When Riding Became Simply Riding Again: An Unforgettable Morning with Emmalee

Some people travel to discover new places.

Others travel to truly understand them.

When Emmalee arrived in Valencia, she had already been living a lifestyle that, honestly, many of us would envy. Thanks to her work as a civil engineer, she could work remotely from anywhere in the world, moving from one city to another while continuing her career and discovering new places.

During one of those stays in Valencia, she found Toro Biker online and booked a simple experience: a guided half-day motorcycle ride through the inland roads of the province.

Neither of us imagined that we would end up sharing much more than a road.

From the very beginning, her personality caught my attention. Calm, incredibly polite, curious, and with that rare ability to observe everything without ever drawing attention to herself.

And of course... being a civil engineer, there was one part of the route I knew she would especially enjoy.

The dams.

Both the Benagéber Dam and the Cortes de Pallás Dam immediately sparked her curiosity. We talked about their construction, how they work and one of those fascinating details that surprises almost everyone: the huge pipes used to pump water back uphill whenever excess energy is available, storing it for the moments when it's needed again.

Watching someone with technical knowledge enjoy those explanations made me rediscover places I regularly ride through.

Midway through the morning we stopped at Bar Emiliano in Cortes de Pallás.

Fresh salads, soft drinks, the inevitable cremaets... and a conversation that turned out to be just as enjoyable as the ride itself.

She told me about the cities she had lived in, the places she still dreamed of calling home, and the lifestyle that allowed her to turn almost any corner of the world into her office.

Meanwhile, I couldn't help imagining that one day she might take part in a major engineering project somewhere on the other side of the planet. I may never know if that happens, but I like to think that, for a few hours, those dams became part of that story too.

After recording the traditional souvenir video, we headed back to the Toro Biker office.

She returned the riding gear, we opened a couple of beers and kept chatting for quite a while.

She had arrived that morning by metro to Paterna, where I picked her up, but when it was time to head back I told her to forget about public transport.

The motorcycle had brought us there.

It would take her home too.

The following day I asked her, as I do with all our guests, if she would mind leaving us a review.

She did.

And to this day, it remains one of the reviews I remember the most.

Not only because of her kind words, but because of one reflection I had never seen expressed in quite that way.

She said that one of the things she had enjoyed most was not having to constantly look at a GPS screen.

No planning routes.

No searching for fuel stations.

No deciding where to stop for lunch.

No worrying about anything.

Simply following the motorcycle ahead and focusing all her attention on what she had really come to do.

Ride.

I have to admit that sentence made me think.

Until then, I had always believed that my job was to design great motorcycle routes.

That day I realised that perhaps my real job was much simpler.

To make sure that, for a few hours, my guests only had to do one thing.

Ride.

No screens.

No rush.

Just ride.

And honestly, I still believe that's one of the greatest luxuries a guided motorcycle tour can offer.

Thank you for everything, Emmalee. I hope that if you ever come back to Valencia, we can ride together again.

There's still so much left to discover.