The next morning I was woken by cow bells. They were still distant but they had not been there the day before. Still drowsy I noticed them getting louder and louder. Determined to not be surrounded by an angry farmer and his (angry?) cows I packed my things quickly with the aim of finally reaching Barcelona that day. The roads continued to be very well maintained or often brand new.
Along the way I saw great rock formations close to the road. The colour of the rocks had shifted from saturated yellow to an extremely saturated orange. There were many monasteries, castles and other interesting sights close to my rout but I didn’t have the time to make detours. I only wanted to stop for whatever was visible from my rout like this old church.
It lies on a steep incline which I didn’t think was climbable by a vehicle. Turns out it was and I was going straight up through the tiny village with it’s seemingly random maze like arrangement of little lanes which were really only from one corner of a house to the next.
On one occasion a dumper came down the steep road that I was just going up. I took my hand off the throttle and hit the front break but I just slid down the little road with the front wheel locked. It was so steep that I had lost all grip. Luckily I kept my balance and the lane was so short that I could slide right onto the next lane behind me to my right.
My schedule was tight so after having reached the highest point accessible by vehicle I got back onto the main road and continued my journey to Barcelona.
Whenever there was a little off road path that looked promising I checked it out.
This was also a precaution in case my plans changed for whatever reason and I had to set up camp.
Finally I was just one hour away from Barcelona. On hour meant that there were signs on the motorway informing me about a possible detour to Montserrat right next to the motorway. At that point I felt I had enough time to go for an opportunity like that and took the next right. A mile into the road it split and since the main road went left I continued left. I saw many little trails off the road and followed a few. Many of them were leading around the hills revealing a great view of the city of Montserrat.
That particular path actually turned out to be particularly interesting. It was just lose pebbles and offered almost no grip at all.
On an unsuspecting looking decline the inevitable happened. I had hit the breaks (softly) but it was still too much. I slid, lost my balance, tilted to the left and dropped the bike.
Riding offroad this is bound to happen and it will happen again, especially with a bike loaded this heavy. That’s why there are engine guards, skidplates and handguards available for offroad capable bikes.
Physically I was completely unaffected by the drop. Not even a strained muscle from jumping off. And the bike? Almost unaffected except more scratches to the left pannier – the one that still hasn’t been swapped during the insurance paid repairs from the taxi driver caused drop. So there is no damage once this element gets swapped. The bike is buillt pretty smart in that it only ever hits one pannier and the footpeg when it goes down. The footpeg is built so well that not even BMW saw a reason to swap it (and earn money by doing so) after the taxi driver drop and this time it also is completely unscratched.
So how you lift up an over 600 pounds heavy bike?
I was 99% sure it wasn’t going to work fully packed but I had to give it the obligatory try.
Nope. Most everything attached to the bike had to come off. I didn’t rush it and took one step at a time.
After the accessible pannier and the topbox were off I gave it another try but I was still unable to lift it even a little bit. So I took off the rest of the accessible luggage. This time it had to work. Luckily I had been in first gear when I dropped the bike. That way with the engine off the bike can’t start rolling immediately once you push against it to lift it. If you lift a bike that has fallen to it’s right then you can hold the front break leaver to keep the bike from starting to roll away from you backwards in a circular motion but if you lift a bike that has fallen to it’s left then pulling the break leaver is hardly possible while pushing it up because usually you can’t just pick it up like a bicycle on both sides of the handle bar. That’s why it is good to be in gear because then at least the rear wheel won’t move. Unfortunately of course you might not have access to the gear leaver which is on the left side.. This basically means dropping it on the right: you have all possibilities to help yourself, dropping it on the left: well don’t. It will be difficult.
Anyway at that point it was easy and I could lift the bike up, put it on the side stand and inspect the damage.
My only regret after this drop is that I had placed the GoPro three meters ahead of where I dropped the bike or else it would have been on video.
After getting back on I continued looking for the Montserrat main tourist access location to find out what I could see. However I had obviously taken the wrong turn at the beginning where the road had split so instead I was getting onto another motorway. I quickly got off again and stopped at a gas station. Finally the adrenalin rush wore off and I had to sit down on the curb. The heat didn’t help. I was completely spent once again. I went into the shop and got my first ice cream this year. I also got three bottles of water and went back in again to get two more ice cream cones. The petrol station guy thought I was joking when I asked for more. I devoured them on the spot.
After this break I went back to where the road had split and this time took the right turn.
At a little path off the road seemed to be a place where hikers started their tours on the mountain. I also went for a hike. There were park rangers posted there with their Jeep advising people that it was recommended not to hike that day because of the intense heat resulting in danger of forest fires. So instead of going for a longer walk I just did a 20 minutes hike. Even that was intense during the heat and I saw charred wood and extinguishing water reservoirs along the way.
An hour later I was back on the bike and another hour later I finally reached Barcelona. It was getting dark though so I just passed through the center and looked for a nice spot to camp in the outskirts. I found a sandy trail which I gladly took since it was already pitch dark.
