“Southern States” meeting of the german Boxer Forum

[GSPeP]

While a lot of you were in Hamme, I spent my long weekend at the “Südstaaten Boxer Forum Treffen” in Germany. The meeting (4 days) was held in a castle/hotel in the small village of Pommersfelden near Bamberg - Bavaria. There were 110 bikes (all BMW boxers) and about 140 people.

Day 1 – Friday (getting there) :

I left home at 7am to do some 450 Km (280 miles) to visit an uncle of mine in the neighbourhood of Gelnhausen. After lunch and some chit chat I left there at 3pm to do the remaining 250 Km (155 miles) to get to the event. I got there at 5:30pm and was happy to have arrived (my @ss was starting to hurt). Friday afternoon is terrible on the roads in Germany, especially when it’s the start of a long weekend. All the germans are driving home from work at the same time. I was lucky to be on a bike. Otherwise it would have taken me 2 hours longer to get there.

After getting settled in my room and having taken a shower (temperature was already 30°C (86°F) that day) we had a meeting where all the activities of the following days were explained.

After all the speeches were done, it was time to start on the german beer, and getting to know each other. (I’ll tell more about the two kids in the following picture later)

 

[GSPeP]

Day 2 – Saturday:

On Saturday we all participated in a ride of about 270 Km (170 miles). All twisties and nice scenery.

It was a hell of a job to organise this ride. 110 bikes in one line of more than 2 Km long (1.5 miles) through the countryside (Frankenland). But the germans are well known to be organised, so the ride was perfect. There was a difference of only 7 minutes between the first and the last bike. No accidents, and only one flat tyre.

Before departure:

Here are the kids again. Mom and dad each had a bike with sidecar and each of them took a kid. You could really see on those kids’ faces that they enjoyed it.

The line was growing. At 9am temperature was already at 27°C (80°F)

After about two hours riding, we had our first stop. This picture should give an idea of the amount of bikes. Temperature had risen to 30°C (86°F)

My bike

There were some nice bikes.

At about 1:30pm we stopped for lunch. The whole restaurant was reserved for the bunch. Food was ordered in advance so no one had to wait long. Again a very good organisation by the germans.

Bikes were parked everywhere:

Another nice bike:

After lunch, we continued the tour. Temperature had risen to 33°C (91°F). At the following stop again everyone started to drink and removing the heavy motorcycle gear. The following two pictures were taken at the same spot.

Looking forward

Looking backwards:

In the evening there was some kind of meeting in the yard of the hotel/castle. Stickers were sold for sponsoring of the website www.Boxer-Forum.de With more than 5000 members, traffic has grown as well as the costs.
Also an amount of 1800 Euros was handed over to the organisation “Toyrun for Children”. They collect and buy toys for children hospitals in Germany.

The “meeting” went on till late in the night.

 

[GSPeP]

Day 3 – Sunday :

Coming out of my room I had this view:

Again I took some pics of some nice bikes:

Have a look where his turnsignals are:

On Sunday everyone could choose from several activities. One could do another tour like the one on saturday, or one could participate in an off road tour (which was very dusty). Others did a short ride into the town of Bamberg. I decided to head east, direction “Erzgebirge” in the former German Democratic Republic.

On top of the “Auersberg”. One of the highest points in that area:

Altitude: 1025 m (Approx. 3360 feet)

A nice view from up there

In the afternoon, storm clouds appeared in the sky, so I rushed back over the german autobahn. Even at speeds of 100 miles/h the it was hot on the bike. At the hotel/castle it didn’t rain, so most of us gathered outdoors.

This is me (the one with the glasses) … why didn’t I look a little bit more friendly there??? … Perhaps my glass of beer was getting empty.

The hotel allowed a limited number of people to bring a tent. They had their own little place.

Some of their bikes:

They had so much fun, I decided to stay there for the rest of the evening

 

[GSPeP]

Day 4 – Monday (going back home)

A good time had come to an end. It was time to get back home. After taking some last pictures of the castle …

… and bikes …

… I did some 200 Km (125 miles) to get back to my uncle’s place. Didn’t take the autobahn this time, which is 250 Km (155 miles). I had so much fun driving this part of Germany that I didn’t stop to take some more pictures. It took me three hours to get there, but I enjoyed every second of it. After a few hours at my uncle’s place, I left at 5pm to do the last 450 Km (280 miles) with only one stop for gas and was home at 9:20pm.

Some stats for those 4 days:
Total distance according speedo: 2128 Km (1323 miles)
Total distance according GPS: 2037 Km (1266 miles)
Total driving time: 23 hours and 25 minutes

I hope they organise this event again next year.

All the pics can be found here: http://gspep.smugmug.com/gallery/8844

 

[Gecko]

Nice pics, I reckon you made a good choice to avoid Hamme. Whilst it was fun to meet everyone and see all the GS's together, camping was on a piece of wasteland with a view of a warehouse under construction and some large piles of rubble. The site was very bumpy, toilet facilities were basic at best and there were ants all over the site too .....next year I'll try the German one - looks brilliant.

 

[judge]

Nice pics, I reckon you made a good choice to avoid Hamme. Whilst it was fun to meet everyone and see all the GS's together, camping was on a piece of wasteland with a view of a warehouse under construction and some large piles of rubble. The site was very bumpy, toilet facilities were basic at best and there were ants all over the site too .....next year I'll try the German one - looks brilliant.

I'm glad someone else had the same thoughts I did about Hamme.

I am glad I travelled on my own Mrs Judge would've thrown a valve had I brought her to the dump known as the camp field. Sure the camerarderie was fine but it will be no matter what but the location and the facilities were very poor one toilet for boys one for girls. The highlight was definately the trip out to Brugge which could've been done anytime(where's the photo Gecko?), I don't know still whether a record was set and I had a ticket for a raffle and I saw or heard nothing about the outcome of this or how much money was raised for the charity

 

[Mike Werner]

I'm glad someone else had the same thoughts I did about Hamme.

I am glad I travelled on my own Mrs Judge would've thrown a valve had I brought her to the dump known as the camp field. Sure the camerarderie was fine but it will be no matter what but the location and the facilities were very poor one toilet for boys one for girls. The highlight was definately the trip out to Brugge which could've been done anytime(where's the photo Gecko?), I don't know still whether a record was set and I had a ticket for a raffle and I saw or heard nothing about the outcome of this or how much money was raised for the charity

Guess that's the difference between German/Swiss organizers and Belgium/French.....