BMW Motorrad Days 2013 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Deutschland

From the BMW Web Site

Judith and I received a super wedding gift. We were fortunate enough to spend the weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GAP) at BMW Motorrad Days.  This was all thanks to some secret organizing by our friends Christian and Wieland, and donations from other friends (a Big Thank You from Judith and Me!).

Motorrad Days was held July 5, 6 and 7.  Here's a link to a video that will give you an idea of the event. BMW Motorrad Days 2013.  The video gives a nice overview of the event, but it doesn't (and probably cannot) come close to the real thing.

I took about 400 pictures on this trip, but edited them down to about 130.  You can see them here: Pictures - BMW Motorrad Days Tour.  Hope you enjoy them.

Christian, Yella (Christian's daughter), Steffi and Wieland also joined us.  A hotel (the Dorint Sportshotel) was pre-arranged by Christian.  The Dorint is a very nice 4 Star hotel not far from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ski Area.


The venue at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ski Area is expansive.  Over the weekend there about 30,000 visitors, and it seemed nearly as many motorcycles.  The facility really does a super job in staging the event.

BMW Motorrad must have a monstrous budget for the event. The number of demo bikes for both Street and Enduro riding was huge. Every model was available - from the new C 650 Scooter up to the K 1600 GT and GTL.  The street demo rides were 90 minutes and went over some great Straße.  On Fri. they included the B11 over Kochelsee Pass, a very nice twisty ride.  The road is closed to motorcycles on the weekend, but we road in over the pass on Friday morning.

Here is a section of the Kochelsee Pass

An Enduro track was carved out on the event's grounds on which you could ride any of the BMW GS models for three laps per session for free, for as many sessions as you wanted or were able to do (OK, there was a 5€ charge for a Riders Pass that covered all demo rides).

The crowd on Friday was very large, but on Sat. it was gigantic.  We watched the mob riding in for awhile and were sort of slack-jawed at the number and diversity of bikes.  The Polizei did a great job keeping things moving and organized (of course it is Germany, it is expected).

Many, many, many interesting BMWs, including R90s and R80GSs, plus a good number of real "Oldtimers" both ridden in and on display. There was a large pavilion for the various BMW Clubs throughout Europe with museum quality examples of BMW Motorrad, including, but not limited to, an R32, R7 Prototype and display of the evolution of the GS.

Chris Pfeiffer as usual put on a mind blowing exhibition Chris Pfeiffer BMW Motorrad Days 2013.  The Original Motodrom (Wall of Death) was also as entertaining as can be.

Great Bier and Brots were in good supply as well, and at reasonable cost.

We were witness to one unfortunate event however. It was scene from the 60's Beach Party movies ( you know, Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Eric von Zipper).  There was a long row of bikes (mostly BMWs) parked side by side and pretty close together. They were on a very slight downhill slope, some resting on side stands and some on center stands. Some dude comes along and parks his bike at the high end of the row of bikes - puts his side stand down - gets off the the bike and starts to take off his gear. The bike falls to the right, hits the next bike, it falls and like dominos about a dozen bikes go down. Judith and I saw the entire thing unfold in front of us in slow motion.  And yes, there was some relatively serious damage to a few bikes.  A bunch of people all pitched in (including me) to untangle the mess and get everything back on two wheels.  Except for the guy who started the avalanche, it didn't look like any of the bike owners were around, so there will be some big (WTF) surprises, but no one was hurt.

To my amazement, all of this, except for Bier, Brots and 5€ cost for a demo Riders Pass, is at no cost.

This a good one for the Bucket List.

Great riding, good friends, fantastic weather, super nice hotel and lots and lots of motorcycles.  We had a really great weekend

Logic and the Führerscheinstelle im Ordnungsamt*

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking. 

-Mason Cooley

Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge.

-Stendahl

Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish!

-E. M. Forester

Such is logic when it comes to obtaining a German Drivers License - especially with a Motorcycle Endorsement.

I may have mentioned earlier that there is a nice little "logical" agreement between many of the States in America and Germany, where your American drivers license is exchanged for a German drivers license with no need to take a written or driving test - just pay the fee. So happens that my PA drivers License is honored in the exchange agreement.  This makes one of the necessities when moving to Germany very easy.  

Oh yeah - hold on!  Not so if you also need a Motorcycle Endorsement.  

For some reason the Führerscheinamt (Department of Motor Vehicles) has it in their "logic" that it's OK to just give an American a German drivers license (provided you pay the fee) for an automobile with no written or driving tests required.  Mind you the driving laws and road signs are not insignificantly different here, but never mind that.

But, if you also want the Motorcycle Endorsement on your American drivers license to be transferred to your German drivers license - "Forgedaboudit" (this is not German, it's New Jersey-ese).  

You must take the theory (written) and practical (riding) test.  OK - so what's the big deal, other than an inconvenience?  Well, let me tell you...

TÜV administers the tests for all of Germany.  In order to be eligible to take the tests a Fahrschule (driving school) must recommend that you are ready to take the test.  This means that you need to sign up with a Fahrschule.  Fortunately, Judith knows some very nice people at Peppel's Fahrschule.

They organized everything and I was able to study the German regulations on line, which a good thing because there is no little Driving Test Study Book like in America.

Example of the On Line study guide - same thing as the actual test

But, the regulations are pretty different and there is a lot of them and they are really bizarre.  For example, can you figure this question out?

You want to turn out of a road with a sunken kerbstone into another road.  A car is coming from the left.  What applies here?

1. Whoever turns into a road over a sunken kerbstone must wait
2. The rule “right before left”
3. The sunken kerbstone is of no relevance for the obligation to wait

What the hell is a sunken curbstone?  No one knows...




After taking about 175 (no kidding) practice tests on line I felt I was ready to go to TUV and take the test.  The big day was this past Monday.  The test is given by a computer program.  So promptly at 10:45 on a gray and rainy Monday morning myself and about ten others gathered at TÜV for the test.  Most everyone was taking the normal driving test - not the motorcycle test.  I was of course the only American.  I did get to take the test in English at least.


Twenty minutes later I was finished and even though I know the answer to the "Sunken Kurbstones" question they didn't ask. BTW, the correct answer is number 1.

I did however Ace the test!!!

Now... the riding test is next.  Weave through little orange cones, go in circles, panic brake, blah, blah blah.  But the catch is there is also an on road test after the little orange cone test.

The test is in about two weeks - wish me luck!








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*License Office in the Clerk's Office

A Meter of Bratwurst and a Night in a Castle

May 1st was a Holiday (Labor Day in Germany).  We decided to take a long weekend and go for a three day Motorbike Tour, leaving on Thursday.

Forecasts for heavy rain to the East literally put the damper on our planned three day Motorbike Tour to Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic.  Too bad too since Ceske Budejovice is the home of the original Budweiser Beer, which is not at all like "Bud" in America.

The rained out route to Ceske Budejovice

We decided to head towards sunny surrounds instead and see where we would end up.  Our friends Wieland and Christian joined Judith and I and we headed North West from Nürnberg towards Würzburg.  I forgot my camera, so pictures are stolen from the Web.

Our alternative route away from the rain

• Day one is the lighter green route. 
• Day two is the purple route.
• The last day is dark green.
• A total of about 725 kilometers.

Sulzfeld am Main (Picture stolen from the Web)

Christian was very familiar with this area, having spent a lot of time in Würzburg when younger.  Along the way we stopped in Sulzfeld am Main for lunch.  This is a nice large village on the Main River (pronounced Mine). 








Bratwurst is traditionally sold by the meter in this region, so we naturally had to have Bratwurst for lunch - but only a half meter.

Traditional meter of Bratwurst (Picture stolen from the Web)

Like the name already says the sausage is one meter (40inches) long. In 1953 Lawrence Stark a butcher in Sulzfeld, Bavaria invented this meter long sausage on the suggestion of a guest who proclaimed : "I can Wurscht The meter setting ess" meaning he could eat a whole meter of sausage in one sitting. Lawrence rose to the occasion and came out with a meter long sausage sizzling in a pan, that started the tradition and is still a fun thing to do.

There are contests to see how much meter bratwurst you can eat. The current record set in 1982 is 5.15 meters or 16.9 feet! 

Michels Keller (Picture stolen from the Web)

Herr Stark's restaurant was not open when we arrived (it was a little late for lunch), but we founds a very suitable choice at Michels Keller right up the street. 

Bratwurst at Michels Keller (Picture stolen from the Web)

The Bratwurst was served in a sizzling iron plate shaped like a steer (weird, since this is pork sausage), with a delicious wine sauce, sides of sauerkraut and potato salad.








After lunch we continued on West for awhile and the turned to the North.  Very wonderful roads, with little traffic and good weather.  Since I forgot my camera there are no pictures.

Around 5:30 or 6:00 we decided to start looking for a place to stay and came across a nice small hotel, but sorry to say I have forgotten the name.  Reasonably priced and good food, but nothing else remarkable to mention.

Breakfast coffee was good, as were the other items.  After filling up we packed up and headed further North, and then South, and then North.  Just winding around the roads through the forests all day.  As the day wore on the weather started to turn a little colder and gray.   We finally figured it was time to find somewhere to stay for the night. 

We pulled into Bischofsheim an der Rhön around 6:00.  This is a pretty small town/village.  Christian found an information kiosk with a list of local Gasthauses.  There was one listed about six kilometers out of the village we decided to try, with really no idea what it would be like.  So I set the GPS for Holzberg 1, Bischofsheim an der Rhön Germany and headed out.  For almost six kilometers we wound up a small winding road and then the GPS pointed us down an even smaller, very narrow winding road.  It had started to rain about 15 minutes earlier, so the half kilometer was a slow go.

Coming around the last corner we found the Gasthause -- the Jagdschloss Holzberghaus -- a  Hunter's Castle in the High Rhön.  We got the last two rooms.  There are no amenities here and the Bad (bathroom) is shared.  But this is to be expected at a hotel & restaurant that was built in 1614.  While the rooms were clean and adequate and sparse, the restaurant was super.  Dinner was excellent, beer great and a proper wine list.

Jagdschloss Holzberghaus

The main courses served here are hunted daily in a local game preserve, ensuring fresh, local meat. The secluded location of the castle and the fact that there are no electric lights in the dining room make for a nice, relaxing experience. Because of it's location near several hiking trails, the restaurant is open all day, although on off-hours they mainly serve bread and wurst. The evening meals can be a bit expensive, but the day meals for the hikers average about 4 euro in price. 

The next morning we woke to a light rain.  After slowly managing to get coffee, wake up and eat breakfast - also great - we packed up to head back towards home.  We decided to stay off of the small back roads because of the rain and jumped on larger roads (not the Autobahn).  After about one and a half hours the rain let up and the sky became slowly sunny.  We stopped in Bamburg a little after Noon for lunch and then took the back roads into Nürnberg.

1st of Mai Tankstelle Motorradtreffen in Nuernberg

An ARAL Tankstelle (gas station) on Münchener Straße in Nürnberg is an unlikely focal point for a motorcycle event that draws several thousand motorcycles and even more people.

Every May 1st is Labor Day in Germany and a holiday.  A number years ago (legend says it started in the '70's) a small group of motorcyclists, like motorcyclists will tend to do, decided to meet at the ARAL Gas Station on Münchener Straße on Labor Day and then go on a ride to some place.

Each year a few more friends and friends of friends showed up.  There was no organizer, and the gathering still has no organizer.  Matter of fact it is never advertised, there is no Web Site - nothing.  But now several thousand motorcycles show up and many more people than that.  Some come to just watch, like we did.  So many people come by car to just watch that we parked about a Kilometer away and walked into the meeting area.

Because this event has no organizer no one can be held responsible for any problems, but it seems that there are not any problems.  The Polizei are present, even Polizei from outside of Nürnberg, but only as a "gesture" and they might do a little traffic control.  It's a stretch of about two Kilometers along Münchener Straße that is full of motorcycles, as well as any where else you can park a bike.  One lane stays sort of open for people to ride through, make a U-Turn at some point and do it again, or park.

There was a potpourri of motorcycles to see.  You can my pictures at: Nürnberg Motorradtreffen

Plus a video on You Tube (not mine).  Nürnberg Motorradtreffen on You Tube

The video is pretty long, but if you watch the first few minutes you'll get the idea.

Hope you enjoy.