Scrub Tibet - Hello Dracula

[Skub]

I think it is time I accepted that, at 79, I am too decrepit to do 6+ riding hour days back to back for 3 weeks.

Regardless of age,that's a pretty punishing schedule for most people accustomed to casual bike riding.

[Cousin Jack]

Some days we're short on paper, but 200 miles on a fast dual carriageway is very different from, 100 miles on a truck route with constant overtaking, and 100 miles of very rough narrow forest roads.

Let's see what today brings, off before 8:00 am

[Dodgy69]

I think you booked a 3 week endurance event by mistake.

[Cousin Jack]

I think you booked a 3 week endurance event by mistake.

I think I did too. Every other bike but 1 is a BMW GS. The other one is a 750 KTM. My poor little CB500f was a bit outclassed, especially in the suspension. At times it was like riding a jackhammer.

At last hotel, coffee, shower, call the missus, beer followed by dinner and more beer. That is the plan.

[mangocrazy]

The highs have been stratospheric, but I think it is time I accepted that, at 79, I am too decrepit to do 6+ riding hour days back to back for 3 weeks.
I have enjoyed (most of) the riding, I have enjoyed the company and piss-taking, but with 3 long days to go I wish I could just be teleported home.
By next year I will remember the good bits and will have forgotten how knackered I felt.

I can entirely concur with all of the above. I remember the last time I rode the VFR nearly the entire length of France (Caen Ouistreham to our village a short step from Beziers) in one day I realised that I was getting too old for that kind of malarkey. When I repeated that trip last year I broke the journey half way down and stopped in a B&B over night and that was still quite knackering.

I'm regretfully having to face up to the fact I'm an old git and can't do all the stuff I could when I was younger.

[Cousin Jack]

I'm regretfully having to face up to the fact I'm an old git and can't do all the stuff I could when I was younger.

Bloody annoying, innit.

[mangocrazy]

I'm regretfully having to face up to the fact I'm an old git and can't do all the stuff I could when I was younger.

Bloody annoying, innit.

Hate it.

[Dodgy69]

I've always found 5 or 6 hours saddle time and I've had enough. After that ain't no fun.

[weeksy]

I've always found 5 or 6 hours saddle time and I've had enough. After that ain't no fun.

I was happy with 45 mins. Anything over 2 hours and I'd rather be in the transit

[Cousin Jack]

Finally reached uk. Only 300 miles to go tomorrow. Long day today, 600+ kms, and a story to go with it. That is for another day, shower and a quick beer before bed.

[Dodgy69]

Dakar next year.

[Cousin Jack]

Dakar next year.

DO NOT tempt me, I am daft enough to try stuff way beyond my skill level.

[Cousin Jack]

Finally reached uk. Only 300 miles to go tomorrow. Long day today, 600+ kms, and a story to go with it. That is for another day, shower and a quick beer before bed.

Proper beer too, Doom Bar no less.

[Noggin]

Dakar next year.

DO NOT tempt me, I am STILL daft enough to try stuff way beyond my skill level.

I have to change that for me if not you

[Cousin Jack]

Home again but with a load of shit to sort out. Bike needs a service, new footpeg, new brake lever, the chain is fcuked and probably the sprockets too. And it has an oil leak.

Mysteriously the car has a broken windscreen. Big crack running halfway across the screen. Fcuksticks!

Massive re-shuffle in the MAT governance. Big strategy meeting coming up and masses of papers to read.

Missus has a list of stuff that needs doing. Some small and easy, some big stuff too.

And my cataracts need sorting. Reading strange sign in forrin stuff made me realise it needs doing SOON.

All in I am going to be a busy bunny for a week or two. In retrospect it was a brilliant tour, but you do need to be fit, having an adventure bike helps, and it really isn't for newbies or oldies. I am not as fit as I was, I have a budget naked bike, and I am old. Glad I did it, but I won't be signing up for another tour like that next year.

[Dodgy69]

Nice one @Cousin Jack and home in one piece.

How many miles all in. ??

[Cousin Jack]

Nice one @Cousin Jack and home in one piece.

How many miles all in. ??

Roughly 4950, including the 600 or so UK mile to the tunnel and back.

[mangocrazy]

Nice one @Cousin Jack and home in one piece.

How many miles all in. ??

Roughly 4950, including the 600 or so UK mile to the tunnel and back.

No wonder you were cream-crackered at the end of each day.

Chapeau.

[Cousin Jack]

Right, home again, some urgent items crossed off Mrs CJ’s list, time to add a bit more information to the thread.

23 days in total, 4950 miles and 10 countries! Apologies if some of this is a repeat from previous posts.

First the whole experience was awesome, but more than a little demanding. Main issues were age, general numptiness and an aged and infirm sat nav too. Day 1 of the tour proper started OK, and then degenerated at lunchtime when I parked awkwardly at a café in France got off on the ‘wrong’ side, fell over and dragged the bike on top of me. Footpeg and front brake lever snapped, and my foot was very unhappy. Symptoms very similar to last time I dropped a bike on my foot, and that was 3 metatarsals broken and a leg in plaster. Anyway, it was day 1, so I MTFU and carried on. Long story short, Honda dealer not helpful, eventually replaced the footpeg with a Ducati one that sort-of worked. Ducati dealer was excellent. Brake lever, I just used 2 fingers and all was well. Foot is still slightly swollen but healing.

Sat nav woes surfaced on Day 1 too and plagued me on and off for the rest of the trip. Some countries it worked, some countries it didn’t, new maps loaded and still problems, finally tracked down to needing GPX 1.0 files, every other sat nav running on GPX 1.1. Annoying because it meant on some days I needed to follow someone or manage using Google Maps on a phone in my pocket. Garmin Help were not helpful. I need. a new one

Enough of the problems, the tour itself was great. The two Guides were excellent, the routes were pretty good. A few more waypoints would have helped, a road closure could offer some ‘interesting’ routings. One day when the sat nav was u/s we routed via a road that was tarmac’ed in the 1930s and had had zero maintenance since. OK perhaps for the BMW 1250 GS I was following, less so for a well laden CB500f.

Another day when the sat nav wobbled (after I took a wrong turn) I found myself riding on an unmade road that was so bad there was a digger dumping tons of gravel into the ruts and pits. I made it, and then found myself in a cul de sac, the suggested route was via a gateway onto a brick paved path. Obviously NOT intended for motor vehicles, but hey, I’m a bicycle, it says so on my V5. The path degenerated a lot and was too narrow to turn, even spinning on the sidestand was a no go, so I rode on, down a very steep hill and some pretty knarly bits until I got back to a road. By the way, all this was with a biblical style thunderstorm.

Weather was mixed, hot, cold, and wet all appeared, sometimes all on the same day. Overall it was fine, if you cant take a joke you shouldn’t have joined.

Mix of people was excellent, including 3 blokes I have been on tour with before. Everyone got on well together and took the piss, often about my sat nave woes. Hotels were good, some gooder than others. Some of the massive piles in ex-Communist countries were magnificent, but lacking a bit in modern touches. A massive room the size of a tennis court with 2 double beds and an acre of space is good, somewhere to charge the phone would have been nice but hey ho. Food was mixed too, but was always edible, even if sometimes the menu was a bit limited.

The point of the tour was to go to Romania, ride the Transalpina and Transfagarasan Highways. The Transalpina is awesome, 50 odd miles of knarly roads up through the forest and over the pass. You get to the ‘top’ (from the south side) and relax, now it is downhill all the way. Except it isn’t, the ‘top’ is a false summit, you wriggle down a bit and the road rears up with about another 10 hairpins on a slope that looks like the roof of a house. Only then do you get to the top.

The Tranfagarasan is also awesome, with some superb modern sections at both ends that Jeremy Clarkson raved about. He omitted to mention that some other bits are very badly surfaced and will have your fillings out. Perhaps more spectacular, especially from drone shots, but I enjoyed the Transalpina more.

Rest of Romania, a mix of rural peasant stuff. Horse or donkey carts, mixing it with 40 ton artics. Speed limits? Trucks ignore village 50 kph limits, we usually slowed to 55 -60 and often had an artic up our arse by the end of the village. No speed cameras. Lots of road building going on.

After Romania we went via Hungary (Budapest) and a bit of Slovakia to Poland (Krakow). In case you haven’t notice Poland is BIG. And so is Czchia. And German. So after a day off in Budapest, a long day to Krakow for another day off, and then 4 long days to get back to the Chunnel. That was the worst bit, we were going home but it was a long drag. Route was planned via Spa. VERY BAD idea on a Grand Prix weekend, so the guides worked out an alternative that was pretty good but even longer.

Bike is now poorly and awaiting TLC. Filthy, broken brake lever, needs proper footpeg, chain and sprockets are shot (and I think there was a chain guide/slider thingy, that has gone walkies). Heated grip control (OEM Honda part) disintegrated, electronics were hanging in the breeze for a bit and then repeated flexing broke the wires so it all abandoned ship. Other than that it didn’t miss a beat. Small but gutsy, it lacks a bit of high speed grunt for overtakes at 65+ but it kept up with the big boys on most roads. The best bike for touring is the one you have, even if it is small. New tyres were put on just for the trip, Dunlop Mutants and they are brilliant.

Would I do a similar tour again? Probably not, I am getting too old for back to back riding days for 3 solid weeks with only 3 days off the bike.