On Friday I caught a ferry to Holland and blasted down assorted autobahns and country lanes for about 650 miles to get to Fusion Festival in Germany. The ride was certainly hardcore. Chin on the tank at 115mph most of the way, wishing I had an extra 350cc in the bag to trash those Mercs that were passing me at 150mph+.
Then, country lanes. Tree lined alleys in the north of Germany. Due to timing, late in the night. The moon and the stars and no cars. Aim to where you can see the red lights of the leading car half a mile ahead and scream into the darkness… German speed limits make sense when your speedo reads miles. Got flash boxed a few times but only from the front, neeneer neener neener. Epic stuff.
Once at the festy, Three days of crazy partying ensued. Music to suit every taste. Freaky boys and girls to look at for every taste – your choice of tattoed, died-hair, dreadlocked or any combination, clothes optional. Freaky vehicles of all sorts, a bit of a Burning Man vibe. Met many old friends and made new ones. Perfect weather throughout. When it got too hot you could go to a nearby lake and swim. People made their way around the huge festival area in and on a wide array of cars and Mad-Max style bikes. Everything got covered with dust. It was like a parallel society for a weekend. Here are some impressions.
Crazy stickers everywhere.
One of the many different areas at the festival.
(Yes it’s an Armadillo on the dance floor. It drives too.)
Then Monday morning looms, time to go home. Thinking the bike feels a bit wibbly squibbly and touche – quick check at the petrol station reveals next to no pressure on front tire. A puncture! Great, in the middle of nowhere in the German countryside. Somehow I manage to find the only place for miles that does motorcycles and get a tire that sort of fits my bike.
(Smaller diameter, but what the fuck at least now I think I’m going faster.)
Burn it like hell trying to make up lost time to catch the ferry. Discover a new-found passion for high-speed filtering. (Eg. when one lorry going 62mph pulls out to pass another lorry going 61mph blocking the whole column of cars behind, just go between the lorries at 90mph. Better than Evel Knievel jumping through fire hoops. Plus it really pisses them off…)
In the end miss the ferry by a hair and chill on a superb Dutch beach with a cold iced tea, a fag and plenty of tattoed half- naked Dutch women. (Note I’m not really complaining about missing the ferry anymore at this point.) Got home this morning at 6am, rode back to London and worked a full day 'spatching.
Now I can’t sit on my ass anymore, probably for days. (Hello Charlie!!) Was it worth it? F*ck yeah. Barro, you would have loved this. Next year you are so f**king going with me.
More pictures of this trip can be found at my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/itsthemechanic/
