The Essence of the Ride

We all ride for different reasons and have differing expectations about what we will get from our riding. There are those riders who are happy with a weekly ride to the local biker stop and others for whom only a global trip will satisfy that itch.

For me it was firstly the thrill of getting back on a bike after many years away and then it was my personally imposed goal of being the best biker I could be. Not the fastest as there will always be others prepared to take risks and ignore the safety of themselves and others to be the fastest on the road. That was not my goal and with my own personally goal I set about a series of courses to become an advanced rider, then an advanced instructor and ultimately, I ended up with the highest civilian qualifications and rider standard there are. After that though what to do next? I am always looking for the next challenge. So, following the easing of the Covid restrictions, which even when in place I managed about 18000miles I came upon a post about the Royal British Legion Ride. This was a 1000mile ride that had to be completed within 24hrs. I had seen these rides before. Organised by the aptly named Iron Butt Association, which originated in The US of A but for the most part I had poured scorn on the whole idea. I cited safety issues and the thought that the whole thing might be a good idea in America with its wide-open roads and lazy cruisers but here in the congested UK was such a thing a good idea.

I should mention that the RBLR is a charity event in aid of providing support for ex-servicemen.

So, I investigated it and duly signed up.  So it was that I found myself at 04:45am in mid-June at a biker stop just south of Leeds with my start slot approaching and a minimum of 1000miles ahead of me on a route that would take in 5 pre-set stops and circumnavigation of Wales and the South of England on a warm sunny Saturday into Sunday, if all went well, with what was likely to be lots of holiday traffic close to the coasts as holidays makers normally flying off to distant climes were instead confined to our shores.

At 05:10 just South of Leeds I set off on my anticlockwise circumnavigation, quickly getting onto the motorways of the north midlands heading to Wales. It is a great feeling at the start of an adventure, the adrenalin and emotion of the start is gone, and you are looking forward to a ride just started.

Ready to head up to Leeds full of keen anticipation

The roads were empty, and I was pacing the riders ahead. I was determined to keep to my riding plan. A plan, at least for me is key. I need to have a set of metrics to measure myself against. Targets such as average speed over the route, average fuel consumption to allow me to optimise the bikes range and the obligatory stops. Then having that plan you need to stick to it.

I had an additional early stop about 90miles into the run to meet up with a mate who, not wanting to ride the complete 1000miles did want to show some support and ride some of the route. With that in mind Paul would meet me just off the route in Queensferry before my obligatory stop in Bangor.

From Bangor it was south to Haverfordwest with a detour into the western edge of Snowdonia. Early in the ride and still early in the day these roads were the pleasure they always are, sinuous, picturesque, well surfaced, and relatively traffic free a real joy, but not roads I would be wanting to ride towards the end of the ride in the dark as some choosing to ride the route in the clockwise direct would face. As I said planning is everything.

After that, the route south was on A roads and with more traffic it required concentration and decisiveness to maintain the planned speeds.

Stops at the check points/petrol stops I had planned to carry out as efficiently as possible but in the end bumping into fellow riders meant a bit of time was wasted having a chat and comparing notes.

From Haverfordwest it was East on the M4 towards England. I must admit this was a dull section and my riding companion peeled off at the turning for Swansea. I was now on my own. I left Wales over the Severn Bridge and headed around Bristol to Exeter. By the time I got to Exeter the temp was now 27degC or about 15deg warmer then when I started. Also, the tourists seemed to have woken up and the roads were getting busy. Exeter was about the halfway point, so it was all metaphorically downhill from here.

After Exeter, my next checkpoint was a service station just off the M23, north Of Brighton. So, I emptied another tank of petrol between Exeter and there.

The final check point was Lowestoft, the most easterly town in the UK. The ride up from Brighton took in motorways and motorway closures and a good knowledge of the highway code allowed me to drive up an empty lane one to the front of the queue behind a highways 4x4 just as the roadblock was lifted for a burnt-out car. That meant I had a clear M23 up to the M25 intersection.

After going under the Thames in the Dartford Tunnel, thank goodness there are no tolls or booths to slow you down, it was onto fast Dual carriageways and A roads as the evening gave way to night and darkness descended.

The final checkpoint and planned fuel stop took place at about 23:30 and its quite sobering to realise that you still have about 190miles still to cover, a distance many riders would consider a good day out, all in the dark.

Once again, the plan proved to be working a treat as I was now travelling on roads I knew well through Norfolk, the A47 and then onto the A17 East of Kings Lynn. The great thing about this road at this time of day and on this ride is its straightness. Mostly the only bends came courtesy of roundabouts and thankfully they were nearly all well-lit, meaning no corners to catch me out.

After that it was onto the A1M to head back towards Leeds with the final section on the M62. I must say of all the roads I had been on this one in the early hours of the morning felt the most lonesome.

I eventually arrived back at the start 21hrs 13mins after departing and there was some great relief in completing the ride within the time allowed and over the following couple of weeks, I gave the ride a fair bit of thought and came to a couple of conclusions.

We often hear said that it is not about arriving, but it is about the journey, it is not about the destination it’s how we travel. This 1000mile ride is the journey distilled down. There is no destination, you end up where you started. The reason for the ride is purely and simply the ride itself. There was no Starbucks, Pub, or biker café that you are riding to. No group of mates to be meeting with to shoot the breeze and share exploits, this is just about you, the bike, and the road ahead. I found the ride to be quite meditative. By that I do not mean I was in a trance, I was fully aware of other road users, the conditions the road ahead etc, all the way but there was a calmness inside my helmet.  The miles ticked by and allowed the ever-changing limit points ahead to keep coming to me, the possibly hundreds of overtakes to just happen when they were on. Nothing was pushed, nothing was a rush, just a constant that meant the end, which was also the start got a bit closer. Even that is not how I really tackled the whole thing. Trying to contemplate a 1000mile journey in one bite on a bike is probably too big a task. Instead, I found just riding from one planned stop to the next made everything seem achievable. I was no longer taking part in a 1000mile ride in a day, merely riding to the next fuel stop. Those little 200mile blocks made it seem readily acheivable.

What did I learn from the whole adventure, and would I do it again? Yes, I would do it again. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, not only the riding but the planning too. I learnt a lot as well. Mostly I learnt things about my kit and my bike. It is not often that you are in constant contact with a machine, and the gear that goes with motorcycling, for so long nonstop. You get to feel if any of the touch points, where you encounter your bike are just millimetres from where they ideally should be. You feel where kit works perfectly and where it does not. For instance, an expensive and comfortable, on a normal ride, pair of summer gloves could ideally be a few mm longer in the thumbs. By the end, the tips of my thumbs were quite painful.

I also learnt it is not as dangerous as I had always dismissed it as being, however in the early hours of the morning I was consciously tell myself to be more circumspect at bends and roundabouts and not take for granted that I was as awake as I may have been fooling myself, I was.

Would I recommend it to others? Maybe. It is not for everybody, but it is a challenge and an achievement to complete. Ideally you must enjoy planning the ride and riding to the plan.

So, if you fancy a go look up the Iron Butt Association or the RBLR 2022 and give it a go, you never know you may find something about yourself and your riding.

3am. Back at the Hotel and looking a little shell shocked

The next morning it was all a good memory