Another Weekend Another Fazenda

Woke up early today and headed to the SP BMW dealership where they had organized a ride for BMW riders. The destination was Morungaba, SP approximately 100 km from Sao Paulo. See route below.

There were almost 35 bikes there for the ride today and that is not usually a recipe for a good ride. Now you have to look out for 34 other idiots on the road around you. Anyway, Felipe and his wife Camila that I always ride with on the BMW sponsored rides were there as well. Around 10 am we headed out of SP. As I imagined it was a cluster F#$%. People kept trying to pass and get close to the ride leader and he kept slowing down to make sure everyone was following. Finally Felipe did the right thing and just sped past the group and I followed him so we could ride on our own pace. At the mid-point we met up with the group and then rode the rest of the way together to the Fazenda. While the route itself there was nothing to rave about, the Fazenda was very nice.  Check out the link below. But I also took some pictures.

http://www.fazendasaosilvano.com.br/

After a typical Brazilian lunch and a lot of horror stories about people falling from the motorcycle at the lunch table which left me thoroughly irritated, we headed back to SP.  The ride back was much shorter as we didn't take any breaks although the traffic and the speedy curves gave quite a challenge.

That's it folks. Until the next ride. Tchau.

Visit to TAM airplane museum - June 2011

One of the most interesting places I have seen in Brazil is the TAM airplane museum. . One Saturday morning we rode out to Agua vermelha, Sao Carlos which was around 250 km from Sao Paulo. It was a ride organized by the BMW club and about 20 of us rode out there on a very nice sunny day.

Here is a very cool video of the museum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=561Ipl2H3Yk

Here are the pictures from the trip and the museum.

Ride to the Chocolate Farm and a Moody bike

 Waiting outside the Biker's station on Marginale.

 Isn't she beautiful?

 Look ! No crutches.

 Taking a break on one of the narrow windy roads.

 River next to the road, beautify but heavily polluted.

 Stables in the Fazenda

 Peacocks running around in the farm

Our route

So friends after almost 3 weeks of using crutches as an aftermath of an ill advised move in London. I finally got on the bike today and the wait was worth it. Woke up early on Sunday and headed over our usual meeting point on Marginale where all the bikers gather before the head out. Around 930 am four of us headed towards Itu.

It felt really strange to be on my own bike and I was feeling quite nervous initially. The route was very challenging and the road full of tight turns that closed on you quickly. I don't know if it was being off the bike for a few weeks or getting used to a different bike but I was lagging everyone but decided not to push it and take it at a speed I was comfortable with. No point being back on the crutches so soon.

Our destination was http://www.fazendadochocolate.com.br/fazendadochocolate/Inicio.html

Fazenda da Serra, also known as Chocolate Farm, was founded more than 400 years by the bandeirantes and passed through various stages of Brazilian history, it belonged to Domingues Fernandes, founder of the city of Itu. Fazenda Serra still retains its old buildings and the rich architecture of the colonial period that recall a novel scenario, your visitors have the opportunity to meet and visit the ancient senzala, where today it operates a winery and the cafeteria where meals are served to tours that visit the farm, the farm also conserves the ancient terraces of coffee that were left as inheritance of the coffee economy period the casa grande, and several houses, and in one of them still exist the belongings of the daily life of ancient Italian immigrants.

Because of the natural and architectural beauties of the farm, it was used as the setting for several novels and mini TV series and also as private commercial recording of the most diverse types of products, CD covers and calendars.

Anyway, after finishing lunch we all headed back to our bikes and headed back to SP. However, Robert's BMW refused to start. Turning the key and pressing the ignition would do nothing. After spending many frustrating minutes trying to lift his seat to find the battery and still not being able to detect the problem he decided to call his insurance company for a tow truck. We even tried to jump start the bike several times but pushing it and then starting it but it just refused to come alive.

We headed back to the restaurant and waited for an hour or so and then headed back to the bike to wait for the tow truck. Robert walked to his bike, put his key in and screamed. The bike started! Robert and his friend did a small victory dance which I wasn't able to capture on my camera but I did get a picture.

It was the weirdest thing with the bike. At the exact same time the two truck arrived but we decided to ride the bikes back to SP and just told Robert to keep it on at all times until he gets to SP. The ride back was quite uneventful and I was just happy I was back to riding again after almost 4 weeks.