Istanbul greeted the GlobeRiders Silk Road Adventure 2011 team with joy and hardship nicely wrapped up in a big blue container. The red tape took us by surprise considering the look and feel of a modern looking Istanbul harbor. For two full days we had to go through the hurry up and wait game, totally ridicules stuff when you think about it. Just for us to be able to enter the harbor to retrieve the bikes a permit had to be issued and no less than 7 offices ending at the top boss of the harbor signed this permit.
While this were going on those that had ridden their bikes in from northern Europe enjoyed all the good stuff Istanbul has to offer. They had passed the land border between Greece and turkey in a mater of minutes compared to our 2 days ordeal. The Blue Mosque, Sofia, spice bazar, grand bazar kept them entertained while they tour this wonderful city.
As if we had not had enough excitement the first days in Istanbul our first day on the road made for even more drama. To get fast out of town we were to take a ferry across Marmara and that ferry left at 8:30am. At 8am the group left our hotel while Dan desperately tried to trouble shoot his KTM 990 Adventure that would not start. Ignition problems he told me when I rushed after the group to fetch Kaz so that he could return to help a fellow KTM rider in need. On the way to the ferry I met Chris on the edge of the road jumping up and down of excitement after his bike had caught fire. Very excited he told me that flames had shot up at him from the front of the bike down by the fork tubes. A quick look and I could see that the accessory lights had melted cables and exposed copper cables. No problem I told Chris, just get to the ferry. Lucky for him the bike was still running.
Dan got his bike running and just made it to the ferry in time for departure. Later he told me that the problem came as a result that he had switched to his new spare key that morning and that was the fault of the problem that he had. Apparently KTM spare keys need to be coded in a certain manner before they are recognized by the bikes ignition.
The first miles of the riding this morning was rather wet, but still it was good to be on the road again. I had on my brand new Klim Badlands Pro riding suit. It was quite a baptizing for this suit and I let it have all the rain that came my way. It did perform great and I took note of some of the new great features that I never had seen in other riding suits that I have owned. I can not talk about the suit in more detail right now as I am testing a suit that is not yet a final production sample.
I think that there is a saying that when it rains it poor’s. Not quite figuratively, but close enough in this case. We had just left the main highway and started to climb a steep mountain road when I came up on a group of our riders loading Fred’s bike in to our support vehicle. A chill went down my spine and I could not park fast enough to find out what had happened. Fortunately Fred was doing OK, just a sprained ankle I were told. To make a long story short Fred’s bike had fallen on his right foot when he fell going up a steep hill. The bike had stalled and Fred had nowhere to put his foot on the steep hill. After a visit to a hospital in Bursa the doctors determined that Fred’s heal needed surgery and unfortunately that meant that the Silk Road Adventure was over for Fred.
It was very sad for all of us to loos such a great team member this early in the journey, but so is life at times. We continued our riding through some beautiful countryside as we slowly, but surely worked our way East towards Georgia. I am writing you these words from beautiful Cappadocia where the group went Hot Air Ballooning this early morning. I followed by bike and took lots of pictures of dozens of balloons floating above the incredible landscape of Cappadocia.
The weather has finally turned to the better and we are getting in to the rhythm of being on the road.
Until next week,
Helge P.
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