Meeting Stephan Apfel on Via Baltica

just to hold my pictures taken on Via Baltica,

Here is a special honourable mention for ..
(drrrrumm Rrrrrrroooolll) Stephan Apfel from Heidelberg.

I stopped to shoot some pictures of his vehicle, and we had a brief chat.

Stephan is using an old "device", fixed and welded it himself.
With top speed of 25km/h  and same fuel-consumption as my beemer.
But much more relaxed... (he doesnt have to worry about cars and trucks, they worry about him tho)

Stephan is trekking this way all through Europe !

Respect !

road trip pics..

holding area for pics...
bare with me for formatting: prio is to get the pictures up for viewing and linking by others (motor forum, facebook...)

To Slovenia:

Detail slovenia:

Boring part: Croatia to Belgrade

28 June: Belgrade to Arandjelovac: nice, but some roads were out with flooding-damage:

 1 day missing: recording failed..

And first half of 02June missing: recording failed..

And a few more pics:

Road Trip - The Plan

As some of you know, I plan to visit several OUG events by Motorbike. Start date is 24 May, leaving from Spa, B. And return on the 23rd to The Hague, back to work (if I'm still in one piece, if my customers will still have me, if my colleagues havnt filled my seats..)

Firstly, the Bike (I named her Beauty-Case), the Bike gets a large maintenance and new tyres (rear tyre is in dire need, I ride it way too much...). After I break in the tyres, it is off to the East, leaving on 24th.

If it all works out, than this is approximately the proposed route (c/o Google maps, right-click to zoom in new tab):

I'm posting the map with a purpose: In case someone on-route fancies a coffee or a light meal, let me know...

First destination is SrOUG, which runs from 28 to 30May:

Next is a trek north, through Hungaria, Slovakia, Poland, then the Via Baltica through Latvia and  Lithuania, on to Talinn in Estonia, where I have a Tallink ferry to catch for Helsinki.

OUGF happens at Haltia (or google it!) on 05 and 06Jun :

After OUGF, which includes a night of Camping (Glamping, I hope), it is Ferry again to Tallin, and a trek south to Sandanski where BGOUG takes place from 13 to 15Jun.

Proud to display this logo:

Then it is back to The Hague where, on 23Jun, I hope to take up residence in a new(ly rented) apartment with a nice View!

And back to work: I can do trips like this because I escaped from "managers and shareholders", but the finance-chief of PDVBV (that is me!) will want to fill the coffers after such a splash (and I might need a new rear tyre again).


BTW: Cross  fingers that the Internet connection at the new apartment works by then. Imagine returning "home" after 9000km and no connectivity to brag about it...

Stolen Motorbike alert (not mine)

A colleague didnt show up for work on Friday because his Motorcycle got stolen..

Here are the details and some pics. I will cross post on motor-forum.nl , as we do, to alert bikers all over the country about this.

Nummerbord  :                       MP-HB-61

Tijdtip Diestal :                       tussen 1-5-2014 21:30 – 2-5-2014 8:05

Plaats Delict   :                       Kruising Henri Polaklaan en Plantage Kerklaan Amsterdam

Merk               :                       Suzuki

Type                :                       GSX-1300R Hayabusa

Kleur               :                       Zwart met Grijs

Goednummer  :                       PL13AD-2014108787-4750646

Framenummer:                       JS1A1111200106250

Bouwjaar        :                       2000

Fotos               :                       Zie aangehecht

Piccies:

Traval plans coming soon

Some of you already know: I have some silly travel project for May and June.

It involves a really long Motorcycle trip and visiting 3 Oracle Usergroups.
SrOUG, OUGF, and BgOUG... in that order.

Kinda afraid to even publish the  map, because I must be totally mad. But plot, re-plot, and re-measured it. It should be possible, even with adverse weather and bad roads.

Long daylight hours: so possibility to ride early and late, and take plenty of break-time during each day.
Have tried the bike and found I can sit on it for multiple days if I take regular short breaks. No back, neck, arm, or other muscles protesting.

Rain-gear? OK.
Navi? I feel confident I can just follow main roads and city-names. But for the final-10km, or to easily find certain destinations, a Navi may be a nice time-saver. Still looking.
Ferry-crossing: ticket recieved, this  means I am committed!


And why?

Well, because I can.

F800ST All mine!

Yess! She's mine.

PDVBV just bought itself professional transportation.
In between a day filled with work, paperwork, 100+km kids-taxi, and just plain busy stuff, I managed to collect the latest addition to my Inventory. And this one is Special.

The good old Bandit (600N, 1995) was Good, and I will remember it fondly, but This is better: A BMW F800ST with Givi panniers and topcase and a load of electronics.

At 200kg on the road an F800ST is just as Nimble in city and trafficjams (the panniers come off easily), but it has 83hp (20hp more) and three huge transportation devices.

Here is the piccie:

And this is the backside: look at those curves...

Today I only manged to do 65km but it was sheer joy! Quick, Nimble, Powerful, Solid.
And I'm even getting used to the BMW-style indicators (which twisted mind...)

Tomorrow, if time and weather permit, I will try to ride both the Bandit and the ST on the same roads.


Update 10Mar2014.
Dinner with Pascal Prins at Gaucho's, but couldnt resist taking the picture next door:

Two Stroke Engine spotted

well, sortof:

This was on the hood of a van parked at my hotel in Germany.
couldnt resist a picture.