Pedro

Love the XR with oldscool logo there, good stuff. I think I’d suck at trial but would love a good go. About all those water crosses you guys do, I’ve done a few in summertime and I get that, but in the UK with your dark cold weather, isn’t it really unpleasant to get soaken wet in your feet and legs?

I know, I was just conveying that The peninsula is not all like that.

I get that, but I can’t bring myself to wash the bike if I can’t ride it gently till warm to properly dry it off for the week. And a GS is probably the hardest bike to clean and dry off if not riding it in warm dry air. I’d rather not wash it, if I leave it half wet I will leave home for the workweek with a guilty conscience...

It’s not the norm form me, because after a week up north i start missing it.

I disliked that part too, i hate washing the bike unless it’s summer

Love the picture of the guys doing road repairs, lol

Come on Pete, it’s only spinach

Bloody hell, it's not worth going through that unless you're escaping war in search of a better life.

Thought of this report after Bob's weekend camping in a muddy field one. December 2019, although the weather is shit, I've just spent a week jonesing for riding my bike, so although the weather promises to be shity, I go out maintaining my ritual of going out for lunch on the bike on saturdays when I'm home. I usually ride in jeans, but needed to test the suit pants to see how they still fit so the bad weather gave me the perfect reason to. No pictures on the road, cause it was wet and I didn't feel like taking gloves off in the rain. I know it doesn't compare to Bob's weekend camping in a muddy field, but I have standards to have a good time. Above is my usual sport for going for coffee on the bike, I'm all alone today, below is how it usually looks: After that, went to lunch on my favorite hilltop restaurant, had some nice typical scrambled eggs (too difficult to explain what's special about them) while the weather turned to shit outside. Made my way back closer to home, and stopped by my other favorite place: Stopped by the supermarket for some dinner supplies, as I had friends for dinner that evening, but when I got home I came across this filthy bike from wet country roads, this is farm country so there's lots of muck on the road: Pants straight to the washer! Time to get a fire on, and cook a nice simple dinner, a puttanesca with added spinach for health Bike was washed the week after, as it pestered my thoughts daily

I have a nice comfy dry car for going places under those conditions. Comfort isn't a bad thing, otherwise we'd all be riding in shitty suspensionless chinese bikes. I do enjoy a passing rain storm while on a trip, but I wouldn't go on a trip in mid december when I would find is nasty weather.

That's some serious Blair Witch stuff going outside that tent, congrats for you guys enjoying camping in a muddy field in the middle of a storm!

@XTreme, I'm amazed you're taking your bike off tarmac

I'm curious about the T7, Bob, as a touring bike with knobbies on. I think it would complement the GS perfectly as a touring bike that you can take proper liberties with when using it off-road, post your opinions on it later on.

My lovely 2003 XR400, out enjoying Ribatejo's summer, And the GS: Ericeira: Algarve, near Santa Clara Dam: near Faro: Mertola:

@Tym, don't try one, don't give it a chance to prove you wrong. Prejudices are only good if they're solid, once you open an exception for a Himalayan, who know what might come next.

Welcome, that's a cool bike. There are a couple of places that fly gliders in Portugal, but as far as I know only a couple. In the south, the small airfield with light aircrafts thing is quite popular, although I suppose you burn money on them.

Proper fright I caught, I wasn't used to dogs and was left to fend off two huge Rottweilers while holding a mug of tea! Bless her, 14 is quite a nice age. Mine probably won't live as long.

I don't suppose you remember, but on July 2012 I posted a report in which, riding the XR in the woods, I found an abandoned puppy and took him home. He was barely one month old, very sick and had a serious case of scabies, left to die in a heatwave. This is him after a couple of weeks at home: And this is him now, spoiled and 8 years old, having survived serious liver surgery last year: He's the man! ?

so, you're just a tease!

Don't mind Tym, he's just being himself

Suspension looking nice and fresh, congrats. I bet you get a lot more trouble from those bearing in the UK than we do here in drier countries.

I think it was hurricane Leslie, but might be mistaken

No idea what you mean. I don't know what you lot are on about chicken and onions not mixing, almost caramelized onions mix with every kind of meat or vegetable. Anyway, I had no complaints, so there!

I have seen a few near Lisbon where I go on my short weekend coffee rides, there's a dealer somewhere there and in Porto as well. However, I can't imagine that it's a bike very suited to the fast traffic of a big city like Lisbon during the week.

Kidney stones are a bitch. Once, after a night of regional white wine I woke up thinking I was going for a quiet early morning piss and then back to bed, and half an hour later I was at the hospital's door on my knees, puking and crying like a little girl. Drugs felt great 20 minutes later, though. Can't imagine how it must hurt if the stones are too big.