Friday September 4 to Sunday September 6 2015: Blubber!

Blubber is the name of a bike meeting that's been held for the twenty-fifth time this year. I'd never visited it before but heared good stories about it.

Blubber is not only the fat of whales but also a Dutch word for mud, or sludge.

  
       
 
 

Days before the meeting this picture was on their Facebook page: the small pool promised a muddy adventure.

  
         
   

I'd cleaned and polished the CBX in the weeks before.

 
       
 
 

As I suspected what was coming, I took a few pictures of the spotless bike.

  
       
 
 

The yellow line shows the trip to Vasse, where my good friend Erwin lives. Rain came in from the north west, and it came in hard.

  
       
    Friday afternoon is not a good time to plan a trip as all the roads are traffic jammed.  
       
 
 

The 132 km trip took me more then two and a half hours. The temperature had sunk to 12 degrees Celcius, which is extraordinary low for the end of the summer.

Soaked to the bone I reached Vasse, the 'pearl of county Twente'.

  
       
    Erwin's wife Ilke made us a perfect meal to warm up again.  
       
   

About 19.00h we left Vasse and rode to the small village called Basse (yellow line). 95 km of pouring rain accompanied us.

  
       
    I've never seen a more muddy field then this one, let go having ridden in one.  
       
 
  Quite an adventure. It was fun, though.  
       
 
 

We regained our body temperature at the campfire ...

  
       
 
  ... and enjoyed the bands in the marquee.

 

  
       
    Good company, good music, good beers and a bit of mud: the main ingredients of Blubber.  
       
   

 

The weather looked quite promising as I woke up.

  
       
 
 

It turned out I was not the only one with a short rear fender ...

  
       
 
  ... proven by this picture of the guy's jacket.  
       
 
 

During the day more bikers arrived. Quite a challenge, as you can see.

  
       
 
 

For sidecars it was hard to get through.

  
       
 
 

For solobikes ... well.

  
       
    Around 11.00h Erwin and I resumed our activities. In the back you see his beautiful classic Ducati 750.  
       
 
  The village of Basse is all Blubber for one weekend a year. Here locals congratulate the organizers with their twenty-fifth anniversary.  
       
 
 

In the same weekend the Basse TT is held. It's a classic race which is held for the twenty-first time.

  
       
 
 

Seventies sidecars ...

  
       
 
  ... and seventies race suits, fixed with duct tape.  
       
    Talking about classics: look at this ancient Sparta.  
       
   

These bikes are not just made for the looks, they're used as well. Roaring Honda's, Ducati's, Kreidlers, Gilera's. Goose bumps.

On the bottom left you see the average hairdo of both the spectators as of the drivers.

  
       
 
 

Back at Blubber I had a nice conversation with another Dutch owner of a self-built bike. His is a nice hardtail chopper with a potent Suzuki Bandit 1200 engine.

 
       
 
  Nice to see this extravagant Harley as well at an un-Harley-showbike-place like this.  
       
 
 

Rain, sun, fire, rainbows. I love these extremes ...

  
       
 
 

... although it made the area even more challenging.

  
       
 
 

Nice bands in the afternoon. This was 'Exploding pudding', four teenagers doing very decent hardrock.

  
       
 
 

Meanwhile, outside, a Kawa was tortured.

  
         
 
  Full throttle for about five minutes. The rear tyre refused to blow, neither did the engine. Respect (in a weird way).  
       
 
 

Other fireworks, in the evening ...

  
       
 
 

... followed by a Motörhead tribute band called 'Snaggle Tooth'.

  
       
   

A very nice atmosphere.

  
         
   

Next morning the weather was a bit indecisive.

  
       
 
 

Most visiters looked another year older then the day before.

There were a lot who were sleeping in their cars though, outside the grassland, away from the mud. Dressed like bikers but no bikers at all, of course.

  
       
 
 

Always good to fight a hangover with a decent breakfast. Erwin shows the way.

  
       
 
 

The landscape looked even more depressing then the days before.

  
       
 
 

Eventually, as I left, it started raining again.

  
       
   

The radar didn't show a lot of showers, but apparently I got them all. That didn't depress me though: it felt familiar, and would wash away the dirt.

  
       
 
 

Which it didn't.

  
       
 
 

I took half of Basse home.

 

       
 
 

In a perverse kind of way the dirt fascinates me.

  
       
 
 

Plants sticking to my fenders. Sheer beauty.

  
       
   

Erwin was surprised I'd had rain: he mailed me this picture of his trip home.

  
       
   

I took the Kärcher out for some intense cleaning.

  
       
 
 

Not just for the bike. For everything I took with me.

Blubber was great!