Hechlingen, June 2001-People

(L to R) Manfred, Werner, Uwe, and Andrea Mayer

I've always said that motorcycling (at least for me) is really about the people. Sure the machines are neat and the places you can go are cool, but in the end life is about people. Hechlingen for me represents this philosophy to the fullest.

Because of the people at Munchener Freiheit (Brita Wahl) to the Zäh family who has run the Forellenhof for generations to the instructors that I've met over the years (Manfred, Werner, Andrea, Heidi), to fellow trainees (too numerous to mention), and last but not least Üwe (the mechanic at Hechlingen) - my experiences at this enduro park have been lots of fun and very fulfilling.

This page has a few photos of people doing what brought us together—learning to be better at riding motorcycles.

Note - If you want to see/get any photo in true (larger) original format just click (or right click) the image.

Photo - Andrea Mayer getting on DHP's Touratech Rallye

I love this picture as it really shows how tall the Touratech Rallye is.
Underneath the bike you can see Andrea's right foot (toe is down).
See how she is part on/off the bike and how the right foot is way off the footpegs.
This is how I look when stopped. My preferred way to dismount BTW is a moving dismount.

Photo - Everybody together

Whenever we gather at the central meeting point everybody puts their bikes in a neat line.
Here we're watching Uwe work on a participants R80GS that has problems with the electrical system.

movie-Uwe fixing bike (right click to download as MPEG)

Photo - Everybody wants to ride the Rallye bike

Everybody wanted to ride the Rallye bike and I was (nervous) but more than
generous in letting anybody who wanted to ride it do so.
The instructors especially had a blast and you can see some movies of them later on.

Photo - Werner on Touratech Rallye

At the end of day 2 after everybody had left the instructors, myself, and a few other people stayed
behind to do some riding comparison of the F650RR vs. the Touratech Rallye.

Notice how tall Werner is and how he can sit and flatfoot the bike while Andrea Mayer stands next to him.

Photo - DHP after the mud

It rained on and off while I was there and this made me really look forward to going to the tank training ground
where we go off-road riding during the 3 day course (I'm not sure if the 2 day course does this).

The tank field is where the German army practices so they leave lots of big holes and jumps.
There was this one jump which landed in a 2 foot mud puddle. I took to jumping it repeatedly
in front of the group who were taking pictures of my air time and splash.

All I got for my troubles was really wet and muddy. Did I ever tell you how much I love off-road riding?

Photo - DHP and Andrea Mayer

Andrea got a kick out of my mud antics.
See, we're the same height!

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