The Belgian rally this year was a great event. We were more Scandinavian Maxes than ever, nine from the Swedish club.
On Wednesday most of us set off. Me, Olle and Gustav stayed over in Malmoe were we met up with Tord and the gang of southern Maxers at their weekly bike night. Together we went for a nice ride to watch some street racing. Many bikes were there but we didn't see a lot of racing - too much traffic. It got dark and we went to get some sleep.

Thursday afternoon Lasse, Henrik and Magnus turned up. We all took the Øresund bridge and tunnel over to Copenhagen to join the Danish club for the rest of the ride. The first stop was at the Danish Vmax Club president Jan Dirchsen and his wife Kirsten. They spoiled us offering sandwiches, drinks and coffee. We relaxed for a while before we loaded our luggage in the support van and set course for Rødekro in Jylland just north of the German border where we'd been invited to stay over.

Wednesday bike night in Malmoe	The street race	At Jan and Kirsten's in Måløv	Anders (centre) and Jan (right)

At Rødekro we stayed at Torkhild and Anita's house and on arrival we were greeted with a tray of beer. Their huge garage took all 17 Maxes plus some other bikes and still had plenty of room left. The rest of the group were already there, except for Bent "Bones". He rode all the way from Narvik in Norway, north of the polar circle. By midnight when we crashed to bed he still had 200 km left to ride...

5.00 am Friday reveille sounded. We were all treated with a delicious and nourishing breakfast and then our Scandinavian Vmax group hit the road. 17 bikes and two vans - 750 km to Putte. The morning sun was shining, the roads were pretty clear. Soon we entered the German Autobahn and stepped up the speed a notch or two.

The Danish Road Captain who had a GPS on his Max guided us all the way and made sure we didn't miss any ramps or intersections. In spite of the sometimes busy traffic we managed to keep the group together rather well. The van drivers did a good job at keeping up with the bikes. One Max was particularly thirsty so every 150 km we stopped for petrol. Probably a good idea anyway, the sun was scorching and we were all rather thirsty as well.

Thursday evening petrol stop	At Torkhild & Anita's in Rødekro	Setting off  6:00 am Friday morning	First stop - Anders changing rear bulb

Friday afternoon we arrived at the rally site. On the way in we met our club buddies Kim, Brummis, Haiko and his daughter who had ridden down on their own. We parked our bikes, checked in at the hostel, took a much needed shower and then hit the bar to replenish our desperately low fluid levels. For some reason the beer and all drinks were served in really small plastic cups. The hot weather, it must have been over 30 Celsius most of the weekend, hence made sure it was impossible to stray very far from the bar since we had to refill our little cups constantly. Luckily the beer was low on alcohol, otherwise all of us would have gotten drunk ;-)
Most of the afternoon we were mingling, watching all the bikes, meeting old friends and new acquaintances, and also meeting online friends IRL for the first time, among others John and Geoff from vmaxchat.com who shared our room. There was a BBQ mixed grill dinner that was quite nice. Bikes from all over Europe kept arriving all night long. Hundreds of Maxes, most in different states of modification.
The rest of the evening was spent out on the parking lot where the bar, the bikes, the dancing and most of the people were. The hours went and a very good time was had.

Arrival at Putte and the much longed for beer :-) - The Danish group	Olle, Kim, Bent, Haiko and Gustav	BBQ Friday evening - Kim, Magnus, Gustav and Henrik	Saturday morning

Saturday morning after breakfast we went strolling around the parking area checking out the bikes, more arriving all the time. Some aftermarket vendors (BRM/Evo-Tec, Techno-Bike, Henny Raats among others) had set up shop, displaying bikes and selling parts.

The first event of the day was the group ride. A couple of hundred bikes set off. The Belgian club as usual organized a splendid ride out with several functionaries acting as traffic officers, clearing the route by stopping all cars to keep the group together. We made a stop by a small lake where some people went for a swim.

When we all left, the parking was nearly emptied, but when we came back it was almost already full of new arrivals again. More bikes to look at, Maerz's unlikely Enduro-Max and a couple of Bad Max's lowered and stretched hot rod Maxes among others.

The stop at the ride out...	...and a swim in the lake - Kim, Gustav and Brummis
Magnus enjoying the show	Brummis' Max	The BRM/Evo-Tec display	Paul "Tash" Roberts' Max won 2:nd prize in peoples choice

In the afternoon we watched the dragracing. They'd closed the public road outside the venue and set up a short track where any Maxer could race as much they wanted. The whole track was quickly lined by spectators behind the fence on one side and neighbours on the other. The fastest bike was Bad Max's "Men's Toy" - a chain driven, NOS-powered mean machine with a 250 tyre and extended swing arm - but a Hungarian Maxer with a seemingly stock Max won the crowd by winning almost all of his races. The concrete road with it's tilted surface made for a couple of spectacular launches.
Watch a video clip from the dragracing (2.5 Mb avi)

The Hungarian Maxer who won almost all his races	Bad Max's "Men's Toy" ready for take off	The tyres spun on the concrete	Jan Dirchsen getting ready

A while later the road was closed again for the stunt team - wheelies, stoppies and burnouts galore. The show was good but the sun was merciless, there was no way for us to go back until they were done and the road was opened again. After an hour or so, when the show was concluded by all riders smoking their rubbers until they burst, it was a relief to finally hit the bar and get some shade.
The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking, looking at bikes and mingling. Dinner was awful - some nondescript casserole with fries... and yoghurt...

Bent checking out Men's Toy	Haiko, Björn, Kim and Henrik	The stunt team	Afternoon in the Danish camp

The evening entertainment started with the prize show - Bad Max won the dragracing, Bent "Bones" won the prize for longest distance travelled by riding 2789 km to the meet, the German club won the prize for highest attendance at the rally. The perhaps most prestigious award - peoples choice for best bike - was a bit of a disappointment since both 1:st and 3:rd prize winners weren't there. We never knew which bikes won. 2:nd prize went very well deserved to Paul "Tash" Roberts who was so happy he instantly joined the Swedish club ;-)
One of the Hungarian Maxers treated us with a burnout show. He started by writing the word VMAX with the rear tyre and proceeded by revving through the gears until the tyre burst to everybody's great delight.
The rest of the night proceeded more or less like the previous, beer, dancing and plenty of fun. Maybe a bit more subdued - all the riding, lack of sleep and the heat started taking its toll. The DJ and the stripper rounded off the event.

Jean-Luc and Kirsten	Bent with his trophy	The burnout show	Olle in bull riding action

Sunday after breakfast we packed the bikes and started off. Some of us went straight home together with the Danish gang and others went for a couple of days of recreational riding in Europe.

It was an excellent weekend with nice people, great bikes and lots of fun.
A big thanks to Vmax Club Denmark for a brilliant arrangement surrounding the trips to and from Putte. We look forward to see you all again.
Tentative plans have already been made for next year, hopefully with an even higher Scandinavian attendance.