Great story, Mountain Man, hope she was worth it!!

Nice stories people. All well 'ard youse!

I rode from Liverpool to Munich and back again, 2-up, tent, clothes and sleeping bags - 1977 Vespa Rally 200. Mind you, it took us 10 days. We rebuilt her in my mate's front garden, in the dark, the night before we left. We got pulled over on the motorway with no lights weaving about in a cross wind. The rozzers didn't like the fact that my pal was on a provisional licence with no L-plates, so made me ride for the first time in 4 years. As dawn broke we realised the steering bearings were falling apart. We pushed her to Luton High Street and dismantled and repaired everything on a Saturday afternoon. Later, a huge nut securing the front damper unit fell off on the ferry ramp, disappearing into the brine. After sleeping on a wooden bench in the port, the fly-wheel flew off in Luxembourg and we both fell off on the autobahn following a blow-out. Oh yeah, after trying to sleep under a collapsed tent in a French lay-by, (the tarmac bit), in the torrential rain, we swapped shelter for the underside of a lorry.

Suffice to say, I'm not that tough anymore. Memories I'll treasure 'til the grave, though.

I dont know about tough,,, how about stupid.

Friday, I took my transalp, with just 569 miles on the clock out for a 3 mile trip to check my tyre pressures and then was going to go on for a small rideout of about only 30 miles. i wanted to do this to get my mileage nearer to the 600 mile mark for my first service next week.

At the air pumps in the garage, I manoeuvred the bike to get to the valves and pushed it off its stand. It fell on to the kerb, shattering the fairing and the Radiator.

I had a two hour wait for the recovery truck and then dropped it off at my dealers house as it was now getting on for 7 o'clock. I called to the dealer yesterday and was met with a £396.00 cost for repairs.. These will be carried out this week.

I will never, ever move my bike from the 'wrong side' while it is on the stand again.

If it was not for the bloody kerb I would have just scratched my fairing !

You live and learn in this life, but most mistakes are expensive

Lee:funmeterno:

Thought this thread might throw up some nice stories! I like your story Stretcher Monkey, most of my best/stupidest stories are behind me I guess, but the years of youth definately supply a few, eh?!

Matt :)

Hopefully the bestest/stupidest is behind me too, but I'm not holding my breath - there's always my FARC story to come. But, (in my case), I think a liberated lifestyle following a repressed childhood/youth was dangerous. I can't believe I'm still here to tap this out today, frankly. And they say Colombia is dangerous - hah!!

Forget the other claims - this one wins it all! Great bike, the most successful ever made....

Also, I am in awe of you guys - I spend a lot of time avoiding long trips, and planning where to stop to make the trip pleasurable...I've done more, but my ideal is 300 miles-ish a day, MAX. Then its tent out, wine bottle out, and hey ho relax!

I ate four Shredded Wheat this morning....

But seriously I'm in awe of you guys riding that far (is it awe or wonderment at the stupidity?) The furthest I can claim is Darwin to Perth via Adelaide, with stops only for fuel, coffee and bathrooms. But we were three up in a Holden HQ Stationwagon, so could sleep for hours in the back. My applause went to the car though.

I'm with Caminando on this one. I used to get up at 5.00 am, do a half day at uni, ride 200 miles London-Leeds in a snowstorm on a 300cc MZ, go out clubing until 3 am then get a bit of sleep and ride back in time for kick-off at London Irish. :mchappy:

A year or fourteen later, I'm the bloke holding a G&T at 7.00 pm or I'll want to know why!

Andy

On my fourth date with a woman I was really coming to like, we both found ourselves flying from the US to Italy for my cousins wedding. Her father is best friends with my uncle- the father of the groom. Well since we were in northern Italy, my brother and I decided to rent Ducatis for three days. His wife on the back of his bike and my new girlfriend on the back of mine. Having only been on a motorcycle twice before that, she put in three consecutive seventeen hour days on the back of that Ducati. Rain, snow, 140 MPH recklessness. Not a word of complaint from her.

That's when I knew it was love.

We got married on November 11, 2006.

My longest solo ride was Mulage, Mexico to Berkeley, CA in one go. It was late December and snowing even on route three in Baja. It just got worse as I went north. I think the total was around 1,200 miles. But huge mileage numbers are pretty easy to rack up in the US. The Iron Butt rally is eleven concecutive 1,000 mile days. Oooh, that's gotta hurt.

That's an awesome story Pete, little did she know that the interview for part time girlfriend would end up with the position of full time wife.

Some great stories, I cant match any high milages but I did about 500 miles across spain on my TTR 250 with knobly tyres stopping only for fuel and pee.
When I pitched my tent by the road that night I was too tired to eat so I lit a cigar and drank a can of 7up . I woke up the next day after sleeping with a rock in my back.

I think the trips in the cold are the worst whenever I have to catch a ferry the ride to it always seems to involve lots of freezing fog.

Now I like the idea of little miles and lots of smiles.

can't compete!
 

Mountain man - awesome story, well written. You should write a guide book called "Eastern Europe by Night".

Pete from berkeley - nice story. Hope your brother didn't get divorced over that trip though...

Alas, heroic endeavours are not my cup of tea - I go slow and short each day, but big trip coming up in July-Oct around Europe so might have to do a big dash back to the UK if we don't make it round in time with so much to see - will let you kow if I come close!

Cheers

He didn't. It seems seventeen hour days on a bike didn't even tire him or his wife out. Their first child was concieved on that trip.

All this pales in comparison to just how tough riding an enduro can be.
90 miles of pure Torture if you hit a hard one. Don't get old....