-We're going to drive the Urals to Spain.

Among all the modern and hyper-fast motorcycles that usually fill the parking lot at Tyrigrava, the occasional motorbike appears a little off the A4. The motorcycle that literally stood out in the crowd this Wednesday evening was a bright red Ural 650 with sidecar from 1995, belonging to Bjørnar Sulen Naustvik and his wife Monica Sulen Naustvik..

The couple from Follo were out enjoying the summer heat, and so they stopped by "Grava" for a coffee and a waffle. Both are passionate about motorcycles, and they have owned a number of different bikes.

Monica started her motorcycle career in 2022, on a Yamaha Virago 1100. She likes custom bikes, and has a Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 Custom. It will be used on a real tour of Europe this September with Bjørnar. He will also be riding a Harley on this trip, specifically a Dyna Superglide.

Next year they plan to drive down to Spain on the Ural, or "Umulius" as they often call it. "We like to tinker with old cars and motorcycles," they say when I ask if the Umulius needs a little extra care and attention. Bjørnar, who is a chief engineer by profession, has been out on a winter night before, and is used to solving technical challenges along the way, so the Ural should be up to the task. Next year they dream of riding a motorcycle in New Zealand. It's both nice and important to have some dreams, I think, and if I know them right, the dream will come true. They've ridden around Europe a lot on motorcycles before, so why not New Zealand when they're first starting out....