Francois_Dumas Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Or writing about my rides and travels..... bummer !! Summer's been bad on business, so I've been extra busy trying to find new things to do, meanwhile having to support existing customers. That is really taxing on the time left for my writing. This past weekend I had to visit a Fligthsim Event in Paderborn, northern Germany, and already months ago I had set my mind to it to go on the bike! This time around we did not have our own booth, Nina would not be coming, so I had nothing to carry! Late October usually is not a good time for such plans, but this year is pretty good. Temps haven't dropped below 10C yet, and Saturday morning I left home at 7:30 and it was already 13C. Just the occasional rain shower on the way down East, not enough to don my rain jacket! The thing about the northern part of Germany is, that it is still reasonably quiet, esepcially in weekends and off-season. That means not-too-crowded Autobahn.... and Autobahn still means 'free travelling', i.e. without needing a Third Eye to watch your speedometer, and a fourth to watch for speed traps!!! I started out leisurely, getting 'into it' again.. haven't been riding a lot after Summer. In Holland the limit is 120, but in most places even lower. And when in Germany I took her up to 140, which I find is a comfortable travel speed (I DO have to have it serviced this week, it is vibrating more than it did). But as the morning passed, and I ran into quite a few 'Baustelle's' (road works), I started to run late on my self-induced schedule. I wanted to be in Paderborn in time to sit in on a presentation of a good friend of mine at noon. As usual there was a southwester wind blowing (force 6 or so), and when I passed Oberhausen my route turned eastward..... and on the 3-lane highway through the Ruhr Gebiet (Germany's industrial heart) I took her up to 190 for long stretches, only having to let off for the occasional minivan, market-going-grandpa or silly foreigners putting themselves in harm's (My!) way on the third lane. That was fun ! And amazing too! Just sit there straight up on your silvery bike, still being able to swivel your head without effort, zooming along and eating up the miles, only being passed by a Porsche or Audi every 15 minutes or so (doing well over 240 I'd say). The way back was even better, although I did have to battle (and still am) one of my occasional migraines. The sun was out when I got up at 8:30 (we had a late night with the crew in the hotel bar, and no, I do NOT drink.. just in case you should ask), and the view over the rolling hills outside the hotel was magnificent. I struggled to get packed and have breakfast and TALK to my friends and colleagues... head was bursting at the seams. But once I was on the bike it was 'okay'. The roads on Sunday morning were deserted !!! But... this time I had a fierce headwind blowing from the left, making the experience of riding fast less of a pleasure. The noise of the wind was getting the better of my earplugs (and the fierce headache made that worse of course), buffetting was much more pronounced, and the RT was guzzling gas at a much higher rate too ! (Fortunately Germany is still relatively cheap with 1.15 / liter versus 1.33 in Holland). All in all it was a great ride.... and the best thing of yesterday was the fact that I visited my friend 'Sir Erick' (regular board members will hopefully remember him!) and his wife Ursula, in their new home in Germany !! I'll write about that seperately !! After that Erick accompanied me across the (now invisble) border, we took our goodbeyes, and I headed further west. Into the eternal Dutch traffic jams !! Yechchchch ! And it started raining of course, my headache got worse (you reckon Holland is causing it ??). I had to ride THROUGH Amsterdam, going around 15 miles of stalled weekend traffic (one wonders where all these Dutch people go all the time !!??) and was REALLY glad when I reached the parking behind our house. I dropped in bed at 20:00 and only just got up now..... Thanks for reading... and sorry for the a-typical lack of pictures. I still owe you pics of our summer holiday and of the trip to France a few weeks ago too..... time will tell... errrmmm... display !! Francois Link to comment
Whip Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Nice report....more like a bunch of excuses for not taking pix..... Glad you had a good time... We want pix....we want pix.....we want pix.... Whip Link to comment
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