Tornanti_2...Three Weeks Of Carve Till Ya Barf!!

Bandit 12

Getting the hang of it
The pictures......I'm speechless. I love Aus, but my goodness these places are on my "must do" list
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
So far so good... Those pics are outstanding. Love the old walled towns and cobblestone streets! Plans for our next big ride will see us riding on the wrong side of the road too... How long did it take you guys to adjust to riding on the right, and did you suffer any lapses ?


It sort of worked pretty much instantly. As long as there's traffic around, all's fine.
The lapses come when the head's full with impressions/ smells/ all-sorts-of-distractions.... then pulling out of a carpark or driveway onto an empty road.

Where are you guys off to?
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The pictures......I'm speechless. I love Aus, but my goodness these places are on my "must do" list


Hi buddy
check in later tonight...there are some sweet shots lined up for the next day.:clap::clap:

And you ain't seen NOTHING yet !!

Then it's into Slovenia...and that one's a KNOCKOUT!!:lao:lao
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
ARGHHH, groan….:eek:

Marty’s having problems dragging his sorry arse out of bed. “All beer’s goat-piss” …he just wouldn’t know one exceptional brew from another if it bit him in the bum! :bt

So we tried to get his customary Bourbon ‘n Coke….quite an unknown item around here.
The bottle of JB was the only whiskey around and had most likely spent more years curing in the bottom shelf here than at the distillery. None of those wanky 15ml measuring gizmos on top of the bottle….grab a 250ml standard glass, fill half with whiskey:eek:, a few small ice-cubes, then gingerly top up with Coke…and none the pre-mix shit, either.

They didn’t even know what to charge for it….and made up some arbitrary sum. :so

That pretty much set the pattern for the 3 weeks in that department.
2 or 3 of those….and someone’s off to the shower to clear the head. :bs

Oh yeah…and while on topic: There’s NO bottleshops, BYO’s and all this bullshit….
Booze is EVERYWHERE!!

The friendly local grocer, the kiosk at the corner, the big servo along the Autobahn….booze everywhere, from “goat’s piss” to rocket fuel.
And before those puritans start jumping with their pants on fire…. it all seems to work out just fine.
Looks like the Euros can manage very well without the dumbing reglementation from above.

Morning folks !! :thumbs::thumbs:

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Since we’re already partway up this road, we may as well pay the E4/7bux toll and do the rest of the ~30k’s of singlelaner high above the valleys.

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And what an absolute GEM this thing turns out to be…WHOWWWW!!!!
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From drop-dead gorgeous…..to BREATHTAKING!!

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NOW!!!....that’s ONE pile-of-shit in anyone’s language!!
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Ohhhh….that gets me back to that “shitflicker” thing mentioned earlier.

In these parts, things get done the age-old, traditional way. None of those 50kg bags labeled “XYZ-Agricultural Chemicals---WE know what’s good for you---for stock market enquires call XXXXX” full of bile-green pellets or flakes here….

Cleaning the stables, the dung and straw mixture gets piled and stored. The summer brings the insects to “process” that pile ready for autumn, when the solids get mixed with water, stuck into 5000l tanker-trailers and pulled across the paddocks, a ‘rotary-twirler” at the back making sure of even distribution.
Sort of like a concrete truck with spreader-fan attached.

The snow then packs it all down and makes it soak into the ground during the snow-melt in spring…easy, aye? Bloody effective, too!

On T1, Tim termed those little tractors pulling the manure-tankers “shitflickers”….as usual, right on the money!

On their way home and back on “normal” roads”, the shitflickers are a dribbling, sopping mess….and following one on a bike can be decidedly adventurous.
Things get really nasty when there are wet roads, drizzle,or rain about…it’s like riding wet clay on qualifying slicks.

Of course, shitflickers can be around ANYwhere and ANYtime…

One good thing though….one usually knows when there’s one of them ahead….long before seeing ‘em.
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The stench, especially if they’re loaded with undiluted concentrate, is like a king-hit with a baseball bat.

Back to the Ziller High Road

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Sky zipping ahead

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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Down the valley it’s a quick tack east across the Gerlos Pass…not much of a pass really, but nice nonetheless. Another E4/A$7 toll per bike.

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The view across to the well-known Krimml Water Falls. Sadly we haven’t got the time for a proper look (which apparently involves a coach-trip etc etc)…the look from the distance has to do.

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There’s plenty of other things ahead if we want to make it into Austria’s “Deep- South” today.
A couple on a RoadKing shows up….looks like they’ve got that badging right.
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Mittersill…Zell am See…things flow smoothly.

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Sky wants to show us the “Milestone #1” of the Grossglockner Road, but roadworks put a stop to that.
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It’s up the GG then, one of the classics of the whole Alps region.
Tootling and pissfarting-around is OVER, the hammer comes down.
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Just about traffic-free, the E16/A$28 toll is worth every penny!!
This time Dave’s ready and makes the GS12 earn its rental-$$. The big-12 disappears….
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Around the top…the views are thrilling, if even mostly obscured by clouds.
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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Yes…they’re a Biker-friendly mob here!!
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Heh?? There are even various maps on display, suggesting great bike-loops

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Dave…hoisting our own flag
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Now….THAT ONE’S doing it TOUGH!!
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Display of some of the motorcycling history of the Grossglockner….as a RACETRACK!!

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Down the other side towards Heiligenblut…and the turnoff to the Franz Josefs Heights and Pasterze-Glacier

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Let it sing, baby!!
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The Pasterze-Glacier….what a shock to see it for real….and realize how much of it has thawed away.
Thinking back 40odd years….the little Glacier-Lift from the carpark actually ended on the ice….nowadays call it the Rubble-Express, as it ends in a huge rubble-field of where the glacier used to be. Even more disturbing are the obvious changes after only 2 years.
Global warming has a lot to answer for…

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The amount of mint-looking Africa Twins is astounding…but then, they were sold here until only a couple of years ago. Outright irritating are the numbers of GS12s
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….it REALLY looks like BMW had a “Buy one, get 2 free” campaign running for the last few years.

And, of course, they’re just like 4WDs in urban Oz….out of a 1000 perhaps 5 will ever see an extended roadworks-section, maybe 3 of them a couple of “dirty weekends in the bush”.
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All of them look like they came off the showroom floor this morning.

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We’re a bit strapped for time now…but it’s hard to leave the heights, the endless vistas and peaks behind.
It just does something to you….

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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Winklern, across the Iselsberg Gap and south-east to Oberdrauburg…another tack south-east across the Gailberg Saddle, which proves a nice little surprise.
More twisties, YEEEHA!!

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With the sun warming the back, the run parallel to the Austrian-Italian border up the Gail Valley towards Villach gives some space for other thoughts.

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The bikes are doing fine…and so are we. We’re all starting to get used to the steeds…Moike is still a bit hesitant, riding something completely new after 20odd years of riding his R100RS….

We’re damn lucky with the weather so far….and Sky has been a surprise, punting that cruiser up and down those mountains like there is no tomorrow.
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Also integrating seamlessly into the on-the-road dynamics of the group.
Skip,….get off the cruisers! Stop dreaming of a new 1100/1400 Intruder. You’re riding that bike like a sporty…just get one then.
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This driving-on-the-right thing is really no problem at all….so far, so good.
The shadows are getting long….and we’ve still got to find our way through the maze of roads around Villach.

A longing glance at the turn-off to Troepolach…the mountains are clear… wouldn’t a run up the Nassfeld be great? Right NOW?
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Tim punches the destination into the GPS and gets us through Villach just fine…then up some country roads, turning off here and there. Things are getting narrower and narrower, until we finish up in someone’s drive way, the other choice was some track disappearing into the woods.
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A short, heated exchange… the maps come out and it’s onto the next main road, which gets us to the target 10 mins later, all’s good.
…and straight into the open arms of Hans and Elisabeth (from Vienna, 4hrs away) and Michael (castle-of-teck, on his way home from a holiday).

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The small Gasthof is bursting at the seams with the need of 8 beds and 10 hungry mouths to feed.

What can I say??
I really didn’t believe that it would all come together!!
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Hans and Elisabeth….after nearly 3 years on the forums it was unbelievable to finally meet up
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(and we’ll do so again in NZ in a couple of years!!).

Michael…THE man with THE Strom!! The only DL1000 WITH ABS on this planet!!
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Again, a real pleasure to finally meet face-to-face…. even though it was far too short!! See you in Oz one of those days, you’ve gotta promise me that!
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Sky….well….we were lucky enough to have a little more time together
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….and many, many thanks for all the efforts that everyone made to meet us there!!!
You're champions, all of you !!
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Another BIG THANKS has to go to the couple that runs the Gasthof Mariandl
Gasthof Mariandl, Keutschach, Tel./Fax: +43/(0)4273/2880
http://tinyurl.com/l25gd2


I’m sure they didn’t see it coming.
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A bunch of Aussies and mates who just took over the place within minutes, running an hour or 2 late for dinner, not enough beds (initially) and general chaos from the kitchen to the 2.floor.
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Then Hans pulls one out of the hat!! ….the topic we’d been egging each other on about for the least 2 years…

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Dumbfounded!

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I KNOW WHAT THIS IS !!!!

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AND IT IS!! A TRUE and GENUINE Vienna Sachertorte from the Royal Confectionery !!
In its wooden box, decorated with an (edible) pic of a Strom carving the bends….talk about tears in your eyes, mate.
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Hans!!...you’ve outdone yourself!

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Let the festivities begin

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MORE!!
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Dave and his breadrolls….but that’s another story
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Bloody oath, I do!!
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