Saddlesore Weekend for TeapotOne

Take three big events, in three separate parts of the country, over three different days, and mix with one bike that has to be at all three, and what do you get? Over 2,000 miles, pain, and an idea of what is to come on the TeapotOne trip ahead!

Twitter UK Bike Meet

Friday just gone saw me heading up to Bromsgrove near Birmingham to meet Robin Nesbitt, Damo ZX6R, and the rest of the folk behind the inaugural Twitter UK Bike Meet. The lads set this up some months ago on twitter (funny that eh!) and due to popular demand they went ahead and set the weekend up to help raise funds for the poppy appeal through The Royal British Legion Rider's Branch.

Although this was to be a full weekend affair, I could only make the Friday afternoon as I had to get up to Squires Cafe in Leeds for registration in the RBLR1000 Irn Butt event that evening (clense your minds!) I arrived at Bromsgorve for about 1630hrs and was met by the lads at the main entrance. Although I'd only ever spoken with Robin on the phone, and communicated with Damo via twitter & facebook, they both welcomed me like a long lost brother. This sums these two lads up as they are two of the most down to earth, reliable and kind hearted people it's been my pleasure to meet so far. They both, along with others in the branch, have invested considerable amounts of their own time and money into the meet, and I'm glad it was the success it was. This event is set to run on annually and grow in popularity to become one of the major bike meets in the country. Long may it continue to thrive, so please lend it your support next year if you can.

During my short time there I also had the pleasure of meeting the gents behind @veteranbandit. Once again these chaps selflessly go out their way to help raise funds and awareness for a variety of forces charities, businesses and causes. Just take a couple of minutes to look at their site and you'll be amazed at the work they have done, and continue to do throughout the year.

RBLR1000

But alas, time was not on my side this year and I had to leave everyone at Bromsgrove to the weekend festivities and head on up to Squires Cafe in Leeds to make the registration briefing by 8pm. With my time keeping being notoriously less reliable than a good watch, I got up there for 8:30pm just as Paddy was leaving to head to his hotel (forward thinking, I like it!) However, as I'd done the RBLR1000 last year, he was happy I knew what to expect so left me to set up camp for the night.

For those who've never done, or even heard of, the RBLR's Iron Butt event, it's pretty much as follows. Basically you have 24hrs to cover a set distance of 1,000 miles to qualify for membership of the 'Iron Butt UK'. There are two courses, one north up into Scotland, and one south heading down as far as Redruth and Dover. In each course you can elect to do it clockwise or anti-clockwise. Both have set 'check points' which you must hit and get proof of attendance, such as fuel station receipt etc.

Now as a Scot living down in London I take every opportunity I can to get back to God's country and ride. The roads in the West and north of Scotland are simply some of the best available in Europe, if not the world. You just have to watch out for the odd suicial sheep and deer! So my choice was easy and I elected to go for the north clockwise option.

Starting at 0500hrs in Leeds I'd head West to Manchester, then north through Glasgow and out west along Loch Lomond, eventually hitting Fort William. From here it was north east through rugged highland glens, passed Spean Bridge the legendary commando training grounds of WWII. I love the monument here as it has a special place in my family's history. My grandpa on my dad's side was a squaddie in the Blackwatch and got injured whilst fighting in Egypt. After being hit by machine gun fire, he carried his injured officer on his back as he crawled through a mine field back to safety. He was taken out the war but saw out the rest of his service by training the young borstal kids of south west Scotland, running them ragged around the highlands of Scotland, making them the commandos of the future. He said that by the end of their training, these lads were amongst the finest soldiers he'd had the pleasure to be acquainted with.

The Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge

After the rugged beauty of the extreme west, comes gorgeous, lush green, lochside beauty as you twist and turn your way along Loch Ness, skirting Urquhart Castle then arriving in Inverness. From here it is truly one of the greatest rides available as you fly along the north eastern edge of Scotland, over the Moray Firth, through cracking wee coastal villages like Bonar, Alness, Brora and the like, eventually arriving at Wick in Sutherland. Last year I went all the way up to John'O'Groats, but this year I was on a mission and the wet weather meant every stop was taking longer and longer to get gloves off, and dig kit out of wet pockets and bags. So Wick was as far as I'd head north before fuelling up, getting the all important receipt, then turning around and riding South again, grinning (or was that grimacing) all the way.

After Inverness it's south east along the A9, a notorious road with a devilish history of fatalities. Even down in London we've lost a colleague to this mermaid road as he toured Scotland on his bike. It truly is a beautiful stretch of tarmac, allowing incredibly high speed cornering in places amongst breath taking beauty, continually egging you on to go faster and harder. But always, always, you must be aware of the potential dangers ever present on our roads. Sheep and other wildlife thrive throughout this part of Scotland andare often found wandering across your path as you glide around glorious bend after glorious bend.

But anyway, on this occassion it wasn't sheep that I met, but a maniac in a monkey outfit riding a monkey bike from John'O'Groats to Land's End! Ian Mulry is that very maniac and I first became aware of him as I hurtled north along the A9 near Golspie only to be met by the vision of a large monkey wearing flying goggles, grinning manicly as he clung tightly to a tiny wee monkey bike? To be honest I thought I'd made it up as I myself had been on the go since about 10 am the previous morning, and I was going at quite a lick so I couldn't have seen it right?

Well, a few hours later I was now heading south along the A9 between Aviemore and Perth when I got caught up in a wee bit of traffic. 'No problem' I thought, and I made my way through the convoy eventually coming up behind a motorhome. It was only here that I noticed a great big banner across it's rear end, and a selection of monkey costumes swinging away in the rear window? A quick read of the banner revelaed Ian's plight www.monkeybike2012.co.uk/ where he was riding the little beauty 900 miles the length of the country to raise funds for the Jim Cronin memorial fund. Jim was the owner of Monkey World in Dorset and if you've never been, then go. It's a cracking place and I remember my mum was an avid fan of the TV series 'monkey life'.

Anyway, at the time of writing this I've found out that Ian was successful and finished the 900 mile journey in 26hrs, epic work bud!! Ian has kept his 'Just Giving' page open for a short time after the run to allow people to sponsor his cause, so if you feel generous please pay it a visit at http://www.justgiving.com/monkeybike2012

So back to the RBLR1000 and I was now Edinburgh bound and way ahead of schedule, looking at finishing at just over 17hrs. The organisers won't let you finish in anything under 17hrs as they'll know you've been taking the Michael with your speed, and the event can not be seen to promote dangerous or wreckless behaviour. So coming in at the 17-18hr mark would be an acceptable time for me.

Arriving at Dreghorn services just South of Edinburgh I met two other lads I recognised to be front runners from the north section. I'd been passing them all day, but as I had to fill up more frequently, they'd simply roll on by until I caught up with them once more. It was a real case of the tortoise and the hare, but we were approaching the final stages now and my competitive streak was taking over! These lads said they were going to sit at the service station for a while and have a brew and bite to eat. I meanwhile was determined to slug it out and get this done, so off I went, Berwick bound.

After Berwick it was the last slog down to Newcatle then off to the M62 towards Leeds, and finally Squires. I arrived just after 2300hrs making my total journey time about 18hrs 10 mins. There were 2 other bikes in ahead of me and I recognised them both as bikes I'd overtaken right at the start of the day. I don't know who was more surprised as I hadn't seen them since about 0530hrs that morning, they must have passed me during 1 of my 9 fuel stops!!

Regardless of place, I was so relieved to finish and finally get off the bike. I'm not shy of putting in the miles and consider myself a fairly frequently mile muncher in the saddle. But this years RBLR1000 was really hard work for me. I don't know if it was the weather, meaning I had to wear my rain suit for the entire 18hrs whilst 'making progress' on the bike, or a culmination of days on the road and camping, but I was shattered. After a quick brew and a chat with Ray, Vicki and others at the cafe, I was off to my scratcher in my tent. As I lay my head down onto my makeshift damp hoody pillow, I was sparko'd before I could even kiss Miss Minogue goodnight in my head!

The Supercar Event

I awoke early doors the next morning feeling less than refreshed. It had rained all night and the kennels next door to the cafe were in full voice throughout the night. As you can see from the pic above, I'm not at my best in the morning – and it doesn't get much better throughout the day to be honest! It was STILL raining and I now had to ride down to Dunsfold Park in Surrey (the Top Gear track) for 'The Supercar Event' in aid of The Children's Trust.

I figured I'd need about 3hrs to get down there and had told Russ that I'd be there for about 11am. After getting up, having a scratch, and packing up all the kit, I was back on the bike and pulling out the gates at Squires for about 0810hrs. On the road again, and do you know what, I loved it! Despite being in pain, being tired, damp, and with my head going into overdrive thinking about recent events and what was still to come, I absolutely love being on the road. Even with time constraints, schedules to keep, traffic and general life limitations, biking gives you a sense of freedom I've not felt through anything else. I need this, as much as I need air to breathe.

With the rain looking like it was easing off it seemed I would arrive at Dunsfold in good time. I spoke too soon as after the next fuel stop, the skies in the south began to take on an ominous dark brown/purple taint and all of a sudden a great wall of water descended. I'd never experienced rain like this before, the power of the downpour was phenomenal and actually hurt as the drops (or bombs!) felt like they pierced through my rain suit and leathers. The rain even managed to work it's way inside my visor but thankfully the pinlock system fitted to the Shoei XR1100, kept me fog free.

At an instant, the traffic came to a practical standstill and great lakes formed in front of my very eyes in the carriageway. It was surreal to see this kind of natural power on the A1/M1? I even felt the back wheel aquaplane at one stage but my Bridgestone BT-023's kept me upright and stable, with grip resuming almost instantly.

Eventually the skies cleared and I could make good progress once again through the miles of traffic. Gliding through London, the M25, A3, then out through Guildford into the beautiful countryside, I arrived at Dunsfold at about 1230hrs – a good hour and half later than expected. As I rode into the site I could see Russ and the guys sitting at a cafe table looking less than impressed. As I hadn'\t yet sorted my charging capabilities on the bike, my phone had ran out of juice and I wasn't able to call or text them to update on progress. They'd been there since 8am that morning so were by now a tad peeved. There was no sympathy here for what I'd just been through and almost instantly I was summoned out onto the track for some display laps in front of the thousand's strong crowd, after a quick photo-opp with BBC weather girl, the beautiful Kaddy Lee-Preston. It's a tough life eh!

I've never, EVER, not wanted to ride my bike. But as I sat in the paddock waiting to ride out on that track, I'd have given anything to just get off, put on some shorts and a t-shirt, sit down and have a brew and bacon sarnie. That said, as soon as I got the 'GO, GO, GO' and began to hurtle down the first straight, those feelings were a thing of the past. I absolutely love track riding, or just riding at pace. The adrenalin rush it provides me is something I'd struggle to live without if it were taken from me. It can be 20mph over some offroad, 30mph round a tight bend, or 186mph down a race track! It doesn't matter the actual speed, it's just that feeling of 'flying' you get, and sense of freedom. I think I'm maybe just a bit of a hippy at heart? Well at least as much as a tattoed bald armed copper can be a hippy?

You may notice a wee pillion I've collected, hanging on for dear life at the back of the bike. This is Benji the bear, and he was presented to me by the kids at The Children's Trust when I visited them a few months ago. They held a competition for the kids to name him and the winning entry was 'Benji', so 'Benji' is now accompanying me around the world. There'll be a facebook page setup so you can follow his exploits, stay tuned for more details in a later post.

With the show laps done it was back into the pit area for a quick chat with the event compere Jason Holman. Jason has been an avid supporter of The Children's Trust for many years, utilising his many contacts in the entertainment industry to ensure it's always in the limelight and getting the exposure it rightly deserves. I spoke with him at last years 'Dad's Day Out' – the predecessor to The Supercar Event, and we've kept in touch since. It was great to meet him again and have a chat about how things have progressed. He's a genuinely nice bloke who'll hopefully make my departure at the Cenotaph in London on Monday 1st October 2012 at 0930hrs.

After our brief chat it was back to the TeapotOne stand to meet and answer questions from the crowds as they filtered by. It's a great feeling to hear people come up and say they've heard about the project from other people or magazine and newspaper articles. It's such a boost to hear how supportive folk are, and I never get tired of hearing, "What, 100,000 miles on THAT bike!"

By about 1530hrs we were all shattered so the decision was made to pack up and finally head home. Poor old Russ was straight off to night duty that night so was off home to spend a few precious hours with his family. I've got to thank Russ and Laura for coming along on the day and for holding the fort until I got there. Everyone's help throughout this project is very much appreciated, thank you very much to you all!

So what's next?

Well at the time of writing this I should be standing in our stall at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Unfortunately a stipulation of the organisers is that you can not use the party style pop-up gazeebo's for your stall. They must be of substantial marquee construction but the original one we had intended to use was not available last minute. After a franctic appeal on facebook, some very kind friends offered their various gazeebo's and marquee's and I thought I had a last minute reprieve. But alas, the marquee I got last night is not substantial enough and I was couldn't get the stall set up by 7am this monring, we've now lost the pitch!

It's a huge loss but not the end of the world. I've got loads to do and catch up with such as posts, videos, and a presentation for next weekends Horizon Unlimited HUBB meet up in Ripley, Yorkshire. I'm very honoured to be giving a talk there on TeapotOne and how I've gone about trip preparations, PR and sponsorship recruitment.

After that is our final major planned event before I go, with the War & Peace Show from 18th -22nd July at Hopp farm in Kent. After this we have the Olympics in London so life pretty much comes to a standstill for it's duration. I leave the police on the 9th September, have a few weeks just to top and tail things, then leave the UK on Monday 1st October 2012 at 0930hrs from the Cenotaph, Whitehall in London. Come along if you can make it, and bring your bike if you have one. I'm aiming to have a mass ride off with people welcome to come as far as they want, to Dover and beyond if you fancy! First stop is Le Mans circuit in France. Can't wait.