HOG Czech National Rally

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Czech National HOG Rally 2009

One of the advantages of HOG is that you can go nearly anywhere in the world and find a group of fellow Harley enthusiasts to go riding with. I was headed to France for work and was going to have a spare weekend in Strasbourg. I looked up the local dealer with the plan to hire a Harley for the weekend and just go for a ride around the Alsace region. I checked the local HOG Chapter to see if they had a ride planned, figuring local knowledge would be good to find some great roads. As luck would have it they had an overnighter planned for the long weekend, and after I sorted out the French translation I discovered they were going to Prague for the Czech National HOG Rally. Sweet. A few emails and the Director Michel had invited me along and arranged for me to share accommodation with Thierry, the Assistant Director and regular visitor to Australia for rallies.

We took off from Strasbourg on the Friday morning, with 24 bikes from the Alsace chapter and about another 6 who had joined us from Brussels. The hospitality the Alsace Chapter showed was fantastic, they included me in everything, despite my lack of French. Some of the funniest times were with members who spoke very little English, like Francois who loaned me some wet weather gear when the rain came, and Pascal who loaned me a helmet with a screen to replace my half-shell and bandana.

The ride over was mainly on motorways, from France, through Germany and into the Czech republic and all without one passport check. Michel and I hung back at a roadside stop in Germany while I made a phone call, and then caught the group of 30 bikes up at the next fuel stop. One of the advantages of riding the autobahns is you can catch up legally, we had the Street Glide and the Road King purring along at 180kmh without any fear of the local cops.

The rain dampened the rally a bit, but it held off on Saturday and the Thunder Run with 270 Harleys through the cobbled streets of Prague was sensational. Many of the riders had police sirens on their bikes, which beefed up the atmosphere a few degrees. The local police gave fantastic traffic management to keep the large group flowing together, with many of them just blocking traffic and taking photos as we roared past. The locals loved it, and lined the streets as we weaved our way through the ancient city. The entertainment on Saturday night included some great bands, a hotly contested wet T-shirt competition, a local stripper, and finally fireworks. All in all a great day and night.

The ride home was fantastic. The weather stayed fine and we weaved along the Neckar River through Germany and then back across the Rhine into France. A big thanks to Michel and everyone at the Alsace HOG Chapter who showed that Harley riders everywhere look out for each other, no matter what language they speak or where they live. Thanks also to Thierry for sharing the accommodation and taking some of the photos. Look out for Thierry at the National Rally in Tassie later in the year, he'll have the big Alsace rocker on the back of his jacket so just say g'day to him.

Curls