Winter 2011. Studies finished, full-time job started, cozy nest at my parents’ house. One day, when I left the house, I said to them from behind the doorstep – “I’m buying a motorcycle!” – of course, as I was walking away, I heard only an burst of laughter.
They didn’t believe me 🙂
Two weeks passed in silence regarding my newly planned expense, but I knew my father and his passion for automotive. When I came back from work one day, there was a list of ads with motorcycles waiting for me – neither of us knew anything about it, I only knew that racing and driving on motorways, wasn’t my thing. I wanted to absorb the surroundings, penetrate it, get to know it, taste it, smell it. It had to be an ADV and since motorcycles had appeared among my close friends a year or two earlier, it was a bit easier for me – the only limitation was the budget.
March 2012. Winter was already coming to an end, I could feel the breath of spring and I still don’t have any gear to start the season with. Thursday has come, I have to choose machines to watch for the weekend. The money I have saved up is not increasing at all, but rather decreasing, I have to act quickly. I have three machines to watch, I call the guys that a trip by bus is coming up. Saturday – shoes, hat, money, contract, bus keys, coffee in hand and we set off. After dark I returned with a shield – there it is! Transalp 650XL. It turned out to be a good machine, perfect for a debut.
May 2013. First “serious” motorcycle trip – Albania (pictured). Done road to Theth, which on one side turned out to be covered in snow and in preparation for asphalting, which turned out to be true in later years, but on the other side still “off” and great fun. During this trip I fell in love for this type of travel – firstly I would mane it “it’s complicated” but after returning home the smile on my face remained for a long time.
One thing was obvious then – you have to strike while the iron is hot – ride, ride and ride more to gain self-confidence and experience. The globe has been started spinning in my head from now on, but more about that in later posts 🙂
Cheers !