Leogang Bike Trip

 It all started during a Skype conversation with Tinka. She and Đina were just back from a windsurf vacation in Oman, I was home at that time for a week or so. And as good windsurf buddies we wanted to share windsurf spots experience on the first occasion we come across. So we were chatting a bit or better to say skyping (it is better than normal internet chat as you have all those nice emoticons), trying to get a suitable date for both so we can meet in real life. Yes I know, we are old school. 

  

 I remember my agenda at the time was full of bike parks, Kranjska Gora, Pohorje, Javornik. It was nice summer weather, forecast for days to come was sunny and warm (and no wind, otherwise would be a difficult decision for which sport to opt) and I was hungry of going out with Mojca each and single day. As always, when he can, Đina put his nose into the conversation. He doesn’t like Skype and Facebook  and all this new social network enhancers, but when Tinka is on-line, he is behind her back.

 Once he heard about me going to Kranjska Gora Fun Bike Park ( http://www.bikepark.si/ ) he wanted to come also. Excellent!

 So there we were riding bikes when all of the sudden Ricardiňo shows up. He is not often in Kranjska Gora Bike Park and I was very happy to meet him. And then we were riding together and chatting and enjoying life when I see some familiar rasta floating behind a helmet. Hmmm? Could it be Bešt? With that riding style? Who else!

 Men! After a week riding alone I meet three friends I like riding with on a same day. It was a good day. And getting better, but I didn’t know it at the time.

 So there we were, four of us riding together. It was a good match since the first ride. Each of us getting better by every ride. One knew something, the other was good in something else,… At the end of the day we were with our lips up to the ears. Happy as radio when playing a merry tune.

 At the end of the day we went for a deserved drink. Talking about how great day was, when somebody mentioned Leogang (which is a bike park known as one of the best ones and an absolute must in the biking community: http://www.bikepark-leogang.com/en/ ) and a prolonged weekend there. In a second we were all in.

 And here we are now. In Leogang. Five of us, because we are nice guys, we got another member on board: Ricardiňo, husband and father of two small kids, Bešt = Best (of us), manager of a very successful advertising company, Đina, fresh college graduate, Tine, born and raised in Ljubljana, he doesn’t know where Črnuče are, but if you ask him where to surf in Caribbean or which trail to take on Canary Islands, he knows the answer by experience, and me, the blog author. 

 Weather is not the best one. But very near to it. Considering the other day autumn has just started and that on Monday it was snowing here with 35cm of fresh snow at the top of the mountain, weather is great. Sunny over the day, but not too warm, we fight against the Austrian evening chill with a fireplace. Love watching the flames.

  

 Trails in Leogang and Salbaach are varied, from natural trails over fields, skiing slopes and forest to north shore tracks. Gravel trails have (because of the recent snow) excellent grip, dirt trails, specially the ones in the woods, are muddy, but getting better by the hour. With the exception of the trails at the top of the mountain where snow is melting fast soaking them slowly. All trails are nice, for rookies, intermediates, advanced and pro riders. They vary from steep slopes, root sections, tight turns and fast segments, wallrides, banked turns, both long and sharp, jumps, drops, north shore elements, berms. You name it, you get it.

We were flying over roots, jumping drops, falling, hitting wallrides top lines,… Ourajt!

  

 And then all the things that happened on the way back. We were laughing fullpower. Almost dropping dead.

 Will we hit the trip again? I guess you already know the answer. Next week it is closing weekend in Leogang…

 Thank you, guys. It was a birthday to remember and one of the best one so far. With friends like this: Life’s good!

LESVOS, Part IV – The Action

 It was an action oriented week. A couple of days we already woke up tired. And without afternoon naps we would look like zombies. Busy 24/7. From a pool party to some windsurf action.

 To be completely honest there was not as much windsurf action as we expected. We missed the good winds for 10 days or so. The smallest sail I used was 5.1 and the ones I used most were in range from 5.7 to 6.5! Today when I am writing this blog there is no wind at all. Zero. Nul. Nada. Nič. Niente. The bay looks like full of oil, not water. But as Steven says: This is our sport. There is time to surf and there is time to chill.

 All in all I am satisfied. My jibe technique now really is a technique not just luck and with Andraž advices now a planning jibe is not a chance anylonger. Plus the heli tack: attempt, attempt, attempt, … and then with some fine tunning from the best Slovenian windsurf freestyler: one, two, three, four in a row. A couple of times. Ourajt!

 The other students of the clinic were also very successful. Beginners can easily turn tacks, can sail in the harness lines and cruise the bay. The Green group improved the most: smooth tacks, planning, waterstart in low wind! Congratulations to them all.

 Sigri Bay did not give us everything has to offer. The breaking waves and fullpower wind through all the bay area remain to be discovered. And together with Sigri Surfcenter in its early development (they officially run 1 year only!) they will have to be visited again. Soon. I have this feeling when I get back home I will be invited to a vegan dinner and I will be thoroughly cross examined for which windsurf destination in Greece should one opt next year. I saw some top windsurf spots this year: Vassiliki (Lefkada), Prasonissi (Rhodes), Karpathos and Sigri (Lesvos). Plus I will get top information for Naxos, as my brother Ivan was there for a fortnight. It won't be an easy decision. But I will not be surprised if after they will fed me well and press me for an answer, Sigri will be the word they will hear.

 For an easier planning of your next year vacation:

• http://www.andrazzan.com/novice.html

• http://www.sigrisurf.com/english/english/home_2.html

 So this is it. Our last day. Tomorrow morning we leave Lesvos. No more blog entries about www.andrazzan.com camps from my side until next year :)

 There is one more thing I have to say though. On Wednesday, our first day on Lesvos, we went for a dinner in a restaurant in the harbor. The owner/waiter there is quite a model. Different, looks grungy, but as the majority of locals we actually had the chance to met, he is nice. I ordered lettuce and rocket salad with sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts and figs. Yep, figs. Which in a fractal of a second reminded me when I bought a whole crate, one of those typical wooden boxes for fruits, of black figs a couple of weeks ago. They already looked perfect. Once you put them in the mouth you knew how food for gods taste like. She likes figs a lot and this crate was a present. Those were paradise days. We ate figs in the morning, then I took my Mojca for a ride and we ate figs in the afternoon and... Well, a gentleman does not speak about that.

I miss those days. I think about them constantly. I miss you...

LESVOS, part III – The Lesbian Festival

So there we were, right after the video analysis, 11 of us, www.andrazzan.com team and 8 students, all powered up with nothing but positive feedback about our daily windsurf performance, ready to go to Skala Eressos, the source of all lesbians.

 Catching a ride for 11 people in Sigri did not seem as easy at the beginning. Taxi would had charged us 60€ both ways and there is only one local taxi. Hristos, the Sunset Bar owner, the bar were we have our daily video analysis, said he knows the taxi driver, but he does not know where he is now. And we would need at least 3 taxis. Hmmm. So Nejc had this great idea: in the land of pick-ups we should get a pick-up. And it proved to be a smart idea. Hristos called Adonis, a friend (out of season Sigri has 350 inhabitants) with a big Japanese pick-up. When our two girls heard his name imagination started to sparkle, eyes were becoming brighter,... However this time Nomen est Omen was all about the inside. Adonis is, as we found out during that evening and following days, very friendly and very nice, a good driver and a specialist of the local peculiarities.

 After Adonis found out we would like to go to the world known 11^th in the row lesbian festival, he said we are leaving in 15 minutes as he has to take a shower. That looked promising! But as we did not eat our dinner yet, we were all a bit grungy at the time. Maybe also because the 15 minutes greek time was 30 minutes on our watches.

 And then he came, we jumped on the pick-up and off to Sigri we went. There is 30km of windycurvy tarmac road or 12km of dirt road. Adonis chose the dirt road and in half an hour we were in Eressos. First dinner time. The majority agreed on gyros pita and Mythos, the Greek beer. You can never miss with gyros pita in Greece. Of course there are differences, they go from OK to excellent. Never had a bad gyros pita in Greece. But whoever was in Vassiliki would agree with me that you get the best ones at Yiannis Gyros stand.

With our bellies full, Adonis took us around Skala Eressos. It was the last day of the (officially called) International Erresos Women's Festival and at least I was expecting parties all over the town and music and... Nothing! OK, the festival lasts for a month, maybe they got tired of partying the whole time. Weird though. So we decided to go for a drink. The bar which had a bit more customers (out of a at least a dozen bar on the sea front) was supposed to be a lesbian bar. Good. So we will finally meet the lesbians. Adonis said there are around 200 (100 couples) who live in Eressos through out the year. 

 So now, hear this theory: these 200 stationary lesbians are so called Keepers of the Lesbian Source Code. Mhm! You do not mess with the source code guardians. They will defend it with their life. Once a year lesbians do come to this small town on Lesvos island and have their parties, they meet and they mate. And than they go home and have their puppies. The secret ingredient for them to have children is the Source Code.

The theory goes on saying once they have puppies they secretly infiltrate them among other population as it is known that kids can not develop emotionally in a homosexual family. So we raise them up, but they really are cuckoos.

 Now wait! These made me think a little bit. From what I know emotional development has nothing to do with gender of the parents. I always believed that rising up kids meant love, affection, care, patience, taking responsibilities and accountability. All this things are not gender related. I would say they are more related to personal development and maturity. I guess I was wrong. The lesbians tricked me into believing what they wanted. They are good! They are better than Mosad!

Marcel said to me the other day when he was in Eressos he did not see one single good looking lesbian. I didn't believe him. I almost regularly watch these movies where woman made love to each other and they always look very nice. But in the crude reality I realized Marcel was right. Out of the all lesbians we saw that evening there was only one very nice. One. So there is another theory about this: the majority of lesbians are not good looking because they have an increased testosterone production or the level of the testosterone in their blood is higher than average women population.

 I studied hormones in several classes during my university years. And they always gave me problems. It is a complicated thing. During one of the exams I also got a question about hormones: it was about progesterone/estrogen cycle. I still remember I asked for some additional time before answering. I had to draw the cycle on a piece of paper and use all of the logic potential I had and it was barely enough. Women. Way to complicated. Never understood them. I passed the exam. The professor was a woman. I guess she was glad I knew at least the logical part of it. 

 What I wanted to say is that with my basic hormone knowledge I can not discuss the level of testosterone in lesbian population and the effect of it on their apperance. But I will check it out. Somehow it does not really click in my mind...

 Truth is my educated assumption at the end of the previous blog entry was not educated at all. It was just a plain assumption. The better looking part of our bunch, our two ladies, were not interesting to the lesbian community in Skala Eressos at all. The only increased testosterone level connected with them is not theirs... ;)

LESVOS, part II

So here we are still in SigriSurf Center waiting for some more wind. Today in the morning I was sailing on a freestyle board - RRD TwinTip. Great for freestyle sliding moves, so so for the power moves. You do not know the difference? Sliding moves are the ones where the board slides, the power ones need more power ;) My board was sliding all the time. :D Which means also the board is not so good for an advanced beginner as I am. But still I managed to turn some jibes. HA! I am getting better slowly. It was about time. The good thing is that it's fun, fun, fuuuunnnnn. I LOVE WINDSURFING. 

 Specially if, as I was today, I am the first one on the autumn morning sun sparkling water with golden sun rays all over the bay. Beautiful. Loving it!

 Then in the afternoon I took another board. Something greyish with blue graphics and also the sail was something blue. Who cares about the board volume and the sail size when your boardshorts color completely match both sail and the board. And on top a new purple lycra with the www.andrazzan.com windsurf camps logo! Men, I was the stylishest of us all! And I was planning!! Hooray! Plus some more jibes. Not very smooth as the board tends to diminish the speed A LOT when entering the curve (jibe). I do not want to compare it to my Frida at all. My Frida loves taking me into jibes. My Frida... I miss her.

 At SigriSurf Center you can rent RRD boards and Simmer sails. Ian will give you a hint about the sail size for the day and not only that, he will also rig it. And Martina (Marcel's wife, remember) is always there to help. Coke, Fanta, beer, coffee, even some food, any info regarding the island that you could not find on the net...she will help you. Yes, you can surf all the time in Sigri, wind or no wind as there is free Wi-Fi in the center. And there are several other free Wi-Fi spots in the village. 

 I was in France this year. In one of the more known ski resorts (I will tell you more about the experience of MTB Galaxy some other time. It deserves a blog entry per se.) and let me tell you: Greece is much better covered with and much easier to find wireless signal than France! Even on the remote islands!

 So, there are three on the surf center staff (Marcel, Martina, Ian) and three on www.andrazzan.com windsurf camps team taking care of us: Andraž, Nejc and Katja. And there is us: the students. 8 of us. 7 guys (1 Greek and 6 Slovenian) and a girl. And she is very, but VERY good looking. The body, with all the right sized curves in the right places, her sparkling eyes and not to mention her smile! Men! Slovenian girl at its best. I am pretty sure she would catch your eye also.

 It will be fun to observe the motion around her when we go to the lesbian festival. I would make an educated assumption it will be vivid.

Lesvos, part I

Lesvos, Lesbos, I never really understood what the Greeks have with these names. I never know how to spell them, not to mention that even uncle google gets a bit confused with spelling of these Greek names.

But we are here: on Lesbos for the majority of us, the capital of lesbians. Or at least it was the capital, now I hear rumors they moved it to San Francisco or something. The island retained the name. And this is good, because there is already a confusion with the spelling, if you would add a confusion with the names on top ….

The good thing is that still once a year they, the lesbians from all the world, meet here for a week or so for a festival. And the festival runs this week. I am looking forward to go there for an evening. Marcel said that you can easily see which has the male part and which the female in the couples you meet at the festival. He also said the girls were trying to pick up his wife all the time... When I met his wife Martina it all made sense...

Right, you do not know who Marcel is. Marcel is the manager/owner of the Sigri Surf Center ( http://www.sigrisurf.com/english/english/home_2.html ) in Sigri town. Which is only 90km from Mytilini (or Mytilene, this Greek spelling again), the main city on the island, but it takes you like almost 2 hours to get to Sigri! Let me tell you, the road is windy, curvy, it is superwindycurvy. Marcel is amazingly superfriendly for an Austrian. And very helpful and a good driver. He picked us up at the airport and drove in nikilaudawouldbeproud style through all the bends to where the road ends – Sigri, the west end of Lesbos.

The scenery towards Sigri was amazing! Changing all the time, from pine tree forest, to olive trees plantation, to oak trees forest, then some maple trees, near a petrified forest and at the end heathland all around. Amazing. Love it! The lesbians really have a good taste.

Ok, now you already know what I am (trying) doing here. Windsurf! Yeah! But we are not so lucky with the wind for these first two days. I was out sailing, but did not get wet... You can imagine the wind then. Zero points. And I was looking forward to it. Specially because this time I am in a windsurf camp again. And not just any camp. I am with Andraž Žan. Our, Slovenian, only PWA competing freestyler! Check out his blog for some pictures from our camp http://www.andrazzan.blogspot.com/ and check http://www.andrazzan.com/novice.html for more camps and destinations. It is worthy!