Alps Ride & European Bike Week 2010

[MAC_JD]

25 August 2010 Day 01 of 19

Frank (VTX 1800) Mark (Road King Classic) and I (2005 ST1300) met near Franks House and headed North to the Agip gas station on the A1 just past the toll plaza in Caserta, Italy. We met up with G (Road King Custom) just before the toll plaza. We stopped for a Cappuccino and Cornetto and to top off the gas tanks. We headed North up the A1 and exited at Caianello and headed for the National Parks. We headed North through the middle of Italy towards L?Aquila then Perugia then Florence and finally to Pisa.

Here is a Google link to the route: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111726677352770070124.00048ce72d3f4b6266442&ll=43.281204,11.546631&spn=2.81118,5.888672&z=8

One of the guys had a minor, about three MPH get off in a turn about three hours into our morning. One engine guard toast and on we continued. Happens to the best of us.

Today was long but a very good day. We covered 430 miles over 14 hours (had an Italian lunch and a few good breaks ) We are in hotel near Pisa tonight. Not bad nice Pizzeria just down the block with COLD liter beers. A good way to end the day.

Riding today was a mix of Autostrade, tight twisties, canyons, long sweepers, high alpine and forest. Temps ranged from 60 to 94 today. The best climate change today was a long tunnel, outside temp 94 ? inside temp 62!!!

Here are my Spot messages:
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=40.82053,14.06947&ll=40.82053,14.06947&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]40.82053,14.06947 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=41.82936,13.93217&ll=41.82936,13.93217&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]41.82936,13.93217 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=42.91307,12.72861&ll=42.91307,12.72861&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]42.91307,12.72861 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.72653,10.93964&ll=43.72653,10.93964&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]43.72653,10.93964 - Google Maps

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

26 August 2010 Day 2 0f 19

Another long (400+ miles) great day of riding!! We hit our first true Pass today, the Passo St Bernard at about 2500 meters. Wow what great pavement! 32 Euros for the Vignette, expensive!! The new Pirelli Angel tires I put on are working FATASTIC!!! I do not have a chicken strip on the tire and am able to carve turns on any pavement. The pavement in Switzerland being of the best quality!!

An outstanding portion of the day had to be the Cinque Terra!! What a blast today. A few of the roads we were on were barely golf cart sized and were two way traffic!! Amazing!! Of course the Italian drivers never fail to do the most inappropriate, me first, stupid maneuvers!!! Passing on a blind curve in a tunnel and then doesn?t even have a toll pass so that they have to wait in a HUGE line, so the attempted blind curve pass in the tunnel was for nothing. Makes no sense!

We are staying at Camping de la Sarvaz SA in Saillon, Switzerland. What a great place! The restaurant is very good. The ?chalet? we are in sleeps six and very nice. The price was more than nice. Definitely worth not paying for a tent site and having to set all of that up!!

On to the Black Forest tomorrow. I apologize for no photos or video, I am having camera issues that will be fixed shortly!!

Here are my Spot messages:

[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.72655,10.93964&ll=43.72655,10.93964&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]43.72655,10.93964 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.17333,9.61211&ll=44.17333,9.61211&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]44.17333,9.61211 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=45.99544,7.17939&ll=45.99544,7.17939&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]45.99544,7.17939 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.15927,7.16841&ll=46.15927,7.16841&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]46.15927,7.16841 - Google Maps

 

[alan]

Looking forward to the pictures, sounds like fun.

 

[lmckee]

They camped last night in Naturpark S?dschwarzwald near Birkendorf.

Here's the Spot location:
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.75163,8.29322&ll=47.75163,8.29322&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]47.75163,8.29322 - Google Maps

It was raining pretty bad, and they had no cell phone or WiFi acess.

Probably still better than being at work!

Lynn

 

[MAC_JD]

I am in civilization!! Here are some updates:

27 August 2010 Day 03 of 19

Today it rained and rained hard. My waterproof Garmin GPSMAP 276C became not waterproof. Everyone thought it funny when a pint of water poured out of the unit!

The ride today was on the autobahn only, nothing spectacular. We are at a campground in Bergendorf, Germany. This is a beautiful campground. We got hooked up with a trailer so we don?t have to stay in our tents! There is a large party tent setup for the Rhine Valley HOG Rally this weekend. The Rhine Valley Hog Group and Fug-n-Nuts Group were kind enough last year at Bike Week to let us camp with them when our arrangement got messed up. This is a really cool mixed group of American and European people that love to RIDE RIDE RIDE!!!!

So far the food, beer, people and entertainment has been outstanding!!! (Minus the rain of course, it is currently pouring rain now . . . . AGAIN).

Here are my Spot messages:

[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.15927,7.16839&ll=46.15927,7.16839&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]46.15927,7.16839 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.57656,8.10521&ll=47.57656,8.10521&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]47.57656,8.10521 - Google Maps
[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.75163,8.29322&ll=47.75163,8.29322&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1"]47.75163,8.29322 - Google Maps

28 August 2010 Day 04 of 19

Today not much going on today. Rained all night and all morning. The weather finally cleared and we did a group ride around the area. The roads here are very good. Tight sweepers and twisties following rivers, long sweepers through fields and forest. Lots of fun for everyone. About 80 MC showed up today. The party after had about 400.

29 August 2010 Day 05 of 19

Great weather this morning, the sky started to get dark though about noon. One of the guys fell last night and hurt his ribs so he is moving a bit slow today, the rest of us are also for other reasons . We said our goodbyes and headed to my Uncles House. We had a very nice chat and dinner with them and then headed on up to Stuttgart (just north of Stuttgart) . I do wish we had had internet at the campground. We probably would have shot south back into western Switzerland or France. We are looking at rain up here for the next few days and fighting rain to get to a better local. Oh well. Tomorrow we are going to go to the Military exchange here. That will fix my camera issue so I can start uploading some photos for everyone. They look good on the camera!! I think I have worked the bugs out of my Go Pro HD Camera. I have it mounted on the nose up front with the suction cup mount. So far looks like it is holding fine. Unfortunately I had it on a setting that is not recommended. The video on my netbook looks jerky. More tests, I get the bugs worked out and some video up on youtube.

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

I got the photo problems sorted out, here we go.

 

[MAC_JD]

And the next group:

 

[MAC_JD]

And the last (yes my head is now cold):

 

[Mark]

Looks and sounds like you're having a great time...

I'll keep following you!


Mark

 

[Mellow]

Wow... great pics!.. Thanks!

 

[Mark]

I forgot to ask... what does the column in front of the rock commemorate? Looks like marble...

 

[MAC_JD]

Thanks guys!! Video links are next. We are hunkerd down in Stuttgart right now, it has been raining non-stop since literally the moment we got off our motors. The weather is supposed to break tonight. We are heading south to Switzerland tomorrow. Frank has been creating routes in the GPS all day. We are definitely going to be riding some great roads!!! Rested, wash is done, ready to ride!!

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

There is a marble company that quarries in this area. That polished piece is still connected to the mountain. They did it just to show the beauty of the stone.

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

Here is a link to a video I did in the Naturpark Sudschwarzwald. I just uploaded it, it is still processing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qViqt-EMo_o

This was done with a Go Pro HD Camera mounted to the front of my ST with the suction cup. I did it in the r4 video setting 960p. I thought it was in the r3 720p 60fps. The rest of the videos will be in r3 setting.

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

We are in France. Very weak slow Internet signal. Will update tomorrow from Chamonix, France. JD

 

[MAC_JD]

What a nice day, bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. We had a light day with only about 240 miles today. Lots of altitude changes today. Started out cold around 50 degrees. We hit 77 at one point, but spent most of the day in the low 60's. Near perfect weather today. The highlight of today was lunch. High in the mountains a wicked blue. There is a panoramic photo of it below. What a great place to take a break!! We did make it to Chamonix, France today, had a nice dinner and a couple of beers at an English Pub. Off towards Interlocken and back into Switzerland.

Here are photos from yesterday and today. JD

 

[MAC_JD]

And phtos from today:

 

[MAC_JD]

If you know me and want access to my Spot Share page send me a PM and I will send you the link and code.

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

Late start this morning in Chamonix but we needed it. Nice breakfast downtown then we headed off. We had a short stroll on the Autobahn then passes all day.

The highlight of the passes was the Tremola Pass. It is all Cobble Stone!! Amazing road and construction. Here is a link: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home/summervacations/excursion-summer/summer-mountain-tips/the-fascination-of-curves.html

We are in Innerkirchen, Switzerland tonight at the Hotel Alpenrose after a five pass day. Some great riding! Great Views!! And a new surprise around each corner. temps were from 52 to 70 today, again mostly in the mid 60's again today

We completed these passes today: Forclaz, Furka, Nufenen, Tremola, Gremsil. Nine passes planned for tommorow!!

JD

 

[MAC_JD]

And a few more: