Today started as yesterday: Picking up our bikes we discovered a small cat sleeping on my Air Hawk… Turkish cats seem to like our inflatable seats!!! (This would be a great business idea: transform Air Hawks into Air Cats for cats…). So after letting the cat play with my Air Hawk and my tank bag for a little while, we left the lovely city of Safranbolu heading towards the Black Sea again. The ride out of Safranbolu was as pleasant the ride in the day before (see Mark’s post), but it did not last long. Soon enough we were riding along the highway, where the most common scenery were gaz stations… one every 2km in average… Thus, the only attraction of the morning was Mike, an Irish guy living in New York currently on his way back to Ireland with his BMW 1200 after a 1.5 year ride through all of Africa… After following us for a while, he stopped with us at the gaz station and we had a nice chat exchanging our experiences and administrative nightmares… Before parting again, and as an experienced rider, he warned us of the dangers of the “last days” of such a motorbike trip, and told us to be twice as prudent as usual. Not that I ever doubted the wisdom of his advice (actually what he said made total sense to me then already), but I then did not yet know how right he was…
So, after the break, Mark and me were pretty bored of the gaz station scenery, and decided to take the next road leading us back to the sea, along which we would then ride heading west to Agva. We were back at the sea side within 1 hour. By then, it was around 1pm, we weren’t hungry and had only 100km left, so we decided to go on for a while waiting for our stomacs to manifest. The roads were as described by Mark in his previous post, a paradise: Beautiful wheather, smooth tarmac, minimal traffic, etc… All the elements to hypnothize you and make you become slightly negligent of the dangers… So it was. We were riding at a decent speed enjoying the scenery, the good road conditions and the many curves when it happened. In a curve – which was by the way not different from the previous 100 curves we already passed - I leant into the curve and as I tried to right my bike again, I lost control of it, and within a quarter of a second I felt myself sliding on the tarmac. My body came to a halt after a few meters, and there I was, sitting up on the side of the street and looking at myself and my bike which had also come off the road and was lying there on the dust ground. I asked myself: How do I feel? I felt fine. No injury, nothing broken, and my clothes barely showed traces of my sliding on the tarmac. Man was I glad to have worn my complete rider gear… I had nothing!! If you were looking for a reason to buy expensive rider gear, well here’s your reason!
After inspecting myself, it was time to look at my bike. It seemed a little shaken, the left front blinker was gone, the left mirror cracked but still in there, the clutch handle broken, and the front part of my bike seemed to have slightly slipped downwards. Hhmmm… Luckily, I don’t really need the left front blinker, I can see with a broken mirror, and I have a spare clutch handle… So the only real problem was more the front part of my bike… Luckily, the hord of men who gathered to offer their help (we cannot stress enough how friendly and helpful the Turks are!) helped us to change the clutch handle and to redress the front part of my bike so that within an hour from my fall, me and my bike were functional again. We got back on the road and made it safely, and slowly (!) to Agva where we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach.
As I was falling I heard Mike’s advice and I thought how right he was. We should have driven twice as slowly as usual, and my fall clearly showed that I was driving a little too fast for the kind of curves we were looking at. Don’t worry, I am a quick learner, and we’ll drive extra slowly tomorrow. We will arrive safe and sound in Istanbul tomorrow. Promise. Ciao!
oops a Taliban is getting close to Constantinople ! please don’t go to the barber before the conference
to late to warn you about the last mails… and hours !!!
but good luck … hope realy you will arrive safe.
know your families are wainting for you !
So sorry to hear that both of you have had your share of slips and falls but glad that none have been too serious. What a finale! It seems that you will both make it on time and in one piece after all. What an accomplishment! You both have earned the right to be very proud of yourselves. We are so grateful to see that all is well. Bravo from Canada
Glad your fall was not to serious. Be carefull. Enjoy the remainder of your trip.
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