Grim Rider's Blog

Treasure Hunt Rally

2010-04-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

The first running of Grim Riders' Treasure Hunt rally took place on Saturday. You can read my report on my website here.

i-gotU GPS Tracker

2010-04-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

I know several people who use SPOT trackers to record their rides and have thought the idea of having a record of your rides would be useful. However, SPOT trackers are quite expensive - this is because of their primary use which is to act as a safety device, meaning that you can always get a message through if you are inured somewhere out of mobile phone coverage. Whether you are likely need that sort of support within the UK is something of a moot point.

I had read about other GPS trackers and came across a review of the i-gotU GPS tracker on the gadgeteer's site here. This discusses the use of the device far better than I can do here!

I decided it was worth looking into, especially as I found one on sale in Maplin's in Telford marked at £29.95 (I think it was meant to be £39!). After a few trials I first used it on a ride this week. The only issues I had with the device were firstly where to secure it - it is very small (about 4cm x 2cm x 1cm), and I ended up attaching it with some dual lock to my right hand winglet; and secondly to get used to remembering to press it each time I stopped to take a photograph. having synchronised the time on my camera with the time on the GPS software I was ready to go.

On my return it was fairly simple (following the instructions I downloaded from i-gotU's website) to upload my route into the Trip software, where it instantly appears in Google Maps, and then import the photographs from my camera into the route - these were time matched so they appear in the correct place on my route. Each photograph is also stamped with the time and the longitude and latitude where it was taken. After creating an account on the Trip website I then uploaded the route and here it is (note route probably looks quite convoluted - this is not because I kept getting lost, but it included visits to several landmarks I cannot show on a public forum!). I particularly like the 3D view, when you click on the Start icon a little motorcycle follows the route round.

Catching Up on Stuff

2010-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, it is now April and nearly six months since I last wrote anything in this blog, and I have felt bad about that but increasing time pressures at work have meant what time I have had to spend on motorcycling has been spent either on riding or on building up my website.

So what has happened over the past six months - I will try and list what I can think which will remove my guilt at not having written anything for so long, and at the same time get me up to date:

there have now been seven Grim Riders newsletters, being sent out to over 160 riders interested in long distance rallies.
the charity ride for 2010 was launched with fifteen Battlefields to be visited through the year. Already 46 riders have signed up with nearly £1000 raised to support the work of the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.
completed the Round Britain Rally for 2009, gaining a Gold Award (am gradually working up to an All-Rounder!). I enjoyed attending the annual dinner in Meriden in February. The RBR for 2010 starts from today, have worked out where (nearly) all the 89 landmarks are for this year. Unlike any other event, the amount of research needed to locate the landmarks seems to take nearly as long as it would to visit them all!
the first Grim Riders' ride also took place in February with the Winter Challenge on the 6th. The aim for those (few) entering was to visit five landmarks from any one ride, thereby gaining a Challenge Bronze award.
on the subject of rides, also added a couple more - the Windmills and Circuits Rides.
took part in the first rally of the year, the South West Peninsula Spring Rally on 27th March. This was again well run by the South West IAM and I was pleased to see a good increase in the number of riders taking part this year.
entered the Brit Butt Rally and IBA Ireland's Bally Rally.
have done little work on the GS apart from sorting out the lights after all the auxiliary light switches stopped working (just wired them into the standard lights on the GS, much simpler!) and having an extra fuel tank fitted on the back of the bike - can now get 44 litres and cover over 400 mile between stops (for fuel at least!).

Fuller details of all these events can be found on the website. Shall try to keep more up to date here from now on!

Grim Riders 2010 Ride

2009-11-07T01:45:00.000-08:00

Completed the roadbook for Grm Riders' charity ride for 2010 last night. This will replace the British National Parks Ride which has been so successful this year, with 77 riders taking pat, visiting well over 500 parks, and raising over £2300 for the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance in the process. Details of the ride will be published after the closing date for this year's ride which is December 10th.

Brit Butt Rally 2010 Entries

2009-11-07T01:32:00.000-08:00

Entries are now being accepted for next year's Brit Butt Rally, organised by the UK branch of the Iron Butt Association. Entry forms can be found on the Brit Butt Rally website at http://www.britbuttrally.com/#/entry-form/4531156941, they will be drawn on the 24th December. After three days there were reported to be over 60 riders entered, for an undisclosed number of places.

Newsletter 2

2009-11-07T01:29:00.000-08:00

The second Grim Riders newsletter was sent out this week - it can also be found at https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=4ba03257-4372-4b71-aec2-c825fc998454.
It includes details of a Winter Challenge Ride on Saturday 6th February 2010 and a proposed treasure hunt scatter rally on Saturday 24th April.

Snake oil?

2009-10-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

The subject of deer whistles is a difficult one to argue for, although I have found several people quite adamant in their opposition to them. The basic idea is that the small plastic device, when attahced to a moving vehicle, emits a sound which cannot be heard by the human ear but is enough to startle deer and will, hopefully, stop them jumping into the road in front of you - thereby saving you from the resulting accident and preserving the deer's life too. Since it's functioning depends on nothing happening it is had to prove that they work - hence the accusation of 'snake oil'.

I have had a deer whistle stuck on my bike for the past few years and have never hit a deer (several birds and a rabbit, but no deer) but that, of course, proves nothing - their are plenty of people riding around without deer whistles who have never hit a deer.

I can offer the following recent experiences, which encourage me to continue carrying the whistle.
A couple of weeks ago I was heading home just after sunset and suddenly saw a muntjac deer by the side of the road, looking as if it was about to run out but completely stationary. It was so still that I checked the next time I went past in the light in case someone had erected a small statue of a deer there!
Last night I was heading home from meeting friends in Moreton when exactly th same thing happened, except this time there were two fallow deer stood by the side of the road. A mile further up the road there was a dead deer in the gutter, which had clearly been very recently hit by a vehicle.

Maybe deer whistles are snake oil, but any sudent of American history (or anyone who has watched QI) may know that the use of 'snake oil' as a dismissive or derogatory term was coined by the sellers of patent medicines and tonics in the nineteenth century to stop people using the snake oil which was widely used by the Chinese immigrants. It was, of course, the snake oil which was the more effective of the two preparations and actually worked.

Iron Butt Rally

2009-08-25T08:41:00.003-07:00

The 2009 Iron Butt Rally started yesterday from Spartanburg in South Carolina. Not all of the 100 starters will last the eleven days and around 11000 miles it will take them to get to the finish in Spokane, Washington in eleven days. There are only three riders from Europe this year; Paul Allison from England, Chris McGaffin from Northern Ireland, and Gerhard Memmen-Kreuger from Germany ( afourth, Michiel Kerkhof from Belgium had the misfortune to crash his bike and break his ankle a week before the rally started). Reports about the rally are published daily here on the IBA website.

Grim Riders MCC

2009-08-25T03:33:00.000-07:00

Have been busy finishing off the details for a few rides I have put together, in the style of the National Parks Ride (which has now raised over £2000 for the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance). Can find details of the rides here on my website. They include Counties Rides for England, Scotland and Wales, a Pub Crawl, visiting some of the landmarks used on the Brit Butt Light in July, and a tour of Britain visiting Lifeboat Stations.

Seen at a Swedish Petrol Station...

2009-08-12T01:19:00.001-07:00

This is Stefan. Stefan had just ridden his Suzuki 125 cc bike from his home in Italy to Sweden where we met him just south of Goteborg. He was heading for Finland and considering whether to complete a circuit of the Gulf of Bothnia before heading home. He was covering 500km a day as the bike would not manage more than that. Good luck Stefan!

As I was filling up this incredible vehicle pulled up. The guy pedalled it out of the garage before it started up and drove off.

Foreign Cash

2009-08-10T09:18:00.001-07:00

Travelling to Scandinavia is a reminder of the old days of different currencies in every country in Europe and gives you an appreciation of the benefits of the Euro for foreign travellers. Have come back with a pocketful of coins, including 17 Norwegian kroner, 24 Swedish kronor, 12 Danish krone, 72 Euro and, strangely, 10 Canadian cents. Of these only the euro are likely to be used again - they used to collect coins at the ferry port and airports but they don't seem to these days, so the rest will just lie in the back of a drawer with the Moroccan dirhim and Greek drachma from previous holidays!

Norwegian Camel Rally

2009-08-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

Have been away for the past week riding to Norway and then taking part in the Norwegian Camel Rally, a 24 hour long distance scatter rally organised by Per Jensen. It is an incredibly beautiful part of the world and I had one of the best day's riding I have ever had on the rally - think Scotland and the Alps together but without the traffic, and bigger!

Only three problems with Norway - one how long it takes to get here (took me 24 hours fairly non stop from Calais to get to the start at Fredrikstad); two the speed limits, they are not high and penalties are draconian eg 4900 Kr (around £490) for up to 10km over, and foreigners are not exempt from the on the spot fines; and thirdly the cost of everything (£8.40 for 0.6l of draught beer anyone - I have been teetotal here!).

My report on the rally can be found here.

Brit Butt Light

2009-07-25T05:42:00.001-07:00

At 7.30am this morning the riders for the first Brit Butt Light met at the Wagon Load of Lime in Old Arley in Warwickshire. By 8.10 they had all planned their routes and left for all corners of England (and one of Wales) en route to collecting their selection of the forty bonus locations on offer. All the bonuses are pubs with unique names.Destinations included Cornwall for the Bucket of Blood, the highest value bonus at 5009 points.

Full report can be found here.

Counties Ride

2009-07-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

Have been thinking about doing this ride for a while now and put together a plan for it while I was laid up - basically to visit all 40 English county towns. Have written about how it came to be 40 on my website here! Discussed it with Pete West of IBA UK and the format it would have to be recognised as an IBA ride, with certain receipt points at each of the 6 'corners' and particular photographic evidence at a set location in each of the 40 towns. Route would laso have to be circular, with same start and finish point. Came to around 1850 miles so my hope was that it would be possible within 48 hours.

It was, just! Started out at midday on Sunday from Corley services and got back 47 hours and 37 minutes, and 1885 miles later. Had some pretty inclement weather, including terrible rain for first and last couple of hours and a hailstorm near Oxford (nb Aerostich was completely waterproof for first 46 hours!). It was a very hard ride - not very much motorway driving and lots of winding country lanes and traffic. Also spent a lot of time going round one way systems, through pedestrianised areas and struggling to find locations. In some towns I had to find alternative locations to photograph (some, like Guildford Castle, I could not see at night!), and lost a lot of time for this. But it is possible and you certainly get to see England! Shall do a write up about it when I have recovered a bit more and got the BBL out of the way!

National Road Rally

2009-07-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

A different rally for me this year. Spent the morning at MIRA near Nuneaton, as a marshall for the special tests. My friend Rob Kelley and I were given the 'Hill Regularity Test' and we were kept very busy all morning (so busy that I did not notice how sunburned my neck, nose and arms were getting!). Enjoyable though and met up with many friends from previous rallies.

We spent the afternoon riding the shortest course possible (Stacey refused to go through the night). Starting from Meriden, with a slight detour home to find what my ally number was (not at all organised), we headed south to Stratford. Then just chose the next control at random from the grid and ended up visiting Burford, Newbury, Swindon, Andoversford, Worcester and finished at Sutton Maddock, always my favourite control, if only for the tea and cakes. The people manning the controls do not always have anything much to do with motorcycling and it takes some commitment to be there all through the night! We were home shortly after 10pm. I did feel we should have been on an old British single or something similar as it was far too easy on the GS!

Rob has set up a forum for anyone interested in or taking part in any of the navigational rallies, at http://www.scatterrallies.co.uk/

RBR Cock Up Award

2009-07-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

Every year the RBR have a Cock Up Award - presented to someone who has managed to mess up big time during the rally. My entry last year was the result of managing to reformat my memory card while half way through a tour of Wales, and deleting photogrpahs of 9 landmars we than had to go back to the next day. It was not demmed a bad enough mistake, so I doubt this will win it either! But not heard mention of this for this year so thought I would get in with my contribution which, although paltry, is at least in first place by dint of being the only one here to date! This is what happens when you so too many rallies!

Went out on a long ride round East Anglia checking some controls for the BBL, visiting the National Park, taking in IBA meet and picking up a few RBR landmarks. It is only when I was stood at LM 31, taking the picture of the landmark, with the bike in the foreground, that it struck me that is what you are supposed to do - include the bike. And it also struck me that earlier that day, when I had visited LMs 32 and 6, that I had not done that. Further I remembered, and still had the photos on my camera to prove it, that the previous weekend, on the way back from the Bally Rally in Ireland I had visited LMs 76 and 81, and not photographed the bike at either of them - result, 39 points thrown away!

Bally Rally 2009

2009-07-12T01:32:00.000-07:00

Broke my winning run in IBA rallies by coming second in this 24 hour rally around Ireland!

Report on the rally written up here.

Brit Butt Rally Result

2009-05-28T10:14:00.001-07:00

What can I say - it went well, damn well!

Have written a rather long report about the rally here on my website - far too long to reproduce here!

Brit Butt Rally 2009

2009-05-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

Friday 15th May - With one week to go from today have been preparing bike and kit ready for the rally. Serviced bike and had it checked over and a few small jobs (some heavy handed idiot had managed to round off two of the threads in the cylinder head for the rocker cover and needed a couple of timeserts fitting). Tested Aerostich on way to work this morning in torrential downpour and found it wanting as ended up with a wet crotch (knew I shouldn't have put my suit on at home - spent 5 minutes in the staffroom with a hair dryer aimed at my nether regions!) so will be taking the XL rainsuit I bought on fleabay in case of this eventuality. Also bought my first new kit for about two years - a pair of Alpinestars Drystar gloves as warmer and more waterproof than the O'Neal motorcross gloves I normally wear, and will stop the wind going up my sleeves.

I am sure the rally will be more competitive this year - we were all riding somewhat into the unknown last year but this year many of the riders have that experience behind them and will have made changes to their strategy based on where they lost time or made mistakes. I have a list of changes to my strategy for this year but shall be guarding them closely! I am sure the rallymaster, Chris McGaffin, will be introducing greater variety and twists to the event to try and make us think harder about possible route choices. Not going to have much more time to think about the rally - have a job application to complete this weekend - interviews are on Thursday, the day before we go to the rally start!

Welsh Rally 2009

2009-05-16T00:44:00.000-07:00

The Welsh Rally this year was something of a series of mishaps which all, thankfully, came good in the end!

Having received the final details two weeks before the rally I had spent quite a few hours working out different routes and permutaions involving Round Britain Rally landmarks and the three National Parks in Wales. I started by trying to include all the parks but found that it would not then be possible to reach three manned controls before they closed at 6pm. I ended up with two routes, one going north at 296 miles, including five LMs and Snowdonia; and one going south and then north at 418 miles, including seven LMs, Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia. I also worked out a route for the day before to include three LMs and Brecon National Park on the way to the bed & Breakfast I had booked in Churchstoke.I arrived at the b&b at Drewin Farm in the early evening and was met with a tray of tea and homemade Welsh cakes. The view from the patio as I ate them was beautiful and the room was very comfortable.

Phil, a friend from the IBA, arrived on his Fazer shortly afterwards and we repaired to the Courthouse Hotel in Churchstoke for a meal. The food was fine for basic pub grub, but when my other friends, Trevor and his wife Chris, arrived shortly after 8pm they were told that the kitchens were now closed - this despite the fact we were the only diners! Not one to return to! We returned to the b&b for more tea and cakes. Breakfast the next morning was, in comparison, excellent and set us up well for the day ahead. We had hoped to b able to get to the start early and leave for 8.30 but on arriving at ten past eight found ourselves waiting in a queue as they were not letting anyone register until the start time. I eventually got away at 8.55am and headed straight back to Churchstoke for my first control!

By the time I arrived at my fourth control, and first manned control of the day at TT Bikes in Llandrindrod Wells, a minute before they opened at 10am I had caught up 19 of the 25 minutes I had started behind - I signed in, had a chat with the staff and a cup of coffee, then got on my bike and headed off north. A couple of miles down the road I was reviewing my progress so far and thought - 'I'm sure there was something else I should have done at that control?' - uh, multi-choice questions anyone? I quickly turned around and headed back to the shop - the questions seemed easier this year, but I was now another 15 minutes behind my timings. I had calculated my time for the day using Autoroute - using the timings produced by the program with my own speed/road settings, and then adding 5 minutes for every unmanned control; 10 minutes for every RBR landmark; and 30 minutes for every manned control. Through the day I caught up some of the time and ended up finishing three minutes behind the time I had set before the start. I felt that I was going quite slowly and having to make some allowances for my leg - I had to be careful parking the bike so it was not at too much of an angle, a couple of times I found it very difficult to get the bike upright again!

One of the great things about the Welsh Rally is that you get to visit places, and especially travel on roads you would never usually encounter. After seven years of competing the Platinum course on the rally I am still discovering great riding roads in Wales. One of them this year was the road form Llanidloes up through Staylittle, with a diversion for the Dragon control at Llyn Clywedog, to find out that the lead mine there produced a record of 384 tonnes of lead in 1851! There is a ride in North America called 'The Dam Ride' which involves visiting a number of dams in the north-west.

The weather had started clear and bright but gradually clouded over and became quite windy - shortly aftr midday it started raining as I came through Blaenau Ffestiniog, grey at the best of times but even greyer in the rain! It rained for the next two hours, quit ehard at times, but it provided a good test for my Aerostich suit which I had not worn in the rain before - it passed, not leaking a drop, despite me forgetting to do up the under arm zips! At the manned control at Abergele it was getting so bad I changed the dark visor on my hellmet for a clear one - needless to say it was bright and sunny from there to the finish.Other mishaps which nearly ruined my day included turning over my control list too soon so I missed the control at Brithdir entirely and was heading towards the following one at Barmouth - luckily I almost went past the missed control and noticed it on the GPS and stopped to check why I wasn't going there since it was so close by it.When I got to Barmouth harbour it was really blowing a gale - as I opened my jacket pocket the wind caught my control card and whipped it out of my hand! I watchd in horror and hobbled after it as it blew into the road and stopped - of course as soon as I nearly reached it it blew away again, and then again across the road, as I dodged an oncoming car and watched it head towards the seawall and the sea beyond. And then it stopped, wedged around the wooden end of a fishing rod, and I just reached and grabbed hold of the card as the fisherman, who hadn't seen this, lifted his rod up. I immediately resolved to lock the card in my pannier until I needed it at the manned controls!

I tried to save time by not stopping at every unmanned control any longer than I needed to gain the information necessary to answer the question set for each one and then ride off. I then remembered them and only wrote them down when I reached the manned controls - to recall them I made up little stories with the answers in order - I thought if nothing else it was good memory practice! At the finish I wrote them down on the control card without looking at the question sheet I had written them on, and found I could still remember all the answers from my strange story about ducks in the nineteenth century!

I finished at 6.25pm and faced the special test - last year it had been skittles and I had done well at that, but this year it was darts - and I am rubbish at darts - a fact I confirmed by only scoring 18 with my three darts thrown so no repeat of last years's success this year! I wanted to wait and meet up with Phil and Trevor & Chris before leaving - after talking to a number of people met over the years at various rallies, I was about to leave 4 hours later when they all turned up and I was able to say hello and goodbye. Spent a while chatting to the guy who had organised the first SatNav challenge on the rally - ten people had gone out on it but by 10pm none had returned! Felt quite sorry for him and we discussed some ways of promoting this side of the event in future.

Getting on to the road to Welshpool my lights didn't seem very bright, then I noticed that neither my main beam nor the panel lights were working. I pulled over to find that only the driving lights at the front were working. Took the panniers and seats off and removed each fuse in turn until I found one blown - fitting a spare in its place gave me all the lights back, but made me realise that the fuel reserve light was on, and had probably been on for a while. The garage in Welshpool was closed, and I hoped the one halfway to Shrewsbury would be open - it was not. The next one was at the services on the A5 at Shrewsbury. I made it to just before the roundabout off to the services before the bike died, so only had to cross the dual carriageway, crawl through the undergrowth and climb over a fence to get to the garage and buy a can of petrol. Several people, including Graham in his Plastic Pig, stopped to ask if I needed help, so thanks to all of them. Eventually got home just before 1am.

Becoming Mrs Armitage

2009-04-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

I have lately been thinking far too much about all the possible modifications I have made or could make to my GS and have come to the conclusion that I am in danger of becoming Mrs Armitage.
For those of you who do not have small children and do not know who Mrs Armitage is, she is a wonderfully whimsical character created by Quentin Blake (probably most famous for his illustrations of Roald Dalhl’s books). Most relevant to my thesis is his work entitled ‘Mrs Armitage on Wheels’ which tells the tale of Mrs Armitage and her bicycle.

I do not have the book to hand or complete recall of all that happens but the basics are this – the book starts with Mrs Armitage happily cycling along, accompanied by her dog. She soon realises that things would be better if she had somewhere for the dog to sit so she a seat for the dog onto the back of the bike. She then thinks it would be a good idea to have somewhere to carry a picnic hamper and something to drink. After her chain comes off she decides it is necessary to carry a toolbox, but she finds her hands have got dirty so feels the need to add a bowl of hot water and a towel. This goes on until the bike is so weighed down that she can hardly cycle it so she has the wonderful idea of adding a sail. She speeds along until the sadly inevitable happens and the whole contraption crashes and ends up in pieces. And Mrs Armitage, well she emerges from the wreckage with her new best idea – a pair of roller skates!

Ring any bells? How many of us can admit to having started by adding a few ‘necessary’ extras to our bikes and maybe gone further than we had intended or is maybe, even, sensible?

Thieving scum!

2009-04-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

Went to pick up Mazda MX5 from the body repairers in Wolverhampton this week (has been there since September, with one thing and another not been able to pick it up until now). Found it had been broken into last week - they got in through rear window, opened the boot and pinched the battery. Because it is a vinyl window in the soft top they ripped apart with a knife and because they also damaged the roof I need to replace the whole hood - £260 to replace for a £40 battery! Plus takes arond 5 hours (at least for me) to replace the hood, along with much skinning of knuckles and twisting of limbs to get into the contorted positions necessary to undo the host of screws and remove the rivets holding it in. Only words to describe my feelings about them are definitely not repeatable here!

South West Peninsula Rally

2009-04-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

The first running of this rally on Saturday as blessed with brilliant weather and a turnout of around 60 riders to take part in the Gold, Silver and Bronze courses. Similar in format to the Welsh Rally, it involvedvisiting a number of unmanned controls at which you had to find the answer to a question (generally pretty easy to find) and a smaller number of manned controls, at which you had to aanswer ten multiple choice questions on IAM type stuff (not so easy!). I went down with a friend of mine, Phil, having stayed at his house in Nailsea the previous evening. We started away from V&J Honda in Bridgwater after signing in and a bacon butty at around 9 o'clock. I had aimed to start earlier, but had not realised until the night before that the finish did not open until 6pm, so my intended 3.30pm finish could take a bit of stretching! We were both doing the Gold course (15 unmanned and three manned controls), and similar routes, but in opposite directions, so we arranged to meet half way round.

My route was basically a blast down the M5 past Exeter until turning off for Bovey Tracey and heading across Dartmoor. This also gave me the chance to nab the national park there - as luck would have it one of the SW rally bonuses was right opposite the national park centre I needed in Princetown. From Dartmoor into Cornwall, the land of my birth, and via St Cleers and Lostwithiel to the harbour at Charlestown where I stopped for the first manned control, met some very friendly IAM guys, struggled with the questions, went for a pasty and waited to meet up with Phil.

From there I rode up to the next manned control at Jamaica Inn, where the questions were no easier, and then up to Exmoor via Bideford and Ilfracombe. The ride across Exmoor was made in glorious sunshine and I picked up the second national park of the day there. Shortly after my GPS went spasm, trying to convince me a 84 mile route was necessary to the next control 5.6 miles away! Luckily I had a paper map with me as well. I also visited and photographed five Round Britain Rally landmarks along my route as well, meaning I visited 25 controls by the time I got back to Bridgwater just after 6pm. A welcome meal at the finish, a quick chat with Phil and some of the other finishers and I was back on the road for the 130 mile trip home, arriving there at 9.15pm, tired but very pleased with my day's endeavours - most especially because I feel for the first time that I shall definitely be okay to take part in the Brit Butt Rally next month!

First ride of the year

2009-04-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

It seems somehow approriate that my first proper outing on the bike since last November would be on April 1st - or April Fool's day as I reminded the guys on the IBA forum this morning after letting them think I was starting a BBG ride (1500 miles in 24 hours) at midnight last night. Not that I am superstitious, but I did leave it until after midday before starting out. I spent six hours out and covered about 240 miles, visiting five Round Britain Rally landmarks in Coventry, Leicestershire, Northants, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire to collect my first 100 points. I would love to be able to tell you exactly where I had to go, but the oath of silence was signed in blood - suffice it to say they were all interesting locations I would never have come across for any other reason. It was a beautiful day, without a cloud in the sky at times and it felt so good to be back on the bike. I had not realised until today how nervous I was about getting back into riding - I must have spent half an hour getting ready and checking everything at least twice (mind you some of that was trying to work out how to get into my new Aerostich suit!). Here's hoping the rest of the rides this year are as good.

British National Parks Ride

2009-03-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

Six weeks after setting this up I am amazed and really pleased to find 60 people have signed up for this, raising a total to date of £1170 for the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. The first rider to complete all 15 parks was Mike Topham from Scarborough.

First week of the season

2009-03-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

This week the rally season starts for proper. Tomorrow is April 1st and those of us pursuing the round Britain Rally bonuses this year can start collecting them. The bonus list was received by email a week ago and we have all been beavering away across the land, making good use of Google, Ask.com and Geograph to search out information about the bonuss and their exact locations. I can say no more about them as we are sworn to silence on discussing bonuses until the rally finishes at the end of October. Suffice it to say they are littered the length and breadth of Britain. My Autoroute map of all controls is getting filled up - 15 national parks, 5 east coast challenge locations, 90 round britain rally landmarks. And that is without the national rallies (although I shall probably only do the Welsh this year), the BBR controls etc - lots of places to visit this year!

Plus this Saturday sees the first running of another rally - the Soth West Peninsular Rally, being held by Somerset IAM. It, unsurprisingly, involves riding around the south west peninsular and follws a very similar (n fact exactly the same) format as the Welsh Rally. So there are some manned controls with multiple choice questions and a larger number of unmanned controls. For the Gold course you have to visit three manned controls and fifteen unmanned controls. I reckon I can also get in two national parks and at least four round britain rally landmarks along the way as well - just like despatching, save time and money by getting several POBs!

This is assuming, of course, that I can ride the bike that far - shall be going out on my first longish ride tomorrow to test everything, and especially myself, out.

Back on the bike

2009-03-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

Well, after 17 weeks have finally got back on the bike. Have spent last few days putting it back together - shocks were a real pain and involved some judicious use of a sanding block on the swingarm and rear shock to get it to fit in. Also spent two days sorting out electrics after adding Centech fusebox, by which time battery was flat. Then fuel was leaking out of the QR disconnects I had fitted to make taking the tank off easier (since I ended up taking it off three times, this was a good idea - but then if I had not fitted them they would not be leaking, so I wouldn't have had to take it off...)

Realised last night that the MOT had expired while it has been sat in the garage so first trip would have to be to Gov'nors Bridge in Atherstone - coincidentally (and scarily) the same journey as the last one I took on motorbike in November!
Was most worried about whether I could get the bike off its stand without dropping it, and then whether could support the bike on my right leg while I put the stand down but practised a bit in the garage and seemed okay. Put all my gear on, took my crutch apart and strapped it to the back of the bike, and I was off (not literally, I hasten to add!).

Luckily it was a lovely day today, clear and sunny (same as that last journey...) and although the first few miles, including going past my accident spot, were a bit nervous it felt great to be back on the bike. It is only 6 miles to the garage and I walked into the town while John did the MOT. The bike passed with no problems (as he said 'It's a BMW') and he even waived the charge which was kind of him. I rode back with a bit more confidence - not quite up to speed yet but I did overtake a Fireblade (which wasn't stationery!) so perhaps haven't completely lost it!

I have another operation next Wednesday to remove some of the screws in my leg but this should be fairly minor and apart from some discomfort hope to be back on the bike for the following weekend, in time for the National Meet for the Brit Butt Rally on the 14th at Stafford.

Recent jobs

2009-02-23T02:09:00.000-08:00

Well, not quite (no pay involved!) - having some time on my hands as still recovering with this broken leg, have taken on the role of webmaster of the Iron Butt website (www.ironbuttuk.org) and have been busy bringing it up to date, creating a new look, new pages, new links etc.

Have also been promoting the Britiah National Parks Ride, extending my own website and finishing off the roadbook for the Brit Butt Light (entries now being taken for this - see http://www.ironbuttuk.org/id45.html for details).

Just not sure how I will have the time to fit in going to work when I am up and running - but at least I will be back on the bike then (and the weather should be warmer.

On the subject of the bike - did actually get up to the garage last week and managed to sit on a stool and do some work on the bike - all those things hav been meaning to get round to, including fitting a Centech fuse box; replacing the Inforad camera detector; fitting a new voltmeter and thermometer. Took the seats off and sent them to Melvyn Hunter to get them rebuilt, partly because the foam has really compressed after 8 years and partly because the basic design of the seats, which force the rider down and into the tank have always seemed wrong to me.

Have also taken the shock absorbers off, which have become rather tired after 52000 miles, and sent them to MCt Suspension in Stowmarket. They are going to rebuild the rear shock and test the front one. Unfortunately this cannot be rebuilt - most GS riders seem to favour going for Ohlins or Wilbers replacements but these are rather too expensive for my budget - and I was surprised to find that the cheapest replacement option is actually to get a new shock from BMW, at around £150 for the front shock! Since they have lasted so well to date am happy to continue using them.

Just waiting for that first day when I can get back on the bike!

British National Parks Ride

2009-02-12T01:15:00.000-08:00

Ever since my accident in November, I have been thinking of ways to raise money for the air ambulance, if only to pay them back for some of the expense I put them to! It amazes me that such an incredibly valuable service is self-funded, receiving no money at all from central government of the national lottery.

One of my ideas is this ride - it simply involves you riding your motorcycle to specific locations in the national parks of Britain. There are 15 altogether (including the South Downs which is currently under consideration for NP status), and you can choose how many you visit, in what order, and at what time, as long as they are all in th same calendar year (Jan to Dec). Certificates will be given for achieving 5 (Bronze),10 (Silver) or all 15 visits (Gold).

I hope people will get involved, if only to have an excuse to get out on their bikes and support a very worthwhile charity.

Further details and how to register can be found on my website here.

My Website

2009-02-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have kept myself busy over the past few days as I am still laid up by my broken leg and the snow outside by creating my first website and shall gradually be adding to it over the next few weeks.

You are welcome to have a look at here: http://www.thegrimrider.com/

Ace Cafe

2009-01-26T00:39:00.000-08:00

Made my first visit ever to the famous Ace Cafe on the North Circular in London yesterday. And for the first time ever attended a bike meet in a car, but still unable to walk without the crutches so riding is out of the question for a while yet. Occasion was IBA UK's January R2E (Ride 2 Eat) and meeting coincided with visit to the UK of Bill Watt, a Canadian rider who has travelled extensively in North America and participated in the 11-day Iron Butt Rally. It was great listening to Bill talking about some of his rides and some of the wildlife you come across on Canadian roads - and I thought the deer in Scotland were a danger!

Have been reading a lot of the reports from past Iron Butt Rallies (downloaded from http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm) and watched a copy of 'Hard Rides', a film made about the 2007 IBR. There are some incredible stories which demonstrate the lure of this epic event (the winning rider has typically ridden around 13000 miles in the 11 days) and the lengths to which riders will go to complete what is for many the ride of their lifetime. There is also tragedy, several riders have died while taking part in the rally. It is still my hope that one day I will be able to take part in the rally which takes place every two years - maybe 2011 if I am lucky (and have saved enough money!).

2009-01-21T02:11:00.001-08:00

My Ride in the Brit Butt Rally 2008

Thinking about this year's rally finally got me round to completing this write up of my experience of last year's rally.

The bank holiday weekend at the end of May in 2008 saw the first running of the Brit Butt Rally, organised by Iron Butt UK, the UK arm of the Iron Butt Association. I had first seen this event advertised around October the previous year and emailed the organisers, but entry forms were not yet available. I had not done any long distance rides before, but had done quite a few National and Welsh rallies over the years, and travelled long distances touring across Europe and when working as a despatch rider in the mid 80s. I promptly forgot all about the event until some time in February when I emailed the organisers again, to find I had been given a place and it had been advertised on their website, but I had not seen it so had lost my place. Luckily someone else must have pulled out because I soon after received another email telling me I had a place after all!

In March there was a meeting for the event at a hotel near Stafford which was a great opportunity to meet some of my fellow participants and gain some insights into what we had signed up for, with advice from some of the few people in the UK who have completed the Iron Butt Rally in America (11 days, 11,000 miles!). In comparison our event, 36 hours with a minimum of 1110 miles and an undisclosed number of points, seemed small beer – however, talking to others it was clearly more than any of us had done before. I was obviously excited getting there because I had left the lights on on my car and had to get Dave Badcock to give me a jump start. I drove home thinking this did not seem like a good omen!
I had already started my preparation by undertaking one thousand mile ride in February and continued over the next two months with another SS1000 and took part in the Welsh Rally at the beginning of May. In the weeks leading up to the rally date I prepared my bike, a 2001 BMW R1150GS, as best I could to make it as comfortable and reliable as possible, while reading everything I could about long distance riding.

The event was starting and finishing at a hotel a few miles from the one we had met at in March. I arrived in sunshine around lunchtime and sat in the garden of the pub next door chatting to a few others who had arrived early. Around 3 o’clock we could book into the hotel and then came back down to go through technical inspection and wander round looking at everyone else’s bikes. Technical inspection included getting your odometer checked – this involved zeroing your trip meter and then riding 10 miles south and then back again along the A34 before getting the distance checked by the inspection team. There were about a dozen speed cameras on the route, and at least one participant gained a speeding ticket!

Over the next few hours we were all processed by the rally team, signed forms and met together for final details. The first three numbers for the rally had been given to three guys who had taken part in the Iron Butt Rally – they were obviously the guys to watch! I was number 25. At 9pm we were given the bonus books, containing our rally towels and the bonus book with details of the 60 bonuses we could visit to gain points during the rally. Each page had a different bonus on it, giving a description of its location, a Google map, and detailing how many points it was worth. Some had extra details – some had to be photographed in daylight only, and others could only be accessed between certain hours, depending on whether they were open or on tidal access. We then repaired to our rooms with nine hours until the start at 6am.

I started by spreading a road map of the UK out on the floor and putting a sticker on the map to show the location of each bonus point – I used three different colours to show low, medium and high value bonuses, and coded them if they had any restrictions to them. After plotting all the bonuses onto a paper map it seemed to be clear that the best way of stringing together a series of high scoring bonuses was to go to Skye then across to John O Groats via Ullapool and Scourie. This route naturally added Spean Bridge, Eilean Donan and Clootie Well. I also wanted to visit Lindisfarne and Scarborough as they were high bonuses. Because of the time restrictions for Lindisfarne, which can only be accessed at low tide, and the fact that Eilean Donan and Scourie were day bonuses only the route was going to be clockwise. I reckoned quite a few riders would be going for these high bonuses so reckoned the way to get ahead would be to add as many other bonuses as I could. I then plotted all the bonuses I was possibly able to get to, about 37 of them, into Microsoft Autoroute and used this to calculate the time and distance between the controls on my likely route. I went through quite a few combinations before ending up with a route I was happy with. I then transferred the Autoroute file into GPSU and then saved this as a Mapsource file and transferred it to my Garmin 2610. I also wrote the control numbers, codes, and description of location and bonus requirement onto some sheets which would fit into the top of my tank bag so I could see them at a glance.

By 5.30am we were all in the car park, sorting out final details nervously and trying to find out from each other where we were going – as if could make any difference by then! We were started at minute intervals and I started about tenth. I had already passed a couple of other participants by the time I got to Junction 14 a few miles from the start. As soon as got on the motorway I changed my plan because I got on the M6 and stayed on it, missing out Sandbach and Jodrell Bank – partly because I wanted to get some distance under my wheels and partly because I thought a lot of people would be starting with those and I wanted to put some distance between myself and anyone else so I was not distracted and could get settled into my own ride.

I rode into Forton Services near Lancaster at the same time as Mick Ingledew on a big black Harley – I had overtaken him about 20 miles previously and then been wondering for the past ten miles whose headlight I could see tracking me! I quickly took my picture of the 1960s service station tower and headed along the M6 to the next junction and then off towards Morecambe.
My next bonus was the statue of the comedian Eric Morecambe on the seafront. I had seen it several years before so knew exactly where it was. I ran from the bike to the statue, took my photograph and ran back to the bike – suddenly I saw a big pool of liquid underneath the bike and panicked as I assumed it was petrol leaking. As I got to the bike I was relieved to find it was orange juice – I had forgotten to close the seal on the drinking tube I had left hanging out of my tank bag!

From Morecambe I headed north into Scotland – I was heading for the Thomas Telford memorial at Bentpath in the Borders. It was not worth a great number of points, but I figured it was worth the time effort in dropping off the main road, and I thought it was the sort of control others might miss out and which might, therefore, make all the difference. I was working on the basis that quite a few people would be doing the same route as I was and getting the same big points bonuses in Scotland, so I had to pick up as many extra ones along the way as I could. As I got into Scotland the temperature fell but I was too focused to stop properly and just threw my heated vest on over my jacket – it seemed to be warm enough. I also nearly lost the front end of the bike outside a farm where they seemed to have thrown a large bucket of whitewash across the road. It took me weeks to get rid of the white paint spattered across the front of the bike!

It gradually warmed up as I got into Scotland and I remember flying along the road going past Loch Lomond, overtaking everything. I stopped briefly at a petrol station just outside Fort William to take off my heated vest, check the bike over and eat a Snickers bar. There was oil leaking from the left hand side of the engine and most of that side of the bike, my boot and trousers below the knee were covered in a thin layer of oil. I couldn’t see anything obviously wrong, so topped it up and gave myself a mental note to check it regularly. It only leaked a little, and I later found out it was the oil pressure sender switch leaking. At the time it was just something else to worry about.

It was nearly 12.45 by now, and I seemed to have come a long way but had only been to three controls in nearly 7 hours, and had not gained a lot of points yet, and I had to check my route and reassure myself I was going alright. I had passed a meeting of about a hundred riders in Fort William itself – they were doing a ride for charity and all had pink vests on. They rode past the petrol station and I then spent the next twenty miles having to overtake them all. As soon as I got past them all I got to the turning for the Isles and pulled into the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge. There were a couple of other participants there already, the first I had seen for many hours. I put my towel down in front of the memorial and it blew away as I took a photograph – the same thing happened again, then a tourist standing there offered to take my photograph holding the towel for which I was grateful. However, when I checked my photographs at the finish his photograph was not there – luckily mine of the towel blowing away was just enough to get me the points! I had already learned to make sure I protected all the photographs I took – new note to self, check all photographs taken to see what they show!

The road to Skye is one of my favourite roads and I really enjoyed it in the sunshine. I caught up with a guy on a GSXR and we had a good ride for a few miles – I could overtake him going through corners, but he blasted past me on the straights. Eventually the road got very twisty and I managed to get away from him (or he may have pulled over!). Shortly after that something of a reality check – I came round the corner to find the traffic stopped and a group of bikers clustered around a blue Kawasaki lying in pieces on the edge of the road. Nobody seemed badly hurt and there were plenty of people there so I carried on, stopping to tell more of the group waiting at the next junction what had happened.

My next bonus was the much photographed castle at Eilean Donan. I pulled up next to Dave Badcock on his golden Harley Ultra and we took photographs of each other holding our towels in front of the castle. We were both going on to Skye. We did not agree to ride together but I sat behind him for the next few miles, mainly because of the glorious noise coming from the exhausts of his V-twin. We crossed over the Skye Bridge which is a great bridge but always makes me feel slightly disappointed, as I can remember when you had to get a ferry to get on to Skye. More remote, more romantic then, but easier for us now! I stopped for petrol in Broadhead, and luckily checked my petrol receipt – I had been given one for 60 litres of diesel! I caught up with Dave on the road through Skye. There seemed to be lots of riders coming towards us, off the island (I remember most clearly Paddy McCreanor’s bright yellow Honda Goldwing), and I did worry that I was behind time and these riders, as we must be following similar routes.

The main reason for going to Skye was that there were two big point bonuses, within quarter of a mile of each at Uig in the north of the island. We got to the first one, the sign for the Museum of Island Life, and I realised I did not have my rally towel. This seemed to be a complete disaster, as the towel had to appear in every photograph. Dave sympathised (after I had accused him of pinching it at Eilean Donan!) and reminded me of the rules: I could still take compete without a rally towel, but from now on I had to appear myself in every photograph, even if I later found the towel. This was fine now, while I was with someone else but what about when I was on my own? I followed the same tracks back and even stopped at the garage in Broadhead to see if I had left the towel there – I am not sure why since I could not have used it again but I was annoyed to have misplaced it, and that my system of having a place for everything and putting everything back in its place had not worked. I was also worried that I was getting more tired than I realised, to have lost something so important. I never did see it again, so perhaps it blew away somewhere.

Back on the mainland I turned north to follow the road right around the north coast of Scotland and headed towards Ullapool to visit the Museum there – again somewhere I had been before so knew exactly where it was. There was nobody else about but luckily I have long arms and found I could get a decent photograph of myself with the sign behind, by holding the camera at arm’s length. The day was still sunny and I had no worries about getting a photograph of my next bonus, Scourie Hotel while it was still daylight, a requirement of the rally book. I got to Scourie just before 7.30pm and met four other participants outside the hotel, including the only time I ran into Paul Vanderveen. I assumed we would all be going the same way from Scourie but after setting off I did not see any of them again until the finish.

The road from Scourie round to Thurso was the best part of the rally. I had driven the road several times before and knew it would be brilliant on the bike. Much of it is fairly wide single track with passing places, and the road winds in and out of bays along the coast so often you can see quite a way ahead and ride the road like a race track. In the 80 miles around the coast I only met 5 other vehicles. Not far from Thurso I saw there was an errant waypoint coming up on my GPS and realised it was a waypoint for the Round Britain Rally which I was going almost right past. However, all I had was the code 7550 – which meant it was worth 50 points, but did not tell me what it was or where it was exactly. I stopped and phoned my girlfriend, who was not at home. Luckily I remembered I had left a list in the car and she managed to find it and phone me back with the details. Ten minutes later I was parking opposite a drowning memorial in the small village of Portskerra.

I stopped for petrol and to check the oil level in Thurso. I was about to leave when another participant, Lee Whiteley pulled up on his Blackbird. We had a chat and decided we would go on to John O Groats, a few miles away, together. It was getting dark by now and we could see the lights of the passing ships as we pulled up to the signpost (or where the signpost is in the daylight) opposite the now closed John O Groats Hotel. We were both tired and Lee, who had missed going to Skye, was trying to work out if he had time to go back there. We decided we needed to get something to eat but there is not a lot around John O Groats in the dark so we headed south. By the time we got to Wick it was 11pm and the only place open was a Chinese restaurant next to a busy night club. We parked the bikes outside on the pavement and had a meal inside but did not eat a lot – partly because we felt if we ate too much we would end up feeling more tired.

After that short break we got back on the A9 and carried on into the night. At Inverness Lee turned off to head back across Scotland to Skye – I was worried for him because there a lot of deer on that road which were a real danger to bikes (we later found two other bikes suffered deer strikes – one rider was Mick Ingledew who made it back to the finish with a slightly bent and very smelly Harley, the other rider’s bike was written off).

I had a bonus to collect just north of Inverness, with the evocative name of Clootie’s Well. My GPS took me off the main road and onto some untarmaced road which became rutted farm tracks which made me glad to be on a GS. After a few miles I came out on some back roads and close to the bonus. The first think I saw in the dark and mist at Clootie’s Well was something hanging in the trees – there were rags and clothes tied to the trees, blowing around in the breeze and looking like ghosts coming out of the woods. I took my photograph quickly and got out of there as fast as I could. Two minutes later I drove past it again as I had set off in the wrong direction in my haste.

I had planned to take my rest bonus in Inverness but I could only find two petrol stations with nowhere even to sit down so I continued south on the A9. The road seemed endless in the dark and I had started to develop a head cold so I was coughing and sneezing the whole way. I was wearing all the clothing I had with me, and felt very sorry for myself. I thought that if I had somewhere to stop and put my head down I might not get going again, so I kept on riding.

One of the three IBR veterans riding the Brit Butt Rally was a German rider, Gerhard Memmen-Kreuger - he was definitely someone I thought would be doing well in the rally. As I rode down the A9 I saw a bike’s lights ahead, and getting closer saw that it was an R1200GS with German plates, it had to be Gerhard. I gradually overtook and then left him behind. I think that one move gave me enough of an impetus to keep going since it inspired me to think I must be doing quite well after all. I was however, getting very tired and realised I had to stop soon – I had planned to cut off the A9 to grab a bonus in St Andrews but decided to miss this one out and carry on until I found somewhere to stop for a few hours.

Eventually I came to the M90 at Perth and saw a sign for services about 10 miles ahead. I stopped at Kinross, north of Edinburgh at 4am. After buying a hot drink in the café to get my starting receipt, for 4.04am, I sat in a comfortable chair and rested my eyes. I could not sleep so I sorted out my paperwork, checked the route ahead and drank my cocoa. Having missed out St Andrews and so ‘lost’ 800 points I looked again at my route ad realised I had missing an obviously improved route. For some reason I had targeted the Humber Bridge after Scarborough and then crossing to three bonuses in Cheshire before finishing. However, there was a bonus in the centre of Sheffield I had disregarded – but going to Sheffield instead of the Humber Bridge gave me an extra 360 points, and should save me at least 40 miles and 45 minutes. I had no idea why I had not seen it while planning, since I worked out that if I went to Sheffield and then finished via Hyde, Jodrell Bank and Sandbach I could still reach my 40000 points target. I could only put it down to have been tired by the end of my planning. In the end I slept for about 45 minutes. At about 6am I went out to find Dave Badcock by his Harley in the car park. He had spent a few hours in the motel attached to the services (I had not even seen it) but had come out to find that his bike would not fire up. After a while the RAC man arrived and eventually got the huge cylinders to fire – I expect the rest of the motel were just waiting for a 7am alarm call! I went back into the services and got a receipt from the shop there – luckily I checked the receipt: it was 7.04am by my watch but the receipt showed ten minutes earlier. I went back into the café and got another receipt – this time showing 7.06am. If I hadn’t noticed I could have lost the 3000 points for the rest bonus!

I set off from the services in the cold Scottish drizzle, following Dave again but then realised I had forgotten to fill up with petrol and had to stop at the next services. My next bonus was the car park on Lindisfarne. The causeway to the island is only accessible as the tides go out. It was supposed to be open from 9.10am – I arrived at 9.15am and crossed, with water still covering parts of the causeway but only as deep as the tyres. I met Dave and a couple of other riders at the car park, took my photograph and remembered to get a car park ticket as required.

I had seen my next bonus, the Angel of the North before, as you pass it going north on the A1, but had never been to it – perhaps this explains the wrong turn I took trying to get to it – I ended up getting back on the main road and taking the more sensible option of following the road signs to it. The bonus was to take a photograph at the foot of the statue – just as well as close up this is the only part you can get into a photograph. There were lots of people around so it was easy to get someone to take a photograph of me. I set straight off again – it was 10.15am and I had worked out a target time of 2pm to be at Sheffield in order to finish around 4pm. This gave me an hour’s leeway before time penalties started coming in for anyone finishing after 5pm. Anyone finishing after 6pm would automatically be disqualified and end up as the dreaded DNF – did not finish.

The leg to Scarborough was the worst of the event – the holiday traffic was solid and I spent most of the route overtaking everything else on the road. I definitely felt like I was on auto pilot but I felt good in myself and the bike was running brilliantly. I think I surprised a good number of sports bikes on that road! Another mistake when I got to Scarborough though – the bonus was Ann Bronte’s grave and I had noted down that it was by a red wall in the churchyard at the top of the hill. I got to the churchyard, found the red wall, lots of gravestones but no Ann Bronte. I ran around the churchyard before returning to the bike and reading the actual bonus description in the bonus book – the grave was in another churchyard across the road form the church. Five minutes later I was back on the bike and riding out of Scarborough.

The road out of Scarborough was a good dual carriageway, followed by motorways and I made good time to Sheffield. The bonus was a pub called the Fat Cat right in the centre of the city. When I got to the centre I was confused- my GPS kept trying to send me the wrong way down one way streets and dual carriageways. I stopped and checked the address but I had it right. There had obviously been a lot of recent development in the area and the road system had changed form that I had mapped! Eventually I worked out a way out of the one way system and found the pub in a back street. As I pulled up outside it Gerhard was riding away – a real incentive to get going! It was 2.05pm as I took the photograph, trying to get myself, the bike and the hanging pub sign in the same photograph.

The A628 through the Peak District is a great road, and I felt confident and relieved that I was going to make it to the finish in time now, but conscious that it was extra important to keep myself focused and not relax yet. I met Gerhard again at the next bonus, a train platform near Hyde. There were two bonuses I was aiming for between here and the finish and I asked him if he was going to them – he said no, because he did not know the roads and was tired – I offered to let him follow me as I grew up near here and knew the roads well but he declined, saying he was going to the finish and left. I went the opposite direction, knowing I had to go onto the A5 to get petrol. Half an hour later I came out on the road a few miles from Jodrell Bank, and found myself right behind Gerhard again. We got into Jodrell Bank together and found Lee there – he had made it to Skye and back, having slept in a shop doorway in Kyle of Lochalsh for a few hours.

By then I was eager to get to the finish before tiredness and my cold overtook me and I took all the shortcuts I knew to get to Sandbach Crosses. From there it was two junctions down the M6 to the finish. It was as I got on the motorway that I experienced the first real rain of the journey as it poured down, which certainly made me concentrate hard for the last few miles. As soon as I got into the finish I signed in, saw my girlfriend, downloaded my photographs and had my paperwork okayed, and after exchanging a few comments with other riders, fell asleep in a chair. There is a photograph of me somewhere on the website with the caption ‘Look what the rally can do to you!’.

After a shower and change of clothes we had the rally dinner – nobody knew who had done well, but I was sat with one of the scorers who mentioned he had scored someone who had completed a really good ride and achieved a great score, and I knew he hadn’t scored my ride. Then he mentioned he thought the rider had achieved nearly 40,000 points – then I got excited – I was sure I had gained over 40,000 points.

The climax of the evening was the meeting held after the meal. After the rally team had been warmly thanked, the rally organiser, Roger Allen, and rallymaster, Chris McGaffin (also an IBR veteran) announced the rally results. Of the 46 starters, 29 had achieved a final score. They first called out the names of the riders who had been unfortunate enough to qualify as DNF, either because they had finished the rally but not achieved enough points or covered enough miles, or because they had been unable to complete the rally, through mechanical breakdown, accident damage or physical tiredness.

The finishers were each called out and presented with a finisher’s plaque. Then it came to the top ten, as the names and points achieved were called out there was an increasingly small group of us looking round at each other and wondering where we had come. Gerhard was 4th on his R1200GS; Paddy was 3rd on his Goldwing; Paul was 2nd on a K1200RS, having achieved 39,805 points and covered 1562 miles, and then I realised I was the only person whose name had not been called – I had won!

My final route was Forton- Morecambe- Bentpath- Spean Bridge- Eilean Donan- Skye Museum- Kilmuir Cemetery- Ullapool- Scourie- John O Groats- Clootie Well- Lindisfarne- Angel of the North- Scarborough- Sheffield- Hyde- Jodrell Bank- Sandbach- Finish. With the rest bonus and petrol log bonus my final score was 40,262 points, having covered 1505 miles.

It was a great weekend – I could not say I enjoyed every minute of it, in 36 hours you are bound to have some dark moments when you are cold and hungry and wondering why on earth you are doing this – but the event was good fun, I enjoyed my ride and was filled with a wonderful sense of achievement at knowing I had completed the hardest ride of my life. To compound this by actually winning the event was simply incredible and left me completely speechless (well, that and the cold!). The sense of camaraderie at meeting so many other like minded (i.e. mad!) people and the memories of the weekend will stay with me for a long time. If I were to identify where I think I won the event, it would be a combination of planning which was effective and adaptable, efficient use of time for stops, and above all perseverance in keeping going. But combined with this was a fair measure of good luck (and a lack of bad luck!). There were quite a few places where I could have lost points – not checking that photograph at Spean Bridge, checking my fuel receipt at Broadhead, losing my rally towel, getting another timed receipt after my rest stop – any of which could have lost me points and meant coming in several places down. I definitely learned things about myself from this event, and look forward to defending my title next year!

Winter Rallying

2009-01-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

Although my intention of taking part in this year's Dragon Rally (http://www.conwymotorcycleclub.co.uk/) for the first time since 1986 has been stymied by my broken leg which is not going to be up to riding a bike by February, I have still found a couple of ways to take part in rallies from the comfort of my armchair (well bed, since that is more comfortable!)

The first was the Royal British Legion's Non-Attendance Rally in December - you paid not to take part, but it was all in a good cause, and saved all that messing about with having to ride a bike! (http://www.rblr.co.uk/word%20docs/NAR.pdf)

The second is rather more complicated. It is the Winter Armchair Rally (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinterRally/?yguid=375371292). This is basically a virtual rally run across in America in real time, starting on January 31st- using Streets and Trips (US version of Microsoft's Autoroute) to calculate the journey and Google Earth to record your progress and collect bonus locations. These locations, fuel stops and rest stops are recorded as in a proper rally. Have not quite worked out all the details (like what time zone it is running in, getting hold of a map of the US etc!) but should be interesting and looking forward to improving my knowledge of US geography!

BBR 2009

2008-12-25T03:11:00.000-08:00

The final draw was made for the 65 places of the 2nd Brit Butt Rally for next year. Successful applicants include last year's first three placed riders, and also include riders from Belgium, Germany and Australia. Two thirds of last year's riders reapplied, although not all were successful! http://www.ironbutt.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2628&PN=1 for a growing list of those taking part.

The Six Ps of Long Distance Rallies

2008-12-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

You may have heard of the 7Ps popular in the military – Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. I wrote the following after completing, and winning, the first UK Iron Butt Rally. On the way home I thought about my experience over the weekend and what I saw of others’ experiences and have put these thoughts together here. Some of these comments are specific to that event but it may be that some of them are useful to riders completing other long distance events. It is not all original to me as I did a lot of research on the internet before entering the event and found a number of interesting articles which helped develop my thinking about this subject. Other influences include the time I spent working as a long distance despatch rider, several years running orienteering events and mountain marathons, and taking part in a number of similar events including the National Rally, the Welsh Rally and the Round Britain Rally.

My basic premise is that if you are serious about these events and want to do your best thinking about these six aspects will help you. The best way to improve your performance is not by riding more quickly but by riding smarter, for example by cutting down on time wasted at stops you will not need to spend so much time in the road to cover the same distance, and the result is that you will be less tired, less stressed and maybe be able to ride more conservatively, thereby giving yourself a safer ride. I do not mean any of this to sound prescriptive and certainly do not assume I know everything or all the right things about this subject, but merely offer these thoughts of what has worked for me.

Preparation

What bike should you use?
There is no right bike to use and unless you are incredibly serious or very wealthy you are not likely to go out and buy a bike specifically for an event (it does happen in America for the Iron Butt Rally but that is 11 days long!). On the Brit Butt Rally there was quite a variety of bikes, including Harley tourers, Gold Wings, BMW RTs, RSs, GSs, Pan-Europeans, Blackbirds, FJRs, Triumph Rockets, KTM Adventures, Honda NTV, Africa Twin, Transalp, Suzuki Hayabusa, Bandit amongst others. I ride a 2001 R1150GS, the second place rider was on a K1200RS and third place went to a Gold Wing. There was only one or two out and out sports bikes, but if Nick Sanders can ride round the world on an R1 then I am sure it is not impossible! The basic parameters are that you can sit on the bike for around 1500 miles in 36 hours, without any great discomfort and that it will be reliable and reasonably economical. Speed is not really an issue – you will not gain anything by travelling at hyper speeds except getting tired quickly, and gaining speeding tickets and disqualification. During the rally my highest recorded speed on my GPS was in the low 90s – these events are marathons not sprints.

What is important, indeed vital, is that the bike is right for you – the mantra of Long Distance riding is ‘make the bike fit you’. Your aim in modifying your bike should be twofold – to remove or change anything likely to cause you discomfort over a long distance; and to only add anything that will improve your performance. I have made around 20 alterations to my bike in order to make it more likely that I could complete events like this. These include raising the bars, lowering the footpegs, changing the standard screen, replacing the standard bulbs with HID lights and fitting an Airhawk seat pad. None of them affect the performance of the bike and they were not very expensive changes: I sourced several second hand from Ebay or bike forums – I could probably have spent more than all of them on a performance exhaust system.

Other more costly enhancements you could look at include replacement seats or adding a fuel cell (an auxiliary fuel tank). A couple of the bikes on the rally had fuel cells fitted but it is not easy to source them in the UK as yet and I would suggest that as long as you have a reasonable tank capacity (ie over 150 miles) then you should not have a problem finding fuel as long as you include this in your planning.

Your bike needs to be prepared so that it will be reliable. There is no point in entering such an event and then not completing it because something you could have checked and replaced wears out. At the same time, anything you change or have changed can go wrong – there is always the possibility of something being fitted wrongly or being faulty. I would recommend having any changes done a couple of weeks before an event so they have chance to bed in and be tested. You need to start the event knowing everything on the bike works fine and all consumables will last the course.

What equipment do you need?
What you wear also needs to be able to help you complete the event and not hinder you in any way. A small irritation from a slightly noisy or tight helmet or a jacket which rubs against your neck can become unbearable after 24 hours on the bike. All your kit needs to be comfortable to wear, while giving you full protection from coming off or the elements. Over the course of a full day, even in summer, the weather can change dramatically and a hot sunny day can become a very cold night, especially if you are tired. Personally I wore LD comfort shorts (most recommended), thermal socks, silk longjohns, a windproof shirt, two buffs, motocross gloves, waterproof lining, and a textile suit. I also carried a waterproof one-piece oversuit, spare winter gloves and a heated waistcoat. Although the rally was at the end of May, I ended up wearing the heated waistcoat most of the time, that and heated grips were a godsend at night in Scotland.

Many people recommend flip up helmets for ease of use, some find open face better. Whichever helmet you use make sure you know you can wear it for that length of time. I was going to buy a flip up but ended up wearing my Arai TourX because I knew I could wear it all day and it was comfortable for me, although the peak makes it a pain in the wind and changing visors is a fiddle. I also knew the extended mouthpiece meant I could drink with it on, by using a Camelback type bladder in my tankbag, and could eat stuff like flapjacks with it on by breaking them into chunks. If you need to take your helmet off to do stuff like you will be losing time.

What spares you carry for the bike will depend on your bike, your own confidence in carrying out repairs, your risk assessment of what could happen and the space you have available to carry stuff in. I tried to think what could happen which would prevent me completing the rally or lose me a lot of time. I carried a puncture repair kit, a can of tyre slime and a mini compressor, spare bulbs, a spare alternator belt, a spare speedo cable, spark plugs, and then added cable ties of different lengths, a roll of duck tape, insulation tape, a length of spare wire, a bulb tester and a selection of electrical connectors and spare nuts and bolts. I also checked I knew how to use all these spares to make repairs using the standard BMW toolkit on the bike. The only other tool I carried was a Leatherman.

Depending on the event you may need a camera to record where you have been and a torch if you are going through the night, so consider whether you need backups for these, spare batteries or memory cards. Other things you may need to consider are whether you need to carry anything to rest with such as a sleeping bag or bivvy bag, or for emergencies, bearing in mind that you may end up going to some very remote places with no mobile coverage where a breakdown in the cold at night could be a problem.

How can you prepare yourself?
Apart from riding your bike which I will cover under practice, there are four areas in which you can prepare yourself for events like these – physical fitness, mental preparation, knowledge and riding ability.
The fitter you are the more likely it is you will be able to keep going as you will not get tired so quickly and lose concentration. I am not suggesting you need to go to the gym every night (I haven’t been in one in years) but if you can raise your basic level of fitness in the months or weeks preceding the event it will help your performance.

You can also help yourself by preparing yourself mentally. What is it you want from this event? Setting goals and visualising yourself achieving them may help you and give you the determination to complete them.

Thirdly, the more research you do about events like this, the more likely you are to pick up tips you can use to help you. Before this event I looked on the internet and found everything I could about long distance riding – I read articles on sleep deprivation and the effects of fatigue, on how other people had completed the Iron Butt Rally in America, on the modifications other people had made to their bikes, on which kit they recommended.

Lastly, what can you do to make yourself a better prepared and safer rider?
Working on the basis that you have three levels of protection on a bike – your riding plan; your skills and ability; and your gear, you can improve all three and may find that some form of advanced riding training will help you work on the first two.

Practice

The only way you will know if you can do the miles, that your bike is comfortable and that all your gear works for you is if you have already ridden it in that condition regularly for a long distance. If you were going to run a marathon you would start off by running shorter distances and building up to the event by practising running. In the same way you will get better at long distance events if you have learned what you are capable of by completing a number of long distance rides and similar events. If you are not accustomed to riding in different conditions, at night, in rain, you will not know how these conditions will affect your riding, especially if you are in them for hours on end. There are quite a few long distance rides you can take part in if you want an excuse or target to build up your mileage. The Iron Butt Association has rides for 1000 miles in 24 hours, 1500 miles in 24 or 36 hours, and End to End rides from Lands End to John O Groats (see www.ironbuttuk.org). The Long Distance Riders have rides for 500 and 1000 miles in 24 hours and 1500 miles in 36 hours (www.longdistanceriders.net)

There are no events directly comparable to the Brit Butt Rally but there are a number of other navigational scatter rallies held in the UK which are useful practice for the event. These include the National, Welsh and Scottish Rallies and the Round Britain Rally. All follow slightly different formats. The three national rallies all have day competitions; on the National you can ride through the night depending on your course; the Scottish has courses which can be completed over the month before the competition day; the Welsh is probably the greatest navigational challenge; and the Round Britain Rally has 100 locations which can be visited at any time between April and October but they do require a certain amount of research on the internet first.

If you become very serious it may be that you use a particular event to focus on a specific area of your learning, eg spending a day doing Round Britain Rally controls and focussing on your system for dealing with controls to make that aspect as efficient as possible. (If you are getting this serious, it may be time to talk to someone about the problem...) There is a list of rallies and their websites on my blog at http://grimridersblog.blogspot.com/

Planning

I have known people who have spent hours riding an event and then missed out on the award they set out to gain because of a mistake they recognised afterwards could have been easily avoided if their plan was more accurate. This includes missing out on an Iron Butt Rally finish by starting the rest bonus at the wrong time; losing bonus points by taking a photograph of the wrong thing; having to ride hundreds of extra miles to go back to a control they had ridden past; getting disqualified on the National Rally by riding 5 miles too far on the Platinum course; losing an award on the Welsh rally by arriving at a manned control hours after it was closed. For some events it is said you can win or lose before you have even got on the bike, depending on the quality of your planning.
But planning, especially on a long distance event, comes in two stages: the initial phase before the event when you work out all the different possibilities and ensure you are equipped with a range of options to complete the course; and the second phase which continues throughout the event as you are constantly calculating and recalculating which options are most possible – and you will be doing this all through the event, depending on your average speed and when you arrive at controls, in comparison to what you expected in your initial planning.
Good route planning depends on being able to consider and take into account all the different factors which will affect your ride. These may include the rules of the event; any mileage requirements; any bonus or points requirements; any rest or stop requirements; any time restrictions; how far you know you can travel in the time available; the condition of the roads you are travelling over; the likely weather; how often and where you will need to stop for fuel, and how long each stop will take you; the time needed to locate the control sites you are going for; and your own physical condition. The more you already know about any of these factors, or can find out before the start, can only help you. Some of this goes back to preparation and practice – the more roads in Britain you have ridden over, the more you will be able to predict what they will be like on your route. An accurate weather forecast may be the deciding factor in determining the direction you leave from the start. If you are going to be somewhere remote at night it may be useful finding a list of petrol stations open 24 hours in that area before you leave.

Even if using GPS it is worth having a map with all the controls marked on – partly as a backup but also because it is the easiest way to get an overview of all the controls which you will need to make your initial plan, but also if you need to revise your plan partway through the event.

On some events you will be able to plan your route out before the start and just follow it (eg the National Rally), on many, and especially if there are time restrictions, you may have to have a more flexible plan which gives you different options, depending on how well you are doing.

I would usually start off with a core route which links together a number of high value controls and calculate a route which includes the route to and from this string, including any controls obviously on route. I would ensure this route includes any minimum points or mileage requirements and enables me to reach any time restrictions for any of the controls. Having plotted these in Autoroute I will be able to work out what time I should reach each control, by using the route calculation in Autoroute but adding 5 minutes for each stop at a control, 10 minutes for fuel/toilet stops and any rest stop requirements. This gives me a clear picture of where I can get to – I will then look for what extra controls I can add to this, and will probably have several different options for the run in to the finish, using the last high value control as my marker. I will then transfer this Autoroute file as a list of waypoints via GPSU, a free download, onto my Garmin 2610. I also write down the controls I am going to visit on a list which goes into the top of my tankbag, and includes any specific directions or control collection requirements and my expected time at each control. On some shorter events such as the 10 hour Norn Butt Rally you may only have enough time to spend half an hour planning a rough route and end up doing most of your time planning as you go along so you are constantly revising your route and planning for different eventualities.

When riding I will enter each leg at a time into the GPS and follow that to the next control, regularly checking my time against my expected time. I will also be doing mental calculations to work out my average speed and see how this is changing each hour. Generally I find I am working to an average of around 60mph including stops.

The advantage of keeping your plan flexible like this is that if something does go wrong you should always be aware of your options and be able to quickly work out a fallback plan. What you don’t want is to get to the finish too early and not have anywhere else to go to collect some more points, or, even worse, get to the finish too late and either lose points or even get disqualified. I once finished the first day of a mountain marathon over an hour late because the river I intended to cross to the finish was in flood, and ended up running for over 8 hours for a score of -65 points! I also had the ignition short out on my K1200RS on the National Rally one year, causing the rear lights to fail. Having wired them direct with some headphone wire I worked out I could get the bike home, spend several hours rewiring the ignition, and still get to the finish, albeit only for a Silver award, with only a 40 mile diversion.

Paperwork

The first rule of paperwork is read everything carefully, and then read it again. In every event there will be people who lose out on points or even on achieving a result because they have not completed their paperwork correctly. It may be something as simple as filling in the wrong box or not getting a receipt for something. Organisers have to be fairly strict to be fair to everyone so it is up to you to make sure you know what you should be doing. At the same time it is not impossible for organisers to have made a mistake (on the Scottish Rally I was supposed to get a receipt form a petrol station which looked like it had been burned down!).

Part of this comes down to your preparation – do you know where all your paperwork is, are you sure what you need to do at each fuel stop, each bonus stop. What if it rains, or is very windy? Just thinking about these possibilities beforehand will help you anticipate problems and see how good your system is and how it can be improved.

If you have to collect fuel receipts it is usually best to ask for a VAT receipt as they are more likely to include all the information you need, but even then check it – it is not unknown to be given the wrong receipt, on the Brit Butt Rally I was given a receipt for 70 gallons of diesel at Broadford!

If taking photographs make sure you know exactly what you need to record at each stop – it may well vary from bonus to bonus. If the photograph has to include your bike then get your bike in the shot – if you have to be in as well then hold the camera at arms length and stick your head in or ask someone passing – but if so always check the photo afterwards. I got someone to take a photo of me at the end of an IBA ride, did not check it and found he had pressed the wrong button, no photo! The photos do not have to be artistic or perfect (unless you are on the Irish Photographic Rally of course!), just readable. It is always worth checking each photo to make sure it shows what you think it should and if your camera enables you to protect each photograph use that function too. It is not unknown for people to accidentally delete pictures or even reformat a memory card (don’t ask how I know that, but at least it was only 6 bonuses on the Round Britain Rally so I could go back...). On some rallies it may be possible to carry two cameras and take two photographs – on the Brit Butt Rally this isn’t possible as your memory card is checked and signed and you can only use the one card. Even if you can’t it may be a good idea to have a backup camera which can take the same memory card if your first one breaks (and I have had the screen go on mine on the Scottish Rally).

For all these things have a particular place for them in your bag or pocket and put them back there each time they are used, and double check all press studs/ zips/ velcro each time you have done them up – it is easy to rush this at a control stop and find something missing at the next one (I was the only rider to lose their rally towel on the Brit Butt Rally and I have no idea where it went to...)

Performance

Okay, you have done all your preparation, packed all your bags, completed your initial planning and are ready to go. Thinking about some of these aspects of your ride may help your performance on the event.

Speed – as I have said before, excessive speeding will only be counter productive, long distance riding is very much about maintaining a steady pace which is reasonably economical, not too tiring and gives you time to keep processing information about your ride. I learned many years ago as a despatch rider that you can maintain an overall average speed (including all stops) of around 60mph without speeding but by keeping to the limit wherever possible and not slowing down for anything!

Other riders – it is easy to be distracted by other riders, either by following them into mistakes or down the wrong road, or by riding with someone and suddenly finding you have spent the last 20 miles at a slower speed than you would have maintained by yourself, or by making extra stops than you would have done by yourself. Above all you have to ride your own event, and keep to your own plan. On more competitive events you may even find other riders playing mind games, saying it is not worth going for that control, or not admitting to knowing the way to somewhere.

Controls – how long do you need to stop at a control? A lot of time can be spent talking to other riders, getting paperwork or cameras in and out of panniers and working out the next leg of your route. You can cut all this down by having a quick way of accessing and recording what you need at each control, which may not even need stopping or getting off the bike (often on the Welsh rally I will note what I need in my head and ride on, recording several controls together), also by using the time in between controls to look at the following leg. This way you will know already where you are going out of a control and just set straight off without needing to check your route again. This is used in orienteering to save time and avoid giving the location of controls away to other competitors!
Fuel stops – you need to plan for these in good time and the amount of planning you need will depend on your tank capacity and where you are – in most of the UK there is not a great problem in finding petrol stations open 24 hours, but in some more remote areas, especially in Northern Scotland or Mid-Wales, and at night or on a Sunday, this can be difficult, so needs to be planned for. When you are going to stop, think through what you need to do at the petrol station before you get there so you are not wasting time. And remember your receipt - I have ridden away and had to go back to get one, but this only really works if nobody else has been into the station!

Rest stops – based on your experience you should know what sort of rest stops you need in a given time and how best they work for you: several and often, or one longer period of time. If going over 24 hours you will need to sleep (there is a really interesting article on Fatigue and Sleep Deprivation on the Iron Butt website which is recommended reading). Planning for this should also have come into your preparation for the event so you start as fully rested as you can. You do need to be able to recognise the signs of sleep deprivation and the effect they are having on your riding. If you are going to sleep make sure you have some way of waking up again, e.g. by setting the alarm on your phone.

Self-monitoring – you need to be aware all the time, and especially as the day gets longer, how you are feeling – do you need to stop for a rest/ put warmer clothing on? It is better to do these things before you are yawning or shivering as you will find your performance has dropped off and you have already lost the time it would have taken to stop and have a hot drink or put an extra layer on. It is easy to get tunnel vision and only see the road ahead and the ticking clock, but your first priority has to be ensuring you are as safe as you can be.

How can I improve for the next event?
Assuming you want to do another event, you will be able to improve. Firstly, by reflecting on your own experience – review your course: what could you have done better? Where did you lose time? What was good/bad about your planning? What would you do differently if you were starting tomorrow? What might you change about your bike/gear? Secondly, by learning from others who were taking part – what routes did others take who were more successful? What else were other riders doing that you could learn from?

Perseverance

The final P is probably the one that makes the greatest difference, certainly on the longer events, to whether you will achieve a good finish. Assuming that there will be other riders as experienced or more experienced than yourself, others who will see the same brilliant route you have planned and who are as efficient on the road, it may come down to determination and the ability to carry on whatever the conditions and at the limit of your abilities. At the same time there is a fine line between perseverance and foolhardiness - pushing on when you are a bit cold and wet is no problem as long as you are experienced at riding in the rain, pushing on when you are very tired or so cold you are shivering is a recipe for disaster. Unless you are sure of what you can do and survive, always err on the side of caution. Keeping safe should always be your priority.

Perseverance comes down to determination, having a goal and wanting to reach it; experience, knowing you can carry on and can cope with the conditions; and mental ‘toughness’, the ability to be single minded enough to keep to the path you have chosen. Part of this comes down to the level of risk you are prepared to live with, but also how accurately you have assessed that risk, depending on your experience and knowledge.

At the end of the day any motorcycle rally is just a bike ride, and the most important thing is that you complete it safely and in one piece at the end of it. Having said that the sense of achievement from completing such a rally is enormous and you will learn something important about your own abilities and character. I hope some of this has been useful – if you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at the thegrimrider@gmail.com.

Off the Bike

2008-12-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I have ridden bikes for 23 years and covered several hundred thousands of miles in that time, with no serious accident, so I guess by the law of averages it had to happen some time...

Saturday 15th November was a bright sunny but cold day. The previous weekend I had finally put on the last parts needed to complete the TX750 - a brake master cylinder cap and a left hand fuel tank tap - each part had taken me nearly 2 years to acquire so I was eager to see if the bike would still work. I gave it a quick service, checked it over and it fired first time and ran up and down the road fine. So I went home and booked an MOT for the following Saturday morning at Gov'nors Bridge in Atherstone.

I was only going a few miles down the road but as it was cold I still put on my Cold Killers undersuit, BMW Tourance suit, and winter gloves and boots - I was to be very glad of this decision, although in the next few weeks I often regretted going out at all!

At 10.25 am I left my garage, rode out of the village and the next thing I can remember is hearing some bangs behind me, the bike not feeling right, and then there was a huge bang as I hit a car head on. I came to lying in the middle of the road on my left hand side with a terrible pain in my right leg. It felt like my leg had come off and was at a very strange angle, and I could feel an awful pain in my heel but it didn't seem to be connected to the ground. Looking down the road I could see the TX on its side about 12 feet away, with bits of it scattered all across the road, and a red car still moving down the road and coming to a stop about 100 yards away. I could hear myself screaming as several other drivers ran up from behind me. The next half an hour seemed to last a hell of a long time as we waited for the paramedics, and I was shivering from the cold of the road. I remember taking my helmet off and looking down at my leg - I could only see that the outer layer of my trousers was ripped and my foot seemed to be at a strange angle. There seemed to be a lot of people around, includng several police officers. At last the paramedics arrived - the doctor put me on my back and proceeded to cut off all my clothes. Thankfully she also injected me with ketamin and the next hour passed in a series of very weird hallucinations.

I started to come around as the air ambulance landed at Coventry University Hospital. I was strapped to a board and could vaguely see and and hear the rotors of the helicopter but could not make out faces - all the people around me still looked like aliens! Over the next few hours I drifted in and out of consciousness as I was X-rayed and transferred to a ward bed. I had snapped my right femur about 4 inches above my knee, and there was a big gash across my knee with some possible damage to the knee and my heel. Later that evening I had a 4 hour operation to put a titanium pin right through my femur, held in by 4 screws.

I was in hospital for the next 10 days. After the first five days the hospital was closed to visitors because they had the novovirus bug on most of the wards, which made time drag even more! I have now been home for another 9 days and the physio tells me it will be 6-12 weeks before I can bear weight on the leg without crutches. At least I know I shall be fine in a few months, and feel lucky knowing it could have been far worse - and I met several people in hospital who cannot say the same.

I still cannot remember any details of the crash. I had thought at the time that the car had come across the white line and hit me but the police reconstruction shows that it was I that crossed the line and so caused the accident - the bangs I heard was my rear inner tube deflating, presumably causing the bike to change direction.

If there is a lesson to be learned it is that you can never predict when something bad can happen on the road and how important it is to be prepared - I am so glad I took the time to make sure I was wearing all the right gear, but wish I had considered the age of the tyres and inner tubes before hand - I had checked them but thought, let's see how they do on the MOT.

Paul at Gov'nors Bridge tells me the bike is pretty much totalled - the forks were snapped right through (same as TZ ones so very difficult to obtain again) and the handlebars, switchgear, tank, seat, engine covers and probably frame are all bent, one exhaust was ripped off. The car I hit was also a write off - the impact took the driver's front wheel off.

At the moment I do not feel sure about riding at all again, and certainly not that TX!

Entry for Brit Butt Rally 2009

2008-11-09T01:54:00.000-08:00

Entries for next year's 36 hour Brit Butt Rally opened yesterday with the lauch of the new website at http://www.britbuttrally.com/. There will be 65 places altogether, with all entries being drawn out of a hat before Xmas - with the exception of the first three placed riders from last year who get automatic entry. Successful applicants will be informed by phone on Xmas Day.

Good luck to anyone entering. I think it will be harder than last year, mainly because more people know what to expect now and won't be making some of the mistakes that were made last year! See page 29 of this month's Motor Cycle Monthly at http://www.mpldigital.com/mortons-media/motorcycle-monthly/ for a brief article by rallymaster Chris McGaffin.

Brit Butt Light 2009

2008-11-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

One of the IBA events for next year will be the first running of this event. It will probably take place near the end of July and will be a 12 hour event across England. I shall be the rallymaster and am planning on a theme for the controls and some special twists to it as well. It should be a good opportunity for those who miss out on the draw for the Brit But Rally to take part in a competition. There will probably be places for 30 riders. The only downside for me is that as rallymaster I cannot take part!

Entries should be opening soon on the Brit Butt Website at:
http://www.britbuttrally.com/

Ride2Eat

2008-10-26T02:10:00.000-07:00

In the IBA anyone can announce a venue and time for a Ride2Eat meet and anyone who wants to can be there for soem chat and a meal. Yesterday 18 of us, on a variety of bikes, from a Honda Dominator to a RocketIII trike, met at the National Motorcycle Museum then rode in convoy a few miles to the Wagon Load of Lime pub in Old Arley, North Warwickshire. I think the furthest round trip rode was 425 miles, by Dave from Sunderland, while the furthest travelled was Chris who flew over from Northern Ireland. It was a great opportunity to catch up and put faces to names on the IBR forum - most of us had met each other at the Brit Butt Rally last May but were probably too tired then to remember much! There were several announcements made of forthcoming events for the UK branch of the IBA so lots to look forward to next year!

Animated BMW Boxer Engine

2008-10-05T02:21:00.000-07:00

If you have ever wondered what a flat twin BMW boxer engine lools like inside!

http://www.animatedpiston.com/BMW.htm

Neoprene fork shrouds

2008-10-05T01:59:00.001-07:00

Got these neoprene fork shrouds off a guy on the UKGSer site, cut them to shape and attached them with a few velcro ties - still good after a few months since fitting and helped to cover up the corrosion and wear to the fork legs.

Third rally win of the year!

2008-09-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

Arrived home after three and a half weeks away to find a silver plate waiting in the postbox as the Overall Winner of the Welsh Rally which took place at the beginning of May. Very surprised as had not heard anything about results and to be honest I thought I had not done so well on the general knowledge questions this year. Just shows that all that practice this year at skittles paid off after all!

Norn Iron Butt Rally

2008-09-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

This was the first staging of this 10 hour rally, organised by IBA Ireland. It took place on Sunday 31st August, starting and finishing at Ballymena Fire Station. It was single-handedly planned and organised by Chris McGaffin, an Iron Butt veteran and previous rallymaster of the inaugural Brit Butt rally.

There were only around a dozen entrants who turned up before 8am to be greeted with a talk about the rules and an envelope with the control points book, a control card and a map showing the approximate location of the controls. We had to be back by 5pm not to incur penalties, and by 6pm to avoid disqualification. At 8 o'clock we opened our envelopes and set about planning our routes - conscious that the clock was already running. I recognised a few of the controls from doing the Photo Rally but most were unknown and I spent about 20 minutes working out a rough route which involved a circuit of Donegal with a variety of finish options before departing for my first stop in Coleraine.

By the third control I was already changing my plan, after working out that I was going to miss a ferry by a couple of minutes and realising that as I had no euros and no cards after losing (or thinking I had lost!) my wallet the day before, I couldn't afford to spend more than 200 miles in Donegal before getting back to Northern Ireland! The weather was also pretty bad as I crossed the mountains and I had a couple of slides from the combination of wet roads, poor surface and pretty worn rear tyre (by the time I got home it had done over 12k and was rather slick-like).

Chris had also built in a few bonus options - one was to get an extra 1000 points by getting two controls, one near Enniskillen and the other near Ballycastle - but he would be at the second one for only an hour between 3 and 4pm. As I left the first one at 2.15pm I reckoned I just had time to cover the 90 miles but then coud not find a petrol station - when I did it was a busy Spar which insisted on you paying before filling up and I ended up losing 20 minutes. After a mad dash along backroads for another half an hour I realised I was not going to reach Chris in time and turned off to Cookstown to claim a few fire stations on the way back.
As I got towards the finish I had 40 minutes to go before 5pm and worked out that I just had time to claim two more controls near Stranocum which was about 15 miles north of Ballymena. I decided to go for it as I had seen both the controls on a ride out from Ballymena to the coast the day before. The 40 miles in 40 minutes became a little more concerning as my fuel light came on with 34 miles still to go and it became a race to see if I would finish in time, finish late, or run out of fuel before I got there. In the event I finished with one minute to spare, and later found I had won by more than the 1000 points I had gained by getting those two controls! In the whole day I only stopped the bike tice for petrol and at some of the controls, and finished having eaten half a Snickers and drank a bottle of Gatorade. We were greeted with tea, stew and rolls at the finish.

Half an hour later I was on the road again to get the ferry from Larne to Stranraer, eventually arriving at my dad's house in Cheshire at 2.30 the following morning, before leaving at 7.30 to get to school in time for the start of the Autumn term. (I did pick up one RBR LM at Mow Cop on the way!)

It was a great day's riding and Chris did a brilliant job running the event, plus we raised £180 for charity.

Results: http://www.ibaireland.org/norniron.html

Irish Photographic Rally

2008-09-07T14:45:00.001-07:00

The Irish Photographic Rally is run each year by the Boyne Riders. A list of 24 locations across Ireland is published each year in February and you have until the end of October to visit and photograph as many of them as you wish. Visiting 12 gains you a Bronze award, 18 a Silver, and all 24 Gold.

We spent a great nine days touring Ireland and visiting all 24 locations - some were hard to find as I had done little preapration apart from finding their rough location on Autoroute and transferring it to my Garmin 2610. This did not show many of the smaller roads and got itself tangled up several times. I am told v10 is much better but had not got around to ordering that before we left. I had also got one of the places completely wrong - Castletown, West Meath, not Castletown, Meath! A bit more forward planning would have saved some time and anguish! The weather was not brilliant, much low cloud and mist made some parts, especially Cork and Kerry, disappointing, but we spent two restful days at Ballinskelligs with my brother's family. We needed it after the state of some of the roads - the only time I have had the GS bottoming out on the road!

The above is not one of the location - I just liked the picture, it is the Dark Hedges at Stranocum (but, it was one of the Norn Rally controls). For all our photos use the following link:

http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/thegrimrider/Irish%20Photographic%20Rally/?action=view&current=cc35d342.pbw

Scottish Rally

2008-09-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

I had never completed the Scottish Rally before, nor therefore the Tri-nations Challenge which involves finishing the National, Welsh and Scottish rallies in the same year. Because the Scottish Rally takes place on the second weekend in September when school has just started back (and being a teacher) it is difficult to get up to do it, but luckily it is possible to complete the Touring Award in the month before that, so we decided to have a go at that.
To achieve the award it is necessary to travel from receipt point to receipt point according to the grid provided, visiting at least 20 points and 1000 miles. After visiting friends and six Round Britain Rally landmarks on the way north, we started at Berwick upon Tweed on Saturday 16th August and finished at Dromore south of Stranraer on Wednesday 20th after visiting 25 receipt points.
The best thing about the rally is the scenery you pass through and the roads you discover along the way - my favourite was the road from Oban down to Tarbet. The weather was distinctly variable with couple of rainstorms, including a very heavy one coming across Glencoe which drove us into a b&b in Tyndrum for shelter. Apart from that we camped.
All the receipt points were service stations at which we had to get receipts - we got used to asking for a receipt for a couple of Snickers! Not all the information was accurate though - one of the stations had closed down, a couple had changed name and one ddn't even sell petrol, so it was not always obvious where to go to.
We finished the rally in time to catch the ferry to Ireland for the next part of our summer rally tour.

The Tricorne SS2000

2008-07-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

The idea was to complete an SS2000 ride – an IBA recognised ride which constitutes covering over 2000 miles within a 48 hour period. I planned to include a 4 Corners ride within that, visiting Lowestoft; John O Groats; St Davids; and Land End within 36 hours along the way and adding on the distance from home to Lowestoft and then from LE back home to get to over 2000 miles. A friend from the Iron Butt Rally, Iron Butt Abu, decided to join me on the ride and as we both live about 200 miles from Lowestoft we decided to synchronise our starts to get to Lowestoft at about the same time on Monday 28th July. My only problem was that my bike was booked in for a brake service at the local (40 miles away) BMW dealers the morning we were setting off, so that became my start point and I phoned Abu at 11.15am as I left.

I covered the 199 miles to the Euroscope at Lowestoft (luckily knew exactly where it was as I visited it the previous week on the East Coast Challenge – it is not well signposted!), and my main concern as I rode there was whether we would end up dehydrating in the heat. Little did I know what was to come – it clouded over after Norwich and that was the last of the hot weather we were to see. I got two witnesses who were walking past – the first old guy couldn’t remember his phone number so I wasn’t sure how reliable a witness he would be! After 50 minutes at Lowestoft (Abu had terrible traffic around the M25) we set off north. We had decided to go up the A1 rather than across to the M6 to vary the route a little and it was very pleasant travelling across East Anglia and up through Lincolnshire, We had not ridden together before and both probably had some uncertainties about how we would get on, but our styles and speeds seemed to gel well and we made good progress.

Getting to Berwick upon Tweed marked a change of weather – we were surrounded by thick fog – I thought it was a fog off the sea which would clear but it was to last for the next 7 or 8 hours. All the way through Scotland we saw nothing beyond the edge of the road and about 20 feet ahead and it became very tiring as we had to concentrate so hard all the time. We took it in turns to lead but Abu coped far better with the fog (the advantage of a Fog City insert, I could see very little at times as my visor and glasses misted up – I had assumed would not need to treat them!) and he dragged us through. We stopped for a break in Inverness and got to John O Groats just before 5am where the fog was just clear enough to take a couple of photos. There was nobody around so we headed back down the road and found that the Tescos north of Wick was just opening and a couple of ladies agreed to be our witnesses. We set off again, pausing briefly to take a photograph of the Round Britain Rally landmark in Brora as it was only just off our road. We took notice of the deer warning signs on the A90, remembering what had happened to several riders on the Iron Butt, but obviously my deer whistle was doing its job!

Bike at John O Groats

We stopped again in Inverness for breakfast and a rest before setting off again in the fog, now added to by rain. The fog abated when we got south to Stirling, but the rain got heavier until we had left Scotland and got on to the M6 south. At Carlisle Abu decided he could not go on and needed to stop so I went on alone. I worked out that I did not have the energy, or time, to complete the rest of the 4 Corners as there was still over 800 miles to go and only 14 hours to complete them in. I seriously considered heading for home, but that would only have come to 1460 miles, not even a BunBurner 1500, and I was determined to see if I could get the 2000 miles in. I still felt good after 28 hours on the road so decided to head for Lands End, thinking that would constitute an End to End Ride. Heading for home from there would come to just over 2000 miles. The forecast for the south west was not good but I put my heated vest on and winter gloves and rode past the heavy traffic around Birmingham, 20 miles from home, and down the M5.

It was getting dark again as I reached Cornwall and I was looking forward to riding across the county I was born in, since I had not visited for many years. However, Cornwall was really horrible to me – the wind was blowing very heavily form the south west, to the extent I had to lean the bike right into it and it was continually getting blown across the lane on the A30. As I went across Bodmin Moor it started to rain again, so heavily it was splashing into my helmet vents and soaking my face. The last 30 miles to Lands End took me over an hour to complete – the roads were like rivers in places, with water splashing over my feet and up to the bike’s axles in places. It was like being in a monsoon when I reached Lands End just before 11pm and I was soaked through as soon as I took my helmet off. The wind nearly blew me off my feet and I struggled to hold the camera steady enough to take a photo.

Bike at Lands End

I wandered into the Lands End Hotel to get a witness and was severely tempted to stay there, but the thought of getting up early in the morning when it would still be raining and leaving early enough to get home by 11am forced me back out into the rain. It took me nearly 2 and a half hours to get as far as Okehampton when I suddenly realised I had been on reserve for a while and had not seen a garage for miles. Despite the heated vest and grips I was getting cold, and my boots and gloves were now full of water. I was feeling very miserable and starting to see hallucinations in all the shapes appearing out of the dark – the mist was like all the avenging angels at the end of the first Raiders of the Lost Ark film, and I thought it best to stop before they got me! Luckily a garage appeared and I dived into it, dripping water all over the floor like a drowned rat – the lady behind the counter obviously felt so sorry for me she gave me some chocolate and made me a cup of coffee!

The rest of the journey home went in a shivering blur with only a couple of stops for petrol and more coffee at Gordano until I pulled up outside the house at 5.27am, 2029 miles and 42 hours after leaving Clarks BMW. I hadn’t actually slept in that time but had catnapped on a few occasions for quarter of an hour or so at a time. I did question what I was doing, and why, on quite a few occasions and there were times when I felt the ride was definitely out, if not to finish me off, then to finish my commitment to long distance riding! But I am sure it will not be my last ride, although it may be a while yet before the next such adventure!

East Coast Challenge

2008-07-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.eastcoastchallenge.co.uk/5.html

This challenge is run by a bike shop in Ipswich and it involves visiting five towns in East Anglia. There are several different challenges, depending on when you do it, your bike and your age. We completed the challenge last week and also visited ten Round Britain Rally landmarks making it a busy day.

Modifications to the R1150GS

2008-07-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here are most of the modifications I have made to my R1150GS, mainly to make it fit me better for long distance riding

National Rally 2008

2008-07-13T01:02:00.000-07:00

Completed the National Rally last weekend. Did the Special Tests for the first time, since they were at MIRA which is a 10 minute ride from home. The five riding tests were fine - they involved: 1. slow riding - between two lines 50cm apart for 30 metres in more than 30 seconds (took 32 seconds); 2. distance judgement - setting 2 poles the right distance apart to fit your bike through from 30 metres away (was 1cm out); 3. a slalom around eight cones - there and back in under a minute (took 43 seconds); 4. timed circuit - doing a short circuit including a steep hill, twice and having the same time each time (was 1 second out); 5. banked circuit at a set speed - I had 58mph as my constant speed and had to go through the speed trap at 35mph (managed 55mph, may have missed the speed trap as I thought I went past at 35 but was recorded at 49!). The final test was to state how heavy your bike was on each wheel and this was then measured - I thought it through and was way out, then realised I had worked it out with me sat on it and they weighed the bike alone! Doh! Spent the rest of the morning in the cafe there chatting to several guys fom the Brit Butt rally.

Met my mate Pete on his FJR at Dunchurch for the start at 2pm. Our route took us to Meriden; Cannock; Sutton Maddox: Whitchurch; Stoke; Macclesfield; Hyde; Penistone; Bakewell; Ashbourne; Kegwoth; Leicester; Corby; St Neots; Sawston; Braintree; Harlow; Stevenage; Watford; Aylesbury and to the finish at Bletchley Park. We also visited a few Round Britain Rally controls but not as many as I had planned, mainly because our speed was a little down and the weather was pretty awful, especially as it got dark. We kept going fairly well - it was something of a novelty for me to ride with someone else over such a distance and overall enjoyable, at times useful (like when I took the wrong road over the moors from Stoke!), at others frustrating as you have to make allowances for each other(apologies to Pete for the road from Penistone to Bakewell - it was fine on the GS but think it shook a few of his fillings out!). We got about an hour's kip at Harlow and got to the finish just before 8am. No dramas apart from me losing my rag at a fellow competitor who cut straight across me as I went round a roundabout in Aylesbury to which I took exception, and we had a little heated discussion about it at the control a mile down the road!

Riding History

2008-06-29T03:36:00.001-07:00

Motorcycle Monthly Fame!

2008-06-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Fellow IBR rider Abu just sent me this link - first time I have seen my own photo in print (Stacey not impressed as this was taken at the start at 6am and she hadn't got any makeup on!)

https://engage.lpplus.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.mpldigital.com/mortons-media/motorcycle-monthly/

Ultimate Rider

2008-06-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

Just heard today have got through to the finals of the BIKE Ultimate Rider challenge (not sure how much of an achievement that is as don't know how many were invited to apply -could be a real minority event!). Anyway, first round is next week at Bruntingthorpe...

BIKE Magazine Ultimate Rider Competition Entry

2008-06-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

I came to riding bikes relatively late when I first rode an XL185 round a field at the age of 23. I fell off a lot but loved it. Shortly after I acquired my first road bike – a 1973 YB100. I also fell off that a lot. To stop myself falling off (it was beginning to hurt) I rashly bought a Jawa 350, complete with sidecar (!) – I did about 12000 miles on it and passed my test on it (in the days when you just rode around the block a few times). However, I did not fall off it, even when I removed the sidecar (with a large hacksaw) and rode around with a completely square rear tyre and absolutely no conception of how ridiculous I looked. Perhaps that start goes someway to explaining why I have always been something of a loner when it comes to motorcycling!

In the intervening years following this inauspicious start to my biking career I have owned around 25 bikes including two on which I have covered over 100,000 miles (R100RS and FJ1200).

I spent two years in the mid 1980s working as a despatch rider in Cardiff, mainly doing long distance work on a CX500 and then a R80RT – this came to an end when, returning home late one night, I miss saw a roundabout – the Boxer’s engine went down one exit, most of the rest of the bike down another and I ended up lying upside down on the roundabout, convinced I had broken my neck as I could not move my head. The longest twenty minutes of my life ended when the paramedics turned up and moved my helmet from where it was jammed against the gutter!

I went to work in a bike shop and became sales and workshop manager of a Honda and Suzuki dealership (and Piaggios – now test riding T5s really was scary!) for a year. It was not a great time to be selling bikes – I remember when the first GSXR1100 came out and we sat there and tried to work out who was going to pay over £5k for a motorbike that wasn’t a Harley or a Goldwing. Needless to say I was not the world’s greatest salesman and left to go into teaching. The boom in motorcycle sales started soon after that…

Over the years I have been involved in riding bikes in lots of different forms; including doing several track days, including Suzuki and Honda hospitality days, and a Ride magazine day; racing a RG250 (in the days when RD250s ruled everything!) for three races; doing a season of trail bike enduros on an XL600 which was far, far too heavy; doing a season of C90 Enduro racing (the best fun of all), and one RWYB drag race (on a VFR750).

I have used a bike to commute most days (currently going from Coventry to Wolverhampton each day), and have helped with the falling off thing by taking advanced training with the IAM and ROSPA. I have had one riding ban (many years ago – borrowed RG500 – the worst mirrors on a bike). I have ridden through most countries in Europe and done road trips to Eastern Europe, Italy, Spain and Morocco.

My main biking interest now is in long distance rides and navigational rallies. I have completed several long distance rides including 1000 miles in 14.5 hours and an End 2 End. I have also taken part in many Welsh and National rallies and recently started on my first Round Britain rally. My ambition is to take part in the US Iron Butt Rally (11 days, 11000 miles). One day! But recently I took part in the first UK Iron Butt Rally and the fact that I won it gives me some bragging rights to claim if not the ultimate rider in the UK then at least ‘the toughest rider in the UK’ (their words not mine!)

Long Distance Rides - a catalogue

2008-06-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Have collected together some details of long distance rides in the UK - those starred are the ones I have completed or am intending to complete this year:

Iron Butt Saddlesore* (1000 miles in 24 hours) www.ironbutt.com
Iron Butt Bunburner* (1500 miles in 36 hours)
Iron Butt Bunburner Gold (1500 miles in 24 hours)
Iron Butt End 2 End* (Lands End to John O Groats – 874 miles)
Iron Butt End 2 End Gold (Lands End to John O Groats plus extra mileage to make 1000 miles in total)
Iron Butt 4 Corners* (Lands End; St Davids; John O Groats; Lowestoft – 14-1800 miles depending on order in 36 hours) LDRiders ‘Easy Rider’ (500 miles in 12 hours) http://www.longdistanceriders.net/
LDRiders ‘Easy Rider’* (500 miles in 12 hours)
LDRiders ‘Full Throttle’* (1000 miles in 24 hours)
LD Riders ‘King of the Road’ (1500 miles in 36 hours)
BIKE 440* (Bike Magazine’s test route) www.bikemagazine.co.uk
Boundary Motorcycle Challenge (round coast of Britain c.2800 miles) www.boundary500.co.uk
Welsh Rally* ( 1st weekend in May) www.clivemcc.co.uk
UK Iron Butt Rally* (last weekend in May) www.ironbuttukrally.info
National Rally* (1st weekend in July) www.nationalroadrally.co.uk
Scottish Rally* (2nd weekend in September)
SMC Challenge* (tour of Scottish castles) www.scottishmotorcycleclub.org.uk
Round Britain Rally* (1st April to September 1st) www.roundbritainrally.co.uk
Irish Photo Rally* (before November 28th) www.irishphotorally.com
Norn Iron Rally* (12 hours rally in Northern Ireland) http://www.ibaireland.org/
Rally of Discovery Rides (more off-road bias) http://www.discoveryrally.com/
Rider's Rally (Ireland, 1st week in August)http://www.dmtconline.info/index.htm
European Landmark Rally (biannual event) http://motortouring.nl/

Saddlesore 1000

2008-06-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

Just received notification today that I have become an official member of the Iron Butt Association after a ride I did in March has been approved. This was a warm up for the Iron Butt Rally to see if I could still do 1000 miles in a day. I remember doing it once before when I was despatching - I think I went from Cardiff to London first thing in the morning and then had 12 hour round trip from Cardiff to Newcastle upon Tyne.

Anyway this time I started at Corley Services, went from there to Exeter, across to Dover, up to Newcastle, across to Carlisle and then back to Corley. 1040 miles on the GPS, 14 hours 30 minutes riding time.

Yamaha TX750

2008-06-01T05:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I would write something about this bike I have languishing at the back of the garage. It is in one piece and running, but needs a leaking petrol cap soritng out and a new brake master cylinder cap (have been trying to find one for about a year now!). It a a 1974 Yamaha TX 750 and has covered the grand total of about 9000 miles in its whole life.

The TX 750 is one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever built. And one of the most technically ambitious. The TX, built between 1972 and 1974 was Yamaha’s first 750 and first four-stroke motorcycle. It aimed to have the smoothness of a four-stroke four-cylinder engine with the aesthetics of a slim two-cylinder. Unfortunately design problems with the balancer shaft which caused the oil to froth up instead of circulating gave it a bad reputation for engine failure and although Yamaha fixed the problem for the later models, the damage was already done and sales plummeted – Yamaha withdrew the model, and as Honda were to do years later with the VF brought out a heavily over-engineered model, in this case the XS series, to replace the TX.

The TX was imported into the States, Germany and Italy but never into the UK. My bike originally came from Italy and I bought it at about four years ago, mainly because it is so beautiful, it sounds wonderful (has some Italian silencers grafted onto the downpipes) and for its rarity – I have never seen another one in this country. It must also have the most expensive oil filter ever fitted to a bike - £84 from a Yamaha dealer (I now have a stock of 4 bought very cheap off fleabay!)

There is a brilliant write up on the introduction of the TX and some interesting historical images at:
http://www.classicyams.com/street-bikes/4-stroke/the-true-yamaha-tx750-story.html

Brit Butt Rally 2008

2008-05-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

My Ride: How I won the Brit Butt Rally 2008

The fact that this was the first running of the Brit Butt Rally meant there were a lot of unknowns, especially when it came to planning. No-one knew what a likely winning score would be, nor how strong the competition was. Before the event my intention was to ensure a finish, with hopefully a result in the top ten. The bar was set at 25000 points and after working through the planning I reckoned a score of around 40000 points was possible. In the end I gained something over 40000 points and was amazed to find that I had achieved the highest score and so won the event.

After plotting all the bonuses onto a paper map it seemed to be clear that the best way of stringing together a series of high scoring bonuses was to go to Skye then across to John O Groats via Ullapool and Scourie. This route naturally added Spean Bridge, Eilean Donan and Clootie Well. I also wanted to visit Lindisfarne and Scarborough as they were high bonuses. Because of the time restrictions for Lindisfarne and the fact that Eilean Donan and Scourie were day bonuses only the route was going to be clockwise. I reckoned quite a few riders would be going for these high bonuses so reckoned the way to get ahead would be to add as many other bonuses as I could. I then plotted all the bonuses I was possibly able to get to, about 37 of them, into Microsoft Autoroute and used this to calculate the time and distance between the controls on my likely route. I then transferred the Autoroute file into GPSU and then saved this as a Mapsource file and transferred it to my Garmin 2610. I also wrote the control numbers, codes, and description of location and bonus requirement onto some sheets which would fit into the top of my tankbag so I could see them at a glance.

I initially planned to start off by going to Sandbach then Jodrell Bank before heading up the M6 to add Forton, Morecambe, Bentpath then going around Scotland, adding St Andrews and then heading back to the finish via Humber Bridge. I think this came to just over 40000 points and about 1600 miles, which I had previously calculated was possible in the time. In planning I did not really think about where to stop for the rest bonus, but did go onto the internet to download a POI on petrol stations in Northern Scotland I had seen on the Round Britain Rally website. I finished planning around 1am.

As soon as I set off from the start I changed my plan because I got on the M6 and stayed on it, missing out Sandbach and Jodrell Bank – partly because I wanted to get some distance under my wheels and partly because I thought a lot of people would be starting with those and I wanted to put some distance between myself. After that I followed my route plan and everything went fairly well (apart from losing my rally towel between Eilean Donan and Skye!).

The road from Scourie to Thurso was brilliant - mainly single track but the GS is made for roads like this and I only met 8 vehicles in nearly 100 miles! I even picked up a 50pys Round Britain Rally bonus at Portskerra as I went past, seeing it by chance on my GPS. If I had been a bit more organised I coud have picked up another couple as I went down the A9, but at least I still have an excuse to go back to Scotland this summer.

By the time I got to John O Groats at around 10pm I was feeling hungry – apart from fuel and bonus stops I had only stopped for 15 minutes in Fort William because oil was leaking from the left side of the engine. With another rider I met at Thurso we stopped for a quick Chinese in Wick (it was the only place we could find open). After picking up Clootie Well I intended to stop for the rest bonus at some services but heading south on the A9 nothing was open – I just kept going, feeling very miserable as I was developing a cold and felt that if I did stop I might not be bothered to start again. Eventually I found somewhere, at Kinross just north of Edinburgh. I stopped here between 4.10 and 7.20, sleeping for about 40 minutes and sorting out my paperwork. I had missed out St Andrews and so ‘lost’ 800 points but realised that if I went to Sheffield and then finished via Hyde, Jodrell Bank and Sandbach I could still reach my 40000 points target. I got to Lindisfarne just after the causeway opened at 9.10 and knew I had to get to Sheffield by 2pm to finish around 4pm. Giving me an hour’s safety margin. The leg to Scarborough was the worst of the event – the holiday traffic was solid and I spent most of the route overtaking everything else on the road. However, the road out of Scarborough was a good dual carriageway, followed by motorways and I got to Sheffield for 2.05 and to the finish for 4.15.

My final route was Forton-Morecambe-Bentpath-Spean Bridge-Eilean Donan-Skye Museum-Kilmuir Cemetery-Ullapool-Scourie-John O Groats-Clootie Well-Lindisfarne-Scarborough-Sheffield-Hyde-Jodrell Bank-Sandbach-Finish.

It was a great weekend – I could not say I enjoyed every minute of it, in 36 hours you are bound to have some dark moments when you are cold and hungry and wondering why on earth you are doing this – but the event was good fun, I enjoyed my ride and was filled with a wonderful sense of achievement at knowing I had completed the hardest ride of my life. To compound this by actually winning the event was simply incredible and left me completely speechless (well, that and the cold!). The sense of camaraderie at meeting so many other like minded (ie mad!) people and the memories of the weekend will stay with me for a long time. If I were to identify where I think I won the event, it would be a combination of planning which was effective and adaptable, efficient use of time for stops, and above all perseverance in keeping going. I have definitely learned things about myself from this event, and look forward to defending my title next year!
Ride safe,
Grim Rider