Alanf’s blog…
Scattered thoughts

Monday, April 4, 2005

  • I’m back from our Edelweiss tour of the Andalucia region of Spain and we had a great time. I have put some photos up on our travel web site: Some of the highlights from our trip were: 1) The art and architecture in Barcelona - Jonna and I are both big art fans so the works by Gaudi, Picasso, Miro, Dali and Goya were all incredible to see. The Miro museum and some of Gaudi’s buildings like Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera were particular highlights. !@(afimages/Blog/2005/4/spaintour.jpg:R200 popimg: “One of the great roads in Spain”) 2) The roads in Spain - I don’t think that Andalucian civil engineers own rulers because their roads are all curvy, even the ones that go through flat areas. There may be no obvious reason for a road to have a turn but damned if there won’t be curves left, right and center. The road surfaces aren’t always great but on a big BMW GS that didn’t really matter. 3) The scenery is stunning - Andalucia is nearly all mountains and hills. The highest peaks around over 4,000 ft high which doesn’t sound like much until you realize its only 50 miles from beach to mountain top. What makes this even better is that fact that Spain has set aside large areas for National Parks and Nature Preserves, so a days ride is pretty much guaranteed to be beautiful. 4) History is everywhere - Whether it is Cathaginian, Roman, Moorish, Medieval or Renaissance there is something interesting nearly everywhere. We particularly enjoyed towns like Granada and Ronda which seem to have focused on preserving their Moorish past. The Alhambra is incredible and justifies a trip to Granada all by itself. We also enjoyed the Pueblas Blancas, the white villages, which are in the hills of central Andalucia. These towns seem frozen in time as they existed during Medieval times. Nice! 5) The food - Jonna had some incredible meals, though I’m admit that Spain isn’t the most vegetarian friendly country so I had pretty limited options (salad, cheese sandwiches and spaghetti). Still the ability to stop and get tapas, small appetizers served in bars, meant that we could try lots of different things whenever we wanted. Being near the coast much of the time meant Jonna got plenty of great seafood and also got to try regional favorites like paella and Andalucian beef. 6) That Spain is so bike mad - Like our trip to Italy, its always cool to be in a country where everyone rides and appreciates motorcycles. MotoGP is one of the most popular sports second only to Soccer. The MotoGP boys were in both Catalunya and Jerez while we were visiting and large crowds showed up just to watch the guys *practice*. Sunday’s timed laps were actually shown live on TV. GP stars like Gibernau, Pedrosa and Rossi were used in advertisements everywhere, even in clothing shops. If only America was so interested in motorcycle racing! Now that I’m back, I’ll try to get caught up on some things I missed like a review of Daytona, the SX races in Orlando, the final MotoGP tests and this weekend’s World Superbike race in Australia. [image from my photo collection.] (6)

Monday, March 14, 2005

  • I’m afraid that this blog is going to be pretty quiet for the next two weeks as my wife and I are taking a trip to Spain. We will spend a few days playing tourist in Barcelona, then we will head down south to do a nine day motorcycle tour with Edelweiss Bike Travel. !@(afimages/Blog/2005/3/andalucia-road.jpg:L200 popimg: “Andalucia roads”) From what I can tell from reading web pages on the net and from looking at the roads in Garmin’s City Select Europe software, the riding should be fantastic. We’ll be riding around 2000 miles and will be visiting Malaga, Granada, Antequera, Arcos de la Frontera, Sevilla, Jerez, Cadiz, Gibraltar and Ronda during the trip. I’ll be riding the new BMW R1200GS (one of the bikes on my list of possible new bike purchases) and Jonna will be riding a BMW F650GS. Edelweiss tours aren’t for everyone but we had a blast when we did a Sicily to Rome tour with them last year and are doing this as a luxury for Jonna’s 40th birthday. As a result, letting someone else book the hotels, handle the baggage and suggest good roads is just the ticket. I’m sure we’ll do less structured travel in Europe in the future but nothing beats a vacation where you can just focus on riding motorcycles for a week. I’ll post a trip report when we get back…until then, enjoy reading back through some of the older articles on the blog and let me know what you think. [image from Sylvia’s Travel and Motorcycle Site .] (3)

Thursday, March 3, 2005

  • I’ve been married now, happily married even, for the past five years. My wife and I truly are best friends and we share many common interests, chief among those being motorcycles and travelling. Whoa! Hold on there a second. Don’t head for goodle yet. I know what you’re thinking but but trust me this blog entry isn’t just to make mushy talk about my partner so bare with me a minute. So, where was I? Oh right… Last summer we did a two week motorcycle tour around Italy with Edelweiss Bike Travel which we both loved. It was just after our return from that trip that I (again) discovered that I had married the right woman because she said “Gee, next year is my 40th birthday so why don’t we do another two week motorcycle trip for my birthday present?” I coulda’ found religion right then and there but as an ex-religion/philosophy student that would have just been confusing so I just jumped for joy instead. This past Fall we spent time looking over maps, talking to people and dreaming longingly of riding motorcycles as the Colorado snow started to pile up. Eventually, we decided that two weeks riding around sunny southern Spain would be a perfect way to celebrate Jonna’s 40th birthday and to thaw out after a long, cold winter. Just to make sure it was properly touristy we decided to spend three days in Barcelona before starting the motorcycle trip. We booked the tour with Edelweiss and have been patiently waiting since then. So, now its just a couple of weeks before we leave and I’m finally getting around to researching some things for our trip. I have my new GPS programmed. I’ve been listening to the “Spanish for Travellers” tapes. I’ve thumbed through our Fodor’s book and read some web sites. Today I decided to look around see what was happening in the motorcycling world in Spain over the next few weeks. …and now the trouble begins. It turns out that the final two MotoGP IRTA tests (with *all* the MotoGP teams participating) are scheduled for Circuit de Catalunya (just outside Barcelona) on March 18-20 and for Circuit de Jerez (at Jerez) on March 25 - 27. Need I even explain that our schedule calls for us being near both of these places on exactly those dates? This trip is a birthday gift for my wife and an opportunity for us to share our love of travel. A chance to see new cultures, eat exotic food, learn some world history and meet lots of great people. This trip isn’t about me fulfilling my motorcycle racing obsession. I shouldn’t…I couldn’t…surely, I wouldn’t…attempt to sneak over to either circuit during this trip just to catch a little glimpse of someone like Rossi or Biaggi or Gibernau or Hayden riding their MotoGP bikes? No, I have the willpower to stick with the plan and to enjoy the wonders of Barcelona without bolting for the train system, jumping a few stops over to the Montmelo’ stop and then sprinting the blocks to the famous Circuit de Catalunya. Whimper… !@(afimages/Blog/2005/3/Jerez-map.jpg:R200 popimg: “Jerez Circuit”) The temptation is probably stronger the next week at Jerez. Our tour plan actually calls for a day off to enjoy the town of Rhonda. As it turns out, Rhonda is only about an hour from Jerez. Stop the temptation now while I still have a wife! I’m sure there are lots of fascinating things to see in Rhonda. Rumor has there are lots of Roman ruins there. Supposedly the Spanish wine from that area is fantastic. The famous Rock of Gibraltar is just a short drive away. I’m certain I’ll find a day in Rhonda interesting and fulfilling. Moreso that just watching silly little motorcycles drive around in circles. Uhhh….just how comfortable are those Spanish couches? Maybe I’ll just go ahead and plan on sleeping on them for two straight weeks. [image from the No Limits Track Days web site.] (1)

Friday, January 21, 2005

  • The only real disadvantage to living in the mountains of Colorado is that my driveway has a tendency to ice up during the winter months. There is currently about three inches of packed ice in my driveway and that sheet of glass will be there until the thaw in March. !@(afimages/Blog/2005/1/DRZatWork.jpg:R200 popimg: “DRZ at Work”) This week, the temperature has been up into the 70s and the roads have been full of motorcyclists enjoying the brief reprieve from cold weather, sandy roads and the threat of black ice. Yesterday it was finally too much for me, so this morning I chipped away at my driveway to get a few rough spots on the ice and then carefully slipped and slid my way across it on my DRZ. Then I got to join the smiling crowd of bikers on the road and enjoy some mid-winter riding! Whoo hoo! I’ll be heading home late tonight and will probably freeze my ass off but at least I got in some rare riding in the month of January. Hmmmm….with just a little more chipping and some rock salt, I may be able to to get the Beemer out tomorrow… [image from the cell phone of co-worker Paul Rundle] (1)
Next Entries »