Excuse the writing on this post but Im on a French keyboard which has keys all over the shop. I also spent 2 hours writing this yesterday before Weebly deleted the post so I am a bit miffed about having to do it again.
Well the last time I posted I was about to head off to Berlin and Julia was on her way back to Helsinki. The trip to Berlin was a trying one. I made my train with no problems, I had one stop over which would put me on the train straight to Berlin. After a couple of hours on the train I was picking up my bags preparing for my stop over. The train stopped before we ever made it to the station. A few announcements in Swedish were made and finally I was told that the signal light was broken so we had to wait for 20 minutes while it was repaired. A few more announcements were made 40 minutes later and before I knew it we were heading back the way we came. Once at the previous station I managed to find a controller and explain to him that I had a connecting train to Berlin which was due to leave 15 minutes ago. He explained my options to me. Either I could find a bus to the next station, or I could walk. Not the most encouraging answers I must admit. As I made my way from the train to the bus stop the man came running over and told me to get back on the train. The light was fixed. We arrived to the station and although the conductor wasn't sure if the train had been held he did know it left from platform 6. I scrambled to the platform with a big group of people but when we reached the platform no train was waiting. No infomation was given so we all stood around wondering what to do. Some lady had sliced her foot open on the escalators while running for the platform so while her boyfriend ran around like a stunned mullet trying to find an open shop (which is not easy at a train station at 10:30PM) I managed to clean and patch her up with some medi wipes and a bandage. It bled a lot but wasn't to deep which was lucky for her. We were eventually told that our train had not yet left but had no certain departure time which left us stranded at the station, unable to leave incase it arrived. We were there all night, some slept on benches, some on the concrete floor. I stayed up and chatted with some Americans. Finally a train arrived qnd took us to another station. We were told that the station wouldnt open in a few hours but we were welcome to sleep on the train until 4:30. After that the train would leave so we would have to wait outside. At about 3:30 I woke to people scrambling with luggage and evacuating the train like a plague had arrived. I followed the madness and arrived at a platform with a train to Berlin waiting for us. I got on and found a room with a couchette and prepared to sleep. I shared the room with a mother and her two young daughters. At 11AM they woke me while leaving the room "hello" said the mother "we are still in Sweden, sorry!". Sure enough we were still in Sweden. The train crosses the water on a ferry and we were apperently waiting for the ferry which would lave at 12:15. When we finally did get on the boat we were gifted a buffet breakfast which after 9 hours of no food, was more than welcome. I spent the rest of the trip to Berlin with the mother and her kids in the train cabin. We played some cards for a while and then spend the rest of the trip talking about this and that.
I arrived in Berlin at 9;30PM. The first thing I did was go to the service point to book my trains to Hungerzell the next morning. Seems like everyone else had the same thought. The line went from the counters all the way out the door. It would be a long wait but now that I had arrived, I didn't mind so much. That is until about 15 minutes later when a very rude man strolled his way up to the front of the line and headed to the next available counter. I was to tired and irritated to let him get away with that so i got up and met him at the counter. I explained very loudly to the service lady that I had been waiting for 15 minutes now and the people infront of me had been waiting even longer. I told her that this "asshole" had walked straight to the front of the line without waiting and that I hoped she would ask him to wait in line like everybody else. Everyone in the room was watching and even the other service desks had stopped to listen. He kept telling me that "it was ok" in which I would tell him "no it's not!". I made my way back to my place in the line and after a short while the man followed. He again told it was ok and to relax which really made me angry. I not so politely told him it would be best if he left which he did. On the way out he told me "go back to your own country" which at the time, seemed like a great idea.
After booking my train I headed to my hostel which was on a very loud, colourful and partying street. The weather was really hot and moist so everyone was sitting and talking outside. The hostel was nice enough and I was put in a 16 person dorm which is the biggest I had ever been in. I had a quick chat with a Canadian lady before going to get some food. Berlin is great. Imagine a city covered in graffiti, a city where the buildings are older than Australian settlement and the lights from the street are all different colours. It was instantly inviting and friendly and although I was on a busy street as a tourist with no clue to where I was headed I felt really safe. I finally found a spot to eat and sat down outside. I was joined by two extremely gay German men and their friend from Hong Kong. They were an odd trio and the biggest of the 3 wore a glittery top hat. They were all very friendly though and extremely funny people. We talked for an hour or so before they left. When they left they told me that what was left of the Berlin wall was a mere 5 minute walk from here so I set out to find it. The wall now runs about a Kilometer long and the city has hired numerous artists to paint murals along it with a theme of peace and new beginnings. Although I had said that the city is rampabt with graffiti, none had touched the wall. It was the same with the old style European buildings. The graffiti was always over new modern, metal or concrete structures but never the old. I wandered along the wall for an hour or so before heading back to the hostel for some sleep.
The next morning was another early one. I was at the station at around 7 and had an entire days travel ahead of me. Everything went pretty smoothly and I even caught up with Andreas on the last leg of the journey. I spent a couple of weeks with Andreas in Vancouver last year though he hails from Sweden. It helped to make the trip a bit quicker to have someone to talk to and before we knew it we were in a small town named Bogen. From there we got a lift with Stephan Risch who is the brains behind the Almatrieb race. He gave us a run up the mountain and some good local information on racing lines and average speeds. The road was awesome! I quick, technical section at the top which stays at about 70KM/h and then it rockets you into a fast straight which is around the mid 90 mark. The straight ends with a difficult left hand hairpin and then a few S bends to the finish line. Our camp ground was pretty average. It was in a nice enough spot but lacked the essentials of a week of camping. With no showers we bathed in the river next door each night. The river was like ice but after a whole day of riding in leathers and full face helmets in near 40 degree weather, it was a welcome change. We had some porta potties that ran out of paper after day 1 and in the heat of the sun were un bearable to use. We had a party tent next door though which was an awesome set up and in the small town of Hungerzell the beer is cheaper than water, truly. Not only that but if you collected 4 empty bottles and brought them to the bar, they would give you a knew beer. We basically drank for free the whole week. My first Qualafication run wasn't the best as I hit the bails on the last tight left so I got a time of 3:19. The next day I took it a bit easier and made sure I got a clean run down and ended with a time of 3:08. That put me in 114th spot and since they decided to run a 128 man bracket, I was in. My first heat was tight. I was consistantly in second for the technical top section but the other 3 proved to fast for me on the straight, pushing me back into 4th and not enough time to draft anyone before the line. It was a disapointing heat for me but I still had a good time and was able to get a lot of filming done for the rest of the day. At the end of the day Kevin Reimer took first place followed in second by Jackson Shapiera and Eric Lundenburg in third. It was Jacksons third podium of the season so far and he is doing the Aussies proud.
After the race a few of us went to a local place for dinner before heading back to the party tent for the award ceremony. I managed to take away a new Dervish board for a safety run I did down the track to point out a post the marshalls had missed with the hay bails. I also caugh a set of Abecs nez free ride wheels which was nice. After the ceremony I headed back to my tent to drop my new gear off. I had a few empty bottles in my tent and seeing as I was leaving the next day, I thought I would take them to the bar to cash them in. I put one in my pocket. DONT put glass bottles in your pocket. I didn't have a light with me and I didn't see my tent rope. I fell onto the bottle and it was game over. I got some help from Robin, Jacko and Norways team Sheiza. Leeo managed to track down Sammy from Switzerland who doesn't drink and the champ drove me to the nearest hospital. Sammy speaks German which was very helpful in the hospital and seeing as I didn't have any pants on, let ot lone a wallet he lent me the money to pay the doctor. I ended up with 14 stitches in my leg and 2 needles in my ass. Lesson learned, DONT put glass in your pocket. We headed back to the party in the knowing that I would be unable to race France. I hung out for a bit before going to bed. The next morning I awoke to the sounds of the Norwegians next door who were trying to work out who had shat in their tent. Turns out Dasha had woken in the middle of the night to see Alex (from team Norway and who sleeps in the tent) taking a crap. She screamed out no but it was to late so she went back to sleep. They will always be Team Sheiza...
The next morning I got a lift to Munich with Danny Strasser who documents extreme sports around Europe. He dropped me off at the central station and I booked my trains. My train didn't leave until 11:30 so I had a shower at the station, ate and sat around. My train left an hour late. That meant I missed my connection to Zurich. That meant I spent another night at a cold, dark empty train station in the middle of no where. The zorst part was I had a sleeper booked and was so looking forward to being in a bed but it was not to be. I got on a train at 6am the next day and after a few hours and some of the most breath taking scenery I have ever seen, I was in Zurich. It was hot, damn hot! I had another shower at the station but by the time I was ready to get dressed again I was soaked with sweat. I hung around for hours waiting for my train and by the end of it I was ready to go home. My back hurt, my leg hurt, I was hot and sticky from sweat. My eyes throbbed from the glaring light and I was so sick of carting bags around with me. After hours of waiting I was on a train to Grenoble to meet up with Millena.
Millena is a French girl who lived with Julia in Adelaide. I dont know her well but we hung out a little bit and she came to stay with Julia and I one weekend on Kangaroo Island. We met at the train station and headed straight to her famalies house for dinner. It was great, her family were all very welcoming and friendly people and lived in downtown Grenoble which was full of old buildings and had a lot of charecter about it. Everyone kisses everyone on the cheeks to greet one another and say goodbye which I have never encountered before other than rich Western folk who try so hard to be French. It was done here in such a natural friendly manner though. After dinner Millena and I drove back to her house, I had a shower and slept. Millena lives with her dad, Pierre who I met the next morning. Millena had work so we said our goodbyes and she was off. Pierre is a teacher so he was on holidays which meant he was able to drop me at the station in the afternoon. He is an avid motorbike rider so I leant him my head cam to use before I headed off to explore. Grenoble is an awesome city. Full of parks and fountains, dogs, churches, cafes and restraunts. Towering over the city on one of the mountains is a huge fortress named Le Bastille. I hiked up the mountain on my own. I was worried about an hour and a bit hike up a mountain side with 14 fresh stitches in my leg but thought I may never get the chance again. The views on the way up are incredible and onlmy topped by the views from the top. The fortress looks over the whole city with the enormous mountain back drop. I hung around for an hour or so, paid 8 Euro for a coke and an icecream (I guess they can charge what the want up there), checked out the museum which was free but all in French so I had no idea what was happening and then caught the Bastille eggs back down. The eggs were built in the 60's for the Olympics and they are 6 seater cable cars from the bottom to the top. I HATE heights when I have no control and sitting in a bubble that swings in the wind 800 meters above the ground is about as little control as you can get. By the time I reached the ground I was cramped all over from being so tense for the ride down. I slowly made my way back to Millenas on the bus, spent some time watching bike footage with Pierre before he dropped me at the train station and on my way to Anncey.... The Graveyard call.
Well the last time I posted I was about to head off to Berlin and Julia was on her way back to Helsinki. The trip to Berlin was a trying one. I made my train with no problems, I had one stop over which would put me on the train straight to Berlin. After a couple of hours on the train I was picking up my bags preparing for my stop over. The train stopped before we ever made it to the station. A few announcements in Swedish were made and finally I was told that the signal light was broken so we had to wait for 20 minutes while it was repaired. A few more announcements were made 40 minutes later and before I knew it we were heading back the way we came. Once at the previous station I managed to find a controller and explain to him that I had a connecting train to Berlin which was due to leave 15 minutes ago. He explained my options to me. Either I could find a bus to the next station, or I could walk. Not the most encouraging answers I must admit. As I made my way from the train to the bus stop the man came running over and told me to get back on the train. The light was fixed. We arrived to the station and although the conductor wasn't sure if the train had been held he did know it left from platform 6. I scrambled to the platform with a big group of people but when we reached the platform no train was waiting. No infomation was given so we all stood around wondering what to do. Some lady had sliced her foot open on the escalators while running for the platform so while her boyfriend ran around like a stunned mullet trying to find an open shop (which is not easy at a train station at 10:30PM) I managed to clean and patch her up with some medi wipes and a bandage. It bled a lot but wasn't to deep which was lucky for her. We were eventually told that our train had not yet left but had no certain departure time which left us stranded at the station, unable to leave incase it arrived. We were there all night, some slept on benches, some on the concrete floor. I stayed up and chatted with some Americans. Finally a train arrived qnd took us to another station. We were told that the station wouldnt open in a few hours but we were welcome to sleep on the train until 4:30. After that the train would leave so we would have to wait outside. At about 3:30 I woke to people scrambling with luggage and evacuating the train like a plague had arrived. I followed the madness and arrived at a platform with a train to Berlin waiting for us. I got on and found a room with a couchette and prepared to sleep. I shared the room with a mother and her two young daughters. At 11AM they woke me while leaving the room "hello" said the mother "we are still in Sweden, sorry!". Sure enough we were still in Sweden. The train crosses the water on a ferry and we were apperently waiting for the ferry which would lave at 12:15. When we finally did get on the boat we were gifted a buffet breakfast which after 9 hours of no food, was more than welcome. I spent the rest of the trip to Berlin with the mother and her kids in the train cabin. We played some cards for a while and then spend the rest of the trip talking about this and that.
I arrived in Berlin at 9;30PM. The first thing I did was go to the service point to book my trains to Hungerzell the next morning. Seems like everyone else had the same thought. The line went from the counters all the way out the door. It would be a long wait but now that I had arrived, I didn't mind so much. That is until about 15 minutes later when a very rude man strolled his way up to the front of the line and headed to the next available counter. I was to tired and irritated to let him get away with that so i got up and met him at the counter. I explained very loudly to the service lady that I had been waiting for 15 minutes now and the people infront of me had been waiting even longer. I told her that this "asshole" had walked straight to the front of the line without waiting and that I hoped she would ask him to wait in line like everybody else. Everyone in the room was watching and even the other service desks had stopped to listen. He kept telling me that "it was ok" in which I would tell him "no it's not!". I made my way back to my place in the line and after a short while the man followed. He again told it was ok and to relax which really made me angry. I not so politely told him it would be best if he left which he did. On the way out he told me "go back to your own country" which at the time, seemed like a great idea.
After booking my train I headed to my hostel which was on a very loud, colourful and partying street. The weather was really hot and moist so everyone was sitting and talking outside. The hostel was nice enough and I was put in a 16 person dorm which is the biggest I had ever been in. I had a quick chat with a Canadian lady before going to get some food. Berlin is great. Imagine a city covered in graffiti, a city where the buildings are older than Australian settlement and the lights from the street are all different colours. It was instantly inviting and friendly and although I was on a busy street as a tourist with no clue to where I was headed I felt really safe. I finally found a spot to eat and sat down outside. I was joined by two extremely gay German men and their friend from Hong Kong. They were an odd trio and the biggest of the 3 wore a glittery top hat. They were all very friendly though and extremely funny people. We talked for an hour or so before they left. When they left they told me that what was left of the Berlin wall was a mere 5 minute walk from here so I set out to find it. The wall now runs about a Kilometer long and the city has hired numerous artists to paint murals along it with a theme of peace and new beginnings. Although I had said that the city is rampabt with graffiti, none had touched the wall. It was the same with the old style European buildings. The graffiti was always over new modern, metal or concrete structures but never the old. I wandered along the wall for an hour or so before heading back to the hostel for some sleep.
The next morning was another early one. I was at the station at around 7 and had an entire days travel ahead of me. Everything went pretty smoothly and I even caught up with Andreas on the last leg of the journey. I spent a couple of weeks with Andreas in Vancouver last year though he hails from Sweden. It helped to make the trip a bit quicker to have someone to talk to and before we knew it we were in a small town named Bogen. From there we got a lift with Stephan Risch who is the brains behind the Almatrieb race. He gave us a run up the mountain and some good local information on racing lines and average speeds. The road was awesome! I quick, technical section at the top which stays at about 70KM/h and then it rockets you into a fast straight which is around the mid 90 mark. The straight ends with a difficult left hand hairpin and then a few S bends to the finish line. Our camp ground was pretty average. It was in a nice enough spot but lacked the essentials of a week of camping. With no showers we bathed in the river next door each night. The river was like ice but after a whole day of riding in leathers and full face helmets in near 40 degree weather, it was a welcome change. We had some porta potties that ran out of paper after day 1 and in the heat of the sun were un bearable to use. We had a party tent next door though which was an awesome set up and in the small town of Hungerzell the beer is cheaper than water, truly. Not only that but if you collected 4 empty bottles and brought them to the bar, they would give you a knew beer. We basically drank for free the whole week. My first Qualafication run wasn't the best as I hit the bails on the last tight left so I got a time of 3:19. The next day I took it a bit easier and made sure I got a clean run down and ended with a time of 3:08. That put me in 114th spot and since they decided to run a 128 man bracket, I was in. My first heat was tight. I was consistantly in second for the technical top section but the other 3 proved to fast for me on the straight, pushing me back into 4th and not enough time to draft anyone before the line. It was a disapointing heat for me but I still had a good time and was able to get a lot of filming done for the rest of the day. At the end of the day Kevin Reimer took first place followed in second by Jackson Shapiera and Eric Lundenburg in third. It was Jacksons third podium of the season so far and he is doing the Aussies proud.
After the race a few of us went to a local place for dinner before heading back to the party tent for the award ceremony. I managed to take away a new Dervish board for a safety run I did down the track to point out a post the marshalls had missed with the hay bails. I also caugh a set of Abecs nez free ride wheels which was nice. After the ceremony I headed back to my tent to drop my new gear off. I had a few empty bottles in my tent and seeing as I was leaving the next day, I thought I would take them to the bar to cash them in. I put one in my pocket. DONT put glass bottles in your pocket. I didn't have a light with me and I didn't see my tent rope. I fell onto the bottle and it was game over. I got some help from Robin, Jacko and Norways team Sheiza. Leeo managed to track down Sammy from Switzerland who doesn't drink and the champ drove me to the nearest hospital. Sammy speaks German which was very helpful in the hospital and seeing as I didn't have any pants on, let ot lone a wallet he lent me the money to pay the doctor. I ended up with 14 stitches in my leg and 2 needles in my ass. Lesson learned, DONT put glass in your pocket. We headed back to the party in the knowing that I would be unable to race France. I hung out for a bit before going to bed. The next morning I awoke to the sounds of the Norwegians next door who were trying to work out who had shat in their tent. Turns out Dasha had woken in the middle of the night to see Alex (from team Norway and who sleeps in the tent) taking a crap. She screamed out no but it was to late so she went back to sleep. They will always be Team Sheiza...
The next morning I got a lift to Munich with Danny Strasser who documents extreme sports around Europe. He dropped me off at the central station and I booked my trains. My train didn't leave until 11:30 so I had a shower at the station, ate and sat around. My train left an hour late. That meant I missed my connection to Zurich. That meant I spent another night at a cold, dark empty train station in the middle of no where. The zorst part was I had a sleeper booked and was so looking forward to being in a bed but it was not to be. I got on a train at 6am the next day and after a few hours and some of the most breath taking scenery I have ever seen, I was in Zurich. It was hot, damn hot! I had another shower at the station but by the time I was ready to get dressed again I was soaked with sweat. I hung around for hours waiting for my train and by the end of it I was ready to go home. My back hurt, my leg hurt, I was hot and sticky from sweat. My eyes throbbed from the glaring light and I was so sick of carting bags around with me. After hours of waiting I was on a train to Grenoble to meet up with Millena.
Millena is a French girl who lived with Julia in Adelaide. I dont know her well but we hung out a little bit and she came to stay with Julia and I one weekend on Kangaroo Island. We met at the train station and headed straight to her famalies house for dinner. It was great, her family were all very welcoming and friendly people and lived in downtown Grenoble which was full of old buildings and had a lot of charecter about it. Everyone kisses everyone on the cheeks to greet one another and say goodbye which I have never encountered before other than rich Western folk who try so hard to be French. It was done here in such a natural friendly manner though. After dinner Millena and I drove back to her house, I had a shower and slept. Millena lives with her dad, Pierre who I met the next morning. Millena had work so we said our goodbyes and she was off. Pierre is a teacher so he was on holidays which meant he was able to drop me at the station in the afternoon. He is an avid motorbike rider so I leant him my head cam to use before I headed off to explore. Grenoble is an awesome city. Full of parks and fountains, dogs, churches, cafes and restraunts. Towering over the city on one of the mountains is a huge fortress named Le Bastille. I hiked up the mountain on my own. I was worried about an hour and a bit hike up a mountain side with 14 fresh stitches in my leg but thought I may never get the chance again. The views on the way up are incredible and onlmy topped by the views from the top. The fortress looks over the whole city with the enormous mountain back drop. I hung around for an hour or so, paid 8 Euro for a coke and an icecream (I guess they can charge what the want up there), checked out the museum which was free but all in French so I had no idea what was happening and then caught the Bastille eggs back down. The eggs were built in the 60's for the Olympics and they are 6 seater cable cars from the bottom to the top. I HATE heights when I have no control and sitting in a bubble that swings in the wind 800 meters above the ground is about as little control as you can get. By the time I reached the ground I was cramped all over from being so tense for the ride down. I slowly made my way back to Millenas on the bus, spent some time watching bike footage with Pierre before he dropped me at the train station and on my way to Anncey.... The Graveyard call.
RSS Feed