August 2 - August 10 2011: a CBX-trip through Holland, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Germany.

On the left you see a map of my trip, every color representing a traveling day. Start and finish: Nijmegen (marked 'A').

Every trip's destination is marked on the map with a character (A-H); click it to directly go there.

Summary

Tuesday August 2, 373 km: Nijmegen (NL) - Dun Sur Meuse (F), visiting B&B Two Wheel Moorings.
Blue way on the map from 'A' to 'B'.

Wednesday August 3, 305 km: Dun Sur Meuse (F) - Le Clerjus (F), visiting biker camp site La Mouche.
Red way on the map from 'B' to 'C'.

Thursday August 4, 507 km: Le Clerjus (F) - Saint Rémy De Blot (F), visiting biker camp site Moto Route 99.
Light blue way on the map from 'C' to 'D'.

Friday August 5, 94 km, Saint Rémy De Blot (F) - Courpière, visiting Free Wheels.
Grey way on the map from 'D' to 'E'.

Sunday August 7, 119 km: Courpière (F) - Gilly Sur Loire (F), visiting camp site La Montgarnie.
Orange way on the map from 'E' to 'F'.

Monday August 8, 295 km: Gilly Sur Loire (F) - Colombotte (F), visiting camp site La Tourelle.
Green way on the map from 'F' to 'G'.

Tuesday August 9, 500 km: Colombotte (F) - Heimborn (D), visiting biker camp site Boeles Place.
Yellow way on the map from 'G' to 'H'.

Wednesday August 10, 243 km: Heimborn (D) - Nijmegen (NL). Home sweet home.
Purple way on the map from 'H' to 'A'.

Total: 2.436 km.

Main goal of these nine days: the huge bike event called Free Wheels, organized by the French Hells Angels. Why go there? Well, I visited Free Wheels in 1997 (yes, fourteen years ago) with my original CBX and had a great time there. And because this is my tenth holiday with the CBX, I wanted to stretch the limits by going to the south of France, sitting on a steel plate.

I got a permission for the bike show which was quite a compliment because their show - and the whole Hells Angels scene - is dominated by Harley Davidsons. And the ticket saved me 90 Euros entrance fee, which was nice as well.

The weather forecast was not looking good as my departure drew near. But what's new?

Tuesday August 2, I packed the CBX for the longest trip ever. Unlike the forecast the weather was fine.

Because of the long distances I bought myself a so called 'CrampBuster', a low-tech cruise control which makes it easier to keep the throttle open without squeezing the stainless (and thus slippery) grip constantly. It proved to be a very useful tool and I recommend it to all CBX INOX owners.

And I upgraded my old HTC smartphone by milling a splashproof case for it. A touchscreen pencil on the right, power connector to the bottom, Velcro on the back, TomTom navigation software inside and off we went. It did it's job perfect; no need of a Garmin with this all-in-one gadget.

This is an old picture from the 1997 trip: I was amazed to see how much stuff I dragged around at that time, it must have been twice as much.

I chose to ride the main roads because I didn't want to get stuck behind tractors nor bouncing on, as I call them, 'goat roads'.

It was a hot day in Belgium (84°F).

And it even got hotter (90°F).

This was my first trip to France with the CBX INOX.

The stop after 373 km was at Dun Sur Meuse. Next to the Meuse Canal is the B&B called Two Wheel Moorings. I'd never stayed over in a B&B before (not on a bike, that is) but I wanted to try it once.

Owners Ian and Carol Moore (originally from England) gave me a warm welcome with a cold beer.

I had dinner in a restaurant nearby with Edgar (l) and Frank (r) who came to this area for long off-road trips on their KTM's.

Ian is a collector for World War One items (read: weapons), amongst which this huge pistol.

World War One is just about everywhere in the area around Verdun. Looking out of my window was one of many statues reminding of this gruesome war.

Next morning I changed the taillight wiring a little. Always useful to take the electrical scheme with you.

Two Wheel Moorings is a good place to stay, with a nice atmosphere, I can recommend it. But still ... I'm more of a tent-guy.

Just before I left some guests wanted to be photographed as they were projected in the LCD screen by the rear view camera.

The ride to Verdun was beautiful, and no rain on the way there. The bike passed the 25.000 km landmark.

For the first time I entered the French highways called 'péage'.

Every time I got a ticket I had to follow a strict procedure: stop the bike, take off my gloves, pull out the ticket, put the ticket in my wallet, put the wallet in my jacket, put on the gloves and ride. I forgot this once and took the ticket out with my glove on: the strong magnets in the glove deleted all information on the ticket so the operator had to type in all the numbers by hand. Of course I didn't have a clue what caused it*.
The same procedure applied for my mobile phone, creditcard and camera because they all dislike magnets.

* I had of course but my French is not that good..

Then, in the afternoon, at a completely deserted gas station ...

... came this tall guy on a Ducati.

I knew this guy!

Erwin and me arranged to meet at the end of the day but by chance we met here. We decided not to ride the whole trip together because he wanted to take the small roads, and had fewer days than me.

It was two years ago since our last holiday together, a nice reunion. Erwin wasn't in Denmark last year because his son was born then.

We decided to continue the trip together. Almost the moment we left the gas station, it started raining cats and dogs. We stopped (too late...) to put on our rainsuits.

My new kicXstart bag turned out to be a bad buy: the rain cover is just too small to fit a fully loaded bag so all my stuff got soaked.

So were the books I took with me; I wasn't too happy with that. But then again, this book is about Wabi-Sabi which celibrates the beauty of things imperfect. The book itself got very Wabi-Sabi.

After 305 km I arrived at bikers home La Mouche.

We had a nice dinner and a good beer inside. And outside: lots and lots of rain.

I discussed the V8's injection system (the fuel lines to be precise) with Erwin because, strange enough, talking bikes is not unusual at these kind of places. A crystal clear sketch came along with that.

Did anyone say it's easy to build bikes?

Although La Mouche has an inn, it was unthinkable to sleep inside. So the moment the rain stopped, we put up our tents.

It was quite crowded at La Mouche despite the weather. Like us a few were on their way to Free Wheels but unsure they'd continue because of the bad weather forecasts.

We got up quite early as we had a long trip ahead of us. Erwin fixed (or at least: tried to) his rain suit with some Duct tape I had with me.

I tried to dry my soaked gloves and scarf. Too little, too late.

The 507 km trip was rainless so my stuff dried quickly. A pity I had a lot of delay due to roadworks.

Sometimes I had to leave the main roads looking for a gas station. The CBX is quite thirsty (it consumes about 8 liters to 100 km) and needs to be filled up about every 120 km. I don't mind that because during refill I can partly reset my spinal vertebra, my wrists, hands and butt.

It sure was a long trip. The last 20 km were especially hard as the quality of the roads got worse. The bouncing almost make me lose my luggage.

The views were gorgious though.

I remembered biker camp site Moto Route 99 from years ago as it was called Camping Moto Touché and had a Dutch owner with a Guzzi. Now a nice French lady runs the place.

A good three-course dinner combined with a similar quality beer was well deserved.

Next morning the heat was on. Not only because we went to the main attraction Free Wheels but even more that it was bloody hot. Luckily we only had to ride 94 km to get there.

I changed my ticket for a wrist band and put up my tent after the bumpiest ride ever on a stubble-field. In the smothering heat.

Close to my tent there was this beautiful bike with aircooled (Suzuki GS?) engine, flatslide carbs, upside down fork and a lot of handmade parts.

The bike show site was still very empty. I put my bike to the far right (if you look closely you can see the crowd) but wasn't too happy with its safety.

Then I met Vic and Lin Jefford from Destiny Cycles (GB). I first met them at the Bulldog Bash in 2002 and we get along very well since then. They allowed me to put my bike close to their tent and van so it was quite safe.

Erwin and me took a beer and sat down beside the road from Courpière, a litte village next to the huge Free Wheels area. Bikes rode on and off, for hours and hours.

This was a picture I took way back in 1997 and believe me: it got even bigger since then.

It was impossible to give a good picture of the area.

Loads of bikers, loads of bikes, about 25.000 of them. Of which 99% was Harley. No wonder: Hells Angels and Harley Davidsons have always been a match.

Although the Angels don't have a very good reputation in the 'normal world', they sure know how to organize a huge event like this. Medical staff, security, food and drink and even toilets are better than at any other event. There is a lot of drinking but no fights whatsoever.

All kinds of stands were present, mostly selling food and bike-related stuff.

Bikers love skulls, don't know why but they do. There were skull patches, lighters, knifes, scarfs, shirts, caps, socks, thongs (withs small skulls), airbrushes, flags, rings and watches. And if you wanted a skull tattoo, no problem.

Beside rubbish there was a lot of interesting things to see. Many manufacturers present their builds. This man is looking at this frame for a good reason ...

... because the welds are simply smashing. A good weld is always a joy for the eye. I was sure no human being could've made these ones, and I was right.

Not only bikes are fun to watch. Bikers are a special breed: it's not a hobby, it's a way of life. And you can tell.

Just a few examples.

A lifestyle, not a costume play.

There were a lot of Dutch Angels present. Quite some veterans but a lot of 'fresh' ones as the Angels are expanding.

Music! An important part of every bike event. In the evening the best band by far was the garage rock band Jim Jones Revue. Singer Jim Jones is a complete stage animal, and the songs are fast and powerful. The main act, Molly Hatchet, didn't even come close; compared to Jim Jones his '"Hell yeah!" (in every single sentence!) was more of a 'Hell no!'.

And, of course, there was the inevitable strip act.

Saturday morning I woke up early. In fact I needed very little sleep during this holiday. Slogan: you can always sleep when you're dead.

The bike looked like a pig after a lot of rain, dust and chain lubricants. So at 07.15h I started cleaning and finished it two hours later. One might think a stainless steel bike would take less time to clean but don't forget: there is 105 kg aluminium below it. In two hours it was far from 'showroom condition' but I didn't bother: it still showed some of the 1.279 km that got me there.

Other bikes arrived; this is not a wide angle shot ...

... this bike is the longeste I've ever seen. Its wheel base must be about 4 meters.

There was a lot of polishing going on. Some even cleaned the grooves in their tyres.

There were beautiful bikes, like this one.

And comic-like ones.

No Photoshopping here, nor a fisheye lens. This one has a front wheel size of ... thirty inches! And funny enough: it suited him well!

I put mine next to an Angels Harley. Neat bike. By the way: the acronym AFFA means 'Angels Forever, Forever Angels'.

A lot of poking ...

... a lot of pointing ...

... and a lot of pinching.

I liked this highneck.

Vic and Lin put this very delicate (feminine) chopper on the show. It really stood out with its lines and paintjob.

More masculin was this one.

Nice bike, beautiful exhaust.

As I registered for the bikeshow (by internet) I had to fill in a truckload of specifications. That's why I was surprised that none of the bikes had a specs sheet. I think these would've been very enlightening for the bike show visitors.

A sturdy bike for the next generation. With ape hanger of course.

There were about eighty bikes at the show. About than five of them were non-Harleys, like mine.

Beside show bikes there were entertaining trial demonstrations ...

... and, although 'smocking' was not allowed ...

... now and then some tyres went up in smoke (on Japanese bikes, of course).

Quite spectacular was the unicycle race.

No one knew why this bike had to ride up on a cord. But it looked scary.

The day was sunny, rainy and windy. So at certain moment all was messy again. I don't have a problem with that; I do have a problem when fingers start scratching the sandy display.

About 17.00h the bike show jury put a sticker on my handle bars; this meant I'd won an award.

The prize giving ceremony was on the huge main stage. There were thousands of spectators.

At first I was called on the stage for an interview. The good man asked me a question which I couldn't answer due to my lousy French.

So I talked to the crowd for a few minutes (in English) explaining the concept of the bike and its build. That is a rush, I can tell you that.

I liked the fact that all award winners had to ride their bikes up a ramp onto the stage. Not only because then everyone could see them but even more because the bikes had to be functional enough to do so. I've been to shows where winners were unable to ride: no good.

Half an hour later they asked me a second time on the stage for the award I won: runner-up category Streetbike. I was really pleased with that: mine was the only non-Harley award winner.

Vic and Lin won third place Best of Show which is a huge success. No wonder they were overjoyed.

The award was just far too big to take home by bike, in fact it's by far the biggest one I've won. So I gave it to Vic and Lin to retrieve it from them at the bike show in Rosmalen, later this year. Another good excuse to catch up with them again.

The weather changed: the wind got stronger and it started to rain harder.

Luckily it was dry during the main act of the weekend: Joe Cocker!

This 67 years old blues legend just gave you the goosebumps. He performed hits like 'Unchain my heart' and 'With a little help from my friends' in his characteristic intense way. Wow.

After this concert the crowd looked up ...

... for the fireworks. A spectacular ending to a perfect day.

It rained all night. The next morning the clay had changed into very slippery mud. Not a pretty sight but, on the other hand, it could've happened on Friday and then it would have been far worse.

As a lot of bikers came from all over Europe, lots of them left early in the morning.

And so did Erwin. Riding on the edge of the road where it was the least slippery. He left earlier because he had a long 644 km trip ahead of him.

Thanks to some off-road experience I managed to ride the bike out in one piece.

The roads were dry, curved and beautiful.

I've always liked photographing nice curved roads, proven by this scanned picture from '97. At that time my CBX had mirrors. And at that time I started building the INOX.

Back to the story. I wasn't exactly hungry as I got up (guess why). But halfway the short 119 km trip to Gilly Sur Loire I bought some 'pain au chocolat pur beurre' (bread with pure chocolat and butter) and 'lait fermenté au bifidus' (spoiled milk with some fancy bacteria). Who said my French is flimsy? ;)

No péages this day, just nice roads.

I'd already booked a place at camp site La Montgarnie so the sign 'vol' ('complete') wasn't meant for me.

This is a large camp site: just about ten tents on four hectares (=10 acres) isn't exacly what you would call 'vol'.

But owner Bert Loorbach and his wife Jacinta are not aiming for big bucks with this camp site; they want to keep it small, cozy and simple.

I planned to visit a restaurant in a village nearby but a nice couple made me an offer I couldn't refuse: two pizzas and a beer.

Well, I didn't want to look that starved so I left over two parts.

Although Bert is a biker at heart (he wrote a few bike touring guides), La Montgarnie is a real family camp site. And I liked the peace (read: book and beer) after the intense weekend at Free Wheels.

Next morning I packed my stuff and left for a 295 km trip. The weather was awful: heavy rain showers didn't make it easy. On the other hand: the CBX likes the cool weather more than the heat. And the new electronics prooved to be humidity resistent; good job, Benno and Jan.

Rain - sun - rain - sun; although my cameras are nitrogen filled and heated, they eventually got foggy which impeded the sight in the LCD screen. Luckily it got better after a while.

At the end of the 295 km trip the weather got better, there were nice roads ...

... and picturesque towns. I think 'picturesque' is a French word, and for a reason.

It was sunny and very windy as I arrived at 'biker friendly mini camp site' La Tourelle at Colombotte. Well, not a bike around (in fact, I saw no bike at all on the roads during this day). Owner Tim's welcome wasn't very friendly but hey, everone has a bad hairday once a while.

I put my tent on a beautiful spot, looking out on the misty Haute-Saône.

I had fresh prums and apples from the trees around me. For once vitamins instead of meat!

As the sun came out I managed to dry my stuff and read my book. In the evening Tim cooked a perfect meal which he ended with tiramisu. I went to bed quite early as a long trip was laying ahead of me.

Next day, after a fast but filling breakfast, the roads were curved and dry; that was good.

Some of them though ... well, look for yourself.

I had to visit a lot of gas stations for the 500 km I rode that day; not only because of the bike's fuel consumption but mainy because of the sour back, muscles and butt. The 2.200 km I'd left behind in a week certainly took its toll.

About 17.00h I arrived at Boeles Place in Heimborn (D).

I put up my tent ...

... and put my bike in the large garage below.

This place has a great biker atmosphere, it just breathes bikes. Food good, people good, drinks good (you guess why this picture is blurry). I'll certainly visit this place again!

I woke up early (what's new?) and packed. After an extensive breakfast I rode 243 km, back home. Nice weather but again a lot of roadworks, this time east of Cologne.

Good to be away, but good to be home again.

I rode a total of 2.435 km, that is an average of more than 300 km each riding day (and almost 900 km more then the longest holiday uptil now). It has been very intense, physical and mental, but I enjoyed every moment of it.

Next year another far trip like this one? Let me think ... no. Ask me again if I'm back in one piece. ;)