The day started quite late – at least for my standards. We woke at 8.00 am. There was a huge storm during the night and we were woken up by a rooster at dawn. After breakfast we spent some time wiping the bikes dry. It’s a pity John and Ocsi washed theirs the previous evening…
As we really enjoyed the road we took on the first day we intended to show it to Zsolt (the guy who joined from Lausanne) so we headed to the San Bernardino Pass. We refuelled the bikes and then headed to the top where we had a drink and relaxed a bit.
We wanted to buy some food and beverages as our supplies ran short again so we headed into Lugano to find a supermarket. Once in town we were surprised to see road blocks and police stationed on every corner until we realised the centre is closed for cars but bikers can enter. We immediately followed the multiple motorcycles to the promenade on the lake shore and parked our bikes. There was an incredible amount of people on the street and even more motorcycles. As it turned out it was the Harley Davidson festival held in Lugano every year and we had arrived just at the time when all the bikes rolled to the main parking. We made some videos and spend the time admiring the various creations and standard old timers and new bikes. The whole place was buzzing and the noise was immense.
We agreed to get home quickly, change into street gear and come back for the evening party.
But once we were back at the house one of the neighbours came by and told us to take our bikes elsewhere. He said it is not allowed to park here and that the noise wakes up his wife and kids. We were just about to move our beloved engines to the public parking lot when our friendly neighbours (the father and son on the Tigers) came home and greeted us with smiles enquiring about our day. I explained the issue we just had and they immediately started laughing. They said the guy is a junkie who moved in here couple of weeks ago and doesn’t even have a family. He parties in town at nights and sleeps through the day so he must have been pissed to be woken by the engine noise. They said not to bother and leave the bikes where they are as anyways he complains every time they use theirs.
We also chatted about the Harley festival. They told us they”ll head back to Lugano after dinner – or actually to Campione d’Italia which is a duty free zone full of Italians and nice cafes. We agreed to join them and immediately started our usual process of showers and dinner preparation.
Just as we finished it started to rain but the neighbours said it will pass soon so they left and we agreed to see each other later. Within half an hour the skies opened up brought a raging storm so we decided to stay home that evening…