EuroBarf 2011 - Mat's pics

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

Ok, so here are my pics of this year's EPIC EuroBarf 2011 hauling the alps.

I met BARF and Kurt in 2008 when I was living in the Bay Area, took my MSF and started riding motorcycles. Moved back to Germany in 2009 and continued to enjoy riding motorcycles and BARF.

This is my trusty FZ6-N, fully packed for the next 10 days.
(Traveling light with a waterproof duffel bag and a tank bag that has enough room for my DSLR)

Loaded the car train in Hamburg, traveling to Loerrach over night. Bike is ready to be tied down.
Nice thing is that you safe a day vacation by taking the night train.

Met Colin in Loerrach and we started our 2 day trip to meet Kurt in the Alps
Here you can see the most impressive bike I've ever seen. A 30 year old beemer, third engine (a tuned up 1000cc). This bike has been ridden over 600.000miles. In the last 10 years.

Met Peter and Kurt for Lunch in St. Leonhard. While Peter was on his way back home (Netherlands), Kurt stuck with us and started following us around...

Kurt, telling everybody how MUCH he loved his Versys :twofinger

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

The next 2 days Colin, Kurt and I rode passes in Austria and Italy. Weather was mixed, what made the alps look more dramatic and the riding more challenging.

In Briancon we met George and Mark who had a nice trip coming from Spain.

Our trusty steeds.Nice mix of number plates

CAL, GB , D, ES, ES (from left to right)

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

This little cafe was a life saver!

It was raining pretty hard and we took a wrong turn that lead us directly towards Nice... Roads were pretty sketchy and we had a very long way back ahead of us. But we kept our spirits up by taking stops, laughing, paying attention to blood sugar levels and making sure that nobody was left behind.

Kurt remembered this cafe where we stopped. Most delicious hot chocolate I've ever had in my life.

In the alps the air is pretty dry so you have to pay attention to staying hydrated!

Got myself some new rain gear.

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

Clouds moving fast over Cole du Galibier

Kurt buying weapons of mass destruction. Again.

Everybody seems ok.

French splitting a huge construction vehicle. This guy actually pulled over to let us pass. Gotta love the French.

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

Kurt came up with a great plan. "George, if you push this thing over while we are taking a picture, we could send Mat home in an envelope!"

You can see George trying... But luckily he reconsidered.

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

Another trip over Cole du Galibier with a slightly better view. This pass never gets boring!

With the gopro mount George got everybody's attention in every village we passed. People were probably mistaking him for next-gen google street view...

Heading out for dinner.

mattzz · Aug 13, 2011

Somebody must have asked Mark to take a bottle of STFU.

When everybody headed back home in different directions, Colin and I rode together through France, heading north. After Col Du Telegraph I saw something flapping around on his bike so I passed him and asked him to pull over. Turned out that one of his spot lights came of. Probably due to increased vibration caused by an issue with Colins front brake disc. The plastic hinge broke off.

But of course it was still working!

We checked the other spot light and sure enough that one was also about to come off. So we harvested the lights and improved the top speed of the battlestar beemer even more.

On Sunday morning in France, in a town near by Dijon it was time to say goodbye to Colin. We had a great time, I learned a lot and it was always a pleasure to share a room. See you next year, Colin!

I tip-toed my bike the remaining 250km eastbound to Loerrach, near Basel. My rear tire had gone from ok to oh-shit in two days and I felt it was not a good idea to have a tire problem on a Sunday in rural France. Sundays in France are somewhat special because everything is closed and nobody is around. You can ride for hours without seeing anybody.

As I arrived in Loerrach quite early I met a couple of nice guys who waited with me for the evening to load the bikes on the train.

One of them was Uli, German guy born in 34 who rode his 60 year old Zuendapp through the alps.

The guy on the left is Uli.

Me, about to unload the bike the next morning in Hamburg, Germany. Rear tire pretty much toast.

Thanks for watching.
And thanks to BARF and everybody else who made this epic trip possible!

flying_hun · Aug 13, 2011

Nice stuff, Matt! :applause

veefereefer · Aug 13, 2011

Freaking awesome guys! I like the way you keep hydrated :laughing

MsBlade · Aug 13, 2011

Excellent Pictures!! Miss Ya guys!

phoenixrising · Aug 14, 2011

wow, that 600k bemmr is amazing. great pics!

BigB · Aug 14, 2011

Friggin awesome!!!

flying_hun · Aug 14, 2011

phoenixrising said:
wow, that 600k bemmr is amazing. great pics!

The funny thing is, with all those miles that's not even his main work bike. The dude can :ride

horsepower · Aug 25, 2011

Absolutely incredible! Just stellar pics, views, roads and the Barfmen who rode em....congrats one and all. :thumbup

Karbon · Aug 25, 2011

You guys rule.

Coyote · Aug 25, 2011

I love that the Redwood TT sticker made it to Europe too!

mattzz · Aug 26, 2011

Kurt's Versys always made a great impression because of the CA license plate. (I bet it was the only bike in the alps with a CA plate.)

People will scan the plates of a group of bikes and go like "Ah, bloody Germans again." or "Uh, look! Somebody from Denmark". Having a small, strange plate with a BARF plate holder like Kurt's always got the attention. "Where do you come from? BARF? Where the hell is BARF?" :twofinger

flying_hun · Aug 26, 2011

Coyote said:
I love that the Redwood TT sticker made it to Europe too!

Redwood represent, yo!

mattzz said:
Kurt's Versys always made a great impression because of the CA license plate. (I bet it was the only bike in the alps with a CA plate.)

People will scan the plates of a group of bikes and go like "Ah, bloody Germans again." or "Uh, look! Somebody from Denmark". Having a small, strange plate with a BARF plate holder like Kurt's always got the attention. "Where do you come from? BARF? Where the hell is BARF?"

Here in the US there's a lot of status around bike brand and model, and it might be even more so in the Alps. We all agreed that the Harley of the Alps has to be the R1200GS. You can't swing a dead cat on those passes without clobbering a EwanCharlieWannabe. :laughing

Anyway, the day after the rally Sue and I were at the top of Galibier when this group of Swiss riders pulls up. This Schweitzer on his BMW parks next to me because there's nowhere else to park, but won't even look at me because I'm riding a Kawasaki beginner bike. That is until his buddy walks over and notices the California plate. Then I was like a rock star!

arty

A couple more things on GS's and Harleys. I saw more Harleys and cruisers in general this year than in past years, but most of those were further east than I've ridden before, in Germany and Austria. In France and Italy they were relatively rarer. Most of the Harleys had DE plates. Taking a cruiser to ride the Alps makes about as much sense as taking a John Deere to a track day.

GS's! Holy crap, those things are everywhere! Great bike, but come on! Their dominance of the segment was astounding. No exaggeration to say that for each new Multistrada we saw there would be 40 or 50 GS's! The Super Ten was visible, but not a huge number. Tigers were around, but also not a huge number. The number of Africa Twins was higher than expected - more than Multistradas anyway.

mlm · Aug 26, 2011

Great pics Matt. I need to smile more.. :laughing

Morphine · Aug 26, 2011

Man those photos are AMAZING!

:hail

EuroBarf 2011 - Mat's pics

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