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"Who says
that when you retire from racing around in circles and join the Veteran
Speedway Riders Association, (now The "WORLD" Speedway Riders
Association), you have to take it easy?
Legendary Swedes, Ove Fundin and Olle Nygren both
now in their '70s, could be excused for sinking into their favourite arm
chairs , with their slippers and a glass of wine after their long and
successful Speedway careers, but no, these guys have no intention of
slowing down, they still want to live their lives in the fast lane.
Both Ove and Olle are vastly experienced motorcyclists and have ridden
on two wheels since they were kids and now they have entered the
ultimate adventure, 'The Trans Asia Rally', a marathon event which
will take them 11,000 miles from Asia back to the finish at the Grand
Hotel, Stockholm. The trip is expected to take 50 days of hard riding.
Fortunately, one of their sponsors is a motorcycle seat company who are
supplying extra-comfort saddles for the trip.
Inspired by film star, Ewan McGregor's epic "The Long Way
Round" journey, this "Rally" is not for the
faint-hearted. Asia is vast, stretching from Europe in the West to India
in the South to Indonesia in the South East and Arabia in the South
West. There will be 8 motorcycles and two 4x4 vehicles and the
adventurers meet in Seoul, South Korea then sail the Japanese Sea for 36
hours to Vladivostok
in Russia, ride north to Siberia, south to Mongolia and Kazakhstan ,
Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia and hopefully make it back to Sweden
via Denmark in time for Olle's 77th birthday party.
Olle will be riding a sponsored KTM 950c, whilst Ove, who normally rides
a BMW 1200RT on the road, will have a BMW 650 GS Adventure and they will
be joined by former World Ice Racing Champion, "Posa"
Sirenious, a mere nippert 58 years old. Prior to leaving for this grand
adventure, Ove, Olle and Posa took themselves off to the Swedish forests
for 3 days and 2 nights of survival training, sleeping in tents and
trying out their new Primus stoves. It was so cold that Olle never got
out of his motorcycle clothes and slept fully dressed to try to keep
warm whilst Ove slept under a fir tree for warmth.
Olle Nygren's KTM is a very tall motorcycle, and almost needs the inside
leg measurement of football's Peter Crouch to be able to get your feet
on the ground. Olle solved the problem by trying to stop beside a log or
tree so that he could dismount gracefully, but quite often, that KTM
would fight back and pin him to the ground. When the others stopped
laughing, they would help him to his feet and off they would go again.
You can follow their progress on their website www.transasia.se and send
them messages of encouragement. One negative comment received by Ove was
someone asking what, at 73 years old and Olle at 76 were trying to
prove?, but Ove replied that they were not trying to prove anything,
they have both had their times of fame and just want to "Live Our
Adventure".
Latest reports are that the adventurers have reached Ulaan Batar in
Mongolia after riding from Vladivostock to the Mongolian border, about
1,200 miles on gravel roads that ripped tyres to shreds. Ove was having
problems as he didn't have the correct tyres for these bad roads and
Olle had a narrow
escape when the front tyre of his KTM blew out throwing him into a huge
speed wobble which he managed to control.
"Varg-Olle" doesn't reckon much this "camping lark",
as he calls it, and they have had some very wet days and have had
problems drying their wet clothes but at least they reckon that Mongolia
is better than riding in Russia! Another 5 or 6 days to the Kazakstan
border, so they still have a long way to go before reaching the
comforts of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm.
Hopefully, we will be able to listen to Ove's stories at the World
Speedway Riders Association lunch at Norwich on 29th October when he
will be Guest of Honour, and at our annual Dinner Dance on 3rd March
where Ove & Olle will keep us enthralled with their "Tales of
The Unexpected". And, as
Ove, Olle and Posa. show......"You Are Never Too Old To Have
Fun!" or to join the W.S..R.A.
Bertola [Bert Harkins]
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