16/05/2023

The HIVE Tour - Episode 5 - 200km wet ride in Serbian pool






Officially confirmed:

Most miserable May of my life and I'm spending it in Serbia.

Location has a lot to do with it as the country lives in absolute lack of Spring. I haven't seen the sun since my wheels started rolling over Serbian soil. Seriously, no sun for more than a week and it rains on every single chance give. And it's mid May! Is this normal? Serbians please let us know in the comments below.

I mean, I never expected Greek weather around the rest of Balkans but this thing sucks big time. I am an absolute sun dependant Mediterranean and such weather conditions bring me back to the mood that made me write this small piece:


In a few words yes I am a "Meteopatico". That's the perfect term for my case, thank Italians for that.

So, weather kept me inside my AirBnB at Krusevac for the last days and when it's time to leave it behind and ride North to Belgrade the weather still looks like this:

And that's the good time of the day as it's going to rain again soon but I can't stay here forever so I roll my bike off the shed where it has been sitting for the last week:

And load it before I hit the road:

You see where I've temporarily put my helmet? Yep that's it on my saddle cramped between my (6!) bags. As I reach the cockpit to mount my camera and phone the left shoulder protection pad of my jacket hits the helmet ever so slightly but enough to throw it down to the ground. Any biker goes "oh shit" and yes, my visor got scratched. Big time. I never scratched a visor more than this actually. And yes, it's almost right in the middle. What a nice way to start a ride on an already miserable day...not.

A few drops in the first km but that's allright, I'm a sweet guy but not made of sugar to melt in water so I enjoy the scenery whenever the (often heavy) traffic allows:

There's not even a dry bit on the roads but my tires offer great grip and I can't remember how many times I thanked myself for putting those Bridgestone A41 on.

However, it gets more miserable later when things behind my windshield look like this:



That's not what I see as I look over the windshield but my camera hinds behind it. The only good thing about it is that it rains so much that I can't even notice the huge scratches on my visor - it's full of water and road debris which are now in charge of decorating it. Added to that are the countless trucks I have to overtake on the way and the whole misery looks like this:



As much as I hate toll roads I prefer them in such conditions as they are much more predictable and safer than crossing all these places where vehicles can pop out or brake in front of you. I am so happy I'm only meters away from the highway when...I see this:

Yep, the entrance to the tolls is blocked and the road is under construction. I'm like "don't do this to me now!" so I try to find a dry spot to check out an alternative route on the map. At the local parking lot I find this guy:

He's the son of the trucker and the only one of the two speaking a little bit of English so they tell me I have to deviate through a place called "Paracin" or something liek that. Indeed, following their instructions I find a sign reading something like that:

The sign says left, they said left, left I go. After a few km my phone's navigation understands the deviation and points me to the right direction so it's all good. Except the weather of course which is even worse and at some point on the highway after a lot of time spent on triple digit km/h under heavy rain my camera flooded and decided to fall into coma. The clips I managed to retrieve later can be found in the following 4K video (which also has my original music):

After a few miserable hours in what it often felt like diving than driving it's time to leave the toll road and pay at the exit. You see in Serbia, like in Italy, you get a card when you enter the highway which you then hand at the tolls where you exit so they charge you accordingly. However, after all this rain, that card got wet even though it was sitting inside my money bag which was sitting behind my cockpit therefore (almost) missing the rain. The latter was so much though that "almost" wasn't enough to keep it dry. So here I am, waiting for the toll employee to dry my card as the reader cannot accept it. Keep in mind that through all this time waiting there that felt to me like a century, the East wind brings all the rain on me as the toll roof is too high to protect me and the line of vehicles behind me is about to make it up to the evening news on Serbian TV. Surprisingly enough no one horned or complained even though Serbian drivers looked to me rather impatient on the road, pretty close to what Greeks are. Probably the view of me looking at the lady of the tolls and just waiting there made it obvious that it's not my fault.

Rain did not come alone though, the dirt that went with it is enough to build a couple of mud huts. When I arrive at my next AirBnB outside Belgrade my bike's original colour is only a rough estimate.

Look at this mess:



Must be the first time it got such a layer of dirt since I've taken it to Morocco back in 2015 (you can read about that trip here). What is for sure the first time is the fact of my rain gear not being able to cope with such an amount of water for that long. My jacket and pants got a bit of moisture but fortunately not the rest of
my clothes. Impressive - they have never failed me before! That said, imagine how proud I am about my motorcycle boots. Not even a single drop inside them! Yes, most of the times you get what you paid for and these totally worth the 230 euros I paid for - thank you dear boots!

The above boots are the Dainese Fulcrum GT (couldn't they be more inspired when naming them?). The rest footwear lying around is the perfect opposite and belongs to my (female) host 🙂. Their absolute waterproof performance becomes even more impressive if you consider that I have partially used them as hiking boots during my trips while stopping at places in the woods to have a look at something or find a good viewing point. Despite the scratches from the thorns and the bushes they still performed like that. Wow. Very comfy too.

Now the problem is that I have arrived at my destination with zero food supplies except some muesli for breakfast, very tired and hungry like the wolf and I have to ride again to shop for food while the weather is still not bike friendly. I'm so happy that I made it though and that the place I booked looks like designed for my needs (more on that on another post) so it counterweights the misery. I unload my bike, take all my stuff in the house and give it a bit of wash to look like a bike again and not a pile of dirt. That required me fixing my hot's hose. I'm too tired and hungry to DIY but I take a zip tie from my tool box and fix it on the spot.

When I'm done repairing and shopping I'm back and ready to please my stomach. Ladies and Gents, this is one of the most rough yet tasty meals I've ever made and the first time I ever made such a combination:

I know, the crowd goes: "Man, you're too hungry to judge!". Sure am. Still nice though. For a supermarket thing at least.
Ingredients:
Salmon, rukola, tzatziki (a Greek sauce based on yogurt), olives and blue cheese.

All nice after cancelling my hunger except...what else - the weather of course! There's another couple of rainy days coming up.

See you soon, hopefully under drier conditions🙂

*Check out HIVE at https://hive.io/

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