Originally Posted by todderz
(Post 614985)
I used to come by here several times a day.
I've been absent for far too long.
I've come back in recent weeks and have been hit with massive waves of painful nostalgia upon seeing how things have changed and realising how much time has passed.
This place was essential to me when planning my RTW trip, and even more so when my bike snapped in Russia. It was thanks to people on here that I found help in Khabarovsk and was able to continue my journey, and that was something so enormous in my life that I will always feel indebted to HU and all the HUBBers who helped me.
That was 11 years ago.
I don't know where all the time has gone.
A severe traumatic brain injury a year after I returned from my RTW trip changed my life even more than my RTW trip did. I had to learn to walk and talk again, and although I was incredibly lucky to recover from "normally unsurvivable" injuries and quite quickly get back to riding, it put plans for another big bike trip to the back of my mind.
Fast forward.
I find myself unable to work or travel due to COVID and I have a garage for the first time. It was finally time to try restoring and rebuilding my XT600.
It was always on the todo list but I never got to it, and somehow ELEVEN YEARS happened.
Eleven years!!
My bike was 7 years old when it took me RTW. Back then, the Yamaha Tech Forum was buzzing. Lots of people were using the XT, lots were talking about it.
All of a sudden, my bike is 18. You can't get parts. Nobody is talking about them on the forum.
In 2009 when I went RTW, the XT was a popular choice. Working on my bike again in 2020 it feels like picking up right where I left off, but it's not where I left off. The world kept moving for 11 years.
I put the HUBB down 11 years ago and picked it up thinking it would be just how I left it. A buzzing hive of people planning trips and talking about Yamahas, with half a dozen XT experts instantly answering any enquiry.
The contrast between how things are now and how it was in my head.... It's like when you meet an old friend or relation for the first time in a decade and you're shocked by how different they look. Wow, you suddenly look so old. It wasn't sudden to them, but it is to you.
For the past few months I've been writing a book about my RTW trip, after years of trying to piece together my broken memory to be able to do it justice, and so 2009 HUBB was fresh in my mind.
When I saw a post from "Touring Ted" I thought oh wow Touring Ted just like the old days, but it sadly isn't the old days.
I'm glad there's still life and activity here in other areas, even if the XT600 is a forgotten relic, but the realisation of how long it's been since my big trip is hitting me hard.
And Facebook. What? Never expected that.
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