Ziua 14. Km 4904. 89 ore pe motor.
[Aici trebuia să fie un film cu pățania, dar pentru că am făcut greșeala de a-mi lua un laptop cu Windows 8.1, nu am resurse ca să-l încarc. Dacă pun watermark pe două poze care împreună ocupă 9 Mb, îmi dispar 300 Mb din memorie. Poate în Gibraltar apuc să schimb drakkului gunoiul ăsta...]
Daca esti KTM-ist, Transalpist sau orice soi de motociclist de offroad, pregateste-te sa te amuzi copios.
Pentru
mine "offroad" înseamnă altceva decât în mod normal. Înseamnă mai
degrabă "off-asphalt". Pe cât de grațios se așează Bellagio la drum
întins, pe șosea, pe atât de îndărătnic devine de îndată ce iese de pe
asfalt. Greu, jos, cu rază de curbură mare, e dificil de manevrat în
spații înguste și cu aderență redusă, cu atât mai mult pentru cineva de
înălțimea mea, care abia ajunge să-l țină pe vârfurile picioarelor pe
loc drept. Ținând cont de această stare de fapt, ieri... exact asta am
făcut! Am ieșit cu el off-asphalt. Întâi în Spania, involuntar - ne-a
trimis GPS-ul. De fapt semi-voluntar, am fi putut căuta o rută
ocolitoare, dar ne-am zis că să ne încercăm puțin colții. Drum de țară,
pietriș, dar drept - ne-a mers. A doua oară am căutat-o cu lumânarea,
când de îndată ce-am intrat în Portugalia am dat peste un fel de canion
al Rio Duero și ne-am pus în gând să campăm cât mai aproape de râu. Și
aici ne-a mers, până am dat de combinația perfectă: curbă îngustă, pantă
abruptă și mult nisip, când nu mi-a mai mers. Am rămas blocat, l-am
scăpat de două ori și am reușit să scot fum din ambreiaj, încercând să
urc de-a dreptul. Până la urmă l-am împins amândoi la deal, centimetru
cu centimetru, până l-am adus pe o poziție din care am putut coborî
într-un loc mai larg, unde să-l pot întoarce și să urc cu avânt. Am
ieșit cu bine de data asta, dar cam pe aici e limita...
[Aici trebuia să fie un film cu pățania, dar pentru că am făcut greșeala de a-mi lua un laptop cu Windows 8.1, nu am resurse ca să-l încarc. Dacă pun watermark pe două poze care împreună ocupă 9 Mb, îmi dispar 300 Mb din memorie. Poate în Gibraltar apuc să schimb drakkului gunoiul ăsta...]
Dacă
aveam și un pic de ploaie, cât să transforme nisipul în noroi, acolo am
fi rămas. Până la urmă am campat mai departe de râu, că ne-a prins
întunericul și n-am mai riscat încă o manevra de-asta cu împinsul la
deal. În bocheți. Și ne-am jucat puțin cu aparatul foto și lanterna...
Day 14. 4904 km. 89 hours riding.If you are a KTM-er, a Transalp-er or any other type of off-road biker, get ready for a good laugh.
For me “off-road” means something different than normally. It rather means “off-asphalt”. As gracefully as my Bellagio rides on straight roads and on the highway, it becomes equally stubborn as soon as it leaves the asphalt. It’s a heavy bike, low, with a big curvature radius, and difficult to maneuver in tight spaces and with reduced grip, even more so for someone my height, who needs to tip toe to keep it up on a straight surface. Well, taking all these into consideration, this is exactly what I did yesterday: I took it off-asphalt. First in Spain, by mistake - the GPS sent us that way. Well, it was actually semi-voluntarily; we could have looked for a detour but decided to try it anyways. Country roads, gravel, but straight - we pulled it off. The second time we asked for it. As soon as we entered Portugal we ran into a canyon on Rio Duero and we set our minds to camp as close as possible to the river. It all went OK until we found the perfect combination: tight curve, steep slope and lots of sand, when I couldn’t pull it off anymore. I got stuck, dropped the bike twice and managed to get the clutch to smoke when trying to climb straight. As a last resort we both pushed the Bellagio uphill, centimeter by centimeter, to a spot from where I was able to get down to an opening. And there I turned it around and managed to get the momentum to climb up. This time I pulled it off, but I think this was the limit.
[Here you should have been able to see a video of the happening, but I made the mistake of getting a laptop with Windows 8.1 so I don’t have enough memory to load it. If I watermark two pictures that together take 9 Mb, I actually lose 300 Mb of memory. Maybe I get to get rid of this crap in Gibraltar.]
If it had been raining enough to turn the sand into mud, we’d still be stuck there. In the end we camped farther from the river because it had gotten dark and did not want to risk another uphill pushing maneuver. In the bushes. And we had some fun with the camera and flash light…
For me “off-road” means something different than normally. It rather means “off-asphalt”. As gracefully as my Bellagio rides on straight roads and on the highway, it becomes equally stubborn as soon as it leaves the asphalt. It’s a heavy bike, low, with a big curvature radius, and difficult to maneuver in tight spaces and with reduced grip, even more so for someone my height, who needs to tip toe to keep it up on a straight surface. Well, taking all these into consideration, this is exactly what I did yesterday: I took it off-asphalt. First in Spain, by mistake - the GPS sent us that way. Well, it was actually semi-voluntarily; we could have looked for a detour but decided to try it anyways. Country roads, gravel, but straight - we pulled it off. The second time we asked for it. As soon as we entered Portugal we ran into a canyon on Rio Duero and we set our minds to camp as close as possible to the river. It all went OK until we found the perfect combination: tight curve, steep slope and lots of sand, when I couldn’t pull it off anymore. I got stuck, dropped the bike twice and managed to get the clutch to smoke when trying to climb straight. As a last resort we both pushed the Bellagio uphill, centimeter by centimeter, to a spot from where I was able to get down to an opening. And there I turned it around and managed to get the momentum to climb up. This time I pulled it off, but I think this was the limit.
[Here you should have been able to see a video of the happening, but I made the mistake of getting a laptop with Windows 8.1 so I don’t have enough memory to load it. If I watermark two pictures that together take 9 Mb, I actually lose 300 Mb of memory. Maybe I get to get rid of this crap in Gibraltar.]
If it had been raining enough to turn the sand into mud, we’d still be stuck there. In the end we camped farther from the river because it had gotten dark and did not want to risk another uphill pushing maneuver. In the bushes. And we had some fun with the camera and flash light…
A doua zi - spre Porto. Trei sute de
kilometri și trei mii de curbe. Drum oarecum familiar - asfalt crăpat,
denivelat, scurs, năpădit de tufe. După fiecare curbă te așteaptă
pietriș scurs pe șosea, sau nisip, sau o turmă de oi - nici vorbă să te
bucuri de drum, ca-n Austria. După o oră pe drumuri dintr-astea te dor
umerii cât după o zi în Alpi. Drumuri ca la noi acum zece ani. Cum
spuneam, oarecum familiar...
The following day we’re heading towards Porto. Three hundred kilometers and three thousands curves. The road feels somewhat familiar – broken asphalt, uneven, melted, and overgrown with shrubs. After each curve you run into gravel broken from the road, or sand, or a flock of sheep – you can’t enjoy the road like in Austria for instance. After an hour of riding on these roads your shoulders are hurting as much as after a whole day in the Alps. Roads like ours ten years ago. As I was saying, somewhat familiar…
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