First part of the journey is done! I am in Innsbruck now! The ride to here there was a cold and strong wind and it was snowing all the way. Not funny on the motorbike. If this was not enough the power supply for the new gps didn’t work which wasn’t a problem here but no time for fixing as I want to be in Monaco by tomorrow evening. I arrive in Innsbruck arround 8 in the evening being incredibly tired as I didn’t sleep more than 3 hours the nights before.
I just want to take a look at the movie I made and eat something to find out the wifi of my laptop doesn’t work again and cards bigger than 32gb are not supported! Even the gopro cam seems to have a problem… Shit! I am really done by now and only the loving welcome of Noemi, Stefan and there friends make me feel like I can handle it. Next day morning the weather is beautiful and I cant wait to get on the bike. I quickly buy a new cardreader which doesn’t solve the problem at all and then start direction Italy. A short stop at the petrol station to put fuel, I put the bike on the side stand and as I get of it slowly sinks down. The heavy weight of my luggage bended the metal plate that holds the stand!
The first mechanic I ask, Markus from Mototech in Innsbruck is a really nice guy and trys very hard to help me by calling many friends who might know somebody riding the same model being ready to sell me his spare part as it is winter anyway. I take a ride 35 km to the next KTM dealer but all they can tell me is that they don’t even can tell when they will be able to deliver the spare part.After several close looks at the part that makes the problem and after calling my good friend Markus (one more)who rides the same bike I get an idea how it might be possible to weld the side stand… I go back to Markus (Mototech) and while he welds the side stand I stretch the chain and fix the gps power supply. The welding is done amazingly well and as there is some time left to the evening and I cant leave today anyway I ask Markus if it would be possible to quickly change the oil. He smiles at me saying no, it IS possible to change the oil but with my motorbike it is NOT possible to do it quickly. Half an hour later the motorbike is in parts again and I know what he means – Changing the oil of my KTM is nearly more work than changing the engine of an enfield!
Dear guys from Mattighofen (KTM factory) I really love my bike and I rode more than 30.000km within the 7 months of the last year I spent in Austria – not a single problem. But at the moment I really start doubting a little bit if it makes sense to put for example the spark plugs of a travel enduro where the andventure has its… Changing them must be a days work I believe… Anyway I have a lot of fun this afternoon and by the evening all the little things that had to be done were finished. At a point when I was drinking a coffe and wandering around in the workshop I noticed some sheets of paper. I immediately recognize the specific shape – lines with triple spacing and single letters in between the lines. On top I read “Neil Young” and smile. I showed him a pictue of Suryananda which is the cover of my songbook before so now I take it again and smilingly show him the inside. Of course I leave a copy of the file on his computer before I leave. For farewell I hug Markus pretty unexpected as he offers his hand, but accepts my hug immediately, just feels like its not so usual amongst his costumers motorbikers mostly…
When I check the gopro cam again it seems to work today so only the computer issues left – no pictures, no movies and no wifi. That’s in fact the only things I need the computer for and they don’t work! But all will be fine – in the evening I make a little music in the flat and this day becomes one of the really happy ones. Thank you, Markus, Noemi, Stefan and to all the people who shared there love with me here!
