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Jun. 3rd, 2006 11:00 pmToday we rode hundreds of kilometers on the autobahn. It's amazing how fast you can go out there, and how good the drivers are about the whole "slower drivers please keep right" thing. The group stayed together pretty well, but they were all over the lane, which made it hard to stay together. It seemed to me that Igor was leading from the center of the lane, and this was confusing the people behind him, and causing them to wander side to side at random. At one of the stops, I gave a little lecture on staggered formation, and stressed the importance of picking a side and staying there, even if the people in front of you have poor discipline, because the people behind you depend on it. After that it was better, and by the time we left the autobahn people seemed to be riding together much more comfortably.
Oded (aka Elvis) met us at one of the gas stops on the autobahn. So by the time we hit the local roads, we were eight riders. Elvis is from Israel but he lives in Dresden.
As we left the autobahn, we also left the sunshine. The sky looked ominous, and it started to spit the occasional raindrop. We pulled over at the side of the road, about a mile from the autobahn, and put on our rainsuits.
Robert's DL1000 had been TEKA-tuned and was getting poor gas mileage, and he was concerned about running out of gas. He spoke to Igor and it was decided that we would return to the autobahn, and get gas at the station that was at the exit. This station was set up for access from the autobahn side, not so much for local road access, so it was tough to get in there. Eventually we all ended up running the wrong way up the drive to get into the station, yikes! But we did get in, and got gas, and got out again.
We came to a small town and the road was blocked, a sign said there was a detour, but bikes were allowed. I wondered if there was a road partially blocked by construction or something? Nope. Turned out this town was having a motorcycle rally. We rode right through the midst of a lot of cruisers and biker-lifestyle people. I saw one cool looking customized bike, someone had done a sportsbike up to look like it was covered in plate mail. Unfortunately I didn't get a close enough look to see what bike was under there, or get a picture.
A little while later, we pulled into another gas station, even though we didn't need gas yet. This turned out to be the meeting spot where we would find Jordi, the ninth member of our group. Jordi is from Catalan, in Spain. He once had a 2004 V-Strom that he loved, but for some reason he traded it in on a 2006 model that gave him nothing but trouble. In the end he gave up and got a BMW 1200GS instead. There was much teasing and joking about how we would make him ride at the back and we'd pretend not to know him.
By this time, we could see beautiful mountains, through the hazy drizzle and low clouds. The original plan had been to go over Grossglockner Pass, but it was closed due to snow because it is so high. Igor led us along an alternate route; we would cross a lower pass. But not enough lower. The rain intensified and the weather got colder as we moved into higher altitudes. At one of the stops I put on my electric jacket, and I was glad that my loaner bike had grip heaters. When I saw a snowplow coming towards us, and it had snow stuck to the plow, I knew we were in trouble. Soon the road started to get slushy, then turned white with snow. The group did not stop, but we slowed to a first gear crawl, and lengthened the distance between riders. I was careful not to apply my brakes, not even a little bit. We passed some local guys sitting on a tractor by the side of the road, and they cheered and waved. It was hard to see; snow was sticking to my visor. It was nervewracking! Fortunately it looked like we were at the summit; the road didn't go any higher. After what seems an eternity but was probaly only ten minutes, the road descended enough that the snow turned back into rain, and the air got warmer again. Ten or twenty miles down the road, the rain stopped, at least briefly, and the group stopped at a roadside gas station with an attached store and cafe. We sat outside and drank coffee and tea.
S said his feet were soaked. I suggested he change his socks and put plastic bags over them, that his feet would be warmer that way and he'd feel better. The people in the store didn't have much English but I managed to get some bags anyway.
The road continued to wind through the mountains and we crossed into Slovenia. After the border crossing, Igor telephoned our host for that evening, and he and his wife drove up to meet us. They led us into Kranjska Gora, where we would be spending the night. Kranjska Gora is a ski resort town, so this is the off season. There weren't very many people there. Igor had arranged for us to have two apartments in a building that was built for the ski touring trade. The apartments had one large bedroom with a twin bed and a double bed, and a common room with a fold out couch. I shared a bedroom with Irene and Trond.
Our local hosts (whose names I didn't catch) gave us shots of blueberry schnapps that had the berries floating in it. It was fiery but tasty. This turned out to be a pattern; every place we stayed, it was required that we drink schnapps, and people were very upset if we refused.
We all went to dinner in a local restaurant. Since we didn't speak the language, they ordered for us. We had mixed meats. This also turned out to be a pattern. It seems that "mixed meats" is the specialty for most restaurants in that part of the world. You get a huge platter with five or six different kinds of meats, on a bed of greens, french fries, and rice, with a few dollops of some special sauces you might want to put on the meats. This is shared between several people. There's also a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, maybe some coleslaw, and a thick layer of feta cheese on top. This was accompanied by lots and lots of beers.
All this is very inexpensive in that part of the world. During the twelve days our group was together, the cost was only EU$300 apiece. That's about US$380. It included the lodging, all the meals, all the drinks, the tolls, etc. It did not include the gasoline for the bikes. I'm not even sure what that cost, but it was high by USA standards. I'll find out when the credit card bill arrives.
Oded (aka Elvis) met us at one of the gas stops on the autobahn. So by the time we hit the local roads, we were eight riders. Elvis is from Israel but he lives in Dresden.
As we left the autobahn, we also left the sunshine. The sky looked ominous, and it started to spit the occasional raindrop. We pulled over at the side of the road, about a mile from the autobahn, and put on our rainsuits.
Robert's DL1000 had been TEKA-tuned and was getting poor gas mileage, and he was concerned about running out of gas. He spoke to Igor and it was decided that we would return to the autobahn, and get gas at the station that was at the exit. This station was set up for access from the autobahn side, not so much for local road access, so it was tough to get in there. Eventually we all ended up running the wrong way up the drive to get into the station, yikes! But we did get in, and got gas, and got out again.
We came to a small town and the road was blocked, a sign said there was a detour, but bikes were allowed. I wondered if there was a road partially blocked by construction or something? Nope. Turned out this town was having a motorcycle rally. We rode right through the midst of a lot of cruisers and biker-lifestyle people. I saw one cool looking customized bike, someone had done a sportsbike up to look like it was covered in plate mail. Unfortunately I didn't get a close enough look to see what bike was under there, or get a picture.
A little while later, we pulled into another gas station, even though we didn't need gas yet. This turned out to be the meeting spot where we would find Jordi, the ninth member of our group. Jordi is from Catalan, in Spain. He once had a 2004 V-Strom that he loved, but for some reason he traded it in on a 2006 model that gave him nothing but trouble. In the end he gave up and got a BMW 1200GS instead. There was much teasing and joking about how we would make him ride at the back and we'd pretend not to know him.
By this time, we could see beautiful mountains, through the hazy drizzle and low clouds. The original plan had been to go over Grossglockner Pass, but it was closed due to snow because it is so high. Igor led us along an alternate route; we would cross a lower pass. But not enough lower. The rain intensified and the weather got colder as we moved into higher altitudes. At one of the stops I put on my electric jacket, and I was glad that my loaner bike had grip heaters. When I saw a snowplow coming towards us, and it had snow stuck to the plow, I knew we were in trouble. Soon the road started to get slushy, then turned white with snow. The group did not stop, but we slowed to a first gear crawl, and lengthened the distance between riders. I was careful not to apply my brakes, not even a little bit. We passed some local guys sitting on a tractor by the side of the road, and they cheered and waved. It was hard to see; snow was sticking to my visor. It was nervewracking! Fortunately it looked like we were at the summit; the road didn't go any higher. After what seems an eternity but was probaly only ten minutes, the road descended enough that the snow turned back into rain, and the air got warmer again. Ten or twenty miles down the road, the rain stopped, at least briefly, and the group stopped at a roadside gas station with an attached store and cafe. We sat outside and drank coffee and tea.
S said his feet were soaked. I suggested he change his socks and put plastic bags over them, that his feet would be warmer that way and he'd feel better. The people in the store didn't have much English but I managed to get some bags anyway.
The road continued to wind through the mountains and we crossed into Slovenia. After the border crossing, Igor telephoned our host for that evening, and he and his wife drove up to meet us. They led us into Kranjska Gora, where we would be spending the night. Kranjska Gora is a ski resort town, so this is the off season. There weren't very many people there. Igor had arranged for us to have two apartments in a building that was built for the ski touring trade. The apartments had one large bedroom with a twin bed and a double bed, and a common room with a fold out couch. I shared a bedroom with Irene and Trond.
Our local hosts (whose names I didn't catch) gave us shots of blueberry schnapps that had the berries floating in it. It was fiery but tasty. This turned out to be a pattern; every place we stayed, it was required that we drink schnapps, and people were very upset if we refused.
We all went to dinner in a local restaurant. Since we didn't speak the language, they ordered for us. We had mixed meats. This also turned out to be a pattern. It seems that "mixed meats" is the specialty for most restaurants in that part of the world. You get a huge platter with five or six different kinds of meats, on a bed of greens, french fries, and rice, with a few dollops of some special sauces you might want to put on the meats. This is shared between several people. There's also a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, maybe some coleslaw, and a thick layer of feta cheese on top. This was accompanied by lots and lots of beers.
All this is very inexpensive in that part of the world. During the twelve days our group was together, the cost was only EU$300 apiece. That's about US$380. It included the lodging, all the meals, all the drinks, the tolls, etc. It did not include the gasoline for the bikes. I'm not even sure what that cost, but it was high by USA standards. I'll find out when the credit card bill arrives.
