back from 5 weeks in europe on an rt

[fernando]

been back for 2 weeks now and here it goes.

 

pickedp up the bike in heidelberg . les ,and me only. two others canceled at the last minute.

from heidelberg headed to luzerne for the first nit and the next am left for the grimsel and furka passes only to be turned back due to ice and the closing of these ,so made a right turn in meringue and heade to bern ,geneva and final for the nite ,annecy.

fro here to grenoble ,great women in both annecy and grenoble.les went bananas .

from here we took a great road to avignon ,. next day to auigues mortes via the wineries in the region ,and from there to carcasonne.

from here to aix les thermes towards andorra la vella ,and on to barcelona . great roads with moslty curves of all types and at all elevations .

barcelona has to be the greatest city in europe right now.

from here to cadaques qhere we stayed for 6 days .

and on to st,tropez , ,

then to monaco ,and the riviera is a mess.

from here to siena and firenze amd then on to lake garda and bolzano and the dolomites to cortina d'ampezzo. ,the glockner pass ,and then to munchen and reutlinger ,lindau and then on to the obelpass,furka pass,grimsel pass and on to zurich,straousberg and back to heidelberg.

 

met with members of moto guzzi spain and stayed with them .

also meet hans peter of moto espezial who makes ,in germany ,parts for guzzi. great guy and factory.

 

having computer /connection problems ,will post again

 

ff

[fernando]

i keep getting disconnected . explorer issue /

 

anyhow , a great 5 weeks ,and great bunch of guys i met .

ran into a vette club meeting with approx 200 vettes in lienz austria . and saw some old x ,c and d type jags doing the glockner pass

 

maybe some photo tickets ,but from the front ,so may have gotten away ??

 

was in germany for the mundial ,and saw some teams in the stree.

 

the rt behaved great. we covered approx. 5,000 miles and used only 1 quart of oil. and mostly ay high rpm,s ,in the passes ,mostly first and second gears at redline most of the time . average was 34 mpg at high rpm's up to 39 or so in slow areas .

 

a surprise that the access to the glockner pass is now $ 42.00

they do give you a magazine and some decals.

and hundreds of bikes there as well as in the dolomites where we ran into a yamaha get together and at 2,000 meters ,into a hail storm -took refuge in an alpine hotel for 30 minutes and then on the road again.

 

only mishap, in the grimsel pass at 2,500 meters with no barrier on my right side as i took a hairpin turn a big,red bus came at me and did not give me tight of way..i was going up.

he kept pushing towards the precipice ,

i decided to put my feet down,freeze,close my eyes and hope for the best.

les ,who was behind me told me that he missed me by 2 inches or so and that my right foot was 6 inches from going over...........

a big ,major time scare.

 

the bike was fine to a sustained 100 mph but above that it was buzzy and did not feel right.les felt otherwise having never gone that fast for a sustained period of time and decided to go up to max for approx. 2 hours on the autobahn...he waited for me 15 minutes .

 

 

 

and , my friend agustin from reutlinger in germany introduced me to hans peter the owner of moto-zpezial. a guzzi only source of parts and bikes mafr. by him using guzzi engines.

look him up at www.moto-zpezial.de

 

he has factory manuals, and everything including parts that he fabricates for guzzis.italian design ,german manufacturing.

 

i am waiting to repeat this trip with some changes ,maybe next year.

will avoid italy and the riviera next time as they have become zoos.to many tourists,too much money ,in the riviera .

only exception may be st.tropez,cap d'antibes and monaco.

 

firenze and siena ,now charges to enter churches and they are under restoration. for the mueums you need to reserve a day in advance in order to get in line for 1/2 hour instead of 2 to 3 hours ,and many of the good paintings are out on loan.

 

the academia to see david ....FORGET IT. 4 hours and more .

 

 

best motorcycling is ........

 

the dolomites , the swiss passes

 

the austrian alps and valleys , the pyrennes up to san sebastian ,lourdes, and pamplona ..

 

the tuscany area ,forget it ,as far as i am concerned . cheap , but too hot and too many tourists.

 

oh yes , slovania is a must,

 

 

ff

[Jock Guzzi]

Sounds like a cool trip.

 

Never mind the biking stuff, tells us about Les going bananas.

 

In this context, bananas is a great word and one I use often, though usually predeeded by the F word. It kind of just says it all. I love going bananas, especially when it involves football matches (soccer to the colonials) alcohol and of course woman.

 

That reminds me, I've been living a bit quietly recently...I'm due a bit of banana time.

[orangeokie]

[fernando]

every time i try to post photos it does not happen .

i must be doing something wrong but do not know what

ff