Today; Thierry, Stephane, Peter and I made the long drive from Geneva to Zell am See in Austria in order to attend the first ever EUSA SkiBike Meeting. This will be the first time that both enthusiasts and manufacturers of freestyle skibikes from all across Europe will meet in the same place and at the same time.
Allowing for refuelling and rest stops it was a good 9 hours from Geneva and 11 hours from Thierry's home at St. Jean de Sixt, just down the road from the resort of La Clusaz.
It never looks that far on a map, I mean Mongolia is kind of close, right? But in effect the distance was almost the same as driving to London, to put things into perspective. Fortunately for us, our transport was to be Thierry's monster Dodge Ram pick-up and not my Ford Fiesta.
We left Geneva in mild conditions and drove through the rain all the way to Austria where things started to get decidedly chillier. We entered one of Austria's many long motorway tunnels only to emerge into "Narnia" on the other side.
The only downside of making a long distance trip in a monster Dodge Ram pick-up, with a 5.7 litre V8 petrol engine, is the fuel cost. Thierry has amortised this somewhat by having his converted to run on liquefied petroleum gas or L.P.G. for short, which sells for €0.5/litre in France.
Austria has no shortage of petrol stations, but those that sell L.P.G. and of precisely the correct flavour are not so common. Perhaps I should have got more involved in the efforts of the re-fuelling committee, but I sensed trouble when Thierry asked me, "Innsbruck, is it a big town?"
We found our fuel stop eventually thanks to; three navigators, two satellite navigation systems, and one very long suffering chauffeur.
Refuelled, the Kilometres rolled by and before I knew it we were in Zell am See and with just enough time for a pint and a pizza before bed.
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| The first ever freestyle skibike event for the whole of Europe |
Allowing for refuelling and rest stops it was a good 9 hours from Geneva and 11 hours from Thierry's home at St. Jean de Sixt, just down the road from the resort of La Clusaz.
It never looks that far on a map, I mean Mongolia is kind of close, right? But in effect the distance was almost the same as driving to London, to put things into perspective. Fortunately for us, our transport was to be Thierry's monster Dodge Ram pick-up and not my Ford Fiesta.
We left Geneva in mild conditions and drove through the rain all the way to Austria where things started to get decidedly chillier. We entered one of Austria's many long motorway tunnels only to emerge into "Narnia" on the other side.
 |
| Emerging into "Narnia" |
The only downside of making a long distance trip in a monster Dodge Ram pick-up, with a 5.7 litre V8 petrol engine, is the fuel cost. Thierry has amortised this somewhat by having his converted to run on liquefied petroleum gas or L.P.G. for short, which sells for €0.5/litre in France.
Austria has no shortage of petrol stations, but those that sell L.P.G. and of precisely the correct flavour are not so common. Perhaps I should have got more involved in the efforts of the re-fuelling committee, but I sensed trouble when Thierry asked me, "Innsbruck, is it a big town?"
We found our fuel stop eventually thanks to; three navigators, two satellite navigation systems, and one very long suffering chauffeur.
Refuelled, the Kilometres rolled by and before I knew it we were in Zell am See and with just enough time for a pint and a pizza before bed.
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