Monday 27 April 2009

We're now in Riga and having a very good time as always. It's amazing how friendly our neighbours in east are, as always. Will update the blog more thoroughly a little later, uintil then enjoy some pics.

Copenhagen, re-installing the beast
Danish press

Klaus, Schim Cooler, John Carlsen and me


Øresund bridge over troubled water


Somewhere on the road to Stockholm

Torsdag 22. April til tirsdag 28. April

Vi kommer to år for sent til fergen og åpner motorsykkelsesongen i Latvia



I det vi skulle reise fra Køben viste det seg at vi hadde bommet med to år på fergen vi hadde tenkt til og ta. Strekningen Karlshamn-Riga hadde blitt lagt ned i 2007 etter at båten hadde gått på et isfjell eller noe i den gata. Vi kjørte derfor mot Stockholm og rett etter Øresundsbroen møtte vi noen hyggelige dansker som senere nevnte oss på hjemmesiden sin,(http://24dk/user/skne/blog). Da det ble mørkt sov vi i en grøft langs veien. Det er helt ok å gjøre i Sverige, der en ikke behøver å sove med hånda i en støvel og en kniv i hånda, slik en har måttet gjort en del steder tidligere. Fredag nådde vi Frihamnen i Stockholm rundt klokka to, og der sto Audun ”Claudio” og ventet på oss igjen, mentalt uthvilt og klar for å forsøke seg på noen dager til sammen med oss.


April 22-28.


We Arrive Two Years Late For The Ferry And Open The Motorcycle Season In Latvia


About to leave Copenhagen we discover we're two years late for the Karlshamn-Riga ferry. That connection was discontinued in 2007 after the ship ran on an iceberg or something. So we headed for Stockholm, and met somewhere along the way a nice Dane, who eventually mentioned us on his weblog (http://24dk/user/skne/blog) At dark we crashed at the side of the road, which is ok in Sweden, as you don't have to lie there clutching a knife in your boot or something, like I tried it elsewhere in the world. Friday we made it to Frihamn in Stockholm at about two o'clock, where Audun 'Claudio' stood waiting for us, mentally restituted and ready to try spending another few days with us.



Swedish Camping



Stockholm port

The ferry to Riga

Season opening in Riga, 2000 bikes in the parade..


Jeg har knapt vært med på lignende fergereise, vi tok kun to øl før vi la oss. Dette var historisk, jeg hadde vel knapt kjørt av en båt uten å ha hatt hangover og fylleangst nok til å forsyne hele Nord-Afrika med panikk noensinne, men nå skjedde det altså.

På fergekaien i Riga sto Igor Fjodorous og noen venner og ventet på oss. Dette var en ny Igor jeg ikke kjente som hadde meldt seg frivillig til å være støttekontakt for oss etter en kontaktannonse på www.motozone.lt.


Never have I sailed anywhere this way before; we only had two beers before hitting the sack. It was a historical moment for me, as I've never ever ridden off a boat without being hungover and so afraid to get busted that the fear could have filled up all of Africa. Nevertheless, this was what happened.


At the quai in Riga Igor Fjedorius and some friends of his were waiting for us. This was one new Igor yet unknown to me, who had volunteered to be our 'support person' after we'd placed a personal ad on www.motozone.lt.


Første stopp var hjemme hos Igor som bodde sammen med sin kone og svigermor. Audun ble umiddelbart vilt forelsket i svigermor og flyttet inn i andre etasje hos henne, mens jeg og Klaus fikk hvert vårt rom nede hos Igor og kona. Etter å ha fjernet det mest unødvendige snafset fra syklene reiste vi til tv-tårnet i byen hvor det var samlingspunkt for den offisielle åpningen av motorsykkelsesongen i Latvia. De hadde ventet på oss, og det møtte opp cirka 2000 motorsykler. Klaus ble intervjuet på tv og fikk spørsmål om hvordan vi overnattet. Han svarte at ”We mostly sleep outdoor, but we hope to find some friends to sleep with”. Det så imidlertid ikke ut for at det gjorde nevneverdig inntrykk på noen.


First stop was a Igor's place, where he lived with his wife and mother-in-law. Audon fell madly in love with the mother-in-law and moved in with her on the second floor, while Klaus and I got separate rooms downstairs with Igor & wife. After cleaning some of the muck off our bikes we rode to the town's tv tower, gathering point for the official opening of the Latvian motorcycle season. 2000 bikes had shown up, and they had been waiting for us. They interviewed Klaus, asking things like where we'd be sleeping; ”We mostly sleep outdoors, but we hope to find some friends to sleep with”, he said, which didn't seem to provoke any reaction from anybody.



The girls just love these machines



Alex and a friend

Gathering by ther TV tower before the parade

Nice Repsol bike


This man lost his head in a steam-roller accident but just mounted a camera instead. Hardy type.

Even the cops reved their engines. Ironically enough, a lot of the cops drove Suzuki bandits.


Bbq/birthday party for one of Igors friends


På kvelden var vi på en bursdagsfest og møtte mange av Igors venner, inkludert den lokale Anna Kornikova som var tennislærer, Hellboy som var byens verste satan-rocker, Alex og mange andre fryktelig hyggelige folk. De fleste fikk mange tusen i promille og husket ikke stort dagen etter på, men alle var enige om at det hadde vært en fin fest.


In the evening there was a big party where we met a lot of Igor's friends, including Anna Kornikova (tennis instructor), Hellboy (wortst satan-rocker in town) Alex and a bunch of other nice folks. Most of us got suitably plastered and next day remembered preciously little the next day, but most thought probably had been a great party.



Søndag ble brukt til vedlikehold av sykler, samt en liten grillfest med svigermor, som Audun begynte å bli litt trett av etter å ha måttet eksaminere familiealbumet for tredje gang i løpet av to dager. Dimitrij, aka Shrek, som vi ble kjent med i 2006 dukket også opp. Grillfesten ble feiende flott den, delvis takket være norsk Linjeakkevitt som Igors kone hadde fått av en forretningspartner. Shrek fortalte at han fortsatt hadde Egypt Motor Corps Fez’en jeg forærte han i 2006 liggende i et glassmonter, og kun ble brukt i forbindelse med nasjonaldagen og lignende anledninger.

Mandag besøkte vi motormuseet i Riga, reiste innom Shreks verksted og tok en kikk på gamlebyen som seg hør og bør. Vi hadde møtt gamle venner, fått mange nye og alle var enige om at det hadde vært en fin tur.


Sunday we did some regular maintenance on the bikes, had a barbeque with mom-in-law (with whom Audun had looked through the entire family photo album three times in two days). Dmitri a.k.a. Shrek, whom I knew from the first trip, also came by. He said the Egypt Motor Corps fez I gave him in '06 only was used at national holidays and the like. We had a very good time, in part because of the 'Linieakvavitt' Igor's wife had gotten from a business partner.


Monday we saw the Motor-museum in Riga, went by Shrek's workshop and had a look at the old part of town, as one is supposed to do. We had met old friends, found new ones and everything was honky-dory. 



Igor, our very friendly host


Hellboy

The gang gathered.

Repairworks

Next bbq party... Shrek showed up, great to see him again after 3 years

Routine maintenance..

Adjusting spokes again...


4 Comments:

Blogger Harley_girl said...

Hey! Nice photos from Riga.
Have a nice trip.
I hope you really like Latvia.
Blond girl form photo. :*

28 April 2009 at 22:53  
Blogger Jophiel said...

I love what you guys are doing. You're an inspiration to kids all over the world. Or at least an example of what not to do ;)

28 April 2009 at 23:50  
Blogger Kingcroesus said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

28 April 2009 at 23:58  
Anonymous The Riddler said...

Tormod
Good to see you guys on the road.
A riddle for yee to think about while consuming cilometricas:
Thi composer of the riddle, did not play the fiddle, but lived in a valley where fiddlers where born. Tha Valley lays close to the place where sun rarely shines, but not the same alley.
More than 150 years ago a giant rise from the place you are seeking.
So huge he was that Charlie Chaplin used him as a human tower in one of his movies.

1 May 2009 at 05:09  

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