This year's meeting took place in Detenice, Czech Republic. It is in the middle of North-Bohemia just South of the Sudeten mountains. The gathering brought together around 60 people and almost 35 bikes, mainly BMWs. For me it was the first time I participated but definitely it will not be the last one.
Although I left for Detenice on July 1st, many started their trip earlier on (with people coming as far as from Sweden, Greece, Portugal and even the US (NJ, CA....). For some the event is their major summer break. That says a lot of the type of event this meeting truly is.
The drive from Warsaw, Poland, was uneventful although the roads through Poland were still packed with trucks. My first stop was halfway to Wroclaw. Another stop after Wroclaw with the more exciting roads ahead of me, taking me through the Sudeten mountains with nice twisties along road E65 and across the border into the Czech Republic. I sticked to the main road because I wanted to be there on time, excited I was to meet my fellow prezzies.
Finally, I left the highway in Mlada Boleslaw (known from the Skoda factory) and headed towards my final destination, Detenice. In Detenice there was a small contingent of Swedes that had arrived the day before and whom I got acquinted with very quickly.
The next two days were a mixture of 2 different tours (North-West and North-East Bohemia) prepared by 'miles' who organized the event this year. Great routes, through the hills, mountains and along the Bohemian rivers. Also, no obligations. You do basically what you want and you drive with whom you want. Lunch breaks were a great opportunity to get to know the prezzies better and we had lots of fun and stories to share. This continued during the evenings when we met for dinner in a medieval setting. Dinner was followed by the mandatory and in the meantime legendary 'grappa tree' event. It's an informal gathering with its own story where the new prezzies are welcomed around drinks and snacks from all corners of the world.
Sadly, July 4th was the day for me and others to head back home.... Some extended or combined their stay and drove back in small groups to their respective hometowns. After a very hot and inspired 7.5 hours drive back home, I switched off the engine of my K1200S extremely satisfied and already thinking on what next years EPXVI will look like. This is by far one of the best meetings I ever attended. It's rare to find so much cameraderie and openess these days.
A big thank you to miles and caratz. They both know why!
PS. My Michelin Power Pure did an outstanding job. It has a fabulous grip as I could experience mainly in the twisties. The road conditions were not always optimal so in fact it was even a better test for them. In a nutshell, the front stays planted and I never reached a point where I felt reaching the limits of grip (apart from a black snake or so). I never ran into a situation that I felt uncomfortable with the front but neither did I with the rear.
The grip exiting progressively from a corner is tremendous. Lean angles entering a corner are equally confidence inspiring. And although I am not a trackday person, I learned a lot from following an experienced driver through the twisties. The fact I trusted both the driver and my tyres were very confidence inspiring. Although I can only compare with the Michelin PP2CT and PP I do believe that the bike feels somewhat lighter to handle. In fact, we had a couple of hairpins where I was very surprised how easily it turned into the corners. This combined with a relatively (considering the wheelbase) smoother change in directions when going from one corner to the other. We did not have rain so I still haven't driven it under wet conditions yet..... But bottomline is that I strongly recommend the Michelinn Power Pure!
