2013
Another year, another rally.
Last year I had completed a Special Gold ride on this rally and I wanted
to go one better and go for the Platinum Award.
The ride itself is the same, 540 miles in 20 hours, but there is one
extra element, which is held at the MIRA test station in Nuneaton. You are told that you have to undertake a
series of tests. The tests which
comprise of regularity riding tests combined with knowledge of your machine
questions. The timing of these tests allow time for the competitors to travel
to one of the nearby controls or remain at MIRA to start the rally proper at
12:00. You aren't told what those tests actually are, so it wouldn't be
proper for me to disclose them here, but it had certainly piqued my curiosity.
I planned to start the rally from Nuneaton anyway, and finish at Leeds again, so my planned route had to take in these start and finish points. John was also going to travel down with me again, but this year, we were also going to travel round the rally together for company. So after a bit of fiddling I had a route that worked and met up with John to compare notes. We agreed a route for the rally, as well as a route down that would pick up some Round Britain locations for us both.
A: MIRA, Nuneaton
B: Dunchurch
C: Stratford Upon Avon
D: Worcester
E: Leominster
F: Stourport on Severn
G: Sutton Maddock
H: Wolverhampton
I: Stoke on Trent
J: Whitchurch
K: Warrington
L: Congleton
M: Ashbourne
N: Tideswell
O: Barnsley
P: Halifax
Q: Accrington
R: Skipton
S: Harrogate
T: York
U: Thorne
V: Leeds
B: Dunchurch
C: Stratford Upon Avon
D: Worcester
E: Leominster
F: Stourport on Severn
G: Sutton Maddock
H: Wolverhampton
I: Stoke on Trent
J: Whitchurch
K: Warrington
L: Congleton
M: Ashbourne
N: Tideswell
O: Barnsley
P: Halifax
Q: Accrington
R: Skipton
S: Harrogate
T: York
U: Thorne
V: Leeds
It was a nice, easy ride down and we arrived at our hotel in plenty of time to get showered, changed and into the pub for dinner and a couple of pints. We were up nice and early for the 10 minute ride to the MIRA test centre. Since it is a test centre, we were asked to leave any cameras at the front gate, and had the lens on our phones covered up. All very hush hush.
The tests themselves were actually pretty enjoyable and I thought I didn’t do too badly. Until I came to the last one that is. I’m not sure what happened, but when I came to start the bike, the battery was completely dead. I had about an hour before the test window closed, but at least I had quite a few fellow bikers to help me get the bike restarted (first time I’ve had to jump start a bike!). I also called the AA just to make sure that there wasn’t something more serious that could cause me problems on the rally. In the end, he couldn’t find anything in particular that was wrong, and the battery was charging OK, but he did recommend switching the engine off as little as possible just to make sure. I managed to finish the last test and start the rally at 12:00.
It was a pleasant change having the company of another bike on a rally, and we took it in turns to lead towards the next checkpoint. It’s amazing how two identical sat navs can vary the route to the same destination, but we made good time. We’d scheduled in a “tea break” every third checkpoint or so and stayed within 10 minutes of our planned times pretty much all the way route. Once night fell, we started to fall back a bit, mostly due to problems with John’s headlights. He’d just had the bike serviced and the lights were set a little low, so he couldn’t see too far in front, which kept our speed down a bit. We had dropped to 25 minutes behind schedule by 10:45 at the Darley Moor Race Circuit in Ashbourne. That wasn’t a problem, as we had 50 minutes or so spare at the finish. John had moved house this year, and hadn’t been out on his bike too much as a result. He felt that he was starting to tire and this, along with the headlight issue, meant that he didn’t feel like carrying on. He decided to look for a nearby hotel and call it a night.
I carried on and gradually picked up time, finishing 35 minutes ahead of schedule by the end. I even managed to pick up a couple of Round Britain locations as well, Village Stocks and Cholera Memorial
The tests themselves were actually pretty enjoyable and I thought I didn’t do too badly. Until I came to the last one that is. I’m not sure what happened, but when I came to start the bike, the battery was completely dead. I had about an hour before the test window closed, but at least I had quite a few fellow bikers to help me get the bike restarted (first time I’ve had to jump start a bike!). I also called the AA just to make sure that there wasn’t something more serious that could cause me problems on the rally. In the end, he couldn’t find anything in particular that was wrong, and the battery was charging OK, but he did recommend switching the engine off as little as possible just to make sure. I managed to finish the last test and start the rally at 12:00.
It was a pleasant change having the company of another bike on a rally, and we took it in turns to lead towards the next checkpoint. It’s amazing how two identical sat navs can vary the route to the same destination, but we made good time. We’d scheduled in a “tea break” every third checkpoint or so and stayed within 10 minutes of our planned times pretty much all the way route. Once night fell, we started to fall back a bit, mostly due to problems with John’s headlights. He’d just had the bike serviced and the lights were set a little low, so he couldn’t see too far in front, which kept our speed down a bit. We had dropped to 25 minutes behind schedule by 10:45 at the Darley Moor Race Circuit in Ashbourne. That wasn’t a problem, as we had 50 minutes or so spare at the finish. John had moved house this year, and hadn’t been out on his bike too much as a result. He felt that he was starting to tire and this, along with the headlight issue, meant that he didn’t feel like carrying on. He decided to look for a nearby hotel and call it a night.
I carried on and gradually picked up time, finishing 35 minutes ahead of schedule by the end. I even managed to pick up a couple of Round Britain locations as well, Village Stocks and Cholera Memorial
This year, I felt really tired at the end, and had a couple of hours rest at Squires before heading up the road. I took it easy, with plenty of stops, but no more rally locations.
Another enjoyable rally this year, although it was a shame that John couldn’t complete his planned rally. The good news was that he had still done enough to qualify for a Bronze Daytime award because the last Finish Control we had visited, at Whitchurch, was 225 miles into our route, and the minimum was 200 miles. We’ll see if we can do better together next year.
Another enjoyable rally this year, although it was a shame that John couldn’t complete his planned rally. The good news was that he had still done enough to qualify for a Bronze Daytime award because the last Finish Control we had visited, at Whitchurch, was 225 miles into our route, and the minimum was 200 miles. We’ll see if we can do better together next year.