November 26-27.I was appointed organizer of the first winterride of our club. Quite an honour, so I had prepared a route weeks before. It seemed an easy relaxed ride, but that was when the weather was still autumn-like. Today snow was expected in the east, and in fact a lot had fallen there already: thousands of Germans were without electric current. Where we started however not a flake was in sight, so we set out to venture east (one hour later than scheduled as usual). It wasn't long before we found snow on the edges of the roads and the moment the snow started coming from the sky we stopped for coffee and deliberation. Some (Bart on his brandnew V-strom, Peter on his big Suzuki Cavalcade) had their doubts, but in the end it was decided to carry on. Shortly after we had left the pub some more snow fell and the speed dropped to sub-30 (km!). So we left the small roads and headed for the motorway. It took a while as the speed never got back to normal. Once on the motorway Symon blasted away on his Africa Twin, trying to stay ahead of a truck. I waited to see if the others made it to the motorway and fortunately I saw them approaching. So I gained some speed and cruised at 60 kmh to wait for them. |
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They never showed up though and as the snow was getting worse I increased speed, noticed
Symon when passing a fuel station and waited for him at the next one.
There the two of us got coffee and used the cellphone to find out where the other three
had gone. It turned out they had taken the first opportunity to check into a hotel and
they had no intention to ride any further. Symon and I decided to go for it and try to
reach our destination, the campsite 'in den Hof' in Geleen. We had a fun ride even though it was a bit
cold, and reached our destination shortly after dark. Brave little Honda's!!
The first beer led to another, and it was soon decided NOT to camp but use the nice-and-warm attic. We had some beers, some food, some chat and enjoyed a wonderful night's rest. |
Sunday.Sunday morning came. After breakfast we loaded up our bikes and left around eleven. The roads were OK even though some more snow had fallen. We headed north, following the arrow on the gps. The ride took us over minor roads, a closed 'work in progress' motorway and even a short muddy trail through a bit of forest. Nice. After a not so short (it had started snowing again) stop for coffee and cake at Helenaveen we did the last leg home, crossing the river Maas by ferry near Alem and following the dikes of the Waal river later. At IJsselstein we filled up our tanks, had coffee and each went our own way. A good thing riding is fun all year round! |
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