Last Saturday, I once again took part in a ride-out organised by Asociatión Muévete por Madrid en Moto. The theme for the ride was “despedida de Fabian” – a farewell and set-off party for Fabian who, with sponsorship from, among others Mutua Madrileña and Triumph, is going to ride to Nepal and India. His project is called Proyecto Suraj and he has a very illustrative website where you can read more about his project.
Fabian and his Triumph Adventure
We gathered by the four towers in Madrid and got ourselves organised. Then we rode behind Fabian over Rascafria up to Lozoya where a barbecue was waiting. After some food and mingling we cheered him on his way.
Gathered and ready for the ride
I enjoyed the company of a colleague and we planned our own route coming back, passing Cotos and Navacerada. Riding through the pine forest was a pleasure and there was hardly any traffic this Saturday afternoon. Getting closer to Madrid we were exposed to brief but hard rain, I got totally soaked. In the end it was good to get back home… ehmm, not true. I´m green of envy wanting to head off for an adventure myself… summer is too far away.
Although there are a couple weeks until I set out, all my preparations have to be finished by now. I’m flying to Sweden to spend the first two weeks of my summer holiday with my parents and when I’m back I set off.
What I’ve been up to lately regarding preparation can be seen on the newly updated page “The To-Do-List 2013”
The bike is prepared with maintenance according to the manual and some extra bits including a new rear tyre. The tyre was a complicated business. When reading on the internet, people seemed to change both rear and front at the same time. On the Ducati I always used two rear to one front and also now the front tyre looks fine while the rear is squared off and might not have enough rubber to last the holiday. Moreover, it seemed that most people got less mileage out of their Dunlop Sportmax than I have got and I could still use it if it wasn’t for the vacation.
In the end, I changed just the rear and hope the front will last so I can change both for another brand. From what I read on the Kawasaki Versys forum, most people would rather change for another tyre, saying that the Sportmax is not to be trusted in wet conditions. My riding style is not that provocative on tyres so I think I will be fine though. I really appreciate these forums and the members are often willing to help with information, the problem is to sort out what information to listen to in the end.
Front tyre
In two and a half weeks the adventure starts but now the bike is stored away safely and I fly to Sweden for a couple of weeks recreation in the countryside.
Today is the official Towel Day therefore I’m writing this blogpost on the very important topic as my way of honouring Douglas Adams – a man who gave the world so much wisdom and left us too early.
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels. A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellear hitch hiker can have. Partly it has a great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon, use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat, wrap it around your head to ward off the noxious fumes or avoid the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal; you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems clean enough… (The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a trilogy in five parts, 1995, page 31)
For obvious reasons I always travel with a towel. Preferably it is a light one but it still needs to be big enough to cover me up properly if I need to transfer myself from a common bathroom to a changing room etc. While traveling the galaxy in general and planet Earth in particular I have for example used my towel to pad my riding jacket when underestimating the temperature difference between Madrid and the mountains up north and constructing a mosquito protection head device for my fiance when visiting an island in Sweden, I’ve worn it as a skirt when I didnt have anything else to put on, slept under it, had picnic on it and used it to dry myself after a shower or a swim in a lake.
Protective headwear for mosquitos and bloodsucking flies.
My bike has its own towel. It is small, that kind that Japanese people bring with them for personal use. In fact, it was given to me in Japan at the WIMA Rally 2010, for personal use, but now serves my bike – which, in fact, also is Japanese – that the text on the towel reads Aprilia has little to do with this. My bike’s towel is used for drying rain from the seat and mirrors, or cleaning off bird droppings or spreading the tools on when occasional work is being done.
Off topic but still worth mentioning – the Kawasaki toolkit has approximately 466% more pieces than my late Ducati’s toolkit.
Well this is all for today. If you by chance stumble on this blog post and have no interest in motorbikes – be aware, continuing reading might change your opinion and I take no responsibility for this whatsoever!
