Brno and Gedinne - lessons learnt

[ogden]

(lifted from my UKRM post so may be a bit sweary. lessons are general, not necessarily applicable to me in particular)

6.30am wakeup-calls suck balls, especially when your body thinks it's 5.30am.

The first beer after a 400 mile ride tastes amazing.

The second beer tastes pretty good too.

Soft luggage works perfectly well at 260kph though the sail effect of having a tent strapped on may make the front wheel a bit flighty - power-wheelies at 140mph are fun but a bit hairy.

Contrary to what the Michelin map would have you believe, every road in the Czech Republic should have a green edge. And a warning sign about potholes.

The Czech police take security very, very seriously. And drink-driving. I was stopped twice and breathalysed once - when they say zero tolerance they mean it.

Beer in the Czech Republic is very, very cheap in the provinces. 25kc (about a quid) for half a litre at the hotel, 50kc at the track. This does not sit well with their attitude to drink-driving.

Food at the Brno circuit is seriously ropey. Even the crisps were ****. If in doubt, subsist on Snickers during the day.

Take the opportunity to repeatedly call Charlie Cox a tosser as he walks past.

The ride up to the circuit, through the hills, past all the manned roadblocks, builds a real sense of occasion.

Parking facilities for bikes at the circuit, other than being a bit muddy, are way, way, way better than expected. They even have a huge cloakroom for lids, leathers, tankbags, whatever, so you can dump your **** at the compound and travel light inside the gate.

Czech brolly-dollies are the tallest, lankiest women you will ever see in your life. They make the Dutch look like dwarves.

Accessory sockets for motorcycles come with a rubber cap for a reason. Not using it can cost you 125 euros, a couple of hours of riding time and a detour via Slovakia and Hungary when you get sick of bump-starting an R1 and have to spend a morning buying a new battery.

Gixer thous get a bit sleepy from time to time and need a little lie down. When this happens, shout "****! ****!" and people will come to help you wake it up again.

Traffic in Brno proper is *awful*. And it's hot and humid. If in doubt,
strip off in a car park and change into dry clothes. Nobody seems to
mind.

Austrian motorway vignettes are only available on the Austrian side of the border. The Czech dude in a wooden shed will look a bit confused if you try to buy one from him.

The Alps are fun on two wheels. But you already knew that, right?

The Austrian approach to resurfacing roads goes like this: remove the road surface down to rubble; surface one side while letting people drive on the other; apply this approach on hairpins halfway down a pass, women on R1s will find it truly hilarious.

If your tyres are starting to act a bit funny, put a foot down just to check you're not riding on wet gravel without realising. Then hold tight til the normal surface returns.

Don't worry about hotels with no reviews on Tripadvisor. They're generally absolutely fine.

The tunnel north of Koblenz is hot. Proper hot. Your temperature gauge will continue to rise even after the fan kicks in.

The road north of the Bodensee is as dull as it looks, you will break the law filtering for an hour past stationary traffic, you will almost die of heat exhaustion.

Be sure to space rest days appropriately. Two long days on the move is more than enough, particularly if it'll leave you in a lovely hotel in an upmarket ski resort, rather than a freaky hotel in an olde worlde tourist trap where it's nine gazillion degrees in the shade, the menu choices are flammenkuchen or saurkraut and both the hot and cold taps run Riesling.

Do take chainlube. You don't want to pay 17 euros for a can in Colmar.

If you arrive at Gedinne on the Friday, there will be nowhere to buy a wristband because the entry gate won't have been set up, and nobody will
seem to mind very much.

Do put at least one lap of the Gedinne course in. It's a proper road course, with uppy bits, downy bits, lefty bits and a serious righty bit. It makes Chimay look like the tarted-up rectangle it is.

If you're camping, remember to pack a tent.

If you don't have a tent, try be the kind of person people will happily share their tent with.

Most importantly of all, have a ****ing good time.

Wise words mate!!

Sounds like you had a right good laugh!!

[ogden]

I'm knackered. And I'm only home for ten days before I do it all again (Misano this time, in the car).

[ogden]

And some photos

http://bit.ly/nFvhIC

Well that was a very censored and calm write up.

[ogden]

I'm a proper grown-up, me.

I'll do another one about the current trip when I get back. Probably. The Misano GP is an absolute hoot.

[ogden]

I've written the trip up in a bit more detail on a blog post:

http://eldaifo.blogspot.com/2011/09/...d-gedinne.html