- Rail tracks of trains or trams are famous to cause motorcycle accidents, especially during urban riding.
- Rails are generally the most slippery thing to encounter on the road. Wet rails are even worse.
- Rails should always be crossed as close to 90 degrees angle as possible.
- Acceleration or breaking on a rail should be avoided at all costs.
- A motorcycle should never be ridden on a rail along the rail.
- Avoid entering a road between two tram rails. If entered, ride carefully to not jump onto either of the rails. When riding out, bring the vehicle down to minimal speed and turn with an angle as close to 90° as possible.
- Exercise caution when passing a crossroad with a rail crossing.
Trip: Odzun – Dilijan. Second Part. Ode to Jaguar.
In the morning we made more barbeque for our breakfast and started moving out. It was just about time because there were clouds gathering above and we thought we needed to outspeed the rain at all costs.
The first nasty thing happened just as I was riding out of the grain field — my bike slip off the edge and I hit a rock with the bottom of my oil tank, breaking two protectors. Fortunately no oil seemed to be leaking so we continued the way, though the incident really pissed me off.
We wanted to visit Haghpat on our way and take the Dilijan-Sevan road to Yerevan. So we headed for Haghpat and it was another amazing experience after yesterday – Alaverdi was such an amazing city with this heavy and addictive spirit of industrialism! Afterwards came Haghpat and the one word that came to my mind was — magnificent!
On the road from Vanadzor to Dilijan the rain started and it was pretty intense. This Vanadzor-Dilijan road, by the way, is great for some speedy riding: it is not straight and boring like the major highways in Armenia but with its minor curves it allows some nice pace. In Dilijan I was already pretty wet and had to take a cozy tea break with friends. But the rain was intensifying and the worst things lay ahead!
I changed my socks and got on the bike to ride the omnifamiliar Dilijan-Sevan-Yerevan sector. After thirty seconds I became as wet and uncomfortable as I was before my tea break. Then the rain got worse with more cars on the road and the trip became the wettest one in my life. I rode the Dilijan curves, up to the tunnel, then to the lake and just stopped as I physically could not ride no longer! My 50% waterproof leather coat completely gave up on the heavy rain and my shirt and pants felt like heavy cold water sponge all over my body. I was planning to just sit by the road and wait till the rain is over.
It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Jaguar, son of Alexander, took up his friend’s motorbike.
On the toughest part of the ride, with reported terrible storm and sheer cutting wind. Jaguar rode through it with no single piece of motorcycling gear except a helmet, leave alone any rain gear. The one thought that lingered in my mind at that time was that the bar of the capabilities of the human being are absolutely not where we foolishly think they are.
Through the insane conditions on the road and in the sky we finally made it to Yerevan for some shower and tea. The Odzun trip turned out to be an amazing experience and into amazing memories.
Riding Memories from Germany
My bike in Germany last year, the sexy Suzuki Bandit 600. It was crucial in my understanding of the naked street bikes followed by my purchase of Honda CBF.
There was a lot of rain those days, but my rides on the perfect tarmac of the german roads as well as the A2 Autobahn, travels through Gütersloh, Bielefeld, Melle and Dortmund were unforgettable! I miss Germany a lot these days.
Here’s a Honda Rebel CA125 (my first motorcycle) in Gütersloh:
A nice custom Honda in Bielefeld that belonged to the owner of the Polo motorcycle apparel store, an old woman of non-traditional sexual orientation who has generously shown me around the city:
And finally, an ubercool custom Harley in Dortmund:
Riding in Germany was a shit load of fun and I miss it badly. If you happen to visit it, don’t forget to rent a motorbike — it’s only about 200 euros a week!
Followup: Odzun Photos
Trip: Odzun – Dilijan. First Part.
I always thought that I rarely travel north of Armenia. I somehow always perceived “north” to be cold and unfriendly, preferring the dusty Artashat highway that is so plain it makes you yawn and sing to yourself, pondering about the eternity. Oh well.
So we hit the road last weekend on Saturday, riding a nice and tidy Yerevan-Vanadzor-Alaverdi-Odzun-Dilijan-Sevan-Yerevan trip with camping.
Now, anyone who has read Tumanyan probably has this perception of Lori as some sort of a fantasy place. And I was so surprised to find out that Lori is in fact a much bigger fantasy than I expected it to be! Now I don’t know if it was the lucky weather or the adrenaline from the exciting curves of the narrow road, but the whole experience was so beautiful and rich in colors that I couldn’t help my jaw being dropped! Continue reading “Trip: Odzun – Dilijan. First Part.”
Reaping the Dragon
Yerevan – Sisian – Shushi – Stepanakert – Gandzasar – Yeghegnadzor – Selim – Martuni – Sevan – Yerevan: more than 900km in only two days on the Armenian roads and in the Armenian weather! A terriblefic journey, I officially dub it the ‘Quest of the Dragon Reaper’ (Վիշապաքաղ) for myself, as a tribute to the old Armenian deity Vahagn and an acknowledgement of the draconic toughness of the ride. Sure Vishapaqagh is no 50cc, but the Armenian roads are no USA!
I never had a more special ride in my life (maybe except the first ride ever) and I will happily post about this challenge in a great detail with following posts.
Stay tuned!
Trip: Yerevan – Tsakhkadzor – Bjni
Last Friday we took the road to Tsakhkadzor. The weather was good all along, and there were certain things to discuss, so we thought – why the hell not do this in a changed environment and some fresh air?
The planned trip was overall a little longer than 150km, thus also being a nice starting ride to see how my bike feels ‘out in the close wild’. I was eager to take a ride to Geghard first, however Tsakhkadzor seemed to make more sense on that particular day.
We took the standard ‘Sevan highway’ to Hrazdan upon departing Yerevan and since the official run-in period was passed, I have done some minor ‘performance tests’. The results were encouraging — about 160km/h stable with revs and space still left for some extra speed. But speed was not really what I was interested in.
In Tsakhkadzor we visited Kecharis and went to eat some Ishkhan (the trout did not have that magical melting taste my mom objectively delivers). The weather was fantastic; while there were some ‘I’ll rain if I want to’ clouds up above it was actually pretty warm and no rain ever came down.
Most of the fun came on the way back, as Anna suggested we take an alternate route through Bjni. This was a worse road with gravel, dirt and mud instead of tarmac and huge potholes on certain sections. Hett is always happy to drive his Pajero through this kind of terrain and I was more than excited to try my bike out, especially since I’ve heard a lot of criticism lately about the ‘offroad capabilities’ of my new motorcycle. And guess what!
- I have not once had a problem with the bike’s ground clearance. Not once.
- It was agile enough at slow speeds to handle through every single stone.
- I did not ever lack rapid acceleration to maintain speed through the gravel or dirt.
And everyone who doubts my bike’s suitability for the wonderful Armenian terrain conditions can, well, suck it.
After this we arrived to Abovyan where I saw an absolutely genius invention of the local municipality — ‘laying policemen’ (speed bumps) in front of every single pedestrian crossing in the town. Cars never yield to the pedestrians in Armenia, so this was a bullet-proof way to make them do that, unless they wanted to damage the cars. The pedestrians in Abovyan were crossing the street like in Europe, and I thought it was absolutely necessary to build the same speed bumps in Yerevan as well.
Then there was Yerevan as it always is at the end of the trips and I was very happy to have the motorcycle that I had.