7000 miles, 5 weeks, one rider, one bike, one Europe.
Discussion
Loving this DG, especially the pics of the Picos!
6yrs ago my biking crew did a very similar trip down through France, across the Pyrenees nor Lourdes, down into Spain, west into Portugal, all the way up the coast to Gijon in Northern Spain. Our last day was to be riding the Picos, but one of the guys on an identical VFR800 to mine suffered reg/rec failure on his bike just before we were due to head there.
It being a Sunday nowhere was open, but we found a kindly rural bike shop/garage who sold us the battery from a used Fireblade they had for sale. We were able to run a system of charging 3 batteries on my bike, stopping every hour to swap a charged one off it onto the non-charging other bike, which would run until that battery was flat. We got our pit stops down to 90 seconds in blazing heat, but the executive decision was taken to abandon the Picos and head straight for the ferry in Bilbao. We all promised to go back one day but have yet to be able to get a week in the diary that we can all make. I need to put that right!
6yrs ago my biking crew did a very similar trip down through France, across the Pyrenees nor Lourdes, down into Spain, west into Portugal, all the way up the coast to Gijon in Northern Spain. Our last day was to be riding the Picos, but one of the guys on an identical VFR800 to mine suffered reg/rec failure on his bike just before we were due to head there.
It being a Sunday nowhere was open, but we found a kindly rural bike shop/garage who sold us the battery from a used Fireblade they had for sale. We were able to run a system of charging 3 batteries on my bike, stopping every hour to swap a charged one off it onto the non-charging other bike, which would run until that battery was flat. We got our pit stops down to 90 seconds in blazing heat, but the executive decision was taken to abandon the Picos and head straight for the ferry in Bilbao. We all promised to go back one day but have yet to be able to get a week in the diary that we can all make. I need to put that right!
briliant
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2Btoo said:
This thread is making me very tempted to quit my job and do some kind of motorbike driving test. How hard is it?
You don't have to quit your job to get the license, just do an all in one training/license course - however you might need an understanding boss when you ask for a chunk of time off for a bike trip though! 
I used to fix this issue by not taking the p*ss and just asking for 3 weeks back to back a year for the Euro bike trips I used to do each year. Last trip sadly was 2012 - miss it but have family now so currently not possible.
My heart has been sinking rapidly as I approach the last page of posts to this thread, knowing that the conclusion I was looking for was less and less likely to be there.
Great thread, great writing. Great story. But you've abandoned us DG. You can't leave us out here like this.
I hope all is well and you one day find the time to finish what you've started here – if you can still remember of course!
Great thread, great writing. Great story. But you've abandoned us DG. You can't leave us out here like this.
I hope all is well and you one day find the time to finish what you've started here – if you can still remember of course!
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