Viva la españa - 10 day tour
Discussion
So from the bottom of Spain riding in 35+ degrees, going through Monaco and riding part of the track (Bit of advise its very expensive here and busy) we then did our final perving for the day
We need rode through Italy and due to a very journey errors ended up spending very little time here and going straight onto Switzerland
Hours of riding through rural towns then views like this heading for the mountains
That day was quite possibly the hardest day for me. We planned everything so well and the next one Id do very little different for preparation except the miles per day. Id like to think my butt has taken quite a pounding over the years (From biking - poor humor intended) however we all agreed 230-250 miles a day needs to be the max
We were always high 300's and on this day we cracked over 400. I just hurt from that.
We need rode through Italy and due to a very journey errors ended up spending very little time here and going straight onto Switzerland
Hours of riding through rural towns then views like this heading for the mountains
That day was quite possibly the hardest day for me. We planned everything so well and the next one Id do very little different for preparation except the miles per day. Id like to think my butt has taken quite a pounding over the years (From biking - poor humor intended) however we all agreed 230-250 miles a day needs to be the max
We were always high 300's and on this day we cracked over 400. I just hurt from that.
Fortunately the next couple days more than made up for it. Riding over 7100 feet up as the sun set with weather dropping to 3 degrees Celsius having just been only that morning and lunch at 35+ degrees was surreal
Some of the roads and twisties were amazing and the views again are such a great memory for me. Most are with mates and nobody wants to to my ugly chops so you can get an idea from this (and yes my red light is on I had a servo issue)
I would have to say the scenery and buildings in Switzerland out of the whole trip are the most beautiful to look at. There were quite a few bike type restaurants that would have a full size bike outside like this
We kept riding upto the top getting a few pics along the way while slowly freezing ourselves
I slipped off here while trying to climb down and learnt quick that snow and leathers make a very slippery combo!
Some of the roads and twisties were amazing and the views again are such a great memory for me. Most are with mates and nobody wants to to my ugly chops so you can get an idea from this (and yes my red light is on I had a servo issue)
I would have to say the scenery and buildings in Switzerland out of the whole trip are the most beautiful to look at. There were quite a few bike type restaurants that would have a full size bike outside like this
We kept riding upto the top getting a few pics along the way while slowly freezing ourselves
I slipped off here while trying to climb down and learnt quick that snow and leathers make a very slippery combo!
The next morning having recovered from all that riding it was nice to Switzerland in the morning and wake up to again great scenary
I had to say a quick hello and got a mate to try and touch the electric fence...he's quite dense at times but he didn't on this occasion
https://youtu.be/9EcT6HCLG34
We then went for some local breakfast. Given the area nobody spoke any English but fortunately someone retired with the wife picked up on our London/Essex twang and helped out. It made me laugh how every building was all old wood and very christmas looking then you'd have a bike shop plonked in the middle. I see this and 2 Honda shops exactly the same along route.
As my mate slid off the fatbird 'blackbird' a couple days earlier it managed to pop the headlight and rear brake light (Probably due to its half tonne weight) and they were more than happy to help for the equivalent £6.50
For lunch I had essentially expensive cheese on toast although they called it something different. It was a great meal none the less with several meat platters but its expensive in Switzerland. Opposite to me while eating was this very industrial looking building with a face on it. No real relevance but I thought it was worth taking a picture
We headed towards Germany and see this, I found it so funny that I got the blackbird mate (he plays on the campness with me a fair bit) and got a picture. I made it clear I was the 'giver' and so went on the mans side
Oh and I saved a bird...Im good like that
I had to say a quick hello and got a mate to try and touch the electric fence...he's quite dense at times but he didn't on this occasion
https://youtu.be/9EcT6HCLG34
We then went for some local breakfast. Given the area nobody spoke any English but fortunately someone retired with the wife picked up on our London/Essex twang and helped out. It made me laugh how every building was all old wood and very christmas looking then you'd have a bike shop plonked in the middle. I see this and 2 Honda shops exactly the same along route.
As my mate slid off the fatbird 'blackbird' a couple days earlier it managed to pop the headlight and rear brake light (Probably due to its half tonne weight) and they were more than happy to help for the equivalent £6.50
For lunch I had essentially expensive cheese on toast although they called it something different. It was a great meal none the less with several meat platters but its expensive in Switzerland. Opposite to me while eating was this very industrial looking building with a face on it. No real relevance but I thought it was worth taking a picture
We headed towards Germany and see this, I found it so funny that I got the blackbird mate (he plays on the campness with me a fair bit) and got a picture. I made it clear I was the 'giver' and so went on the mans side
Oh and I saved a bird...Im good like that
So the final day we rode to Nurburgring as one of our lot had never been. On the way from Switzerland we did the B500...wow...simply wow!
The BEST roads I have ever ridden. There was a sign before each corner showing a bike and what (to me) looked like a knee down on each corner, so I did and only later while having lunch one of the others while calling me a d*ck said it was a warning for accidents that occur. Im sticking with my knee down corner sign instead and thoroughly enjoyed that
Germany for me has the best roads I have ever ridden in terms of quality, grip and nice sweepy knee down topbox w*nker stuff. I would put Spain a close second on the roads they could be bothered to finish as they were just as good although quite fast in places.
We all said we wouldn't do a lap except the one mate who hadn't been before as all of us had sports touring tyres right at the end of their life and pumped up 36psi+ rear with not much less front.
The amazing Roy & Kim who I met from here last year yet again gave amazing hospitality and a birthday treat for the 'old boy' of my group who I have ridden with for 20 years. He's officially 60 in August but I think I let him know he's basically a pensioner 100+ times
Now Roy knows I like a very crude sticker and have managed to get his very nice custom Ducati twice...but this time it was my turn. May I say I kept that on for the rest of the trip including my YMCA bum bag and road with pride
It didnt take me much convincing to get a cheeky lap in but I was much more apprehensive this time. It had rained overnight and although the track was dry it plays on your mind having ridden some damp roads (it actually started to spit a bit mid way through the lap). I took the 45lt top box off, ignored the servo exhaust error that made my bike ride like an old school turbo with nothing then a huge hit of power and set off quite gingerly...and no I couldn't be bothered to do the pressures either
https://youtu.be/vAsn3EYHYOs
For 30 euros it was worth it. I came back with a smile and felt good knowing I got a lap before home time. Very much cruised in places though so its not a great watch although the v4 sounds good in this
I pulled in and had a very stern and quite yummy German lady tell me off for being too loud...I flirted a bit and got about 5 selfies with her although she wouldn't let me keep the picture taken where I pinged the sound meter
One of the lot then stuck this in my exhaust and being a child I gave it a rev (Yes it was louder)
We all did a lap with Billy (Nurburgring Biker Blog on FB) in his BMW. That was fun although a little after we left he snapped the timing chain/belt
I dont know why he's holding his groin - he's probably just nervous around me
And we finished with a quick selfie
From there with went for one more quick stop to Rotterdam before getting on the ferry and getting very drunk, trying to sleep it off before work the next morning
And thats my trip...
The BEST roads I have ever ridden. There was a sign before each corner showing a bike and what (to me) looked like a knee down on each corner, so I did and only later while having lunch one of the others while calling me a d*ck said it was a warning for accidents that occur. Im sticking with my knee down corner sign instead and thoroughly enjoyed that
Germany for me has the best roads I have ever ridden in terms of quality, grip and nice sweepy knee down topbox w*nker stuff. I would put Spain a close second on the roads they could be bothered to finish as they were just as good although quite fast in places.
We all said we wouldn't do a lap except the one mate who hadn't been before as all of us had sports touring tyres right at the end of their life and pumped up 36psi+ rear with not much less front.
The amazing Roy & Kim who I met from here last year yet again gave amazing hospitality and a birthday treat for the 'old boy' of my group who I have ridden with for 20 years. He's officially 60 in August but I think I let him know he's basically a pensioner 100+ times
Now Roy knows I like a very crude sticker and have managed to get his very nice custom Ducati twice...but this time it was my turn. May I say I kept that on for the rest of the trip including my YMCA bum bag and road with pride
It didnt take me much convincing to get a cheeky lap in but I was much more apprehensive this time. It had rained overnight and although the track was dry it plays on your mind having ridden some damp roads (it actually started to spit a bit mid way through the lap). I took the 45lt top box off, ignored the servo exhaust error that made my bike ride like an old school turbo with nothing then a huge hit of power and set off quite gingerly...and no I couldn't be bothered to do the pressures either
https://youtu.be/vAsn3EYHYOs
For 30 euros it was worth it. I came back with a smile and felt good knowing I got a lap before home time. Very much cruised in places though so its not a great watch although the v4 sounds good in this
I pulled in and had a very stern and quite yummy German lady tell me off for being too loud...I flirted a bit and got about 5 selfies with her although she wouldn't let me keep the picture taken where I pinged the sound meter
One of the lot then stuck this in my exhaust and being a child I gave it a rev (Yes it was louder)
We all did a lap with Billy (Nurburgring Biker Blog on FB) in his BMW. That was fun although a little after we left he snapped the timing chain/belt
I dont know why he's holding his groin - he's probably just nervous around me
And we finished with a quick selfie
From there with went for one more quick stop to Rotterdam before getting on the ferry and getting very drunk, trying to sleep it off before work the next morning
And thats my trip...
PIGINAWIG said:
Told you the B500 was good! We did it 8 times last week. It’s even more mental once you’ve learnt it. Great write up Dean.
They really are. I got onto it more by luck and didn't realise until I got to the bottom and see the B500 sign. Thing is so many of the B roads are good you end up flowing round loads of ithttps://youtu.be/gogvz_NBPXo
That's all I got unfortunately
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff