I started riding longer ago than I care to remember at the age of 16, on a BSA Dandy (I was forced to test these at BSA! nuff said GF) which I rode 30 miles home each weekend over the Bromyard downs, whatever the weather. Then I had a Honda C50 which was a slight improvement, but I graduated to a car and didn't ride again for years. In 1996 I bought an RXS100 Yamaha 2-stroke, passed my test, joined a bike club, and went touring in France. I rode the baby Yam for 3 years then moved on to a Honda SuperDream 400 given to me as a project for my 50th birthday by my family, and then to a Kawasaki GT550 ("Gertie"). I did lots of runs and weekend trips with the Dorset Motorcycle Enthusiasts Club - and somewhere along the line I got a computer, got involved with internet biking, and found my way to a site about a Goldwing rebuild. It was quite (only quite?) interesting so I emailed the webmaster and the rest is history cos it was Graham Flint! |
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Graham talked me into having a go at the RBR, so I thought I'd try for a bronze, though I'd never been anywhere very far on my own on the bike. The upshot was, I enjoyed it so much I just kept going and ended up with a silver, which I haven't been able to repeat - Yet!
2001 was a busy year for me. As well as my first RBR, I did the DMEC photo rally, and did the National Rally with some other nutters from my club - finally meeting Graham in person at the finish of the National. We said hello and the conversation stopped about there. Those who've done the National will know that by the time you get to the finish the brain is too tired for conversation - those who haven't done it should try it - once.
Last year (2002) I discovered another kind of rally - the camping, beer and silly games sort - and found they fitted in rather well with RBR, a roundabout route to the rally taking in landmarks, and the same on the way home, and somewhere to stay in good company as well!
My big project for 2003 was a visit to the Isle of Man for the TT, so I wasn't going to enter the RBR but what a wasted opportunity that would have been - to go further north than I'd ever been, and not visit any landmarks? So I duly signed up again and the northward trip was great - part of it involved chasing a maniac (I resemble that!! GF) on a Chinese 2-stroke round the midlands, hotly pursued by another on a Goldwing outfit! After collecting the wrong Lancashire landmark my clutch cable broke and the bike arrived at the ferry on the back of a lorry since I had no spare. A more resourceful biker fixed a temporary cable that took me round the island - including the mountain road on Mad Sunday when apart from a couple of cars I was the slowest thing on the road! But coming home I'd have been pushing my luck doing the two days of landmarks I had planned so I took the easiest route for gear changing and went straight home. I'd already decided this was my last year with Gertie as I have arthritic thumbs but I did one last trip to Wales to push for those missing points - and proved that, yes, the GT is a heavy bike - particularly when you drop it on your leg!
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Now Gertie , regretfully, will be sold to finance a trike, and the SuperDream will come back into use for local riding. Then there's the baby Yam to be rebuilt, and my long term project, a 1975 Honda 400/4 that I got from a local auction where I went to buy a rocking horse for the grand-daughter! |
So I'll be too busy in 2004 to enter the RBR……..but on the other hand, I shall be travelling somewhere on two or three wheels, and I'm bound to find some landmarks on the way with just a small diversion……… |