Durban to Dublin 16th – 20th June

Tuesday 16th - Today after a very healthy breakfast, we set off from Graz heading for a village called Villach (Pronounced Villag) very confusing I know, where we were to meet up with Simon Huddard who was coming down from Wales on his way to Graz. We are due to visit the Hospital in Cardiff on the 25th June, so we plan on having a quick chat to make final arrangements.

Anyway we set off in good spirits under a clear sky. We were looking forward to another day in the saddle. Remember we had not been doing much riding these past few days having been at Erdsberg over the week end. It had rained during the night so we were taking it fairly easy early on in the ride because the roads up in the hills and in the forests were still a little wet.

I was leading the group and going through this forested section up in the mountains and geared down to go into an off camber corner, the next instant the front wheel washed out from under me and I was sliding down the road on my backside. While I was sliding time seemed to stand still. I could hear this terrible sound of the bike and metal panniers screeching as it slid across the tar. As I slid I was looking up and watching the bike sliding off down the road and I remember clearly thinking that as long as the bike or I don’t hit something we will be ok. Well the bike slid of the road and into a ditch and I followed just missing a concrete km marker at the side of the road. Thankfully our momentum by then had slowed so as the bike went into the ditch it flipped over and came to rest on its side.

I got up and dusting myself off I checked myself over for injuries or scratches, nothing I was able to walk away from this one unscathed. This was testimony to having the right gear on when riding. All the funny looks we have been getting along the way when we walk into a place wearing Big boots, Rider pants and these heavy BMW Enduro Jackets counted for nothing at that point. If I had been riding with anything less on I would have been spending the next hour or so covering myself in bandages and mercurochrome.

Walking over to the bike I was expecting the worst. Thanks to the strength of the Metal Mule panniers and of the bike, the damage was very minimal. The panniers were scratched but not broken and the screen was bent also not broken, Very very lucky indeed. With help from Jaco and Howard we got the bike out of the ditch and after straightening everything out, and Howard taking a few pics with me re-enacting the crash. No not literally, was not going to do that again no matter how good mates we are. We then carried on our way, a bit more cautiously this time. Square cornering was the order of the day from then on.

I must just add here that last night Jaco and I had just been talking about the trip so far and how lucky we had been that no one had any crashers, I said that we must be extra careful from here on in. The trip is almost over and this is the time when one normally starts to relax and let ones guard down. Point proven!!!
Arriving in Villach we headed for a street Café to wait for Simon. Once again our bikes attracted a lot of attention and within no time we had a crowd of people gathered around taking pics and asking us about our trip. The one big difference was that, unlike some of the places where we stopped in Africa we did not have to keep swatting hands away that were trying to help themselves to our kit.

Simon arrived soon after us and over a cup of coffee we chatted about our Wales arrival. Simon also suggested that we from here take a ride up to a place called Hinterhal where there is a hotel called Hotel Simonhof. A very biker friendly hotel, and it is situated at the start to the Grossglockner Mountains and a mountain pass that “Top Gear” rated the best biker road in the world. Well no second thoughts, we had to do this pass, saying our goodbyes to Simon and having made arrangements to meet him on Saturday we made ready to leave for Hinterhal, about two hours ride from here.

Arriving at Simonhof we were welcomed by the owners and shown to our rooms. What a surprise this was. Having been used to camping for most of the way or when we had stayed in a “Hotel” in Africa it was the norm to first ask if they had water and electricity. Which nine times out of ten they did not. And we were not always sure what creatures were going to be sharing the beds with us.

Walking into this room was a total opposite, the beds had duvets that had been folded back into a shape of a heart, Chocolate on the pillow and the lights come on automatically as you walk in the room. And to top all of there’s hot and cold water in the shower.

After dinner we headed of to bed, not before watching another fantastic sun set with the sun going down over the Alps.

Wednesday 17th - We had arranged to meet Jochen Saur, the head of KTM marketing at Mettaghofen, the home of the KTM motorcycle factory. And this is also where the M in KTM comes from. We have now learned that KTM does not stand for “Kick Till Monday” (And to all you KTM riders I say this with absolute tongue in cheek) KTM actually stands for… “Kronreif Trunkenpolz Mattaghofen” I apologize for the bad spelling and pronunciation.

We headed of to the KTM factory at 8:30 knowing that we had a two and half hour ride ahead of us. We were due to meet Jochen at the factory at 11:30, so we knew we were ok for time.

Arriving at the factory with half an hour to spare we were told that Jochem was still out with a group of Japanese journalists but we should wait and he would arrive shortly. Well shortly turned out to be an hour and a half later. When Jochen arrived we were given something to eat and along with the journalists welcomed to the factory and first given an overview of KTM and their policies and vision. They are putting a lot of time and money into developing the product and of course the racing projects.

After the introduction we were given a tour of the factory and it was really fantastic to see the bikes coming together from the birth of the bike. Where it is nothing but a frame and a million parts, to the final product that comes of the test bench and is ready to be shipped out to Alfie, and the other dealers around the world.

We were very fortunate to be allowed into the Research and Development section. (This area is normally restricted to public) we were asked not to take pictures or to look too closely to the bikes that are in this area. All I can say is that KTM have some very interesting and exciting bikes coming out soon.

We were also shown the Rally Bikes and the work that goes into producing the bike and getting them ready to take part in the Dakar. Unfortunately it seems as though the Dakar may be a thing of the past for the 690 and 640’s. There is a move afoot by the Japanese manufactories to get a limit imposed on the size bikes that enter to a max of 450.

Last year may have been the last time we have seen Cyril and Marc Coma battling for line honors on there big KTM’s.

After the visit we headed back to Simonhof and once again an early night’s sleep.

Thursday 18th - We woke up to a beautiful clear day and after breakfast loaded our bikes and set of to ride the Grossglokner mountain pass. If there is one thing that you as a biker have to do in your life and that is come and ride this pass. It is a good tar road twisting and climbing its way up the the snow capped mountains to an altitude of 2750 meters. Sani I think is 1340 meters. Gives you some idea on how high you go.

Along the way we stopped often to take in the view and take photos. At one of these stops I commented to Howard about the ride and view. He looked at me and said he is covered in goose bumps, not from the cold, but because of the magnificence of the whole place. AWESOME!!!

After getting to the top we started down the other side stopping at a Glazier along the way, one can clearly see the effect of global warming here, the glazier has halved in the last 10 years.

Arriving back at Villach late in the afternoon we made our way to the Hotel Mosser, which is a situated in the centre of town just around the corner from the river. Meeting the owner, Tina and her assistant Anita we were made to feel really welcome. Booking in and putting our gear down Anita invited us to join them for dinner at a restaurant in Town. After cleaning up and changing into clean clothes we headed of to the restaurant to meet up with Anita, Christian (Anita’s husband) Alex (her son) and Tina. We were treated to a very good meal and literally had a ball. At the end of the evening we asked for the bill and were told in no uncertain terms that we do not pay for anything. We are their guests. Guy’s you have been amazing and your hospitality goes beyond words.

Friday 19th - Last night Christian told us about a good day ride into Slovinia the neighboring country, so we decided that because we had a bit of time to kill we would do this. Poor Howard and Jaco were really tired today. Not sure if it was the meat they had for dinner or maybe the Schnapps we had tried. But being the tough guys that they are, and not wanting to miss the opportunity to see a new country they agreed that we do the ride.

Riding up into the Slovinian mountains and along these mountain pass roads that were built during the Second World War when the Germans were fighting the Italians. We were once again really enjoying the beautiful scenery. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant up in the hills on the side of the road and enjoyed freshly caught trout with a coke to wash it down. By this time the two guys were really battling to stay awake, so a few km’s down the road we pulled over at a mountain lake to get an hours rest under a tree.

I need to add here the water up in these mountains in the rivers and lakes are and amazing clear color, I kept looking for the person that was pouring the HTH into the water. The color is an ice blue and looking at the water one can see the fish and bottom clearly. The water comes down from the mountains where the snow and ice is melting and the result is this clear but very cold water.

After taking a short nap we set of for the hotel, putting the co ordinates for shortest route home into the GPS we set off. What I didn’t tell the guy’s was that section of Slovinia was not loaded as a map on my GPS, so I had absolutely no idea where we were going. Following the few sign boards of towns I remembered having seen on the map before we left this morning. We eventually got back. Sorry Howard and Jaco, but we actually did 80 km’s more than we should have.

When we got back we were invited to Christian and Anita’s house for dinner. Howard opted to stay and get some sleep. So Jaco and I went of to join our hosts at their very modern and beautiful home for dinner. Also there was Kurt (Jackie) a friend of theirs and an avid hunter. Jaco and Kurt spent the evening planning African hunting safaris for Kurt and Mountain Goat hunting in the Alps for Jaco. After a most enjoyable evening we made our way back to the hotel for some well needed sleep.

Saturday 20th - Woke this morning to a very wet and miserable morning. We have made a decision to spend the day at the hotel getting a bit of rest and hope the weather will start to clear tomorrow. Tomorrow we start the final stages of our travels to Dublin. Not before seeing a bit more of Austria then into France for the ride down into Calais for our ferry crossing into Dover. From there we head up to Wales (Cardiff) where we are due to visit the hospital on Thursday. We are due to arrive in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday the 30th where we are looking forward to some good Irish hospitality.

Durban to Dublin 11th to 15th June 2009

Before I start with Thursday 11th I need to take you back to yesterday. Our plan had been to go to the Ducati Factory on the 12th then Ride into the mountains on Friday.

Howard had made a suggestion that we go up into Austria and have a look at the venue where the Erdsberg Rodeo is usually held, and even though it is not on we could still look at the mountain. Well that idea was discussed for awhile then discarded, as we thought who would want to ride out just to see an empty mountain? So we stuck to the plan of going to Ducati.

Well that evening I was going through some internet stuff and saw that the Erdsberg Rodeo was actually taking place this week end. The 12th – 14th June! I ran up to Howard and Jaco’s tent to tell them and with out further discussion we decided there and then. Erdsberg here we come!

Thursday 11th - This morning up very early and packed and ready to go, we first had to head back to Firenze 100 km’s South of Bolongna where Jaco’s new shock hopefully is waiting. From there we plan to ride as far as we can go in the direction of Eisenerz, the town where the Enduro is being held.

Arriving at Firenze we are told that the shock had not yet arrived, but yes it is definitely on its way. It will be there in about an hour. We go off and get some coffee in town and one hour later we are back at the shop. As we walk in there on the table is a box with one very brand new Ohlins shock absorber and it is the correct one! Jaco is as excited as a small child at Christmas and will not allow any one to fit the shock. He has ridden almost 4000 km’s on the broken shock and therefore going to fix this himself. With in half an hour the old shock is out and the new one is in.

We say our good bye’s to the owners of the shop and by 12h00 we are on the road for Erdsberg. Within 50 km’s Jaco got used to the fact that the bike is not going to jump all over the road every time he goes around a corner or over a bump, and now is really once again enjoying his riding. The smile on his face was testimony to that.

We ride until 18h00 that evening out of Italy and up into the Austrian Alps. What a Beautiful countryside, very high mountains, green grass and forests and there is even some snow on the very high peaks. Real “Sound of Music” country. One expects to see Julie Andrews come running over the mountain tops singing “High on a Hill Stands a Lonely Goater “And no I cannot yoedel!!!

At 18h00 we get to a small ski village tucked away in the mountains (I think the name is Tarvisio) where there’s a large storm building up. The temperature was dropping rapidly and by now we still had 240 Km’s to go before reaching Erdsberg. We decided to stop off at a lodge in the village for the night.

Friday 12th - We are back on the bikes again soon after breakfast and taking the back routes to Erdsberg, we are once again enjoying the scenery and twisty roads. They carry on for kilometer after kilometer, climbing up mountain passes then down again the other side.

As I was riding I tried to figure out what it was, besides the scenery that was creating such beautiful country side. Then it dawned on me! There was not one sign of litter lying around on the road or in the forests. I started to make a point of looking for a small piece of paper or some thing that should not be there, but could not. It is absolutely incredible how neat and tidy the area is. I’m not talking a few km’s here. For about 160 km’s along the route it was spotless and it seems that most of the country is like that. And it is not because some one comes along after you to clean up. Everyone does it themselves. Amazing!

We arrived at Eisenerz at 13h00 and made our way up to the BMW Mottorrad pits, finding a spot close to the pit area we pitched our tents and went over to introduce ourselves. Our bikes attracted a lot of attention and a lot of foreign journalists came over to chat to us and get some photos of the bikes, we felt like celebrities for a short while.

The BMW support team had some spare 450 enduro bikes there and asked us if we would like to take a ride out onto the mountain and see some of the track and perhaps try some of the slopes. Yea right! As if we would say NO to an offer like that!

With in half an hour we are all on BMW 450 bikes and playing happily on Erdsberg Mountain, I tell you something, those hill climbs are REALLY steep. When you sit at the bottom of them and look up you have to tilt your head right back to see the top, really scary stuff. To try and walk up them is almost impossible. The guys that enter Erdsberg race are a special breed of racer even if you don’t complete the main event, just getting to the race and qualifying is an achievement in itself.

The race is divided into three parts. Day one and two are speed trial events, where you are individually set off up this track up the mountain, with this massive drop on one side of the road and you are timed over a distance of 14 km.

At the end of day one the top 1000 riders go through to day two where another 500 riders are then eliminated. Leaving 500 to start the main Enduro on Sunday. The top 500 riders are seeded in batches of 50 riders according to their best time trial for the start row’s on Sunday.

There were a few South African riders entered this year, Darryl Curtis, Lourens Mahoney and Altus De Wet on KTM and then there was Jade Gutzeit and Grey Dick on BMW 450’s.

Also there was a very strong and noisy support group of guys from SA with the SA flag flying high and the Vuvuzelas being blown constantly it did not take long for every one that was there to see that South African people and supporters go big when we stand behind our teams.

Saturday 13th - Waking up nursing slightly sore heads, I think we partied a bit too much in the beer tent on Friday night. We spent the day chatting to people in the pits and basically took things slightly easy. At the end of the day we were all happy to see that all the SA riders had qualified to go through to Sunday’s race, plus their times were good enough to get spots in the first row of 50 riders.

Let’s just go back to the party on Friday night. We sat and looked in utter amazement at what people get up to when they are in full party mode. There were guys in there underpants sliding down the wooden tables that were set out in a long row after first pouring beer over themselves and the tables.

Some people would run off the table and dive into the air and hope his mates were not to drunk to catch him, watching all of this from the side line and after seeing one guy badly dislocate his knee on the table sliding. We decided to give all that a miss. Dublin is still a long way off. We did however have a few beers with the SA support team; don’t forget we were in Sudan for quite a long time and that is a dry country.

Saturday afternoon is the big parade of bikes and riders through the village of Eisenertz and to witness hundreds and hundreds of off road bikes riding through the village is really something to see. We were fortunate enough to be able to take part in the parade on our adventures. I think that is a first for Erdsberg.

After the parade we were interviewed by the producer of the Erdsberg DVD about our trip and that we hope will be in the official DVD when it comes out. Nice Hey!?

Sunday 14th - Today is the big day. Walking around the pits one can see and feel the tension amongst the riders. The word is that Carl Katosh (The event organizer) has set a route that he does not want any finishers, or if there are as few as possible, that is how tough this race has become.

Watching the start we looked in awe at how the first 50 riders made the hill climbs around and out of the bowl where the start takes place look so easy. Remember how steep I said they were.

From there on as the next group came through (the groups are set of in 20 second intervals) the fun and games started. As soon as one rider loses momentum or traction and falls, the rest of the riders have to change their line and the hill climbs are soon littered with bodies and bikes all over the place. The slopes are so steep that it is impossible to get going again from where the rider has fallen. He either goes back down to try again or someone from the top of the climb throws a rope down to the rider to tie it to the bike and he and bike are then pulled up. This is all energy sapping stuff and they are only in the first 3 km’s of a 38 km course. Madness!!!

There had been a 4 hour cut off limit been set for the race and everyone was now waiting to see who was going to get in first, if anyone. Well the Polish guy Taddy Blaziack has once again shown the world what a great rider he is. He finished in a time of one hour twenty five, and 45 minutes ahead of the second placed rider, Paul Jarvis from Great Britain, Third place went to Andreas Leterbichler on a BMW 450. Testimony to how good these guys are. When Taddy finished the first thing he said to Carl was that the route cannot get any harder, it was almost impossible to ride the route any worse and it will become impossible. This was Taddys third win in succession making him the first rider to ever do this.

Out of the 500 riders that started only 21 finished. Of the South African entrants there was Jade Gudziet ,Darryl Curtis and Lourens Mahoney. Well done guys all of you that entered are real champions, and to finish you really are “ TOUGHER THAN IRON “ .

Monday 15th - We packed up our tents at a now very quite race venue, everyone else packed up and left last night. Today we had an appointment in Graz where we were to meet up with Darryl, Lourens, Altus, Chris Burch and Rory to go to the factory where the KTM X Bow car is made. Darryl had arranged for all of us to get a tour of the factory. I must add here that when Darryl had asked me if we would like to go and see the cross bow factory I thought he was talking about the kind that William Tell made famous. Thank goodness I did not say anything and show my ignorance. Looking at the car one can only dream of ever owning one. Let alone getting to go for a ride in it, it is an amazing motor car. Howard had to really control himself to stop drooling over the car.

The rest of today we are resting in Graz doing some washing and relaxing. Tomorrow we head back into the Alps and head for a place called Cortina. No not the car!