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Post Info TOPIC: Ride Report: Where the bloody hell are the Balkans!


Devon's Best

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Ride Report: Where the bloody hell are the Balkans!


A couple of weeks ago myself and RichT4 ventured over for some adventurous trail riding in Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia.

The trip was organised by some guys from Belgium, which was advertised on the ADV forum back in September 2011. The trip was aptly named 'Wipe Your Own Arse 2012', so the theme being that you were given a start point, a route with a campsite for each night and everything else was down to you and who you rode with i.e. food, fuel, repairs and breakdowns etc.

There were 40 riders from all over Europe signed up for it, of which some knew each other and had small riding groups formed, some were individuals so knew no-one and formed there own riding group once at the basecamp in Villach, Austria. There was also a big range of bikes with the KTM 690 Enduro being very popular(only 135kgs!!) As me and Rich had comparably small bikes, we stuck together as a pair as we knew our bikes could get places that the big bikes couldn't, so pushing a KTM 990 uphill wasn't our idea of fun!

The route was put together by using Google maps and Garmin Adria Route mapping, so some of the route would be a bit hit and miss, but all the more fun biggrin

Below is a rough route of where we rode and the stars being where we camped.

Initially myself and Rich thought the daily mileage would be 90 miles per day, but when the routes got sent to us 4 weeks before the start, we got a bit of shock, we were averaging 260km's per day (160 mile), with day one being 299kmsdoh The whole route was 1800 miles in 12 days, so choosing tyres was also a lengthy decision, mainly as we thought we'd be riding dry and wet rocky trails, plus doing that mileage, so a Pirelli MT43 was out because of the mileage. We were advised that not to go for an enduro front tyre due to the mileage, but Rich kept his on and I went for a MT21 on the front (Bad decision I was soon to find out!) In the end we both went for Pirelli MT21's on the rear as well as it had good reviews.

So we set off with the bikes in my van and got to Villach, Austria in 24 hours. We then had just under 24 hours to get over our trip and begin our adventure. It was a bit of a shock mind as the temperature on site was 31C and it was just too humid to sleep.

We also packed 3 days worth of meals as we thought getting food would present a problem as we were quite remote, plus it would keep the cost down of buying meals.

Right enough talking and time for some pics!

This lane was completely covered in about 2 - 3 ft of leaves and got steeper and steeper, so was very slippery but a good laugh(Only at the top of course!)

Strangely all the villages in North and east Croatia had a telegraph pole with a platform on top, which was for Storks to make a nest on, also you found the occasional nest on houses as well and they were bloody massive.

After doing 500 miles my rear pads were shot (They were new only 5 days previously!) Luckily after requesting help on the DTRFG forum and Yammy dealer was located only 6kms away! So after forking out a hefty £3.40 labour to get them replaced we were on our way).

This was my 140 wide MT21 that soon developed into a 200 wide clay filled tyre!

Video of the hill in question, which caught a few out as it was very slippery clay

Video of KTM 990 having issues!

Video evidence of richT4 stating that he's consdiering going orange bleh

Believe it or not this is a main road in Croatia, lots of this between villages, lots of loose gravel on bends, with the occasional truck/car in the middle of the road coming round it.no

A F650GS Dakar BMW being recovered back to a road by a logging tractor after burning his clutch out in some woods, of which we were in for about 4 hours tring to get out of some amazing gloop!

In Slovenia it was very green, steep and muddy trails, with gravel tracks, very similar to East Croatia. When you start heading South it starts changing to white granite rocks and gravel lanes. This all started after about day 5/6, where we camped very near the Bosnian/Croatian border at 2000ft, so cos of that the temp got down to -2C at night.

Next day within 20 minutes we were at 5000ft and riding in 12 - 18 inches of snow with some very steep drop offs if you got it wrong.

At this point the big bikes turned back as the snow was getting deeper with there also being trees being down of which you had to get your bike under

Vid of Rich in the snow

That same day we dropped to sea level and temperatures of 30 degrees

Then we hit the Adriatic sea.

After about 8 days riding we chilled out on an island called Krk and basically ate and got pissed for 2 days!

It was here that i noticed that I'd blown my front fork seals and also had a noisy cam chain, so we called it quits a day early and headed back to Austria via Slovenia again.

The food in Croatian and Slovenia is top notch and dirt cheap, so is the beer and petrol. The beer was about 10 Bing-bongs for a pint (Croatian currency is the Kuna, but we soon nicknamed the currency 'Bing-Bong'!) so about 90p a pint and a meal was about £3 - £5 and this was in the main resorts! In the local bakers you could buy some warm 10" pizza's for brekky for about £1!! petrol os about £1.05 per litre. Me and Rich reckoned that you could easily for £10 per day do 100 miles trail riding, eat and sleep. Bloody bargain winkwink

Some sample food fro the trip 

This was at a truck stop and it was the size of a dinner plate and about 4 - 5 inches thick. A form of Croatian burger for about 80p, bloody huge

Overall I must say that Croatia offer every type of terrain, and can range from easy to very difficult very soon if not careful, so it is wise to take stock now and again, especially look on the ground rather than satnav, to see the best route option.

Definately the best trail riding i have ever done and no-one gives you grief or stops you, all the kids wave at you in the villages. I will definately go back there again with my bike. 

Next year me and Rich are considering running our own 'Wipe Your Own Arse', but will probably be along the Pyrenees.........can't wait biggrinbiggrin



-- Edited by Harty on Monday 4th of June 2012 08:19:53 PM

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Elite

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Wow, that sounds and looks amazing, thanks for taking time to stick up all those pics.  Well done to you and Rich - what an adventure   You look a bit tired in some of those pics!



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Expert

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That looks like an epic trip Mark/Rich, I think you can now officially call yourselves Adventure Motorcyclists!!!smile

Looking at those photos reminds me of Turkey, Did I tell you I'll be back there next month for a few days Trail riding!wink Days out only though, none of that bloody campingbiggrin 



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Expert

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smile Looks good Harty, thanks for taking to time to post. If you do a WYOA next year please make it in school holiday time so I can come along.



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Elite

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WOW! Thanks for sharing the report mate smile

Interesting and different bikes and people to ride with must have been an experience and one not to forget in a hurry

What bike would you have taken then after seeing everyone else preform on theirs?   i know there's not a bike for all terrains but which one was a good all rounder then smile

Laterz 



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Clubman B

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What a great run you guys had all that hard work  in organising a trip like that wow top marks for pictures and reportbiggrinbiggrin



-- Edited by slider rider on Tuesday 5th of June 2012 11:12:39 AM

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Total awesome! That's what I call a trail ride!

Big respect to you guys worship.gif.

Craig



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Clubman B

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Fantastic.A real adventurebiggrin



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Clubman A

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cracking report M8 ,well done you pair biggrin



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OMG? where's my legs?



Clubman A

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Awesome guys well done top trip top pics

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Devon's Best

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Brilliant Report! Im amazed that KTM 990 could get anywhere??

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Champion

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Good write up Harty.

For me it was a great trip, and a good intro into adventure riding which I hope to do much more off. It was just a PITA that these lovely far away lands are so, well...., far away! The drive to & from Austria nearly killed Harty while I was like the churchill dog next to him supposedly trying to keep him awake and focused.

Wacky - I believe both of us would still take the same bike. There is a lot to be said for having a smaller bike that can handle whatever the trail ahead of you turns into (most of the time). The bigger bikes were having loads of trouble in the muddy forest and most of the larger bikes turned back at the snow - we didn't.
I think if you could merge aspects of both the DRZ400 and the WR250R you would have the best bike of all.
I did have a brief moment of fondness towards the KTM690's but after finding out they are geared competitively, and that most of their owners do no more than 55mph on the tarmac, it made it clear it isn't the bike I thought it was. Still a nice looking bike though and with a long service interval it might be possible to gear it right.

The things I would change are my kit and in particular how it all fits to my bike. It was getting to be a real pian to have to unload, setup, break camp and repack everyday. My kit took a while to get settled on the bike some days and it always took me longer than anyone else to pack up and be ready for the off.
Before the next trip I'll get a system in place that is much quicker.


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Expert

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What a trip. smilewinkbiggrin

Respect to Rich and Harty, and all the other "Adventurers".

Very good, descriptive and amusing (in parts) report. aww

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Martyn



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gr8 report and pics guys, well done! looked awesome!

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Interesting and informative reports guys - some way outside my comfort zone though!

PS Sorry about the pads Mark - got a new pair here of different make for you to try wink



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drj


Clubman B

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enjoyed reading that.looked like fun....

well done.



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Mark, thanks for writing this up + lots of good pics

Slovenia & Croatia have been on my hit list for some years, so I look forward to having a yarn with you at HU to find out a lot more.

 



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Wow, definitely an adventure and some of the scenery looks stunning.  Love the shot with a waterfall.  Strange to see you in Colyton the other day, Mr H.  Do you visit often?



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Chris


Devon's Best

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Jealous?

Me?

Damn right  sniff.gif

Brilliant  clap.gif



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Devon's Best

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Was here 12 months ago! Got to go back as I loved every minute of it!!



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