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Altes Elefanten 2015


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So we went to Solla earlier this year, and me and my husband had the idea of going to Altes Elefanten also. Altes Elefanten is a rally in Germany at the most famous racetrack ; the Nurburgring. In 1957 Ernst Leverkus organized the first Elefanten rally also at the Nurburgring. There were a lot of chenanigans going on in the later years of the rally and after a huge fight the Elefantenrally was forbidden at the Nurburgring and had to move. The Rally eventually a home in Solla, near Tchechia and Austria. In the '90 there was a group that wanted to bring back the Elefanten to the Nurburgring and they organised Altes Elefanten. Altes meaning the Old Elefantenrally.

I have to say that I prefer the Elefantenrally in Solla because the Scenery and the wilderness is much more epic. The Altes Elefanten was at the Camping on the Nurburgring... that kinda ruined my mood when we got there. But after all, the rally was a great succes.

 

We left thursdaymorning and the Nurburgring is only 400 km from our home. This was going to be my first trip with my Hyperion and I might have been a little excited to go. I underestimated the weight of filled panniers and the first few km's were an adjustment to ride, but after some 150km it didn't bother me anymore. We took mostly highway, only the last 100 km in Germany were smaller roads. What surprised me the most was that once we had crossed the border with Germany, it was like riding in a fridge. Temperatures had certainly dropped 10 degrees Celcius, leaving me chilled. When we arrived it must have been around 2°C. At a gasstation we met two lost French Bikers and they hooked up with us. They were Calou and Winny, two of the most magnifent French people I will ever get to know. They followed us and stuck with us the whole weekend. We had a blast.

When we arrived, sun was going down and we still had to set up the camp. After getting the tents and shelter up, we made some dinner and had "some" drinks with people around the camping. Let's say some of us had to be driven back to tent... :D It started snowing again that night, I like the sound of the snowflakes on the tent, so soothing.

 

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Day two (friday) started with a breakfast and laughter, then we took a stroll around the camping for sightseeing and saw the most amazing competition. There was a speedometer on an icy hill, and a toiletseat. Goal? Reach the top as fast as you can and win eternal glory on the score-toiletseat... loonies ! We saw the most amazing variaty of bikes coming to this winterrally, sportsbikes, nakedbikes, enduro, allroad but most sidecar and GS was most frequent. In the afternoon I was photographing an icy elefant toy on a bike, when the owner of the bike approached and introduced himself as Marko. Marko was also a French rider and a very sweet man, he has done most of the winterrallies in Europe. He said I was crazy for bringing such a huge Elefanttoy with me on Hyperion and not bringing extra clothing... I was freezing my ass of that time so after that my husbands hangover was mostly gone, we went to buy to firewoord to start a campfire. When the RT-sidecar, which Jeku made himself, got to the top of the camping, we loaded him up with 50kgs of wood and were able to make a cosy campfire. No need to tell what stories came up in the evening... 

 

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This is a Green Elefant that we spotted at the gathering.

 

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At saturday we bought a breakfast to get the chill out of our bones and then started the day with some hot wine from our fellow French friends. There are some games to play on saturday, a torchride, a calling for the deceased and then some fireworks. We never made it to the calling and only heard some firework in the distance. We found a fellow Belgian guy that had stranded alone at the entrance, he stuck with us also and we made sure his cup and stomach were always full. The fella didn't really prepare his trip to an icy place. No problem, that is what bikerfriends are for. It snowed the whole saterday leaving us all covered in a white blanket. I can't really describe the feeling you get at this winterrally. It's belonging together, even if you don't know eachother. We made fun and laughed the whole evening, knowing it could take years before we meet again, or maybe never.

 

Our tent was soaking wet this night, the sleepingbags are dripping and our thermarests frozen, time to go home. Sunday was departure, back to Belgium. While I'm busy packing my stuff, Marko comes up to greet me. He's got that tiny Elefant with him, he quickly attached it to my steer quoting, you are the new generation young lady, keep this tradition alive. So Marko's Elefant is riding day in, day out with me and Hyperion now.

 

The picture I took when meeting Marko.

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More pictures in the album that I uploaded : Enjoy  !

 

https://xladv.com/gallery/album/40-altes-elefanten-2015/

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