Superrally 2007: Day 5 - Lumbago & Racing!

Some have a car and a villa...

The party is over...

All kinds of things were left behind...

See You in Denmark!

Lis reads the map

Monday may 27 2007:
Monday morning - the party is over. Tonight was frightfully cold and both me and my wife woke up several times from freezing. On top of this our air mattress was punctured so we woke up laying directly on the ground, which of cause didn't make anything better. And finally I'd come down with lumbago. I was in such pain I really didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't even get up by myself, but our friends from Norrtälje had to lift me up. Jag wondered how on earth we were going to get home, I couldn't imagine I was going to be able to ride the bike all the way to Kiel.

Well, it had to wait till after breakfast. I had serious problems walking as we entered the party grounds for the last time. It looked empty and desolated compared to the night before. Crew was busy getting all the litter off the ground and others were taking apart stages, bars and restaurants. We picked our breakfast bags up, but since tables and benches was already being loaded onto trucks we went back to the camp and fired up our trangia stove. There was a light shower of rain so we sat under a tree eating our last superrally sandwiches this year.

The camp started to look empty too, even if there still were some bikes left here and there. What was left was abandoned tents, camping chairs and such. The locals started to collect leftover stuff in wheelbarrows, looking for goodies.

It was time to pack up and get going. It wasn't quite that simple for me, but with the help of my wife, Kippe and Lasslo I got everything packed and loaded on my bike. I was still doubting I'd be able to ride, but I didn't want to worry my wife, so I tried to act just like normal.

Finally there was no turning back anymore. I needed assistance to get up on the bike but luckily it felt a bit better as soon as I got up in the saddle. We left the superrally area and headed for the highway. Kippe and Lasslo took the lead and after a few miles we split up when they continued towards Amsterdam while me and my wife turned towards Arnhem (where a great and critical battle took place during the war) to continue to Venlo where my cousin Tanja and her family lives. Last thing we saw of the 99:ers this time were their big scarves waving to us in the wind behind them.

To summarize the superrally of 2007 one might as well start with the color of the year: flat black! I've never seen so many flat black harleys but of cause I've never seen so many airbrushed bikes either. 14.000 visitors is what I heard (don't know if this was riders or riders plus passengers) which is 6.000 more than last year in Norway. Showers and toilets gets top grades. The dutch police gets top grade too. They walked about two and two, or patroled the area by bicycle. They acted in no way provocative and they didn't mess with the visitors. I saw some of them enjoying ice-creams and admiring radical choppers at the bikeshow - just like the rest of us. Swedish policen should learn from their dutch collegues, then maybe they'd stop the Gestapoact they put up at Ljungbyhed and High Chapparall! I found it a super rally and what we saw of Holland was nice also. I'd love to come back - if my back is better.

During the weekend I had tried to call my cousin Tanja but had'nt been able to get through to her. Eventually I realized I had to manually change my cellphone settings and at last my signals went through. And then an answeringmachine told me there was no such number. At this point I started to panic. My back was getting worse and my cellphone batterys were running low. Everything turned out fine after I'd called my sister in Forshaga, asked her to find the correct number and get back to me. She did and it turned out I lost a digit. Everything was fine again. Tanja och Sebastiaan met us outside Venlo and guided us through the center of the city to their place.

It felt great getting there. Almost like home. We borrowed the jacuzzi which did wonders to my back. Tanja found some sort of painkillers for me wich were so good I strongly doubt they're legal in Sweden. We then had a very nice afternoon and evening in Venlo.

Sebastiaan and Tanja