For anyone who thinks that the best way to spend a long weekend is to take an agile, lightweight vehicle, load it up with enough equipment to survive a nuclear attack and then wobble off for a few days in a muddy field with basic toilet facilities, warm beer, bad music played loudly and the chance of developing gastroenteritis, please stop reading now.
Yes I like riding motorcycles, but as far as I’m concerned the best way to ruin the experience is to attempt to carry the contents of a small shed around on one. In our more youthful days my wife and I did go camping all around the UK on our bikes. We don’t do that any more for various reasons but mainly because we don’t have to. If you really want to have a get together what’s the matter with getting a small van and just loading it up with all the kit necessary for two or three days of fun and frolics? This would leave riders free to enjoy his or her machine as the manufacturer intended instead of looking like a pack of wandering refugees. The choice of venue could also do with being a bit more imaginative. Grassy pastures are fine for those who feel the need to keep in touch with their spiritual or nomadic roots, but there are others who might appreciated rather more substantial accommodation offering the much under rated luxuries of hot showers, clean sheets and proper dining facilities. Surely there are places available in this green and pleasant land able to meet both criteria at a reasonable cost?
Those of you who still have a passenger willing to put up with mile after mile of staring at the back of your helmet, think how much more enjoyable the experience would be for them if they had a bit more room and didn’t have to suffer constant kidney prodding from tent poles, cooking stoves, etc. They might say they don’t mind, but deep down? If you ride alone then sorry, but at least you can fart without getting shouted at. I hope you’ll realize I’m writing this as someone who would like to participate in club rallies but has absolutely no interest in attending the usual tented clan gatherings. Suppose that’s just me then?
Agree 90%. There are times and places for camping and not camping. Rallies generally are camping because of the type / scale of venue and the problems of reserving more expensive accommodation and no shows.
As one ages then criteria change, but don’t assume that what you want / desire is necessarily what everyone else should want / desire. I have edited this as I didn’t read the last part properly earlier.
Furthermore those who don’t like camping may wish to use their own imagination to organise alternatives. It always “amuses” me to see those who are “picky” are the ones who generally do least to help.
Not pointing fingers, BobV7, just mentioning my experience to date. Mad Farquhar2014-07-01 22:04:33
ther was good hotel/b&b acomadacion at the scotis rally, also the v-twin, has good b&b /hotels whith in walking distance. a bit of reserc and you can normaly find acomadacion, I now I hate camping too,
We are always searching for venues that have facilities for non-campers and campers, but it is not as easy as it sounds. At the French Rally for example, you can rent nice chalets and there is a very nice restaurant on site. We also had a camp in Shropshire at a Youthhostel but it had to be cancelled this year due to lack of interrest .And at the German Rally you could get a compartment in a Railway Carrige.Uki
Oh fer gawds sake…
Am 56 years old, sometimes I ache like I dont know what but at least it reminds me I’m still alive…
Every day above ground is a good day and if I wake in the morning, reach out and I dont hit wood…that’ll do…go on …push yerself…
[QUOTE=BobV7in a muddy field with basic toilet facilities, warm beer, bad music played loudly and the chance of developing gastroenteritis, please stop reading now. really ? when was the last time you attended a rally? 1960?I have attended nearly 500 rallies over the years and find remarks like yours way out of date, and to be honest boring, you are not the only one to have a out of date view of the rally scene, way out of date, and I find your remarks rather sad,
I’m writing this as someone who would like to participate in club rallies but has absolutely no interest in attending the usual tented clan gatherings. Suppose that’s just me then?
[/QUOTE]the Italian Motorcycle Owners Club tried in the late 1990’s to do away with camping weekend and rallies and just put on Hotel only weekends, it did not work as many members whilst on paper saying that they wanted Hotel weekends rather than tented ones did not back up their suggestions with hard cash to book the hotel rooms, in fact of the many hotel weekends sorted out I dont think even one did happen,the hard core of the IMOC, (including myself, 18 years a member) fell out with the club due to the lack of rallies etc and membership fell from around 2,000 to around 200 in no time, the IMOC has still not really recovered from the membership numbers loss 15+ years later, you want the Guzzi club to go the same way?So how would you run a Guzzi Hotel rally? The V Twin rally for example would mean finding hotel rooms for about 500 people, the end result would be rallists spread out all over the area and beyond with no central meeting point, it might be a club rally on paper but with members staying far apart from each other it would really be a non event.you could always sell the bike and get a caravan, and do caravan rallies, ok maybe not as good as a hotel room but better than staying in a tent along with all those rallists.
This could turn into an interesting thread as since becoming an ersatz branch contact/organiser I struggle (probably like most branch contacts) to find the formula to entice members out of their sheds on day trips or weekend camping trips in general.
Here is my starter:-
N=(a x 1/a )-10
N is number of attendees and a is mean air temp in deg C
Please excuse the spelling, trying to avoid being hit by Northwest’s toys flying past! No need to use the “C” word either, I did say it was probably only me, didn’t I?
I still maintain that lighter the bike the more fun they are to ride.
That was my spoon Phil. It will be available at the next one.And at one of the less good rally venues, though still fun.The problem with Bob V’s solution is it requires a 4 wheel vehicle and so far I have been fortunate enough not to own one.If your partner finds the back of your helmet boring encourage them to ride their own bike (and it will be still more interesting than the view fron a van anyway).Showers etc are available at most rallies and unless you ride a King Tiger rally kit is quite small these days.Still you gave us old codgers who are still alive something to write about.And I agree lighter bikes are more fun.
I like your thinking MF but as a x 1/a = a/a = 1 then N = -9 for all values of a, most rallys disprove your theory as they have more than -9 attendees.
Try N = a -10 for centigrade and N = a -42 for Fahrenheit
My, that was a tasty teaspoon Ian.
I think camping rallies are brilliant AND I’m an old codger. We used to get paid for going camping didn’t we Ian?
When I were a kid we used to have a bath on Sundays. I expect we used to stink something rotten for the rest of the week without a shower.
It’s a real shame there’s no telly to watch on rallies I really miss East Enders, it’s hard to do without my daily dose of reality. The organisers could have a special marquee with a big screen telly to watch instead of all that orrible beer and socialising to do.
Yes we used to go on rallies with really big boys toys .No showers and we had to dig our own toilets. No wonder we were dead 'ard.And we used to comment that civies paid good money to do this.And now I are.Next one is in 9 days time.Mind you it is with the Navy Bike Club so could be different.