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Pedro

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Everything posted by Pedro

  1. No it doesn't, no gearbox limits electrics, put two gears in like Rimac did with a sportscar and suddenly they can apply their torque at a higher speed and no longer be limited to 112mph. Also, it'll feel more like a motorcycle to ride, which can only be good. Bike looks good though, and 240 miles is a great range for a bike you won't take on proper trips but stick to commuting and day trips, I don't believe the 240 miles number in real like conditions though.
  2. Fixing something like that, how do you try to not leave loose bits inside the engine?
  3. I got no idea what this is, apology accepted?
  4. Nice area to see. nice fix too!
  5. watching some racing today:
  6. mine, amongst the Douro vines
  7. On a parking lane next to a wire fence?
  8. Nice, looks like a nice ride out. Proper british stuff!
  9. It's going to feel slow as hell after both your current bikes, though.
  10. And it’s not like they can’t make s nice looking bike, the TRX850 was a nice copy of Sarron’s 500
  11. It is ugly though, looks like a distorted picture of a normal naked bike!
  12. The next day we wake up, put up with an annoying hostess yet a little more and have a pretty mediocre breakfast. The simple but tasty bread rolls from the north replaced with a pretentious person serving tasteless crap. I gave the bikes a wipe to get rid of the most apparent muddy rain drops from the previous afternoon's rain, and we set off, stopping in Rosmaninhal to sort out a navigational miscommunication, and again Sofia finds herself making another friend The tiny municipal road from Rosmaninhal through Tegueiro to Segura is only 25km but it's amazing, and I love it. It's quite narrow so that an average light truck doesn't leave much space for anything else, but it's nice tarmac, often broken in places, with patches of dirt and broken road thrown in. If there was to be a road for trail bikes or supermotos this would be it. I could spend an afternoon riding back and forward there The views couldn't be more different to the previous days' locations up in Trás os Montes and High Douro: Extreme heat and overloaded trucks will do this to tarmac. We got to Segura safe and sound, and went to take a look at the Rio Erges, that's Spain on the other side of the water We started by heading back on the same lovely road we came in before, and I tried to stop for a picture in similar style to the one I took the first time I was there, except the first time I was by myself and at 40º, today with Sofia it was about 18 or 20º and about to rain. I like these worn out by time road marks. Stopped at Nisa for a lunch snack, and Sofia was delighted and envious that the local vet has a parking place reserved for his clients' This Roman bridge has been abandoned from use, but clearly strong enough to handle any load, it's just that the modern two lane road built 50 meters to the side doesn't suit it anymore. It's a shame. The plan was to go home to Ericeira from there, but plans change and instead we made way to Estremoz and then Alter do Chão to sleep in a lovely little hotel built in an old monastery. I ´ve put pictures of all these places before, and sadly took none this time. Dinner in a tiny cafe in Alentejo made up for the previous night's disgrace with a wonderful typical treat, no pictures of that either as the phone was left in the room. Bikes slept soundly inside an old warehouse belonging to the monastery, and after a later than ideal breakfast we were off to go home to the coast. No motorways were meant to be taken, and we did just that. Rode through lovely Alentejo plains and oaks It was starting to warm up when we stopped in Avis for a coffee and a look around: Tiny roads turned to 5 or 6km of dirt road, I had been through there before but I never remember what the surface is like unless it's properly dreadful. Sofia didn't back off and the Speed Triple sailed through smoothly, stopping halfway to look at a stream As we approached Lisbon, we started seeing a lot of bikes, and a lot of foreign ones too. On a short stop we met with some Welsh bikers returning home from watching the Superbikes at the Estoril (Lisbon area). They were riding back to Santander via inner roads, and seemed to be enjoying it immensely, in their late 60s or mid 70s. Someone got really happy from talking to UK people After that, we rode home almost non stop, it was the end of a nice few days mostly filled with wonderful northern Portuguese scenery.
  13. It's just traditional in an area with a big rock abundance and a harsh climate that makes life hard on tarmac. If there's no need for fast traffic to go through a place, I wouldn't go put tarmac through an ancient village either.
  14. Breakfast in Morais was had in a local cafe. Simple bread and butter and toast was a revelation to Sofia and showed what flavors simple things like good not fancy bread rolls can have compared to the shit you eat in big cities. Going into the café at 08:30 I take this picture of a Trás os Montes street scene, gentleman has just finished his coffee and heads to work on a Renault Express, old lady chats to a friend while inside her transit van, she has to reach up to look over the steering wheel, and casually behind that someone walks a burro, typical breed from Trás os Montes. Tasty bread: We ride off to meet up with the Rio Sabor, one of the affluents to the Douro. The plan is to ride along this river heading south, cross the Douro and continue south until the Alentejo, tiny Portugal culture shock between the harsh demanding North with its impressive viewpoint rock faces, and the wide open terrain of the inner South! But first, the Rio Sabor getting to Alfandega da Fé: Alfandega da Fé had a regional fair going on, it was going to be a party later on, we walked a little along the charming center garden and bought a couple of regional products, Almonds and a blood sausage to cook at home. Cherry season but sadly those don't handle motorcycle traveling well. The biker's club here has a really cool clubhouse. I'd have gone in for a coffee, but at 10:15 it was obviously closed. Quick stop for fuel and we meet a French couple on a cool sidecar. Very unfriendly gas station, with a café full of rowdy guys drinking in the morning didn't cause the best impression, but I'm confident they'll be better received in other places. Adeganha, near the point where the Rio Sabor joins the Rio Douro, great views, and look at the road heading down the hill: A little south of Torre de Moncorvo we stopped for lunch in the only roadside cafe / restaurant in the little village of Açoreira. We asked for a light portion, but being the proper North, the traditional "Posta". This is it, the restaurant owner was quite happy with himself for not over serving : We rolled out of the restaurant and back on the bikes, and back to some familiar roads, crossing the Douro one more time heading south, again near Barca de Alva coming from Ligares: Didn't take many pictures for a while, we covered a little ground and headed south pointing our bikes to Rosmaninhal. It's near the Tejo International Park, the place is gorgeous and it felt cool to join both of Portugal's most important rivers. Although it was proper hot, it looked like we were about to ride into dark rain clouds. We had been lucky to avoid them all day long but not anymore. A stop for putting rain overalls on, and Sofia (like always) is approached by animals I instantly regret my decision, after about 20 or 30 minutes we stop to fuel up the Triumph and I take off all the plastic rain stuff. 32º and rain gear had me roasting, I took my chances with the rain and managed to stay mostly dry since it only started to come down about 5km before we arrived at our location for the night, another recovered old home but this time near the deep South. Bikes looked like they had the measles after the dusty rain came down. First order of business, get my trunks and jump into the cool swimming pool. Reinvigorate with a nice soaking before a little walk. A little tour around Couto dos Correias, a village of about 6 or 8 inhabitants, 2 or 3 of them permanent: Dinner was a bit disappointing that day, and our host a little annoying to say the least. I was looking forward to the next day though, as this is where one of my favourite short bits of road starts.
  15. Continuing, we woke up to a warm morning in Freixo de Espada à Cinta, stopped by the local pharmacy for some chapstick, I wanted to get some more potent anti histaminic nasal spray but there's nothing stronger than what I got. One thing that bothered me a bit over the previous days were my polen allergies, whenever we went near blooming olive trees or some kinds of fields it hits hard. 20 or 30 minutes North of where we started, along the N221, we take a detour to Mazouco, and ride down to the riverside to check something quite special. After a short walk down a narrow path leading right next to the water, we find the Cavalo de Mazouco. The engraving of this horse, or probably mare, is probably Europe's oldest open air art work. It's over 10.000 years old and only really noticed by the general public in the 70s. Back then the water level was lower, too. Quite the view, at the little horse's place After a few minutes taking in the sights, with the grey overcast skies kind of ruining the pictures, we made way north, again another 20 or 30 minutes to another view point via back roads: After a km or so of nice smooth dirt road, we reach one of the highlights of the trip, the Carrascalinhos Viewpoint at Fornos. It was impressive both for it's views over the river, but more so because of the number of Vultures and Griffons we saw, never had I seen so many in one place. At over 2 meters wingspan they are impressive when they fly near you. The shadow they cast is like one of a small airplane, we stayed for a while. My phone doesn't make them justice, but here it goes anyway. Being sat on a rock for a while, bugs almost instantly started crawling over me, like this weirdly colored beetle and a tiny caterpillar that was put back onto some vegetation. Next to Penedo Durão, the viewpoint of Carrascalinho is the other obligatory stop if you're passing by this area. The N221 from Miranda do Douro all the way to Barca de Alva a must, with all it's little detours. We headed north yet again, getting out of the more hilly Douro and towards a more typical Trás os Montes landscape, a hilly Altiplano with huge rocks thrown all over the place. Another stop at Bemposta, this time for lunch. We had a little look over the viewpoint, surrounded by houses appearing to be older than time, and stopped at a local café. I wanted Sofia to be amongst the locals so we went somewhere with a few construction trucks parked in front, the accent they speak with here is incredibly different to what Sofia is used to in the Lisbon area it's funny. In fact, Miranda do Douro has it's own language, called Mirandês, with it 's own vocabulary and taught as a second language in the area. In some villages, it is still a first language amongst older people. Hearty portions in this part of the country, I went inside to order and the girl was a little shocked that both of us would share a portion. I have no pictures of said food, but we left with a full stomach. Had a few laughs with the guys there, and were ready for a full afternoon. Half an hour of riding, and another stop, this time at the preserved village of Picote. The place has been meticulously restored and was a pleasure to walk through, even the fields' entries were nice, this didn't really feel like Portugal as it's usually a bit rougher. A great place to see and maybe next time a sleepover location. It was getting proper hot though, at maybe 33 or 35º. Quite fun to see all the signs in Mirandês instead of Portuguese. Eventually, we rode off and arrived at Miranda do Douro, parked in the old town next to a shiny scooter and went to buy some souvenirs. Miranda do Douro is a lovely place, I shall stay longer next time. From Miranda do Douro we went to Paradela, just a 15 or 20 minute ride but it's the place where the river enters Portugal, we went and visited the northernmost place in this trip. Getting there it was proper hot, so stopped for an icecream, some water and a coffee at a local country style café. Sofia made a sensation with the café owner and her mother. They have family everywhere, near where I'm from, where Sofia lives, all over Portugal, and took great pride in showing off her husband's ZZR1100 on top of which they went to France and toured around a few years ago. Northern hospitality: We left the Speed Triple behind and rode the 4 or 5km dirt road to the last Douro lookout on the GS. It was quite hot and dusty, the loose gravel wouldn't have been much fun on the Triumph. A nice place to visit. The dam in the picture above is still in the spanish side, flowing over a trickle of water it might or might not be one of the reasons much of the north is in a draught currently. We said goodbye to the border and rode heading to Alfandega da Fé. The weather was quite hot but threatening to rain, progress now was faster and the roads allowed a constant speed over 100kmh to be easily done. Quick stop to take a picture of an ancient harvester, just casually parked in the middle of a field: A quick stop in Vimioso to figure out where to sleep, and realize the landscape had changed dramatically in only a few kms We rode into Morais at around 19:00 I think, after a long day of short rides and amazing scenery. The surprise heat wave made it a little harder than it had to be, but all was cool. Morais is a tiny town and we were to sleep in a small place, the owner showed up to get paid for the room and left us to ourselves, being the only guests and breakfast available on the café across the street we should just close the door behind us in the morning. The bikes splept outside and the big GS made sure the Triumph couldn't be messed with. A little walk around before dinner looking for an ATM, revealed Sr. Morais' old house, the town founder long gone and his place is left there waiting for someone to do something with it. We had dinner in a small bbq place, inside as the mosquitoes were relentless outside. We stayed in and drank cold wine and chatted almost till they were ready to close up. 11PM in Morais on a weekday, nothing really goes on: After a nice day with amazing scenery, a tasty dinner, we slept soundly.
  16. Once, in Brazil, very drunkenly almost got one. Luckily my girlfriend at the time asked me not to. people sometimes assume I fell off the bike and it’s roadrash
  17. Quick note to @Skippy: Ray, there's a lot of places called Murça in Portugal, look to Mós and then the Murça next to it. Hit me up if you're in doubt.
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