Greetings from Lat N. 71 10' 21"

[sirhrmechanic]

In the spirit of "Ride 'em don't Hide 'em" here is my latest ride.

Technically, I am still on it, since I am in Stockholm for the next 3 days.

This is my 1991 BMW R100GS PD. Not quite an antique, but definitely already in the classic category. For you Tolkien fans, it's kind of the "Shadowfax" of adventure bikes. Another few years and it will rank as a true AMCA member! But for now, it's just a bike that I can take anywhere because there are no computers, no ABS, no electronics... nothing that can't be fixed without onboard spare parts and basic tools.



The picture was taken a couple of days ago on Nordkapp, Norway. The northernmost road in the world (at least that you can get to w.out putting your bike on a boat or a plane...). It's more than 400 miles above the arctic circle. It was a 4 day ride from Oslo. And a 3 day ride back to Stockholm. The bike never missed a beat, though the odometer died on me, so I can't give an exact count. But it's somewhere approaching 4500 KM in the last 10 days. A lot of riding.



This one was taken at the Arctic circle.

Ride was rainy every day... but when I got to Nordkapp, the weather was perfect. The only perfect day they had in about a week and the next day, they were socked in again.

Unbelieveable ride! The West coast of Norway is a motorcyclists paradise, BTW.

Enjoy...

Cheers,

Sirhr

[c.o.]

Right on Sirhr!!! Off touring a land across the ocean.... good stuff!! I've always wanted to have a photo of one of my bikes parked next to an Arctic Circle sign.

[bobdo]

My helmet's off to you! enjoy
Great bike, since your on "Shadowfax", why do you need to follow the road?

[sirhrmechanic]

My helmet's off to you! enjoy
Great bike, since your on "Shadowfax", why do you need to follow the road?

Funny you should mention that, because around many of the Norwegian tunnels (and they are amazing tunnelers) are the old roads that were carved into the sides of the Fjords or over the mountain passes that the tunnels cut through.

And whenever I could spot the road 'around' the tunnel, I'd veer off and take it. Led to some backtracking, because often the 'pass' was covered in snow. A couple of times I got through, but more often, under some corn snow was solid ice.

But those old abandoned pass roads were incredible. Here is an example!


day 3 pass closed on the coolest road ever.jpg
This is where the road was closed due to the pass still being full of ice. But this was the original road over the mountain. One lane wide with rocks lining the sides (visible in the distance.) Someone had crossed this with a 4 x 4 as the snow was only about a foot deep and the closure was only about 100 yards long. But under the snow was a sheet of solid ice. I turned back on this one. Too risky.

day 3 the coolest road ever.jpg

Here's the same road. Just amazing and way more fun to ride than the tunnels.

The third picture (attached thumbnail) is one of the more insane roads. This twisty enters a corkscrewing tunnel through the mountain... you turn 270 degrees in a descenting corkscrew, exit the tunnel and go right into a 180 degree hairpin and then into another 180 degree hairpin down the mountain. Good luck if there is a tour bus coming up.

Interesting thing I learned about riding these long (and usually pretty dark) tunnels is that having a horizon is more important than I thought with a motorcycle. You do get vertigo and disoriented and going into a turn at the end of a tunnel can be interesting. You have to pay attention. Still a blast!

Cheers,

Sirhr

[pisten-bully]

Pierce, very cool! Reminds me a little of the video put up by Arcticrider with him on his '45 Chief in Norway. Are you also posting this on the ADV Rider website? Your photos and trip are as good as anything I've seen there. Have a great trip!