I am now back in Bryne after a close to 9 hours motorcycle ride all the way from Lillehammer. What a joyful day it has been! A wonderful day with wonderful people and a blow-me-away motorcycle! I had great expectations to the BMW R 1200 GS Adventure, and it exceeded all my expectations! Magnificent! Unlike my grandfather who never came to like the Germans after the World War II, I think I actually love the Germans! At least their engineering!
When I left for Sola Airport this morning at 06.15, it was typically-Jæren-windy and the rain was pouring down. However, when I landed at Oslo Airport Gardermoen the sun was shining from an almost clear sky – typically “Østlandet” – why do they get all the nice weather?
After a train ride to Lillehammer I met up with Geir who came to pick me up at the train station. A few minutes later we were at his place where he opened his garage to shop me a magnificently looked-after bike. Geir was the kind of seller I was hoping to get in touch with – a person truly dedicated to keeping things in order and ensuring the value of his bike would be at its best. Thank you Geir for looking after the bike!
Geir gave me a thorough walk-through of the most important aspects of the bike before we went from the garage to his house to have a look at the paperwork one final time. I also got to meet his wife, and enjoy some coffee and cookies! However, eager to get home before the end of the day, we soon went back to the garage where I got ready and farewelled the friendly Lillehammer-people and got started on the trip back home.
After a short pit-stop at a Statoil gas station in Gjøvik I headed on through Jevnaker, Hønefoss, Hokksund, Kongsberg, Notodden and through the splendid motorcycle passed towards Dalen. The Dalen-area has some splendid views, and i can strongly recommend a few stops along the way just to admire the sights.
The drive from Dalen towards Valle and further on towards Sinnes, and not to mention the roads leading from Sinnes to Ålgård are indeed fantastic motorcycle roads, however, the weather turned against me with a sudden change near Suleskar.
Dressed for success (of course), the weather did not bother me that much – my biggest issue was the fading daylight. Pushing on as hard as I felt I could in the rain, I switched the heated grips to Level II and really – I could care less about the weather! I was driving the bike I had dreamed about for so long, it was mine, and I was getting closer to home by the minute. I was enjoying myself!
I reached home close to nine and parked my bike majestically in the garage. I can’t wait until tomorrow when I am going to give it a proper wash after a dirty – but joyful and memorable ride from Lillehammer and back home.