Now you now what this site is about let me introduce myself.
I am Ray, born in ’73 and as you probably guessed nuts about motorcycles.
Besides motorcycles i also love music, a metalhead but not discarding all the rest.
Every kind of music can be good when it comes from within, a nice example who i recently discovered is the Norwegian artist Aurora. but it’s not as far away as you might think
Metal has various genres and one of them is progressive from which is only a little step to indie which is also various and can be a bit like alternative pop and if you listen to the slight connections you get to pure souls like Aurora.
Back to me as it should be an introduction.
I’m a little autistic with ADHD as a side effect. The ‘little’ part is that you probably don’t notice when you don’t know it. The ADHD you will… not always at the same level but always there. To explain what the autistic “problem” is i always say that my emotional wiring is not completely connected. I’m diagnosed at age 29 after i got myself in some trouble.
Nowadays you get stamped and boxed at the slightest deviation from “normal” but when i was young i was just an annoying little asshole.
I’m glad that i was raised normal without the regularity a autistic person needs, because of that irregularity is my regularity which makes a normal life possible and the way i like to travel… without too much of a plan.
But i’m also real glad that it’s diagnosed after all. Now i know why i hurted people close to me or even loved and can prevent it most of the time. And when the brake on my reaction may fail what still happens sometimes i can explain why and that it’s not meant bad.
It has it’s pro’s too, the emotion which causes shock is also not connected and that can be very useful in case of an accident for example.
Another pro is that when i like something i can commit fully to it and when it is something you must master i can master it. Just give me a push in de right direction and i learn it mostly pretty quick.
That’s how i became a master craftsman in metal work (different disciplines) and be able to do all the things i do on the bikes and i managed to use the ADHD’s mental overdrive to be a tool for solving problems.
Last thing about me is that i’m also a bit of a paradox. I hate to read (can’t manage all the words) but the writing is no problem, my pro’s are in al lot of cases also my cons and other things like that.
The past 2 years i’m getting into offroading. At first i bought the Crosstourer (CT for short) for the handling, straight up positioning and the torque.
Honda never intended it to be more than a tourer with allroad looks but after a year after i bought him it started to annoy me that it’s not really an allroad so i made it an allroad.
Then i was like, it’s an allroad so let’s go allroad and i actually liked the offroading.
I wanted more and i did more but i also came across the problems a big bike has… it’s weight.
I wanted to do some sections of the TET (Trans Euro Trail), i will do a blog about that someday, and started with the south section of the Dutch TET. The logical choice because i live in the deep south and after a while doing some dirt tracks whenever i found one or a few tracks on some routes i took regularly it finally was on the calender.
It was lock down due to Covid19 but it was allowed to go out with one other person so i went to do the TET south NL with a friend and his brother (same household counted as one).
I managed quite well but loose sand, the CT and i are not a good match. Surprisingly i can handle technical riding like log hops quite well despite of the weight.
When i got back from that ride my girlfriend broke up with me. People keep growing and when you have 2 people together you have 3 options, you grow towards each-other, you grow the same or you grow apart and apparently the latter applied to us.
We separated on good terms and we’re still in contact and that was the moment that i decided my life will be completely about motorcycles. Being away a lot on the bike was a big reason for the break up. As i said it must be a birth defect.
Now i’m on my own i can do what i want and after i bought a house a bit further than 850 meters from work i had to commute… on the bike offcourse.
Not having a car and public transport is not an option when the bike brakes down or needs a service which i do myself but i don’t like to rush that i had i good excuse and luckily a small but reasonable budget for a second bike.
Wanting to do the TET more and more and also the rougher parts like the sections in the Balkan it had to be another allroad but this time the other way around. The CT is now an allroad more road orientated (let’s say 70/30?) and the new bike needs to be at least 50/50 but rather 40/60 or 30/70 on- offroad and after narrowing the list to the XRV 750 Africa Twin and the XT660Z Ténéré (XTZ) i came across a very cheap XTZ which i bought.
I thank that’s more than enough about me.
You will get to know me better through my blogs i think. It’s all new to me and another paradox because i don’t like social media and i also don’t like to be the center of attention.
Let’s see how it develops. And please forgive me the spelling and grammar mistakes, English is not my native language and i had no lessons. Just one of many things i thought myself.
Short version:
I’m Ray, born in ’73.
Nuts about bikes and music, like to ride on and offroad hence the 2 bikes (allroad road orientated and allroad offroad orientated).
Self thought for the most i know.
I you want to know more, read the fucking long version! 🙂
