The BMF National Rally is an annual motorcycle event, in which riders attempt to travel between 200 and 500 miles in a 20 hour period starting at 14:00 on the first day and ending at a predetermined finishing point by 10:00 on the second. At the end an award is received relative to the amount of miles covered.
This all sounds very simple, 500 miles / 20 hrs, a mere 25 miles an hour average no problem.
Then the rules kick in!
You must not travel more than 40 miles without stopping
at a control point
(approx. 20 mins per stop)
You must not stop at the same control more than once
(only a few are open at night)
You must not travel more than 200 miles without a 1
hour rest stop
(and boy do you need it)
Not so simple now is it!
The other little fly in the ointment is that the list of control points and their locations is not released until 2 weeks before the event, which does tend to make the humble road map mandatory bedtime reading for the last 2 weeks in an attempt to find the best place to start from and enough control points to visit from the list of 40 or so provided, which will achieve the required mileage and stay within the rules above.
All this said the rally is a very enjoyable event, with a fantastic level of camaraderie from all entrants.
This year I will be riding the event also to raise
sponsorship for Mencap
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at adrian.sumner@ntlworld.com