjoying the gift of being alive.
And now that I had finally all the time in the world, I had no money.
Just like every problem requires a solution, I undertook a path I had in mind for quite some time, and I turned it into a project.
My plan was setting off from Santos, on São Paulo’s coast, and travelling north up to Salvador, in Bahia, crossing the Minas Gerais hinterland, and getting back south along the coast.
What was the secret for attracting a few partners?
For the first time ever, I would publish the reports on the Diário de Motocicleta website directly while on the road. I was committed to write an article on how the travelling day had been, or about tourist attractions, every day, as soon as I got to the hotel.
The partner company logo would be included at the bottom of every article, with a link to their website or social media page, and would remain there forever.
With this project in mind, I visited many motorcycle gear stores, and obtained 75% of the budget I needed for my trip. And so I set off, with Elda on the back seat of the Shadow 600cc.
The trip was a complete success - except for the fact that I chose the rain season in north-eastern Brazil.
At that time, I thought the best time to travel was when you had time and money.
Despite the rain, my posts significantly increased the number of readers on my website, going from around 2,000 visitors to over 9,000 in just a few weeks. Among them, there was a very special person: the Salone Duas Rodas Marketing Manager, which, back then, was one of the biggest motorcycling events in the Americas.
He liked my publishing work and, in 2011, they offered me a contract, which consisted in an (international) motorcycle trip, during which I would publish daily articles on both my website and theirs.
When I would get back to São Paulo, my motorcycle - with the road grime still on it - would be displayed in a stand for the entire event duration.
I accepted the challenge and submitted a project I had been working on for years, without ever thinking of doing it on a motorcycle, given its complexity.
The tour name was “Caminho do Peabiru” – an ancient Inca trail that connected the coast of Peru to the coast of São Paulo, in Brazil...
