Janis Klavins
Always ready to hit the road in his military outfit and a cigarette in his mouth. Despite his seven bone fractures, four concussions of the brain and tattoos, still full of fun and in close relationships with bardic music and black tea.
Jānis was born in Riga in January 10th, 1974. The first thing he remembers from his childhood is a… motorcycle! Attended Natalia Draudzina gymnasium and graduated Latvian Academy of Sport Education. Started to take a serious part in motor sport very early, even became a frequentative Latvia’s and USSR motorcycle race champion. Despite his busyness, he shares his motorcycling experience with us:
“It was an instant trip to Europe’s motorcycle race in 1993. As there were always currency problems, we took the necessary products with us. The minibus was tolled up with gas cisterns (so we wouldn’t need to refuel) and loads of food from mom’s basement (for 2 weeks at least). We were 4 men there – 2 sportsmen and 2 friends of mine who helped us with all the technical stuff. We had to cross Poland, which as we all know, was not quite safe with its highways and Russian mafia on them. So we decided to bring a Makarova gun with us, well, for safety if anything happens. The minibus was loaded with all the stuff so we had no worries about customs officers and the possibility they could find the gun. The trip passed without a hitch till one night in the Czech Republic. Our sleep in the minibus was interrupted at 3 a.m. by a local police officer knocking on the window (he had been doing it for an hour as we later found out). The reason for him doing this was the field we had chosen for our sleep. We couldn’t be more surprised seeing Lenin’s monument 20 meters from our bus. The police officer wanted us to pay 10 German Marks for this breach of law. We found it too much so we started to haggle. The process went on until the moment the officer noticed the gun next to the front seat. At the beginning he thought it was a play gun, but after an examination he found bullets in it… At the moment his face color went from red to pale, we threw the 10 Marks to him and ran away”.
Jānis is the editor of newspaper “Jakts” and a director of relaying “Uz meža takas”. He also takes part in several kinds of expeditions and in organizing them, the most popular are “Lejup pa Jukonas upi” and “Usurija 2005”. But he admits that despite his experience in expeditions, none of them has been as serious as Riga – Melbourne. Being away from the family is very hard, but seeing them afterwards gives such a pleasure and makes the relationship so much better.
Jānis says, he could go to Melbourne on foot or by riding a horse as well!