Cucciolo, the magazine of the Swedish Ducati Club arrived today and I opened it with excitement. It is amazing to see my own writing and pictures in print!
If you’re interested in knowing more about the Swedish Ducati Club, click here: http://www.ducatiklubben.se/
12th of October and public holiday in Spain. It’s such a nice thing to have a day off in the middle of the week. Sun was shining and I decided to go to Segovia to take a nice picture of my Ducati and the aqueduct. I was glad to have a purpose to the ride, after my journey this summer I find it hard to just ride out with no goal.
Well, the ride was fantastic as expected, but let me tell you what happened with the picture. I did a slightly illegal manoeuvre to enter the big square in front of the aqueduct and parked right at it.
After a few shots I realised how small the bike looked on the pictures and I decided to move the bike to the centre of the square and take a close up with the aqueduct in the background. I had already imagined the picture in my head and was about to move the bike to the perfect spot when two scooter police ladies approached and shot non-admirable looks at my bike. Of course, I couldn’t park there, I knew that, but I was taking pictures… anyway, history has taught me to not argue with police in Spain, nor try to explain anything. So I just say yes to everything, not answering how I entered the square and prepared to leave. I hoped they would move on so I could take the final picture but annoyingly enough they hung around to monitor me taking off, like they knew I would stay. I decided to take the bike to the café on the way off from the square and think things over. I started parking the bike in a place that not in any way would cause a problem, but one of the scooter lady police immediately shot off after me to say that I’m not allowed to park there either, but that uphill there is a parking space… I wanted to say ”hey, lady why don’t you ride out to fight some real crime”, but thought the better of it and said “gracias” and forced myself to produce a big smile.
After some circulating I found this place to give another try at photographing. I decided against returning to the square since the notorious police probably would fine me if I did so.
When evaluating the purpose many thoughts spring to mind and it is hard to keep my thoughts in a straight line and write something that makes sense for others to read. This is the result though, I hope you enjoy your read.
Not great goals for evaluation but I give it a go:
I hope by writing this blog I can inspire other women to do similar things.
I sure hope that I have been able to inspire people to travel. From comments on the blog and word on the road people have said that they are impressed, amazed and that they wish they could do the same. This does not necessarily mean that they will do the same but nevertheless I’m proud to hear it. The best compliment was possibly from Claudia, vice-president of WIMA saying that I do a great thing for women all over the world.
I was thrilled to see that there was a spanish translation of the first pages of my blog and a really nice presentation of me on the Ducatistas forum. If nothing else, it shows interest. On the other side of Europe I was disappointed not getting the local newspapers interested in my home town but happy to await the latest club magazine from the Swedish Ducati Club which requested an illustrated article of my journey. And the Swedish central organisatin for bikers, SMC, is about to put my article about the WIMA rally on their their travel section. So it isn’t over yet.
I want to show that you don’t need travel company or a touring bike to do great travels. All you have to do is to plan according to your abilities.
How did it really go with that? To be honest I loved riding with Anneli, we made a perfect team and while I was a more experienced rider she was the one organizing food and rest. I hope to be able to ride with her again in the future but I’m also, still, happy to rode alone rather then riding with someone who isn’t riding the same pace like me or sharing the same values when it comes to behaviour in traffic.
My bike is fantastic in many ways and I have been riding and loving Ducati for 12 years now. Now I feel that I have taken the Monster to the limit of what it can do travelwise. Not only due to the problems with the nerves in my leg and feet, the vibrations and the posture. Bringing only 60 L of luggage when traveling for several weeks is tiring too. I have not felt it before, but now I do. I dream of a bike with hard cases where I can bring seconds of changes of clothing. While I’m writing the wishlist, why not the possibility of bringing a passenger and luggage at the same time? And maybe, I say maybe, I could benefit from a bike that shields a bit from the wind, to make the riding less of an athletic endurance. Nothing wrong with planning according to your abilities, that is always essential, but I just ponder the possibility of a change in abilities.
This last journey changed me in a way that no other journey has. In the future we will see which gets the better of me, the love for Ducati or the urge for riding out to find adventure.