Brno –World Superbikes

Brno is the second biggest city in the Czech Republic as every year it hosts a round of the World Superbikes at the Automotodrom about 20kms out of town. This was, obviously, my reason for being here. Without a round of the Supers, I would’ve never had any reason to come here, and that would not have been a great loss. Brno is pretty, but so is every other place in Europe. I really should stop comparing towns to Perth, as most towns are going to be prettier. As far as European towns go, Brno is nothing special, a run of the mill town of 370,000 people with nothing particularly amazing to set it apart.

I got into Brno after the Budapest/Vienna debacle at around 4pm. I had no real idea where my hostel was, but knew that it was close to the train station so I called the hostel and was given directions over the phone. Travellers hostel is only a hostel in the summer, at all other times it is a school. Hence, all the rooms are classrooms, complete with a cabinet which contains, I can only assume, shit that the kids have made. The beds look like they’ve been stolen from a pre WW1 hospital and they don’t have pillows. I know that it’s still better than sleeping on the ground, but I would’ve expected pillows for AUD$24. Plus, the showers are all together, so I’d better make sure I don’t drop any soap…

The first night I just went out and walked around Brno, taking a few photos and seeing the sights. I got an early night, going to bed and watching some of the movies I ripped of Ryan Hard drive in Budapest. This is a trip on my own, and as such, I am using it as down time. There will be no huge nights out. No heavy drinking sessions. There will be sleep. There will be bikes. Just the way I like it. And comes at a good time to recharge the batteries for section 2 of the trip as I have now lost all the friends I have made over the last six weeks on the bus and the best way to make new friends is to get smashed. It’s gonna be a boozy time in Salzburg and Munich.

On day two in Brno I got up and went out to the track for qualifying. The Automotodrom is a breathtaking race track, nestled in the Czech woods and full of elevation changes and sweeping corners. I would love to come back and ride it someday. They do track days here, but you have to have your own bike, which makes things a little difficult at the moment. Ben Spies had a cracker in Superpole, and would be the man to beat on Sunday.

Race day at the track and it still wasn’t anywhere as nuts as I would have expected. The crowd was adorned in a variety of shirts bearing the number 96 for Jakob Smrz, the Czech rider in Superbikes. I went into the paddock, and was stoked to see a bunch of riders and team bosses from less than 2m away. I won’t bore you with the names, but the standout was telling John Hopkins “welcome back to racing, Hopper” and having him reply, “thanks man”. The races themselves were pretty good. Fabrizio punted Spies out of the lead, and the race and Biaggi went on to win race 1. Crutchlow ran out of fuel on the 2nd last lap, leaving a four way tussle for the win in Supersport, with Ant West (aussie) going from 5th to 1st in a lap before getting pushed wide on the last corner and coming in 2nd behind Fabian Foret. In the 2nd superbike race, Spies was obviously not going to be anywhere near people likely to punt him off, and cleared out from the start, although Biaggi did make a late charge, it was always Spies’ race.

Getting back to the hostel was pretty easy, and I then went out to a steakhouse the girl who worked at the hostel. It was reasonably cheap and they had broccoli, which I hadn’t eaten since Perth, so while the steak was nothing special, it was still an okay meal.

The next morning I got up fairly early, quite excited to be leaving Brno. The only thing I can really say for it is that it is not full of tourists, like Prague, so most of the people you are seeing are Czech. With that is mind, the Czech women are pretty hot, and also as it is summer, they are all wearing those little summer dresses. Damn.

It was, all in all a very quiet weekend, as I avoided any sort of big night. The racing was great, and it was cool to see it. It did just kinda make me miss Nate and Billy as it would have been cool to have people to talk to, watch the race with, barrack with etc. I guess this closes sector one of my solo holiday and gives me an opportunity to look back on a few things I have noticed.

Berlin and Budapest are the bomb. I have now been to Groningen and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Berlin and Dresden in Germany, Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Brno in the Czech Republic, Vienna and Budapest. While in Berlin and in Budapest I actually looked up what sort of work was available for English speakers who don’t speak the local language. That’s how much I loved them. If the right job came along, I would live in either of those cities in a heartbeat.

There are shitloads of Aussies travelling around, and we don’t seem to mind doing it on our own. Of all the people that I have met that are solo travelers, there has only been one non-aussie. You don’t actually meet many locals as you travel around, except for the people who run the hostels. The best you can hope for is to maybe meet some Czech girls in Budapest or something like that.

European people wear awful jeans. I know this sounds like a weird observation, but it seems that standard stylish plain blue jeans with a good cut are not in fashion. People wear jeans with ridiculous paint all over them, or tears all through them, or the best one, with patches of green camouflage material sewn all over them. Eeeww.

Europe is gorgeous. I really haven’t seen a town that nearly picture perfect. Although, I must admit, I have only really been in city centres most of the time, where the old town is located. The history of each town is amazing, and although most places on the northern loop had to contend with forty odd years of communism, they are all remarkably modern, clean, efficient and prosperous.

Busabout is fantastic. I’m really glad I did Busabout as it makes it so easy to meet new people, yet gives you the flexibility to do exactly the trip you want to do. I’m looking forward to many drinks in Salzburg and Munich before heading down to Switzerland blowing wads of cash doing white water rafting and other extreme stuff.

I really miss my friends back in Perth. I love this lifestyle (who wouldn’t) and living out of a suitcase doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I don’t even miss my range of awesome t-shirts that I left in London, or TV (I do miss AFL a little). But I really miss going out for a ride with the boys, dragging Sara shopping with me, getting yelled at for walking too slow with Bec, having a joke about Cooper’s biological Dad with Trent and Tess and all the general hanging out with nothing to do and just having a good time with all my friends. You don’t get that here. A chilled out day is a wasted day, and that is a cardinal sin. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t know if I can do this for five years, and Nate getting the awesome promotion and move to Melbourne just makes me want to go back there more. I’ll definitely be here for the winter, as I’ve pretty much already got the job, and Canada will happen as if I don’t do it now I’ll never do it. I guess I’ll make the decision about the 2nd year in Canada, the year in South America and the 2 years working in the UK after that.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m waiting for the train to pull away from Breclav in the Czech Republic, and then I’ll be shortly be back in Austria. I hope I like the rest of Austria more than Vienna likes me, as I’ll be in this country for the whole winter.