My friend Simon is keen to get into motorcycling. That said he has 3 large tasks before him. Firstly he needs permission from his wife (or I say get it anyway as it’s easier to ask for forgiveness), then he needs a bike license. This is somewhat complicated by the fact he lives in Germany. Lastly he needs a bike.

In the meantime he gets to sit on my bikes when I visit

It was a beautiful day and I decided to ride in Jeans and T-shirt. I know all the ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time) crowd will go on and on about this but I believe sometimes it is good to be aware of the dangers. Not having all the gear makes you more cautious and a cool rider is one that is concentrating as opposed to one that is hot, sweating and perhaps has restricted visibility due to wearing a full face helmet.

I mentioned previously that I didn’t load all the maps on for expediency. I didn’t realise how close I was cutting it cartographically

Riding between Dusseldorf and Linz is a long slog. In order to fend off fatigue and boredom I have regular stops and treats along the way. To find Chunky Monkey on this trip was a particularly rare and welcome find

I took a wrong turn at one point which mean’t I had to do a bit of cross country. This gave some welcome relief from the blazing sunshine. The cooling effect of the forests was wonderful. I’m not much of an environmentalist but I have to say I really do like trees. They really do have a tempering effect certainly on the immediate environment. With the detour over I was soon back on the autobhan and to my surprise… gridlock

Filtering or lane splitting is illegal in Germany but in situations like this such rules are not enforceable and so I made my way gingerly between the trucks and cars. This jam was about 10km long and towards the front portion of the queue people were standing around, getting out of cars and truck drivers would open their doors without any warning so I kept my eyes peeled and took it slow.

I noticed this Hungarian truck had a double puncture!

It got dark around Regensberg and by then I’d had enough. It had cooled down considerably and despite the warm clothing I just wanted to use the instant teleport button to get me to Linz. I got to Linz just after midnight. The CB500 had done its job valiantly and while not my first steed of choice I was surprised that it covered the distance without fuss.

Before I write another thing I would like to thank Grant & Susan Johnson and Chris Colling & Dave Lomax at adventure-Spec for making my attendance possible this year. Without them it would not have happened.

the 2010 10th anniversary event was much bigger than previous years. As I rode up the driveway to Lumb Farm I said to myself “Oh Wow”. They had pulled out all the stops. There were more vendors, more bikes, biggest tents, a video screen. It was all together an impressive event.

The campfire was blazing, the road kill cookout was in full swing but most importantly the people made the event special. Old faces, new faces, adventurers to be and adventurers with many years and locations under their belts.

In addition to the great setup the weather was perfect. It was consistently warm and sunny for the entire event. 28C and wall to wall sunshine. You could not have asked for better.

Attendees included Austin Vince and Lois Pryce, Jenny Furneaux, Simon Gandolfi, Walter Colebatch, Jenny Morgen, Peter & Kay Forward and many many more that can be found here

This year I was of course without my F800GS and arrived on my 1994 CB500. I guessed I would be the only attendee on a CB500 but by some strange quirk of the universe two guys arrived on loaded up CB500′s. Not only that but they plan to ride around the world over 80 months on these machines. I was heartened by their story and impressed at their low tech approach to luggage and increasing comfort. They were good guys, with a good sense of humour and I reckon they will go far and I personally will be looking forward to reading their story.

To find more photos of the event have a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everywherevirtually/sets/72157624238859917/with/4736800180/

Or click on the gallery above.

Photo courtesy of NÖN - Niederösterreichische Nachrichten

Photo courtesy of NÖN - Niederösterreichische Nachrichten

Well the Dirt Bike Show at Stoneleigh Park near Coventry was a real success. It was the first time I’d visited the event and it was also a first time that I’d ever had a bike in a show… or anything in any show for that matter.

A chance meeting at the Touratech Travel Event 2008 led to me getting the opportunity to build a website for the Sibirsky Extreme project. This undertaking to ride from Touratech HQ in south Wales to uncharted territory in Siberia will have adventure motorcycling legend Chris Scott along for the ride quite literally on his Yamaha XT  660 Z Tenere. A bike which ran a very close second to F800GS I have now.

Check out the ever developing site here: www.sibirskyextreme.com