The initial plan was to go from Europe to Afrika via ferry from Sicily to Tunisia then Libya. But after numerous Libyan visaI decided why bother? Is full of sand and guys with bad hair anyway.
So next plan was to take the well established Athens to Alexandra ferry. I'd read accounts in several motorbike books as well as on blogs.
No probs, shoot down to Greece and hop on the ferry.
However when I thought I'd better check on the times (to see how frequent it was) it turned out to be not very frequent. Like VERY infrequent. Like not running anymore.
Hmmm.....



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So what does one play when riding a big German motorbike over the Bosphorus into Asia?
Steppenwolf obviously, Born to Be Wild: GREAT song.

So, passed from Europe into Asia.
I'm on my way to Mine's place of birth: Beypazari, just South of Ankara.
To stay in an Ottoman Mansion.




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Well, this is almost as fun as hearing about MIke and Danny going off to shoot at inflatable plastic turkeys.
I mean where else can you go roaring along at high speed on a big german motorbike down an almost empty three lane highway in the sunshine???
Without any police around either, at least none I saw.




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After one and a half year of claiming the HP2 Enduro stock suspension was good enough, I was curious after all the positive stories I heard about various suspension upgrades.

I decided to do it right the first time so I went to a Hyperpro service centre (Alphen aan den Rijn, owner is Bas) for advice. After bouncing the bike up and down a dozen times he claimed the front was to week, wobbly and without control. Of course I knew that since I know these things (really).

The rear was sort of OK but not too good. Poor rebound, poor compression. Advice: have the lot replaced. 3 weeks later I was riding a hand build (I was there, it's really hand build) specifically for my weight, my height, my luggae when I travel. Front with progressive springs and 2 new shim stacks, the rear fully adjustable and a hydraulic preload adjuster.

The result: awsome! I have a new bike, like it should have been!







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I went on a too short 2 day solo trip, not too far from home, some 250kms.
It was quite sunny but cold at around 10 degrees centigrade. Too cold for may considering that only a week ago it was 25 degrees! I left on Tuesday morning, right after a trip to a local bike store as I had a flat front tire! An inner tube fixed that...

Tuesday evening I found a great spot just where a big forest ended. Wednesday morning I woke up with a drizzle and 0 degrees c! What a bummer. My wife confirmed the weather was going to detoriate the next day so I decided to  make the best of it for the day and had home in the evening. Which I did.

The wednesday itself turned out to be a great day with sunny spells, nice forest roads, just as I planned it!


I've attached a few previews, the full report is here

For some reason or another I always end up going solo. Not that I mind, actually I love a bit of piece and quite, but sharing your experiences is with another rider is great. Anyway, here are the pics. If you feel like joining later in the year let me know. I'm not worried about when.

During this trip:
- a small river with lots of otters. I saw 3 pairs!
- many, many deer
- badger
- 1 eagle
- great forests without foresters... (Actually I saw nobody at all the whole 2 days!)


Good start, right across the NL border




Nice single track, which had a fallen tree blocking my path. Took me 10 minutes to het it out of the way!




The otter stream




Took this pic from my camp site spot.




Down the fire lane. See my tent up there?




This turned out to be a wildlife area so I went back to  not disturb the eagles that were nesting there. Somewhere...







Yes, a real hill climb




And another tree blocking my path. Not too many people come here for sure. This going to be my campsite on my next trip!

The Ardennes were the scene of the 2010 Unstoppable GS Challenge. What a great event, what great and challenging routes we had and man, did the weather suck this year! Talking about rain, mud, rain and more mud. With a few hours of unexpected sunshine around 2pm on Saturday. But the rain did not matter, fun we had!

The full gallery is here

A teaser...