Minutes of a Motorcycle Addict

The weekend of 11-12 December, three other Guzzisti and myself wanted to have a small Christmas party in the deep forest of Finnskogen. A terrific party, but a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere led us into a state of despair. But only for a short while. Because we had Knut and Lars with us...

Lars (right) and Knut savouring a Xmas beer while waiting for the dinner to get ready. We're inside a log cabin, trying to get the warmth going. We never succeeded, but it didn't matter.

It's been a while since my last trip winter motorcycle trip. It was actually way back in October, at the winter riding season initiation rally - the Woodgatherer Rally. So it was about time to get rolling again. Fellow guzzisti Knut, Lars, Asle and myself loaded our sidecar Guzzi rigs - Asle riding in the boot this time - and set out for Finnskogen.

Finnskogen is near the border to Sweden and is some sort of mythic in all its splendour. We had decided to have our Guzzi winter Christmas party in a small log cabin deep into the forest, nearby the lake Fjørsjøen. The temperature wasn't too bad when we set out on Saturday, only some -10 C. Asle and I went to meet Knut and Lars at Knut's place a small hour's ride from my place. We set course for Finnskogen, but my near-slick rear tyre ment that the pace was rather slow. I hardly had any grip left on the tyre, which makes things interesting when the boot is fully laden and the road is somewhat icey.

Asle reporting back "All is well" on his mobile phone.

But we made it there in one piece. Knut had prepared pork roast for us, while I had brought the traditional Aquavit dram to chase the food and beers. The log cabin is not insulated nor is it completely tight, so it was necessary for us to light a fire in the oven Knut had brought. Even that didn't help much, but we kept the temp around 0 C so it was - if not warm, so at least cosy. We chatted, ate and drank into the wee hours, all alone in the forest, before finally succumbing to the sweet lure of the sleeping bags.

Sunday morning saw the temperature hovering well under -20C. It was cold! But with a bonfire and a few cups of warm coffee we got our bodies working. We cleaned up and got ready to go at noon. We had anticipated some starting issues in the deep cold, so Knut had brought a couple of extra batteries just in case. And it was needed. Neither Lars' nor mine Guzzi would start on its own. But after some small fiddling and extra juice from the spare batteries, both Guzzis fired up (of course...) and we got ready to go at about 14.00 hrs.

Knut and Lars had far better traction on their bikes than mine had, so I let them ride ahead. After a few hundred metres I felt the bike sliding increasingly to the right. I suspected it was only too slippery, but when we needed to push the steed up a steep hill, Asle pointed out what had happened: The rear tyre was flat.

Dang. Deep into the forest, flat tyre, only a couple of hours of daylight left - what do we do now? While waiting for Knut and Lars to realise we weren't following and turn to come back for us, Asle and I wondered if we should just leave the bike, hitch a ride with Lars and Knut, get the car and trailer and get it back home that way.

But when all seemed lost, Knut and Lars came to the rescue. Being seasoned winter riders and mechanics, Knut got ready to change the tyre. Lars had a spare tube, so within only an hour the rear tyre was fixed, refilled with air and ready to go.

Fantastic! Yet again Ye Old Guzzi got back on its own, thanks to Knut and Lars. Never leave home without them!

Remember to check out the video from the trip!

Knut melting some clean snow to prepare coffee on Sunday morning.

Ye Old Guzzi in the -22 C morning...

Lars admiring the view of the frozen lake Fjørsjøen on the blistering cold Sunday morning.

Asle strolling around Knut's Guzzi rig.

Knut's rig, comprising a Guzzi classic racing engine...

Nice, eh?