Hihi, jetzt wird mein Bericht sogar bei den "Iron-Bikern" in Amiland veröffentlicht.
Hier die mail von Frank, dem leader der dt. Iron Butt Association
Hallo Angela,
erstmal ein frohes neues Jahr und alles Gute für 2012.
Die IBA in den USA sucht interessante Rideberichte aus den nationalen Chaptern und hat auch bei uns angefragt.
Wir möchten auf diesem Weg anfragen,ob wir Deinen Bericht übersetzen und für das Magazin einreichen dürfen?
Klasse wäre, wenn Du die Fotos noch in einer höheren Auflösung hättest (beim Drucken wird sonst die Qualität zu schlecht).
Es würde uns freuen, wenn Du uns Dein OK geben würdest, wie gesagt, übersetzen würden wir es und Bill von der IBA würde es ebenfalls noch einmal korrigieren.
Viele Grüße, Frank
Hier ist der Bericht:
The 1000 miles ride
When I heard about this ride in a motorcycle forum I immediately thought: „This is what I want to try as well!“
I took a map of Europe to find a right destination for my event. Just riding forth and back was not what I wanted. So I had a closer look to the map and the destination was clear:
Budapest!!! (Capitol of the Hungarian republic)
My daughter goes to university there so I intended to visit her as well on this trip. But, the direct route from my home town to Budapest is only 625 miles not enough for the minimum of 1000 miles required for this ride. Searching Google maps I finally found the perfect route:
Lamspringe/Germany, Basel/Switzerland, Munich/Germany, Passau/Germany, Vienna/Austria, Budapest/Hungarian Republic
I planned the route very carefully because the Iron Butt Association rules require to document the ride according to gas receipts. And, my route was not always the shortest distance between A and B (but the shortest distance is what counts or you need to document the indirection).
The next step in preparing for the ride was to choose the right date to start. A maximum of 24 hours riding means to ride at nights as well. So the right time of the year seemed to be May or June for me. The nights are the shortest of the year and so I thought to not ride too many hours in the dark. No, I am not afraid riding at nights, but there are more risks, obstacles on the road noticed too late, deer crossing or not being recognized early enough by others can make such a ride more dangerous. In addition I decided for a Sunday because trucks are not allowed to use highways on weekends and to prevent traffic jams at the regular working hours.
My decision went for Sunday, May 29 2011 starting at 2 a.m. in the morning. I calculated a total of 20 hours for the entire ride.
The start date came closer and closer and following the weather forecast became a daily activity. This was the only thing I couldn’t plan, but when angels travel… (the sun always shines). For that specific Sunday sunny weather at about 20°C (about 68°F) was forecasted. So let’s go…
Sunday, 1:57 a.m. I filled my bike at the gas station „Rhüden“, my husband signed my logbook as eye-witness and the ride began.
Due to some rain before I decided to keep on my rain gear, not only to prevent from splash water but also to exclude the cool head wind.
**
Within the first three hours I was asking myself a lot of times “What the heck am I doing here?”
But then I saw the skyline of Frankfurt/Main. It was like somebody suddenly switched on the light The sun clearly appeared at the horizon and I felt everything will be good.
After three stops for refueling my bike I reached Basel/Switzerland at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. The border officials seemed to be tired as well so they let me pass without any passport check. Swiss highways allow a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) and exceeding the limit is highly expensive.
So I had a permanent look to my odometer. In this situation I wished to have a cruise control on my bike. I crossed Switzerland from west to east including two stops within two hours only (Switzerland isn’t that huge).
At 9.15 at the second stop in Switzerland I met a group of bikers wanting to start for a Sunday drive. I still wore my rain gear because it was still a bit cold so they looked at me as if to ask from which rain storm I arrived. They couldn’t even guess that I already rode a total of 800km (500 miles) within the past 7 hours.
Then in Bregenz back to Germany I rode to Memmingen. Unlimited speed on the German „Autobahn“ after this 2 hours reduced speed on the Swiss highways, I needed to kick my bike. And to tell you, the BMW-GS runs as if it was on rails at high speed, excellent feeling!
So just after one hour I arrived at my next scheduled stop in „Lechwiesn“ near Landsberg am Lech where I planned a longer break and where I undressed my rain gear. Now it was time for a short breakfast; a butter pretzel and a coffee-to-go was exactly what I needed. I was perfectly in the time scheduled for this ride.
Then passing Munich and Passau I approached the Austrian border. I already bought the necessary vignettes for Switzerland and Austria before so this saved time at the border and I spent this time to have a short cappuccino break instead. And I just thought: Only through Austria and then to Hungary, that’s it. But, Austria dragged on and on and on like a chewing gum.
Then finally at 5.30 p.m. I noticed the old barracks at the border. The ravages of time left their marks on these buildings. I followed the sign “Matrice” to pay the toll at a small building, you get the receipt that’s it. When I packed my belongings a man wearing a reflective vest came in and talked to me in broken German language recognizing I am from Germany. I told him that I had a long distance made this day and I am lucky to arrive in Budapest. When I left the building I saw the police-car with a running engine and I was aware that I told a police-officer that I want to go as quickly as possible to Budapest, uuups. He asked me if I was the pilot of the bike and reminded me to not exceed the limits with a smile on his face. “Noooo, not me” I promised! ;o)
At 7 p.m. I passed BUDAÖRS a small town next to Budapest. My last fueling stop, 1.676km (1047 miles) were finished. I called my daughter and together with a friend she came to the gas station to sign the logbook as eye-witness.
I finally made it, everything went well. And the most important point: No traffic jam, no complications, my plan succeeded. The intensive planning was worth the effort. I kept the gas receipts extremely carefully from now for later finishing my ride documentation. What I scheduled for 20 hours was done within 17 hours only. If you separate the 8 gas stops (each of them approx. 15 minutes) and the two breaks (each 30 minutes), I only needed 14 hours for the total route always respecting the speed limits.
**
Interesting neither my knees nor the arms or legs hurt. And I was not feeling any kind of Saddle Sore either. The adrenalin filling my blood more and more since one week before I started did a good job.
It was a great experience. Not only the ride itself was a challenge, also planning the details of the trip, buying new maps and re-arranging the route from time to time with Google maps finding a more optimized route, looking for the opening hours of gas stations in the foreign countries (are they really open 24/7?) and finally the photo album that always reminds me on that 1000 miles ride was worth everything.
Normally I like to ride on small streets or even go off-road more than riding highways. But this Iron Butt ride is an experience where sloping position does not count but power of endurance.
And honestly spoken I have to admit that I had perfect conditions, always sunny at about 20°C (68°F).
But, if you do something crazy you are allowed to have some luck anyway.
And again, when angels travel…
Dass einem hier immer so das Wort im Munde umgedreht wird
