“We’re not going to be heroes”

For as far as he can remember, Vasileios Boudros has always been in or around a bike workshop, on or around a motorbike. His grandfather was specialised in BMW spare parts. His parents met in his grandfather’s workshop. He grew up just outside of Athens playing with spark plugs and oil. And then came the riding from the young age of 8 on his mum’s scooter and later on a motorcycle his grandpa gave him when he was 12. That eventually took him to off-road racing and when he first competed in a rally, all he had in mind was the Dakar. In his late thirty’s and before turning forty he decided to gift himself with a participation to the World’s toughest rally. An experience that gave him mixed feelings with bad memories like the long hours on liaison sections and the amazing ones in the dunes, discovering wadis and people that he would have never imagined meeting. The decision to come back after managing to finish the 2022 edition (70th) came from a discussion with his best friend telling him that he would never dare doing it the hard way: the Original by Motul way with absolutely no assistance. Vasileios is a man of challenges, it’s what fuels him. Founder and owner of Enduro Greece, a motorbike tour operator, he certainly knows how to deal with the mechanical aspect, he now has to focus on himself and the fatigue that comes with such a challenge. He’s also doing it because he deeply thinks one has to enjoy life and that’s what he tries to teach the kids he mentors in his bike school.

“I’ve always been involved in bikes thanks to my grandpa first of all. When I started racing in 2007, the bug bit and the Dakar was always a dream. It was that “woww” thing. The one you have to do. My first Dakar in 2022 was a diverse experience with highs and lows. It was full of emotions. I never expected what I witnessed and meeting so many people with the same passion. I did rookie mistakes of course and I learned not to make the same navigation mistakes and not to trust the others. Now with the malle-moto (Original by Motul) challenge, you need to be responsible for yourself. I’m not concerned about the mechanical side. I have twenty bikes back home on which I work all the time. It’s the fatigue that will be the concern. You have to be a bit crazy or stupid to do it in Original by Motul. I now need to get prepared, go to the gym, stop eating junk food and loose some kilos. I know we’re not going to be heroes, I just want to do it for that feeling of survival and adventure.”