Pedro

A sidecar will allow you to skid sideways to a stop on all traffic light, like Indiana Jones. Playing Indiana Jones makes them cool

How did that go, Phil, managed to get a nice picture to show all these children how it's done?

I had forgotten about that but now that you mention, a bus full of spaniards was just invading the castle as I left, I got on the bike to park it somewhere less illegal and go for a coffee while the fog cleared a little more, but gave up on that when I heard the clucking of spanish women.

It's a clean design, simple and functional but classy. Lights, fenders, mirrors, etc, don't try to be edgy and modern, and yet it's not raked out or ultra lowered, still looks like it can steer and have some suspension travel. I like it, which is the point of "favourite looking" bikes.

Dude can't resist a nice bandwagon

Waiting for your picture too, sulky.

Woke today to another very wet foggy morning, riding out of the hotel the fog was too thick to see much of anything so I went up to the castle doors to see if there was a nice view, and indeed there was, quite the view: On the picture above, if you look to the two dots in the sky over the bike's rear luggage rack, and zoom in, you'll see two hot air balloons. Can only imagine they would have to wait for the fog to dissipate before landing, but there must have been quite the view from up there. The fog wasn't going nowhere, so I rode off heading back home. Stopped for an espresso in Estremoz, about an hour later, and enjoyed a little bit of sunshine to warm up, but as soon as I got back on the road it got cold again, beats rain though. Took a little detour through a few kms of dirt road, to see a very moody Alentejo: Bit farther on, did a wrong turn and ended up on a slightly more muddy path that turned out to be a dead end, so stopped for a another look around. The bike threw up a little mud on that trail, but most of it was cleared from a shallow water crossing, by 13:00 I was back on the road, hungry and cold so did another little detour and stopped at a very VERY old school cafe / grocery store / bar, and had a snack. There's four little dogs working there, they are always up for a snack too and they could sniff something delicious I was seduced and they ended up having some of my sandwich filling Almost back home, waiting for the green light to cross the old bridge: And that's it, the bike is filthy and looking very epic, I'm not going to wash it today, and maybe not until tuesday or wednesday, but it's dry and garaged. This wasn't the trip I was looking for, but ended up appreciating a little spot of Portugal I might return more often to, can't go wrong with riding nice dirt roads, cool views, quiet nights, and good food and wine.

From what I've seen, that's the normal biker rally or group ride in Portugal, except the guns

November BOTM hasn't happened yet.

This is going into tomorrow evening, guys, don’t miss out on submitting. There’s only two more this year, after that is 2024 and you know what that means.

Never ridden one, but I’ve got a soft spot for a Dyna Sport, I think it looks right.

I like this ride report as it happens thing, I have no instagram or facebook. The chips are done beautifully, the migas I can’t Explain what it is, but the meat is beautifully done and reminds me of something my grandmother used to make. Anyone who eats meat would love this. Having a nice bottle of wine too, I have to because it’s cold outside …

Maybe you should ask @busabeast how it’s done.

Classy bike outside the restaurant now

I liked this, not pretending to be adventurers, just a good frame of mind I think.

Nice one Fred. Do you over the fallen tree properly riding over it? I’m not going to complain about it being chilly here in the morning anymore.

Here: https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/make-a-complaint#cHnykoiIYZwM They have a special office for internet whining

They're the rock in my shoe

Spanish?

I think women here tend to do more horseback riding in proper stables where they jump over stuff, or around the beach. The countryside in center and south Portugal has a lot of tradition for men to ride horses around though, comes from the culture with the bulls and cattle, so I think here there are mostly men riding around towns and fields than women, but I might be wrong. We do have a big thing with breeding Lusitanos, our very Portuguese horses, similar to the Spanish ones but more friendly and easier. I think around those kinds of places you do see women and girls riding around too, but those are maybe rich people buying horses, not really a countryside thing. Edit: I forgot that was in Andaluzia, so there IS a lot of bull culture there.

I had a great night's sleep, ate and drank very well, and then shut down the fridge and air-conditioning in the room so all there was was complete silence in the Alentejo countryside. Woke up quite late to a very foggy chilly morning. After a quick breakfast, things were looking a lot better. The plan was to get a little bit of an off-road fix around the Alqueva lake, and then head home or at least a little bit north. It was around 10AM when I left the hotel and 10 minutes later set wheels on some very nice gravel roads. @boboneleg, the Desert Sled would love it here: Old crumbling church in need of a fix up And a little bit of exploring dirt roads around the lake. Found an ideal spot for a picnic in the future, which turns out to also be accessible by a very nice tarmac road: Some pretty colours for the season: 3 hours into it, I stopped by the lake to eat my sandwich previously bought from a small cafe. I did give it a few moments before making myself comfortable there because there were a few sheep around, and although the typical Alentejo cattle guard dog doesn't care if you're traveling and are usually pretty chill, when you stand between them and whatever they're protecting they turn into a fierce thing, they're big, fast, and don't bark or give you any warning. After a minute I got my sandwich out, a very simple ham and cheese but the homemade bread made it marvelous. After eating, I sat there for a while contemplating, you heard a few of the sheep, the cranes, and even the odd fish jumping out and making a splash. After a bit, someone drove over, I knew I was trespassing but the nice man wasn't bothered at all. He came to check on the sheep and came by to say hello. We ended up chatting for a almost an hour and a half, Joaquim Santos, nicknamed Malaquias is 85 years old, and lives alone after having lost his wife and son. We got along well and he ended up telling me all about his life, since going there at 18 months old after his mother passing and living with his aunt and grandparents, having had planted 1300 olive trees when he was 13 to have them all submerged by the current water level, to going to war at 18 years old to Africa, to them building the dam that created this huge lake on land that looked very different before, emigrating to France to work on farming beetroot, to his current life and current ailments. After a while he drove off and went to search for the sheep who by that time had half wandered back home by themselves. I promised to return, and will do so for sure, a friend has been made. On the picture below you can see him near the water to the left, 85 and walking around like that seems very impressive to me. By this time it was now 14:30, I had at least 3,5 hours to make it home if riding properly non stop, today is Saturday and as such all the other places I usually end up in are a little busy and loud, so I called my previous nights accommodation and bargained the same low price for today as well. I was now glad I wouldn't have a long ride after all these dirt roads, and instead did a little more exploring reasured to have another great dinner tonight and a good night's sleep. After loosening up a little on the bike, I was now a lot more comfortable than in the morning. Trails weaving through trees and hills were now being done more a lot more relaxed than before, in third and fourth gear with ease, and I found out how lovely it is to slightly jump out of drainage ditches. They do these concave concrete paths so that water can overflow from one side of the road to the other between fields, and if you time it right you get a little air coming out the other side, makes me feel like a hero but more importantly helps the bike glide over the bumps usually present on the other side of those ditches. Another stop trying to get the elusive BOTM picture, my phone and my picture taking didn't make the light justice, it was gorgeous out there: I went up to the castle to get a nice scenic view of the sunset over the big lake, didn't even take pictures except of a nice couple who showed up on another GS and helped them take a proper picture instead of a selfie. Then, as I was enjoying peace and quiet and the view, spaniards showed up and fucked everything up for me with their incessant clucking, really, have a listen: I gave up on the quiet sunset view and went to the hotel to have a warm shower, and am now sitting comfortable posting this after a hot coffee. It was a lovely sunset, too Basically today I rode around all day with my luggage on and went nowhere

but it did, it was all quiet when they arrived and when I started it they weren't happy for a moment.

Agreed completely. Your ride report names baffle me, seems like half are medicine names and the other half come if you type randomly with your eyes closed. Cool stuff though, and you're putting the new bike to good use.