moto tour 2014 : 1st day Vichy( Fr)  - Mulhouse( Fr)  480 km / 6h30 

 what I preferred on my Triumph Tiger ! 

 - the ride on the "ballon d'Alsace": the small D455 is  a nice introduction !

Report of this first day motorcycle tour  2014 Sunday, July 20 2014

After several months of waiting and preparation , here we are now !

It is 8:00 of the morning and the official departure of this “big Alps tour 2014” is  officially announced  .

The day before, the final preparations were carried out.

Our motorcycles are loaded .....Great holidays on a motorcycle is everybody's dream   … But a c%#%*  of depression is based on our beautiful country and is moving towards the East… it will be necessary to take into account unfavorable weather conditions!

8:30,it's time to head towards our first destination: the "Vosges"  and its "ballon d'Alsace".
 

A first stop in the town of Beaune enables us to have lunch  (consisting of sausages from Auvergne and of local pastry cakes…) but also to buy the Swiss motorway label at the city tourist office  (I had got information about this possibility)

Well restored, we take again the motorcycle, the choice was made  a long time ago to take the motorway to be as fast as possible on our first playing field, the heights of the Vosges and its famous Ballon!
 The D455 secondary road which leaves Belfort and leads us to the Ballon d'Alsace keeps its promises: it has penetrated in the forest all in curves and laces,it is a true moment of pleasure, especially after having ridden all this morning so many kms without interests.

A small coffee break at the top of the "ballon d'Alsace" (summit of the Vosges of the South with its 1247 meter altitude) and we go  up quickly in the direction of Sewen and of the Hundruck Pass except that .....

 ....... the road quickly appears barred due to automobile race ........ 

Dialogues and consultation of Mr. tomtom and Michelin….  Decision is made to take a small road. Oh there is a sign indicating well that the aforementioned “small road” can prove to be in bad condition but this does not concern us….
At the end of a good hundred meters and some fine gravels further,  we carry on with portions of forest dirt tracks.

It is not the "Paris-Dakar" but nevertheless!  Trails(Triumph Tiger 800 and BMW 1200 GS) are in their element and I acknowledge to have fun on this portion but Marc and Cyrille are not at their best with their roadsters…
Kawacyclette ZR7  will not come out unscathed from this portion: escape on the jointspy of the front fork, that leaks oil on the brakes and the front tire and can thus prove to be dangerous.

 With the Hundsruck Pass, we dry ourselves the best we can  and we join Mulhouse in the hope of finding quickly a  rescuing dealer … a Waste of time and effort, it is Sunday. Tomorrow Monday everything seems closed, Cyrille is trying to talk us into letting him  continue the road trip without him…. Out of the question! Concern is rising in the group.
The solution will come from new technologies. On the Web , we realize that the nearest German kawasaki dealer works on Mondays, and that it  is  about forty kms of Mulhouse (in the town of Lorrach).
Eureka ! we will be able to fix this first mechanical problem  !