It's been a while since I posted anything here, perhaps a couple of years or more. The layout of the site has changed somewhat since my last visit (or perhaps I've just lost a bit of my memory!) and in some ways I feel like this is my first visit.
It has been a while since I've even ridden a bike. Two years and six months to be precise and I have missed it keenly. My circumstances didn't allow me to have one (and I'm not talking finances) and the sense of loss has been painful. However the cloud now has a distinct silver lining and I'm eager to return to two wheels. I have enough saved up enthusiasm to keep me going for the foreseeable future and I feel like I am now at the very start of an adventure.
In the past I had all the usual thoughts about where I wanted to go. RTW trips, trips from UK to South Africa, trips to Scandinavia etc. I have even gone as far as starting to plan a route and choosing a bike, all in my mind of course but never for real. There was always something that stopped me from making such a trip happen. The extent of my personal two wheel adventures has ultimately been trips of between two and six weeks through France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany (my favourite biking country) and Italy. And do you know what? I think that's where I am comfortable. I do envy the hardcore adventurers in some respects but the bottom line is that I'm someone who likes decent roads, a comfortable bed, food I'm reasonably familiar with and a single currency. I have finally accepted that I will never be (and don't want to be) the guy who finds himself waking up in a field in Bolivia or a mud hut in the Congo. It just isn't me.
Now that I know my limits I am itching to plan a trip for myself and my fiancée. I need a bike. A nice, comfortable tourer that will glide along the smooth tarmac that has become a staple requirement of any trip I will make. A friend and I have agreed a deal for his beautiful 2001 BMW R1150RT. It has had a privileged upbringing in his care and has every possible extra I could want. The phrase "never raced or rallied" was created as an accurate description of this fine machine.
I fancy France again. I liked it every time I went before and I don't expect it to have changed much in a few years. Do they still speak French?Germany. That's another must do for me. The Rhine route from Koblenz down to Lake Constance is a wonder that I have never tired of. In some ways it feels as if I'm planning to go and see an old friend. The knowledge that the meet is going to happen takes away the panic and stress of the preparation. It might happen this year and it may be 2015 before we meet again. But it will be a reality and no longer just a dream.
So here I am, starting from scratch. No bike (at the moment), no helmet, no clothing, no boots....but an unquenchable thirst and an insatiable hunger for the adventure to become a reality. Wish me luck folks!

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

A great post!

Text book lesson in knowing yourself and accepting who you are.

I wish you much luck Chris1200

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Regards Tim

Learning my craft for the big stuff, it won't be long now and it's not that far anyway

Good luck !
I wish you to ride across Europe this summer and enjoy yourself !

Curious ....
Is your fiancee keen to go riding? Or would she honestly be happier on a posh package tour? If she's not happy riding ... you won't be either!
This is the problem I have. My girl is a "nervous nelly" on the bike ... so I'm mostly solo.

Hope it works out! That old BMW should be great ...love the RT, huge monster that handles like a 500! Once set up right, very good and actually pretty economical. A great bike for pillions as well.

I loved France. I did two long (6 weeks) tours of mostly the South. As an American used to seeing only Wal-Marts and tacky shopping malls, France blew my mind. The French truly know how to live ... and preserve what they have. American's could take a lesson ... and the UK too.

You only need see British train yards vs. French ones. Like Ghetto (Brit) vs. Posh suburbs (France). Everything just works better in France, IMO. The USA is like a 3rd world country compared to both.

I bought a nice used Tiger in UK and did several long EU tours. I speak OK Spanish so spent lots of time in Spain as well. If down in S. Spain, maybe hop the Ferry over to Morocco? (so easy and cheap) Such a radically different world ... and good paved roads! See the towns and markets. Crazy stuff.

My '99 Tiger in 2003 ... Carcasonne Castle, France

If things go well you might consider exploring a bit of Eastern EU.

Have fun! Don't die in your sleep! RIDE!

Patrick

Yes Patrick, she is keen to try it. She doesn't have any real experience of bikes so before I take her on an overseas trip lasting a few weeks or more I think I'll try her with a couple of weekends to begin with. I can do that locally. I also plan to bring her on the bike in the rain too. If she can still smile after a whole day in the rain then I believe she'll be fine.

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

Good one! Hope things work out!
I wouldn't worry so much about rain ... rain year round in Ireland, no?
From Irish/Brit/Scots/Welsh I've traveled with in Mexico, Cent. America and Asia, I'd guess her problem may be HEAT? Most northern euro/anglos don't handle it well ... and can be slow to acclimate. Take care! Ride Safe!

Nice one Chris. I'm kind of in the same boat; have had a torrid few years, life turned upside down, lost everything and everyone etc and now find myself without a working bike or the means to procure the same. But as the clocks go forward and spring sunshine warms the tarmac I'm itching to ride again, to get away, to be one with the road again.

Wish you the best of luck; might be a while before I can join you back out there but hope it all goes brilliantly for you and your fiancée

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That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing...

Thanks Senno.
I wish you well too. The lure and appeal of 2 wheels is certainly hard to resist!

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

Chris and Senno, I wish you both the very best for your future adventures!! My taste is long, scenic highway rides interspersed with going off road as the urge strikes me. Not in the really nasty stuff (deep mud or deep sand or LOTS of rocks) but on the reasonably OK tracks. Really for me, ANY time spent on the bike is just therapeutic, even in the
Better to be out in the rain on an old, used 500.00 bike that push starts, smokes, and is partially constructed with duct tape than to be doing anything else

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Submariner
Life Member DAV
BMW MOA member
BMW Riders of Oklahoma