Strange encounter at the gym ....

Might have some relevance to a few
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Chuks
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Strange encounter at the gym ....

#1 Post by Chuks » Wed Jan 25, 2017 7:49 am

We, the wife, a friend who's a GP, and I all go to the gym on Monday evening. The GP comes over from her practice, just around the corner, we eat our Abendbrot, and then we go off to work on our fitness, or in my case, my relative unfitness. ("Relative" because I did manage ten push-ups when challenged by a young friend, a teacher of sport, but only just.)

There was someone new behind the counter, logging in the atendees the other night. This fellow was of medium height, built like a weightlifter with those arms that kind of hang at a 15º angle because of excess musculature, no hair because of having shaved off the sides to match the bald top, and, most strikingly, a big, black tattoo in block letters reading "Sturm 81" on the outside of his right fore-arm. I could see other tats peeking out from the neck of his tee-shirt, but I could not make them out.

He was a bit busy logging us in, but when he had a minute I asked him what "Sturm 81" meant. I really had no precise idea, thinking perhaps it was some Goth music group.

"It's a motorcycle club," he told me.

"Where's it located?" I asked.

He seemed a bit surprised that I had to ask, telling me that it was in Verden, a nearby town.

Then I told him that I was in a motorcycle club too, when he asked if I wore a Kutte. (That's the sort of vest that a Hells Angel wears, the mark of an "outlaw biker," what the Germans call a "Rocker," more a trouble-maker and a thug than a serious motorcyclist.)

I smiled and said that, no, we had once had some tee-shirts made up with our logo on the chest, but that we were kind of variable (meaning that we did not go about in uniform). Then I asked him what sort of bikes "Sturm 81" rode, choppers?

"Yes, choppers." A-hah. I told him then that the wife had once owned a Harley, just a Sportster 883 with the four-speed gearbox and chain drive, and a single disk front brake that was "stumpf."

"Too small an engine," said he.

I warm up for fifteen minutes on a rowing machine before doing circuit training. While I was just sat there, going nowhere at a rate of knots, Mr Sturm came in to give it hell on this curious thing that sees you both stepping and thrashing away on a pair of grips, working both upper and lower body, before going off to busy himself with various bits of admin, mostly dispensing advice to the Turkish and Russian contingent, the dancing bears, from what I could see.

Back home I looked this "Sturm 81" up, when it turns out that they are an outlaw motorcycle club, with the "81" standing for "HA, Hells Angels"!

Germany generally forbids the display of Nazi regalia. Obviously that includes the swastika, but also number combinations such as 88, HH meaning "Heil Hitler"; and 18, AH, meaning Adolf Hitler, The neo-Nazis play a cat-and-mouse game by wearing such things as Lonsdale branded hoodies, when arranging a jacket over the logo yields "NSDA," short for NSDAP, the actual abbreviation for the Nazi party. There's another brand, Thor Steinar, that is strongly associated with the German far-Right. No need to fold their stuff "just so," I guess!

In other words "Sturm 81" is what's called a supporters' club, not Angels as such but a contingent of junior bad-asses who share their odd approach to life, showing up at various times to assist the Angels in whatever way they can in return for the privilege of being tolerated by the guys at the top of this warped little heirarchy. It's got little to do with motorcycling as such, much more to do with being kind of vaguely menacing with the shaven heads, the vests, the muscles (often aided by steroid abuse), so that money is made in various shadowy ways. In fact, when a group of six Mongols, a rival outlaw motorcycle gang, were arrested, the cops were happy to make it known that only two out of six actually had motorcycle licenses! At least the Angels require their members to own and ride, occasionally, Harleys, making them a much better class of low-life.

I suppose that Sturmy-wurmy will have as little to do with me as possible going forward, but I might be able to have the odd chat with him now and then. I'm curious to know his take on all we foreigners running loose in his Germany. Too, I'd like to know if using 'roids really does make your nuts shrink, but asking him that might be a little too personal. Does anyone know a polite way to ask that question?

Cacophonix

Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#2 Post by Cacophonix » Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:29 pm

Chuks, being an ex Outlaw prospect in my youth I will answer some of the questions ask here. Firstly as a pilot, I suspect you like engines more than crime as so do most of the 81's boys I have know over the years! My Dad raced motorcycles and his chief mechanic was a member of the heinous group you talk of. My mom, a respectable Catholic matron used to ask him (the 1960's South African Hells Angel I mean) sweetly if he liked potatoes and he would always smile sweetly and ask for some more!

You are right of course, not all Angels are nice guys, some of them are damned bad guys, but you know, they mirror life, and despite all that they are not all Nazis. The best of them like engines, the worst, well...?

As for your question about steroids, I can tell you honestly, from experience, that they do shrink you in some parts and make you far too fat in others.

As for the Mongols, what happened when I was last at Sturgis sums it up...

[bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qWrVvCKNlQ[/bbvideo]

As for Harleys, I am sure you know that even Sonny Barger didn't rate them. All in all BMW's are far better!

Caco

Cacophonix

Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#3 Post by Cacophonix » Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:17 am

One of the best motor cycle mechanics and a nice guy to boot!

[bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU7jZYbG71A[/bbvideo]

Caco

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And now for something completely different ....

#4 Post by Chuks » Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:37 am

The daughter is just back from Jena to pick up her car. (She had to leave it here because of ice rain a few weeks ago and take the train.) When she was in Gymnasium we had some trouble with neo-Nazis, far-rightists, and neo-fascists, when Sturm 81 came into that, so that we chatted a bit about this clown, what to do next.

The usual German response is either that these guys do not cause trouble where they are, which is usually the case, or that they are a serious problem as having come from somewhere else. Unless you happen to live near a clubhouse you will not have a problem with them as neighbors; they are smart enough to avoid that. One of them at a time in his locale is usually nothing, but when you get a gang of them off a ways causing trouble ....

It's not all fixing flat tires for old ladies and collecting toys for tots; the whole rationale for growing muscles out your ass, shaving off all your hair and getting all tatted up is to go looking for trouble, while it's very hard to support the outlaw life-style as a straight citizen. Here the usual options are drug-peddling, particularly steroids; working as the muscle on the door of a club or bordello; being involved in prostitution; or some combination of these things.

We have a little camper van up the main road a piece that had its windscreen and side windows smashed, what looks like one gang of pimps fighting with another gang of pimps, since it's being used as a mobile whorehouse. That sort of work is what falls to Hells Angels supporters, in fact, work done on the down-low.

I don't think it's a good idea to get Sturmy-wurmy exiled, but I do want to talk to the guy who runs the gym. (He rents it from a guy I know.) I want to know WTF is up with putting someone who must be anti-foreigner, even anti-anyone who's not on the far right, behind the counter at a gym with a lot of non-native German customers, and me. On the other hand, so long as he behaves himself, let him stay and mix with the very people he's officially obliged to hate. The first time he gives me side-eye, though ....

In the daughter's new residence in Jena they had to swap out the stove for another used one that kept popping its circuit breaker. A close inspection revealed the presence of a dormouse, called a Siebenschläfer in German, that had chosen the bottom of the stove as its winter home. Its nest was the source of the problem. They set the stove cum dormouse outside but then its mate was found in the dwelling, when it was then clear that they needed alternate winter quarters for their dormice. Now the dormice share a rabbit hutch in the hallway, plus they are being fed.

There is a problem with climate change in that the dormice are nowadays awakened by warmer weather, when they then find no food, so that they may starve. (This is thought to have led to the near-extinction of dormice in the Netherlands but the clattering of their tiny wooden shoes will not be missed by any but the sandal-wearing eaters of lentils.)

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#5 Post by OFSO » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:08 pm

Our local town of Castello d'Empurias hosts a meeting of a certain German bike club each year. With affiliates they tend to get around 500 riders and bikes here for a week. Speaking to some of the guys I thought they were - superficial appearances to the contrary - pleasant and rational people. And talking to a member of the local police after they left in 2015 I asked if they were any trouble. "None whatsoever" was his reply, "No fights, thefts, drunkenness, litter and if there's drug use its no more than Spain always has. They are always welcome here."

Body builders at the gym: check out how many have acne on chest, back and arms. You know what causes that.

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#6 Post by Chuks » Sat Jan 28, 2017 4:18 pm

I was watching some program about "The World's Strongest Woman," when there was a young woman from Finland who was pretty, and pretty strong. Then there was her friend from America, who looked sort of like Mr Punch's sister due to an overdeveloped chin: a marker for someone who uses HGH (Human Growth Hormone). Originally developed to treat some sort of endocrine disorder, HGH is now abused by athletes and body-builders, when what happens to them is that other parts of the otherwise normal body may also go on a growth spurt, such as the chin.

The thing was that the Finnish woman won that contest, beating the freaky-looking American woman.

Here in Germany we've been treated to some really tragic stories of athletes from the DDR who were pushed into using steroids, often without their knowledge. There's one guy who was turned from a young woman into something more like a young man, so that he finally just swapped over, leaving him kind of stuck someplace in the middle and not very happy about that.

I have no idea of Sturm 81 is juicing or not, but he sure is abnormally muscular. We have some Turks and Russians who are also very muscular but they have much more a "dancing bear" kind of look about them rather than this very well-defined body builder look. The guys in the gym are into all sort of weird milkshakes made with whey power and all sorts of other stuff, so that I would not be surprised that they would want something stronger.

Anyway, it's notable that the notorious head of the Hannover Hells Angels, a guy named Frank Hanebuth, is running a body-building studio on Mallorca, after a career in Germany running bars, clubs, and bordellos, plus taking part in four pro boxing matches (2 wins through KO, one loss, one draw). He seems to have made a mistake moving to Spain, since there you can be held for up to four years in preliminary detention pending trial, when he had to do two years behind bars before making bail. He's been charged with drug-peddling, prostitution, and money-laundering by the Spaniards, but he's not been put on trial yet. I think they have to either try him or else let him go by the middle of this year.

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#7 Post by OFSO » Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:15 pm

since there you can be held for up to four years in preliminary detention pending trial,

Current waiting lists in Catalunia are five years for a criminal trial and seven for a civil trial as there's a shortage of judges. However custodial sentences of less than two years for "not serious" crimes are not enforced and do not involve going to prison.

"Not serious ?" Your guess is as good as mine.

Thread drift: a colleague of mine, Ake Bergfur, working in Liberia was given a 24 hour jail sentence for being a racist. A number of local men sat by the door of the court room - as he approached they rose and said "do your sentence for you, sah ?" Ake said how much and one said "five dollars US" so he paid him the five dollars and the local went off to do Ake's sentence while Ake went home to a nice meal and comfortable bed.

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#8 Post by Cacophonix » Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:33 pm

I have no idea of Sturm 81 is juicing or not, but he sure is abnormally muscular. We have some Turks and Russians who are also very muscular but they have much more a "dancing bear" kind of look about them rather than this very well-defined body builder look.


If only younger guys thought a little harder or were educated better about the effects of anabolic steroid based 'supplements' have they might be a little less keen to take the easy way to a toned physique.

The possibility of shrunken gonads aside the litany of potential health risks reads like a smorgasbord of pain including baldness, erectile dysfunction, infertility, acne (as OFSO pointed out), mood swings (the so-called roid rage) and potentially even heart problems (amongst many other potential negative health effects up to and including sudden death).

My brief period as would be young outlaw rebel without a cause came to an end after my cerebral cortex finally caught up with my supposed age (although some might claim that I have subsequently malingered in the zone of retarded mental development). I suffered no lasting effects from the misguided period save for the fact that all that hard work turns rapidly to fat in your middle and middle years unless you keep up the hard work.

I have recently re-entered the gym after many years absence and it shows and the workouts are hard but getting easier. No Hells Angels to be seen but I wouldn't argue with some of the middle aged moms and matrons I see pounding the running machines around the place, they have that certain something about them, something about their gimlet eyes, that makes one mind one's p's and q's!

Caco

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#9 Post by Chuks » Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:32 pm

The best gym story I ever heard was from a guy quite a bit younger than I am now. He was on a bench in the gym doing something very strenuous, all red-faced and sweaty, when the young trainer passed by, saying to him off-hand, "Don't die on me, Pops."

The guy telling the story said he wanted to get up and slug that wise-ass, except that he did not have the energy even to get up off the bench.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was quite open about using steroids, and he later had to have a heart valve replaced.

Friends of ours have two sons in their early 20s, both nice kids. One was in the circuit training room, across from me using the machine for curls. I had been setting it on 8 or 9 and using both arms, making it go eeeeek ... eeeeek ... eeeeek. He put it on 12 (max) and had it going eeka-eeka-eeka using just one arm.

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The Fun Police in action ....

#10 Post by Chuks » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:02 pm

The gym was quiet last time I went, and the proprietor was there, so that I asked him what was up with STURM 81.

He left it unclear how the guy showed up there in the first place but he made it clear that poor old Sturmy-wurmy was history. He said that a dude with no hair and a tattoo from a Prügel-club is not wanted. So ... no more fun. (A Prügel is a blow from a club. Ernst August, Prince of Hannover, a male heir to George III of Great Britain, has been nicknamed Der Prügelprinz because of the way he once beat a reporter with his umbrella, breaking his nose.)

I told him about our chat, how Sturmy asked me if I wore a Kutte, when I answered that no, I wore a white t-shirt, when he laughed at that. So it's just me, the dancing bears, some German body-builders, and some women.

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#11 Post by Cacophonix » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:26 pm

I hope not to hear the tale of the burning gym although I guess that Sturmy and his pals would be better off not burning any bridges or gyms for that matter. I wonder if they had been trying sell their wares locally and the Barbell Gruppenführer got to hear of it? After you started this thread Chuks I got to reading about the 81 biker buzz in Germany and those guys are certainly hardcore, much like their nemesis, the Nomads, who are also pretty anti-foreigner as well (not unlike some right here on this fine family forum)!

http://www.dw.com/en/several-hells-ange ... a-19510801

http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... hells.html

Talk to the good German ladies at the gym as those Russian bouncers are a bunch of trouble makers as well.

Caco

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Re: Strange encounter at the gym ....

#12 Post by Chuks » Mon Feb 20, 2017 2:22 pm

Most of our guys have hair. I think the bouncers all rock the "cue-ball" look. Anyway, yes, I pretty much just do my little circuit training number and then bugger off. There's not much point in me (1.83 m., 90 kg, not a lot of that muscle mass) trying to fit in with these very fit, very muscular types. That would be like some newbie with his Cessna 150 and 331.6 hours wanting to sit in on a hangar flying session with grizzled veterans from the African bush who all have gin leaking out of their ears and divorce papers in their back pockets.

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