Trip to Brno GP with ZI tours *now with 2nd part!!*

[SimonB]

I know I went in August but I've finally decieded to do a write up on my trip I'm not that lazy honest .

After being inspired by some of the European tours written by some of the members here I felt it was time to do something similar a little warning it’s a long read. One day a biking mate of mine rang up and found a company Zi Tours who organise trips to various races in Europe. Seeing as this company organises the ferry and accommodation the hard part was taken care of all we had to do was turn up.

Our tour was to take us to watch the Moto GP race in Brno going through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and finally Czech Republic and back again. This was all in the space of one week hmmm quite a feat.

My bike and my mates bike were fairly similar mine being a 16 year old Yamaha FZR 600 and my mates being a 6 year old Yamaha Thundercat. I had plenty of faith in my trusty steed making the long journey it had ahead. I had a lovely quote from my dad saying “I have faith in you making it to Brno but I have no faith in that bike”. Great, cheers for the vote of confidence dad! determined to prove him wrong I began making sure the bike was up to job. New brake pads, oil change, repaired the leaky forks and checked various odds and sods. Good the bike is now ready to go.

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So day one we set off for Dover leaving from Southport with about 310 miles ahead of us and it was beginning to rain (typical!). So on goes the wet suit and the oxford soft luggage rain covers and we set off. Only to pull over 5 miles later to find that one rain covers on my bike has been ripped off the bag and wrapped itself around the back wheel hmmm that’s a good start.

Fortunately the weather cleared up and we had a dry but boring run to Dover where we stayed the night to catch the ferry in morning and meet up with other members of the tour group.

I woke up to a grey morning and filled up the bikes with fuel and got on the sea France ferry which has very good bike facilities. We met up with the rest of the group in Calais car park and then set off. Driving on the right for the first time felt very odd but after half and hour felt like second nature.

All was going well until all 12 bikes started pulling over to the hard shoulder hmmm seems like we have a problem already. As it turns out the tour leader had ran out of fuel just 2 miles shy of the petrol station very funny and a great ice breaker for everyone.

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So after our small breakdown we stopped at a lovely small French café near Belgium where we began to get to know each other and see what bikes everyone was riding. After that we headed to Trier in Germany for our first overnight stay and the weather was fantastic nice and warm but the traffic in Trier was quite heavy and the bikes were beginning to get quite hot to the point were one bike started spitting out coolant from the bike. Once I had parked my bike up in the hotels underground car park I realised I was already having problems with my own bike.

The oil level light had come on “ah crap” I had topped the oil before I left home and after nearly 700 miles it wanted some more, turns out to be a feature of an EXUP bike I suppose. The other problem was my chain had become very lose something I checked a week before we left and decided “it’ll be fine” (something I’d later come to regret). So with the oil topped up and the chain tightened I decided to quickly explore Trier but I had forgotten to move my watch an hour forward so most of the sights were shut. So I headed back to the hotel were we all had dinner and had perhaps one too many drinks and went to sleep.

Day two took from Trier to Garmish Parkenkirken at this point I was beginning to think I haven’t seen anything fantastic and I was wondering when we would see some views. So we all got ready to move off until my mate can’t find his bike key, the muppet so after 15 minutes he found it in a safe place that being his pannier.

So as I was saying I hadn’t seen anything fantastic at this point until halfway to Garmish we all rounded a corner to see the Alps just loom up from behind the trees. That sight just took my breath away and made the journey really worth while. It was at this point I remembered what I was doing and “Shit! A corner” cue hard braking and leaning hard into the corner. What amazed me was the quality of the all the roads they were spot on and gave me a lot more confidence with the bike. It was smooth corner after smooth corner and a breath taking view of the Alps every time.

So we arrived in Garmish fairly late but that wasn’t a problem but I was still psyched after the amazing roads we all checked into the hotel and headed to the bar yet again!

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The next day we headed to Vienna where we would be staying for another 3 days the route was a good mix of motorway and more fantastic gentle twisty roads with another wonderful view of the Alps. The roads were so good that a mini race had taken place between us all I was quite pleased to see that I had came 4th out of our 12 bike group not bad for a 16 year old bike.

So we all arrived in Vienna is quite a nice city and pretty busy a little bit like London and I had noticed that the further east we had gone I found another dangerous distraction the really hot woman walking round hmmmm.

The next day was meant to be a day off for everyone to do their own thing. To either explore Vienna by foot or bicycle as one guy did. I had told myself that if I was to make it to Vienna then I had to go and see the church of bones in Kuntra Hora a small church 150 or so miles away. This meant missing out on exploring the city but there’s always other days. Only me and my mate were going exploring on our bikes everyone else had a day off from the bikes.

So I punched the town into my tomtom rider and set off with my reluctant friend in tow to see the church of bones. The rider was a dream in getting me out of the busy city centre and it was now time to put the European maps to the test. We got through the Czech border control easily enough lucky we had remembered to bring our passports.

The road going to Kuntra Hora was very straight and had the odd rare corner thrown in to keep us awake and we passed through a couple of small villages. We pulled over after a couple of hours to have a short rest and take some pictures and bathe in the really hot weather agian. It was nice to be able to take in the scenery and stare in wonder at my 16 year old bike that was deemed too old and worn out by friends and family.

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The sun was beating down on us quite hard and it was becoming uncomfortable to stay in heat despite how picturesque the area was I had bought some water but seeing as I can only read English I didn’t realise it was sparking water Yuck! So I was becoming pretty thirsty. We continue onwards for a while pausing briefly to consult the GPS only to find thee scantly clad women cooing and beckoning us over but we rode on. I wonder what they wanted hmmm finally after arriving in Kuntra Hora I decided to check the GPS’s points of interest to find the church unfortunately I had forgotten that you can’t simply type in “the church of bones” on a GPS. So a quick text to a mate I found out the church’s true name that was lucky.

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I have to say I had quite a proud feeling in my stomach as I rounded the corner and saw the church of bones for the first time. Thinking to myself, this is the place I have wanted to see ever since I saw it on the long way round.

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After paying to get in it was really warm inside and a bit crowded and I was dying for a drink but to be in the church of bones where Ewan McGregor had been on his tour soon made forget my thirst. I just couldn’t believe the amount of bones there were inside the church it was around 40,000. So we left the church in search of a drink and to make our way back to Vienna knowing that tomorrow we would be back again to watch the race in Brno.

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So it’s now Sunday “race day” the main aim of the trip we all set off very early with the tour leaders in front. Who were going to go Hungary after they had seen us to the race track. There were so many bikes and cars it was nearly a free for all to find a parking space.

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With the bike parked our small group went to buy our ticket and find out spot on a hill. It took a while to get through the crowd but we finally secured our plot and watched the 125’s and the 250’s it was great fun. Then before the Moto GP started a Euro fighter from a nearby airport gave us an impressive aerobatic display.

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The sound of the 990cc Moto GP bikes was amazing it’s completely different to the TV and I had noticed that quite a few people had put ear plugs in. I was just blown away with the speed, sound and the atmosphere of the whole race. It was just a tiny shame that Rossi didn’t win as I had put a whole £6 bet on him to win the race. I suppose that’s what you get for living on the edge ha ha!.

So after the race we and a couple of thousand of people decided it was time to head home. Unfortunately we had lost a member of our group so we waited for a while and decided to continue with out him. We all set off and headed back to Vienna.

On the way back there was a crowd by the side of roads and on top the bridges for most of the way back it was great fun they were all waving at us, bowing down to us and gesturing at us to rev our engines it made me smile and I couldn’t resist but blip it to 10 thousand revs and see them cheer Then it started to rain ahh this will only be a drizzle it will soon stop but it didn’t it got heavier and heavier until I could feel the water getting through the seams of my leathers.

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Now the guy would had decided to lead our small group back must have been quite nervous about riding in the wet because he would just not filter past the any cars in the traffic jams even if he did it was very slow going. I was behind him at this point and I could begin to tell the effects of the cold and wet would soon be a problem for me. So I thought forget this I have GPS and I’m going home if anyone wants to follow me they can. A bit cold and cruel I know but I was seriously cold and I was starting think how cold I was instead of where I was going.

So I noticed that my friend had decided to follow me as well so out of the 5 bikes only one decided to follow me hmm ah well at least we can begin to make some careful but swift progress as riding in the rain doesn’t bother me too much until I get begin to get really soaked.

After filtering for a while I stopped at the traffic lights near Vienna still poring down with rain only to hear my mate talking to someone ah its someone else from our group so someone does have faith in my leadership . We eventuality make it back to our hotel completely soaked and cold, what a smart idea it was to leave the wet suit at the hotel.

We met up with everyone else and went for a meal and came back to the hotel only to discover that two members of our group haven’t returned from the race it was 10pm and we were all getting worried. I had to go and tighten my chain up yet again! and took the chance to see if the missing bikes were there which they were and put the tour leaders mind at rest.

After tightening my chain as far as it would go it was still very slack and I was beginning to worry if it would last the journey home. So back to the hotel were we continued drinking and going out we came back a little worse for wear and went to bed to rest for our journey home.
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Bikes: Honda CBR250RR [sold], Yamaha FZR600 [sold], Honda CBR600RR6

[Modo]

But where is the rest??

[M1ke]

Its cuts long posts off, you need to post it in 2 halves.

[SimonB]

Ahh but there is two halves it just hasn't been written yet!
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Bikes: Honda CBR250RR [sold], Yamaha FZR600 [sold], Honda CBR600RR6

[natv4]

Nice, looking forward to the 2nd part. The church of bones looks excellent, I wish I had known it was there. The "lady's" you mentioned are a bit of a shock. You just don't really see things like that in England (well I don't). You've got some good pics there to. Must have been quite an adventure.
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Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[SimonB]

So here is the second half now that I have finally got round to typing it.

We woke up and discovered that the guy on the R1 had fallen off on the way home from the race by slipping on the tram lines outside the hotel luckily for him he had only bruised his shoulder and his crash posts had saved the bike from any serious damage.

So now its time to head home at this point I was feeling a little sad as I knew that every mile after this is another one closer to home. It’s another really hot sunny day and I was looking forward to another day’s hard riding. We were heading back more or less the same way that we came and staying in the same hotels a little boring I know and personally I would have gone a different way back but then I was in a tour group.

We all left the hotel in Vienna and headed back to Garmish it was another thrilling ride lovely wide roads really twisty and perfect tarmac. We all pulled over into a roadside café and got some drinks (non alcoholic) and as I was chatting to a member of our group I happened to glance at my bike. The exhaust appeared to be hanging a lot lower than I last remembered I walked over and noticed that that the exhaust strap had broken. I first tried cable tying in back on but it was far too lose. I spoke to the tour leader called Rob a real friendly bloke and told him that I saw a Honda garage about 10 miles back and said I’ll go there and get them to have a look and make my own way back.

I decided that since I’m going to a bike garage I may as well get them to fix the chain as it was dangerously lose now I could almost pull the chain off the sprocket! So I said my final goodbyes to everyone and hoped that the rider would get me home again. The beauty of this mishap is I had chance to redo the fantastic road again.

I arrived back in the town where I saw the garage and went to the door only to find it shut! I saw people inside and so I went round the back to find someone. Let’s not forget that I can’t speak a word of German. Luckily the manager could speak very good English and so I explained my problem and asked for his help. The exhaust he said would be no problem but he only has the chain in stock not the sprockets. It had to do I was half annoyed that I was putting an expensive new chain on old sprockets. The reason why they were shut was because it was lunchtime so I had an hour to kill. I spent the time exploring the town and trying to converse with a shop keeper and buy an apple random I know.

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I went back to the shop after an hour and they fixed the chain and the exhaust in half an hour. Brilliant I had only lost about 2 hours so I decided to try and find Berchtesgaden but I couldn’t remember how to spell it so I typed the hotel into the rider and headed back to the hotel. Now since I wasn’t in the group I could go at my pace which was a lot quicker than normal and my first chance to max the bike out on the autobahn. I managed to hit an indicated 140mph damn! That was fast I was too scared to take my eyes off the road to see what speed the rider said. Everything after that was a blur until I finally reached the hotel in Garmish only to find out I’m the first to arrive hee hee.

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I checked into the hotel and got changed and explored the local area I really fell in love with Garmish it’s a really beautiful place and I plan to come here again plus the name of the town or village is Wank which made me laugh. It was another hour and a half before the rest of the group got back and they were all asking questions about how I got on and such. I asked about Berchtesgaden and really regretted missing it as from the photos it looked like a nice place to visit. Oh well a good excuse to go on another trip with the bike.

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The next morning we awoke to travel from Garmish to Trier it was quite a cold morning but it soon warmed up. Me and my mate Liam decided to make our own way back to Trier. I used the rider for some of the way but really it was a mistake to leave the group as we just ended up getting lost to diversions and heavy traffic and when we did get back the group had already been back for about an hour.

I never really liked Trier probably because I never got the chance to explore it properly and I also knew that this is the last overnight stay before going home. Perhaps it needs a second chance one day? So another fantasic meal at the hotel and more drinks hmmm JD.

I awoke to another grey morning something else I noticed the further west you go the worse the weather gets. The journey back to Calais was pretty uninteresting although we did stop at a café for a quick snack before a mad dash to the port.

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Back in Dover I’m sorry but what a shit hole I just thought is this what people from Europe first see as they enter our country legally or illegally wow what a disappointment. So the final journey home another 320 miles to go we said goodbye to everyone swapped some phone numbers and headed home.

One last thing to say about the journey home it just wouldn’t stop raining, it rained all the way from Dover to home. The motorway signs came on reducing the speed limit to 50mph 50!! I’ve just come back from France averaging 80 to 90mph. I thought sod this there’s no one around its late I’m going to do 70mph then I saw blue flashing lights.

You have got to be joking! I have been speeding for a good part of the trip aboard and get caught in England where it actually matters points wise. Luckily they just pulled up along side me and just motioned me to slow down and then sped off. I got home at 1:30am and went straight to bed God I was tired.

All in all it was a great holiday and I loved every minute of it a real confidence booster. Which was the main reason for having a tour guided trip to build up my confidence of driving on the right. I would highly recommend Z.i. tours for people who want to build up their confidence and/or take away the pain of arranging the ferry and hotels.

Roll on the next trip!
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Bikes: Honda CBR250RR [sold], Yamaha FZR600 [sold], Honda CBR600RR6