I managed 45kms from Brussels to Antwerp this morning in my Landrover - by the time I got to work I really needed that 1st cup of coffee .
I bet yer bum ached

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...on the road to nowhere...

Biking roads by bikers for bikers www.bestbikingroads.com

He said he was riding, not being ridden!!!


Don't even go there with this thread, many riders 'hit' 1600kms from time to time.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

Did 450 miles in one day, temp got down to -12c

on a c90.....

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Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower

Oh geez, there are all sorts of um... interesting adventures that people have embarked upon. Cold, long, muddy, hot, dry, wet…..If you will expand the question to how stubborn are you or how stupid in some cases I'll toss in a story. Caveat, not recommended.

Long story shortened somewhat. Invited a girl (whom I had recently met and was trying mighty hard to impress, even going to the extremes of showering and brushing teeth) on motorcycle trip to Europe. I convinced her that this was a good idea and how simple and straightforward it would all be. It was all her fault for listening to me.

We picked Turkey for it's combination of culture and riding. Only problem was that we, as well as the bike were still in North America. She, being very organized, looked at flights and picked a date to fly from Canada a couple of weeks later. I, being organized in manly sort of way (i.e. not at all) stupidly agreed as I figured there was plenty of time to ship bike over and meet up.

After a few delays and unhelpful shippers later, I called the airlines directly and got them to ship bike to Frankfurt. One flight delay later, only one problem now, the day the bike and I arrived in Frankfurt was only a few hours before she was scheduled to arrive in Istanbul.

Hmm, this seemed to be a small problem so I did what most men would do, I left her a vague message that I was "running a little late" and that she should get to the hotel herself and I would see her soon.

Meanwhile, I hoped on my bike, rode an hour south to Heidelberg to pick up my original green card from Stefan and headed east in the early evening. Germany came and went, thank goodness for the autobahn, and once in Austria it got dark. Usually I find Austria quite picturesque, at night not so much. I tried to stop in the middle of the night a couple of times to unpack my sleeping bag and sleep but couldn’t find a decent spot and usually what happens in these cases is you ride long enough and by the time you find a spot, you are awake again. The smart may even stop and drink coffee, the stubborn bounce up and down and slap their helmets.

Slovenia at night looks a lot like Austria. Entered Croatia at sunrise, strangely enough not much traffic at that time of day. Very awake now that it was daylight. Crossed Serbia, still light, into Bulgaria, still light for a while and then darkness fell. You know you've been riding a long time when you get to see darkness twice. A lot of riding with face mask open and even stops for coffee. Moderate amount of singing to oneself, plenty of yelling at oneself.

Finally, at around midnight, arrived at the border with Turkey. Crossed with a couple of German guys in a car who were driving around the world. They were amused that anyone would ride a motorcycle long distances. I was amused that anyone would use such a soft means of transport as a car with extreme luxuries such as "heat" and "music". Stumbled through the border and at one point took an exit that I thought said Istanbul. Things didn't look right so I asked at a petrol station if he knew where the Blue Mosque was and he said it was about 120 km from there. Hmm, my middle of the night route finding could use some work I thought.

Onto Istanbul, finding your way through Istanbul with a clear head is difficult enough, with no sleep it took a couple of hours of driving the wrong way up one way streets. In fact that is the little known secret to getting around Istanbul quickly, that and riding up the tram line (even better when the tram is not on it). Finally, at about 5:00 am, found the miniscule hotel by the Blue Mosque and knocked at the door as if I was only a couple of minutes behind schedule. Told her that I was sorry for being late, traffic was terrible.

Slept rather well that night, coma might be a more apt description. Eventually told her how far I had rode that day so that she wouldn’t kill me. Total distance, around 2,400 km in about 30 hours.

OK, I reckon you win so far!



Matt

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http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

... about 1000km on my 1990 ZXR 750 H2, from Pamplona (N SPain) to Cherbourg (N France).... on standard suspension...with luggage...

Suffice to say, on arrival, I needed the immediate attention of both a chiropractor and a yoga guru... preferably working tag-team style...

On top of that France, that April, managed to send me every form of precipitation known to man, from snow in the Pyrenees, to Thunder storms and hail around Bordeaux, fog, sleet and then just plain boring rain, too...

Ahh, the memories....

Suffice also to say, I am now older and wiser... next time its, sod the ferry crossing, where's the nearest Bed and Breakfast.

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

Last august I sold a gold wing on ebay and jokingly said " you buy the gas and a bus ticket home and i'll deliver this bike". The guy says "how soon can you be here?". Turns out he lives in Kansas...which is about 2000 km from me. The 26 hour ride there wasn't so bad but the 38 hour bus ride home was a killer.

To Mountain man! You sir, are THE MAN Not because of the distance you rode, nor even for your manly stupidity (a thing we're ALL guilty of) Not even because you managed to persuade a lady friend to accompany you. No, you are the man, for your sentence which I have quoted
By the way. I loved your story

[QUOTE=MountainMan;183997]

Finally, at about 5:00 am found the miniscule hotel by the Blue Mosque and knocked at the door as if I was only a couple of minutes behind schedule. Told her that I was sorry for being late, traffic was terrible.

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.

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How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
For a week, or several centuries?
How long does a man spend dying?
What does it mean to say “forever”? - Pablo Neruda

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

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'Never worry about things that YOU cant change'

Nice distances guys,

surely what your riding must carry some weight too ??? - Joe90 - 450 miles on a c90 gets my vote.....oh the pain

the best ive managed is Dorset to Garmisch Partenkirchen - 852m / 1371km on a Dr650 in 24 Hrs with rain ALL the way and tempratures just above freezing - that took a few days to get over.....

and Collioure, France - Back home to Dorset on a TTR 250 - 926m / 1491km in under 24 hrs

had a short 'power nap' in a rest stop on the ground by the bike for an hour and was woken up by a small French child poking me with a stick at 7am....

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

After a three week holiday (1974 ish) touring around Italy on an 860GT Ducati (cant remember the number of times Italians told us to buy a decent bike like a Honda 750!!), we were on an Autobahn somewhere South of Munich, I remember it was a public holiday weekend as the traffic was really heavy. I throttled up a bit to be met by an over revving engine. A bit of arm waving got us onto the hard shoulder.

"Oh look no chain and look no battery and look no chain guard, and look only half a rear mudguard"

I wandered down to the emergency phone, "Mein moto ist kaput at telefon nummer 123"

"Und?"

"Und ****ing help me"

"Ach zo" but it could have been arsehole though.

The tow truck turns up, gives us a bill the size of the UK national debt and then radios for a tilt truck, we then get taken off to the local town that has a bike shop, the owner came in at about 7pm on a Sunday and got us a new chain.

Ein minor problem - no credit card facility, no bank open and no Deutsch Marks, just a UK cheque book and Eurocheque gurantee card. Write cheques and away we go. No real money left, just enough for two or three tanks and few cups of coffee.

We rode at about 75kph from Munich to Calais (about 1100kms in those days) non stop, took turns at sleeping on the pillion, coasted onto the ferry and ran out of fuel. At least we got to eat after cobbling together a few pounds from change.

We got talking to a couple of sidecar racers who had a good laugh at us, but did give us a jerry can of fuel to get home on.

Ah those were the halcyon days!!!!

[QUOTE=MountainMan;183997]I was only a couple of minutes behind schedule. Told her that I was sorry for being late, traffic was terrible.[/COLOR]


i really impressed from the story above. i know how bad riding is in Bulgaria and in Turkiye. congrad mate..

my long and horrible ride was from Dover (UK) to Venice (Italy). had a broken rear suspention near Strasburg in France. 2 hours wait for repearing it. and 3 hours in Verona, Italy.

I have ridden from L'boro to Dover and was Dover around 9pm. I was a guest of a chap in Dover from hospitalityclub.com. went to bed like 12ish am. there was also some other guests (2 from Germany) just after went to bed, i have realised that i have left my carne, passport, etc all my documents in the paniers and the paniers were not locked. I couldn't go down cause i did not want to disturb them and couldn't sleep becase worrying about the documents. just slept an hour and woke up at 4.30pm to rainy and windy British morning. rode to Dover, cought the ferry. I have tried to sleep but childeren did not let me. arrived to rainy and windy France. got lots of red bull and espresso on the way. Stoped twice for meal in France and a big stop for rear shock near Strasburg. rain has stopped in Switzerland around 12am. I had a nap in Switzerland in a service station in disabled wc (cause they are bigger). tried to dry up my gloves, socks, boots using the hand dryer. spend there almost 2 hours. entered Milan around 9am and realised that i have missed the ferry to Greece which was at 10am. then i was slow on the trotter. then i show a bmw sign on the motorway near verona. entered Verona for bike repairshop. found one honda garage with the help of locals. they said, they don't have bmw rear shock and takes a week to order and get it. spent there almost 3 hours. and finally arrived Venice, a camping place near Marco-Polo airport at around 3pm next day.

so, about 1400 km in 32 hours with a broken suspention half of the way. not bad 3 months after having the driving licance on a overloaded single huh??

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I rode my XT250 back from Portsmouth on Tuesday night the 150 odd miles home, brrrr...

Those who use the Portsmouth-Le Havre route will be pleased to hear that they're putting a second ferry on the route which means I won't have to get back to the UK at 10pm and ride through the night, there will be an overnight ferry on the return trip too. This will transform this route. Starts October 2008 so no good for this summer though.