When we woke up and got over the fact that it was €115 for the night in the hotel (and we checked in at 2am) we got suited and started riding. Myself but especially Glenn found out the dangers of sweating before a 12 hour motorcycle ride in -10oC. We stupidly put our gear on 10 minutes before setting off (I should know better) and then froze for the first couple of hours riding but luckily it was warm in the day so no hyperthermia (I've had it once before on a bike and it isn't fun).
Anyway, we had 270 miles to cover so the days riding wasn't too bad. Had the chance for some nice photos every now and then but just kept on plodding.

So we rode until about 9pm when we made it to the rally. It was the same as last year in that there were no signposts to the event in the middle of the Bavarian forest but it's a rally for proper men so who needs directions haha.

This year 4500+ bikers came to the rally, nearly half of last year's attendance but it was because they've just passed a new law in Germany to say that any vehicle (including bikes) needs to have winter tyres if there is any snow on the road. So many bikers who have to ride for 100's of miles didn't come because their tyres wouldn't make it there and back on the Autobahn.

We had a swift couple of litres of beer and then went back to meet Fritz, Udo and Plong from last year. They're the guys who let me stay in their tent for the first night of last year because I couldn't put my tent up in the blizzard. We got a good night's sleep and were ready to see the carnage of 4500+ drunk bikers the next day (including us deciding it was a good idea to go threes up on a C90 on an ice hill climb after 8 pints or so) more on that in the next post haha.

We made it!!