Motorcycle Rallying
Through The Years (2016)
When I first
started motorcycling, in 1964, I never gave much thought to motorcycle rallies,
in fact I didn’t even know such things that I came later to know as rallies existed.
My only knowledge of things called rallies were shaped by articles on two large
events which got annually reported in the old copies of Motor Cycling magazine
which had been given to me and which first “fired” my interest in all things to
do with motorcycles. These events were the ACU National Rally, an event
involving some 500 miles of mostly overnight riding, registering at as many
control points as could be included in your route along the way to a pre
determined destination. The other event was the annual
The
exception was when the Federation of National and One Make Motorcycle Clubs
(later to become the British Motorcyclists Federation) started holding its
Woburn Rallies. Having just joined that organisation through its individual members
branch, known as the Fellowship of Riders, I missed the 1965 event but having
read about how members had enjoyed the overnight camping event I, and a friend
who had also joined, decided that we would definitely go to the following
year’s event – and we did so for the next three years until the, by then BMF,
rally moved from Woburn and became a “one day” event for a while, firstly at Donnington Park race track grounds and then to Peterborough
showground, where it continued as an
annual event until 2014 (with camping once again for those who pre-booked a
place). Those early events however, were a far cry from what now takes place in
most club weekend rallies in that there were no “ride outs” of the sort that
are expected at rallies now and the riding activities, such as they were,
tended to be of the gymkhana type, held on site. The only refreshment
facilities tended to be bar and food vans brought in and only open part time
with all other “eats” having to be brought and cooked by the visitors themselves.
Other facilities consisted of just a mobile toilet block and the evening
entertainment just meant all gathering around a huge bonfire on the Saturday
night (all events in those days tended to be just arrive
Saturday and leave Sunday). However, despite being of a naturally shy
disposition and not knowing anyone else other than the friend that went with me
I found that it was the “atmosphere” of the event that captivated me. Being “immersed” in an environment concerning only bikes.
Being surrounded by lots of others all as enthusiastic about motorcycles as
myself and who were quite willing to chat about bikes all the time without
trying to convince me that I ought to be enthused instead about football,
cricket, fishing, or any other pastime that I was completely uninterested in
was a new and enjoyable experience for me.
As I never wanted to be part of the “cafe cowboy” or “rocker” fraternity
and what later become known as “lifestyle biking” didn’t interested me, at that
time there were not a lot of other options for someone of my age who was
interested in motorcycles where I lived, or so I thought. So around 1969 when
my friend, and later on my younger brother as well, lost interest in bikes I
just continued to go to the rallies on my own, knowing that I would always have
like minded souls to mix with when I got there and not be expected to conform
to any sort of pre-conceived “image” in order to feel part of it all.
No “mod cons” at the
BMF
My friend,
not being so “motorcycle orientated” as myself, was content to just attend the
BMF Woburn Rally for those first three years but I wanted more and started
going to some of the BMF various associated club’s own local rallies which were
held around the country. Just small events of maybe 30 or 40 or so
participants, they tended to be held in a field somewhere near to a “motorcycle
friendly” pub (and there were not too many of those around after the extensive
adverse publicity given to Mods and Rockers by the
press). Facilities of all types were basic in the extreme, usually consisting
of only what the pub could offer during “open hours” and thereafter you had to
“make do” however best you could – and if you wanted breakfast or a “brew-up”
then you had to fetch the means to provide it yourself. However, we were all
mostly young and prepared to “rough it” while enjoying the meeting up with
friends from previous events at various other places, laughing at the various
hardships endured due to the weather at some events in the past while hoping
that the present event would at least be a dry one. Entertainment, as always,
tended to consist of rounds of drinks while the pub was open and perhaps a
bonfire at the camp site afterwards – and perhaps a “sing song”, probably
depending on how much had been drunk in the pub before hand. Sunday mornings
were always breakfast first followed by a round of chatting to other rallygoers, before we all started packing up so that we
could be “on the road” in order to get back home and sorted out before going to
work on the Monday. It seemed that I had found my “niche” in the world of motorcycling, this was what I enjoyed the most, a good ride
on my bike to an event at somewhere I had never been before followed by an
evening in convivial and like minded company before another good ride home on
the following day. I continued to enjoy events such as this until Pam and I got
engaged in 1971 and I had to focus my weekends on other matters for a while.
If you wanted food and
comfort you had to take it all with you
So although
I was still riding my motorcycles on a daily basis there then came a big gap in my motorcycle rally attendance in that
although Pam and I continued to attend the “one day” events the weekend camping
type rallies had ceased for me while I had other priorities. When our son Mark
was born I added a sidecar to one of my bikes and we continued to go to the
“one day” events but still no weekend camping events as things had moved on in
my daily life, except for one year in the 1980s when the three of us went to a
British Two Stroke Club weekend event, after which Pam decided that camping was
not ever going to be for her. However as Mark got older, in the later 1980s, I
had the opportunity to go off by myself once more to another British Two Stroke
Club weekend rally in Wales, after which it was decided by the club to make a
weekend rally an annual event. It was really just the one event each year that
I would be going to though, and to be truthful I now no longer wanted to be
going to more as by then my lifestyle had changed a lot from what it was in the
1960s, not least because I had aquired more
motorcycles all of which needed looking after and which occupied a lot of my
weekends. Now though we were also into the era of the “classic bike” enthusiast
and the type of rallies were no longer just a group of mostly youngsters on
motorcycles getting together and “roughing” it in a muddy field for a weekend
of socialising and although there might still have been some such events being
held those involved with mostly classic bike enthusiasts tended to be more
organised with proper facilities to some extent available. This no doubt
reflected older age demographic of those involved and the fact that we had all
come to expect at least some semblance of civilisation and, for myself, I no
longer had the desire to try and cook myself some sort of food and hot drink
inside a tiny tent while sheltering from a rainstorm. One other thing about
these later rallies that I attended was that the “on site” gymkhana type riding
events had gone, mainly due to insurance stipulations I think and had been
replaced by the seemingly all important mass “ride out” on a pre planned route
of the local area set out by the organisers.
I continued
to attend the BTSC annual rally on most years through the 1990s until one year,
around 2005, after one extremely uncomfortable and cold night spent under
canvas I decided that my days of camping with a tent at rallies had come to an
end. By then I had also started attending the annual AJS & Matchless club’s
annual jampot rally, after first going to a fairly
local one at Mersea Island in 1996 and then helping
to run our local one at Brentwood, which although on a much larger scale than
the BTSC event more or less followed the same format. I noticed that at both
the BTSC and AJS/Matchless club events an increasing number of attendees were
also using caravans or motor homes, leaving their motorcycle riding for the
“ride outs”, while others stayed at hotels “off site” and attended the rally
ground each day. So, although I am not a lover of mass ride outs after
initially going on quite a few and never really enjoying them and therefore
tend to give them a miss I decided to also either stay at a nearby hotel and
attend daily. So Pam now comes to the rallies with me once more and we usually
go to them on/in our sidecar outfit if it is convenient to do so.
Jampot Rallies are rather more civilised
these days, even if you still want to stay in a tent
The rallies
we attend now though have absolutely nothing in common with those that I
attended back in the 1960s and although I can look back on those rallies that I
enjoyed so much with nostalgic affection I know in my heart that there is no
way that I would attend a rally in those sort of
conditions now. The term “growing old gracefully” (or even disgracefully, as
those who think we shouldn’t be riding around on motorcycles at our age would
say) has as much to do with one’s reducing physical abilities and endurance
capabilities as anything else. Also it’s nice to not have to carry cooking
equipment and provisions around with me any more, knowing that there will
always be somewhere around the rally site where we can obtain sustenance. The
expectations of what attendees, including me, desire to facilitate a comfortable
weekend rally have also changed a great deal over the years. One thing that
does remain the same about rallies though is the enthusiasm for motorcycles and
friendliness of those attending and that is what is the most
important thing of all. Long may we be able to have these events and,
hopefully, the physical health to continue to attend and enjoy them with all
the friends that we meet up with each year. Of course it is the riding of my
motorcycles and being involved with looking after them that is the most
important thing for me, but having said that there is no doubt that my
enjoyment of it all as a hobby rather than just an enjoyable means of transport
is enhanced beyond measure by being involved with all those other enthusiasts
who I have come into contact with through going to rallies and being a member
of motorcycle clubs.
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