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6th Moto Guzzi Meeting in Alcorisa/Spain

Alcorisa is 80 kilometers away from Valencia which is not really around the corner for us;

Nevertheless did we want to visit our Spanish friends. They invited us to the 6th international Guzzi-meeting. And there we were in this overwhelming landscape, 120 km away from this happening. It was brutally hot, almost 40°C, the exhaust pipe was still crackling when we had a nice cup of Café Americano. We have been to Spain a lot but it is different every single time: new views behind every hump. Marvellous! We felt great and on Friday 1st, 2001 we finally reached Alcorisa after a 1700km ride.

It is a beautiful small town on the fringe of a beautiful scenery with cliffs. Clint ( Jose ) was the first one of the Spanish people we saw. The Club booked the entire youth hostel for the Guzzi-riders.

Gradually everybody was arriving. Carlos ( the President ), Agustin, Carlheinz, and so on?

We improvised dinner. Everybody tried to help somehow and the evening turned out to be great. Eating, boozing ( drinking ) and laughing is what we did. There are really great people in the Spanish family. But I think I had too much "Tinto", I think it was Juan?s fault. Anyway, I kept riding up and down the passes in bed?!?

The night was short and breakfast the longer. There was no need to worry about the weather. We were in Spain which meant there was sun and it was warm, what else!

There weren?t that many Guzzi-riders, the Spanish Guzzi Club is small, it counts about 200 members only and yet there were all kinds of discussions going on and people were working on their bikes. It is rather difficult to get parts in Spain. Therefor we were lucky that the Spanish inspection does not have phonological gauges! That way our ears and stomaches could enjoy the fantastic sounds that measured over 100 decibel. There were no super fancy conversions! The new Guzzis are taken care of very well and the older ones are kept alive with parts that are not always the original ones. There is no Moto Special, HTM, or Däs. But one can defenitely tell that the Guzzis are being loved. A lot of Calis, T 3s and SPs, less Les Mans, and no Quotas-they obviously do not exist in Spain.

Guzzi life in Spain is like a survival training. That is why the connections to other Guzzi Club members is so important. People live rather far away from each other and deep inside I realise how easy it is for us in Germany to get parts and so on. The ones riding a Guzzi in Spain real Guzzi bikers!

We went for a little ride in the mountains on gravel roads with Clint and our two Enduros. We enjoyed the great views we had; simply fantastic! Back at the hostel the air was filled with hectic and Antonio fell off his Cali and he was wearing shorts only. The Spanish temper meant his undoing. The way he looked was corresponding and he was taken to the hospital in Alcorisa. In the evening they brought him back wrapped in meters of bandage. We felt really sorry for him.

Lunch was gigantic and it took a while until we finished it up. There were three courses; Tinto again, ice-cream and coffee. It is a little Fiesta every single time. Thank God we had Agustin with us because he had to help us out translating. Without him we would have looked a right fool. Agustin Ruz Campos, the representative of the Spanish Moto Guzzi Club ( EMGC ), is really doing a lot for the Club and he is wonderful person. Many of you might know him from the Guzzi mailing list www.world-of-guzzi.de . Carlos, the Club?s President organised a convoy throughout Alcorisa and none of the narrow streets were left out! We will never forget this convoy – blowing horns, waving, singing ( Eviva Espana ) and the locals were as excited as we were.

You won?t believe it but in the evening there was dinner again! My paunch was so tight – thanks to the good Spanish meals.

Later on the presentation of prizes and a further tombola where you could win all kinds of stuff: from white socks to a sexmovie on video - aren?t these guys great? The oldest bike was Agustin's, a T3 California from 1976.

In the meantime it was after midnight and we went downtown to the Pub Odysea. It was full as hell, good music, a long bar, and internet access. Of course everybody clicked on the Guzzi sites. For those who are interested – here is the address of the Spanish Moto Guzzi Club: http://www.emgc.de! By the time the last drinks crossed the bar and we gave up it was four o?clock in the morning. We had to leave Sunday morning which meant saying good-bye to everybody even though there would have been another big lunch for us. We had breakfast quickly since we knew that saying good bye would take us a while. We almost cried which was not surprising with the great hospitality of the Spanish Guzzi-family.

Carlos, what you and your guys organised there was fantastic! Muchas Gracias and the best wishes to Spain and one is for sure - we will come again, 101% for sure.

Saludos

Guzzi - Fränky +Guzzi - Hexe (Guzzi bruja) Ilonka

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