THE BREAK DOWN RIDE-DAY 01

“FIRST BREAKDOWNS”

“Carefully spoken, my mood was down at the bottom. I was really upset due to the undergone events of this first day of my adventure. First a close call which resulted in a broken fuel line, now some hated electrical problems and the worst: My just fresh washed riding gear was now a wet, muddy and stinky clamshell, which I’ll have to wear for the next two weeks …”

Route Day 01:

Day 01 – 07:30 AM: After mounting the navigation system to the handlebar, I tapped all the pockets of my riding gear, just for being sure having everything with me, what I need for my incoming adventure. It showed out, that all the important things like documents, wallet, smartphone and a pocket knife had been stowed at their place. So I took a last glance combined with a gentle pull to the saddlebags and the tank bag, ensuring that they are mounted well.
Everything seemed to be fine. So the time has come for leaving the cozy and luxury home, swapping it in for this, fourteen days lasting dual adventure! I climbed my black beauty Чернотa and pushed the gray start button, which brought the mighty thumper instantly to life. After waiting two or three seconds, the oil pressure was hearable up. I put the left hand side lever, kicked in the first gear and left home with a gentle: “BRAAAP!” …

Just a few meters from home, I had to stop because I forgot, to make a photo of the start-mileage.*facepalm*

When that was done …

I left Vienna via its south eastern border and followed the road eastwards.

Because a velcro for the inward protector pocket of my freshly washed motorcycle jacket was open and was scratching my shoulder, I stopped near the cement factory in Mannersdorf for getting this little problem solved. The ride continued and led to …

Eastern-Austrias “Seewinkel”. From a hilly vineyard, the view down to Lake Neusiedel was great. The weather was great too, so I happily …

crossed near the famous small village “Rust at Lake Neusiedel” the unremarkable border between Austria and Hungary. This part is officially closed for motorized vehicles, but because I didn’t want to make a detour and the scooter rider at the picture infront of me also rode along this border crossing, I passed it too without any troubles. Borderless-European-Union for the win! After following the …

shoreline of Lake Neusiedel further soutwards, …

Чернотa and I reached wide open terrain. The weather at this forenoon was great and I was in a very good mood too. So I spurred the old girl along this straight gravel connection road. Due to a lack of contrast along this surface, I had overseen a hefty compression. It was too late for decelerating, so I put my ass as wide as possible back and hit the ditch. The back shock was compressed instantly to its limits (which is a very seldom event on my 690ty due to the usage of a stronger spring and very stiff adjustment).
Just in the same moment I was heavily flung down onto the seat and bounced back in the air, what nearly throw me out of the saddle.
With kind of jumping jack skills, I somehow got it managed to stay in the saddle and keep the swerving bike on track. *pheww*
After this adrenaline shock I thought to myself: “Damn it Tom! Don’t ride in such a frisky manner! There is nothing to win! You have still a good amount of distance ahead of you! It would be a pity to cancel this trip within the first hours of riding due to injury or worse.”

So I put less coal in thee vessel and rode on unhurried. The gravel track ended in a well-used tarmac road. While I was waiting for entering the traffic, I recognized the smell of fuel. A look down to the engine showed …

that Чернотas fuel line was leaking somewhere. I made a turn and stopped in the shade of a tree nearby.

The problem was quickly found. The fuel filter between both tank systems was broken. That surely was caused from the hefty compression or/and my jumping jack show, in which I may hit the fuel filter with a boot, whilst trying to stay in the saddle of the bike.
The first thing I did, was to crimp the broken fuel line and its fixation with a cable tie. So no further fuel was lost. The next step was finding a spare filter, or at least a piece of connecting tube, along the ongoing journey. Luckily, there was still a good amount of fuel left in the separate connectable front tanks.

I began traversing Hungarys …

endless plains. Sometimes …

they have been seemed with hundreds of solar panels, sometimes …

with millions of sunflowers. In the early afternoon, short before entering a section of the Hungarian Trans Euro Trail in the south of central Europes biggest lake: “Lake Balaton”, I got it managed to find a spare inline fuel filter at a fuel station. I was very happy about the fast find, because it was Saturday. This means, for the Hungarian countryside in general, that you will find nearly no open stores/workshops after midday.

Here at this unremarkable place Чернотa and I entered the Trans Euro Trail of South-West-Hungary. Just a few kilometers further, I stopped for …

a break in the shade. It was very hot already, so I took …

my jacket of and began to repair, under the supervision …

of this little friend, the …

broken fuel line. The spare part from the fuel station was about two times bigger than the old one. Also, the connectors on both end had a bigger diameter. It wasn’t easy to get the thin fuel hose onto the bigger filter connectors, but with the support of lubricating spit, force and a few unholy quick prayers to the great almighty, I finally got the tight hoses connected to the filter. The last step was to mount three zip ties for keeping the end of the hoses and the filter itself in place. When the zip ties had been cropped, I stowed the tools and had a short snack.

Now it was time to follow the TET Hungary eastwards, through …

dense vegetation. Riding the TET is always an unforeseeable undertaking: After a steep declension, still with a good amount of speed, I came to this …

giant step, which is the result of a huge wash-out. With a jaming back wheel I managed it to stop in time just ahead of the abyss.
I pre-walked the terrain ahead, for being sure, that Чернотa loaded ass won’t get stuck in the small rut leading down to the edge of the step. Wooden branches under the ramp on the right edge showed that somebody was already here at this step and had obviously overcome the obstacle.
I figured out, that It would be no problem to ride this step downwards. I just had to take care not getting caught with the front wheel between the branches, arranged alongside the direction of travel under the “Ramp”.
Riding this step back upwards wouldn’t have been an easy task, therefore I did a few checks on the navigation system if there are any alternative routes ahead, which I could choose alternatively in case of getting stuck further ahead. It showed out, that for this case, there are other routes available. So I went back into the saddle and slipped slowly down this terrain step, without having any serious troubles whilst doing it.

Trans Euro Trail Hungary was now following a calm hill range eastwards, which was interrupted with …

some forest gravel. This terrain in southwestern Hungary is surely a pain in the ass to ride during bad weather conditions. Plenty of such …

track-repairs along our way indicated the presence of deep mudholes during wet season. Such conditions I already explored on another TET-Ride trough Hungary in 2019.

I made a short rest at this provided shelter aside the trail. It looked like a nice place for the night, but it was way too early for stopping. So I just used the shade for cooling down a bit and had a few proper gulps of water, whilst listening to the noises of the forest.

Чернотa and I followed a step washed out sandy slope…

for finding this mess atop of it. The trail now followed …

for a few kilometers a power line and brought us …

to a small village, which was nearly died out due to the heat on this sunny weekends afternoon. Feeling like a lonesome cowboy, I trotted into a gas station and bought a cool drink and a beer for dinner.

Being back on …

the TET-Track again, Чернотa and I stumbled into…

a horde of different …

cattles. Having plenty of respect from such cows with their calves, I decided to gain the security distance between braaaping Чернотa and those animals, which ambled along the gravel track atop the little dam.

Now Hungarys Pannonian/Puszta Plain …

opened up to impressive dimensions and was only interrupted from short green lanes and …

some of these monotonous working nodding donkeys sucking oil out of the soil. Following a short piece of …

muddy forest, another …

illegal …

garbage dump was found directly aside the trail. The overall size of this one was astounding. Obviously, some dumping enterprises used the woods for ….

cheap disposal of already collected/assorted rubbish. This is general environment issue, you will often face whilst riding along the tiny tracks in South-Eastern Europe.

The next stop was made at a little antenna hill, which was surrounded from …

old houses. This one was surely one of the biggest. Sadly, it was blocked up completely, so I wasn’t able to have a look inside for satisfying my curiosity. 🤔

The TET now followed for a short piece alongside this overgrown rails and the terrain got …

very muddy. The trail went narrower and more overgrown too. Just a few meters further taking that picture, Чернотas back wheel slipped into the deep rut on the left-hand side.
Steering gentle to the right and reving up, I tried to dig back onto the middle lane, but that was a forlorn undertaking:
The Rut was surely about 50 cm / 20 inches deep. Чернотas front wheel was still on the middle lane and due to the impulse to the left, coming from the slipping rear wheel, I fell headfirst over the left-hand side handle bar into the ditch. Чернотa fell over to its left side too.
Despite jumping back on feet instantly, swampy water was floating the wide open vents of my clothing gear. My riding boots got also filled up nicely with this stinky fluid. I quickly tried to get up the bike back on its wheels because there was already fuel leaking out of the vents from two tanks, but the left-hand side of the handlebar stuck in the muddy soil.
So I went down on my knees within this deep ditch and began, with my bare hands, digging away the mud around the stuck handlebar. Luckily it was very soft and took only about a half minute to get the bar free.
With now completely mud stuffed summer riding gloves, I was finally able to raise the bike back on its wheels. It fired up faithfully and with a gentle throttle I was digging along this deep rut out of this mud hole, which was surprisingly easy.

After reaching the edge of a field, I had to stop. This little accident had done more damage to Чернотa than I first thought: The left-hand side mirror arm was broken, and also the indicator lever of the left-hand side handle bar didn’t work anymore. The indicator was blinking all the time because the housing of the electrics was clogged with mud and the lever itself wasn’t moving anymore. I didn’t want to disassemble/clean this fine mechanical construction in the field, So I took the saddlebags of the bike and pulled the fuse for the indicators under the seat. This way I had to ride on without indicators and brake light, which is wired to the same circuit.

Carefully spoken, my mood at this moment was down at the bottom. I was really upset due to the undergone events of this first day of my adventure. First a close call which resulted in a broken fuel line, now some hated electrical problems and the worst: My just a few days ago fresh washed riding gear was now a wet, muddy and stinky clamshell, which I’ll have to wear for the next two weeks … .

Somehow, like always in such situations, I got myself motivated for riding on. So we did. The route led us through some …

small villages. In one of them, this …

war memorial was seen. The shown scene reminded me, that my latest little problems here are nothing compared to the struggles others had overcome. I decided to stop the internal arguing and tried to make the best out of my situation.

“Don`t complain, just change the plan when necessary and follow the goal, which is riding the planned route.”, was the motto from now on.

Calmed down a bit, Чернотa and I went on along the route for about a half hour.

The sun was already approaching to the horizon, when …

in a mowed field near the village “Bikal”, …

a nice place for shelter was found. After building up the camp, …

I swapped the broken mirror …

with the still intact one, for getting a better backward sight. Now it was time …

for overthinking the events of this first day. I also thought about a solution for the not working indicator, whilst sipping on a can of excellent Hungarian beer.

Short after sunset, a gentle breeze came up and vanished the heat from the day. I was very tired. After giving myself an urgently needed cat lick, I went into my sleeping bag, where I fell into a dreamless sleep. *zzz* *zzZ* *ZZZ*

Total daily riding distance: 420 km or 260 mi.