Pedro

Maybe but it’s still a GS so it’s got that too, however that was on the 29th April, and I’m a fairplay guy

I left home to go and meet up with Sofia to help guide one of her motorcycle tours. Meeting in Tras os Montes, near the inner North Portuguese border, where we'd meet her client the next day. Hardly no stops this day as I left later than planned. Did take back roads to get there though, before meeting with Sofia at Pocinho, by the Douro river. A stop on the way over to take a look at an access road to a farmhouse where we'd stop a few days later. It's quite steeper than it looks on pictures, surface not maintained as it's basically a work service road for vineyards. It's really the sort of stuff I love to ride on but not to everyone's taste. We had been enjoying almost summer like weather during the previous 2 or 3 weeks, but the forecast was changing and I rode through a few showers on the way there. Spirits were high and I was met with a ham sandwich upon arrival. Sofia had two british friends riding down as well, doing the north of Portugal in dirt roads and mostly off tarmac tracks, we were to meet them for a coffee since we had now time to spare before our destination for the night. Met up in a little village, and I took a few pictures while we waited. We ended up waiting more than anticipated because it turns out they were coping with a rear tire puncture. Eventually they arrived, their bung didn't do it repairing the puncture and it had a slow leak. Considering this a saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere, and that most shops around would be closed on sunday, I gave it a go using my trusty repair kit. It worked like a charm, they carried on with the trip and it's still going strong today. While all this went on, the weather changed again and a heavy rain arrived. We waited a little while having a coffee. We made it home for our room for the night later than scheduled and after the last bit of the ride being in cold rain. Went to have dinner at my favourite restaurant, a proper beef rib perfectly cooked on coal. Happy times! That night we stayed in an old lady's little air b n b style place in a farm house, the bikes enjoyed the night inside the farm size garage, most garages in this area are big enough for full size tractors to drive in and our with trailers, so the GS could barely fit in. Contrary to previous weeks, this night temperatures were already quite low with a minimum of 0ºC. We rode off at around 4º or 5º in search of a cafe to have breakfast in, we weren't in a hurry because we were only expecting to meet up with Sofia's client by mid afternoon. Didn't make it 3 or 4 km down the road when we came upon a french guy with a fallen down Transalp 750. He dropped it parking on the side of the road, and couldn't get it back up. After lifting the bike, I managed to put his sidecase back on, it had both broke the lid and the mechanism that locks it onto the bike. Sofia had a strap that was used to then hold it all together, can't say I rate Honda's luggage very high after that incident. We did spend some time having coffee, then going to fuel up the bikes, and then already in the afternoon went to visit a village right near the border waiting for time to pass. Weather was cold and rainy. Eventually we found this warm little place for a snack and to get away from the cold. Will post almost no pictures of the tour itself as most of them feature a person that doesn't deserve to be shown in this forum , however, the next couple of days were blessed with big clouds and the odd threat of rain but overall really nice conditions to be out on bikes, if it had been in January. First day Our stop for a picnic lunch: And final stop point for the night, right before the hotel and dinner: Next day, we made it up to Portugal's highest point, only a brief rain shower on the way there, but overall great conditions. Even had lunch by a lake under glorious sun. The road up the mountain: Up there the temperatures were around 0º when we got there at around 14:30 to 15:00, pretty cold but the big clouds and brisk air made for great views. Up there it's often foggy and you can't see anything. Going down the mountain the other side, we took a little dirtroad. I went ahead to check if it was muddy, it wasn't. I wasn't happy to have this face off with a local cow, who wasn't happy to face a noisy bike either. We spent that night at an amazing place with a couple of horses. They're friendly enough but are of a wild breed, not really for riding, and like to take nibbles at your hands. Will continue later on or tomorrow, don't have that many pictures to post but there will be something.

Going to be a strong year for sure, I’m just sad I can’t propose @Slowlycatchymonkey

It’s May, you’re overwhelmed by the efforts so far but there’s so much time for more.

Hot wasabi, that one?

Such a cool bike.

Very cool first few episodes!

Thanks Clive. I’ll post a ride report in a couple of days. The weather has been very bad, though.

Rode in snow today, in Portugal, in May!!! @Sofia was not impressed I put her client through that.

The rest, nothing to do with me, I voted for Bob’s bike from the start. Love that trail

Quite busy with stuff. Sorry!

On a guided tour now, client expected warm weather after the summer like weather we had over the last three weeks. He didn’t get that

Happy Birthday Pete!

And yet, it still does

Building the frame himself from nothing, where he is, will he be able to have it registered?

OK, here is the vote for BOTM April 2024. You get one vote, by 21:00 on the 30th April the poll automatically closes and you will have chosen the winner for April 2024 Bike Of The Month. You've got one of the very best months ever for contenders' submissions to choose from, your entries this months are: @boboneleg's Suzuki DR650SE: @JustaPor's Honda CB500F: @Marcel le Moose Fondler's KTM 1290 Super Adventure S: @Pedro's BMW R1200GS Adventure: @Renegade's Kawasaki ZRX 1200 S: @Saul's Honda CB750 Hornet: @Sir Fallsalot's Beta XTrainer 300: @Six30's Yamaha XT660R: @Sofia's Triumph Speed Triple R: @Tango's Triumph Tiger 850 Sport: @XTreme's Honda CB500X: As an honorable entry, @YamaHead's Cyberbike: Scott, you´ve got 10 times the spirit of a biker and you're 20 times the human being, but I'm sorry it doesn't enter the vote as it just isn´t a motorcycle:

OK, I'll give it another try...

We hadn't started yet! The thing with this place, the lettuce, the onions, the potatoes is all grown in the backyard. And the beef is grown less than 20km away. It's just great!

Happy place