2019 Daventry Motorcycle Festival Ride In
In this motorcycling post, I’ll admit to being a fair-weather rider. It’s a term of abuse that more hardcore bikers apply to those that only want to ride in the sunshine, it’s like a north/south divide in the biker fraternity.
In my defence, I have ridden a significant number of miles in the pouring rain. Here are a few of the more notable instances; my first ever, post-CBT, solo ride saw me soaked through to the skin and shivering. I took my Mod 1 test in the pouring rain and then a few weeks later took my Mod 2 in a downpour Noah would have contemplated re-floating his ark for.
I do own wet weather riding gear (which keeps my body dry) but my leather gloves and boots will eventually let the water through. When I took my Mod 2, my gloves were so wet they dyed my hands black, and my boots were so wet that I had plastic bags on my feet inside them. The things took days to dry afterwards.
I’ll ride in the rain when I have to, but it’s not pleasurable and there comes a point where it’s just uncomfortable. And let’s face it, with reduced visibility and reduced road surface grip, it’s riskier – so why would you ride if you can drive a car instead? If you opt to ride, when you’ve completed your journey, your bike needs a jolly good clean or you risk it going rusty (Kawasaki doesn’t have the best reputation for the quality/micron thickness of its surface plating).
The admissions that precede this paragraph have been made because this Saturday saw the Daventry Motorcycle Festival take place and, to be frank, the weather was awful. I had planned to join the ride in, but decided against it at the last minute. As it turned out, I wasn’t the only one that made that call.
Regular readers will know that I am a staunch advocate of the festival (other event review links below); the rain affected the turnout more than I have ever seen it impacted before. In 2015 it rained, but that year’s attendance wasn’t anywhere near so low.
The ride in on Saturday saw only a handful of bikes arrive, there were so few that many of my fellow observers were left wondering if there was a problem and that the rest of the expected convoy had been held up.
For the organisers, it must have been the worst nightmare, all the arrangements were made weeks in advance, all the work had already been done, all the resources to manage a large-scale event were marshalled, the road closures were in place … and yet the number of machines on display was depressingly low.
I didn’t take my bike and therefore accept some personal responsibility for the low show, I did however make the effort to go to the event and show some support to those that had invested so much time to make it happen.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed in 2020.
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Previous Daventry Motorcycle Festival articles
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
In my defence, I have ridden a significant number of miles in the pouring rain. Here are a few of the more notable instances; my first ever, post-CBT, solo ride saw me soaked through to the skin and shivering. I took my Mod 1 test in the pouring rain and then a few weeks later took my Mod 2 in a downpour Noah would have contemplated re-floating his ark for.
I do own wet weather riding gear (which keeps my body dry) but my leather gloves and boots will eventually let the water through. When I took my Mod 2, my gloves were so wet they dyed my hands black, and my boots were so wet that I had plastic bags on my feet inside them. The things took days to dry afterwards.
I’ll ride in the rain when I have to, but it’s not pleasurable and there comes a point where it’s just uncomfortable. And let’s face it, with reduced visibility and reduced road surface grip, it’s riskier – so why would you ride if you can drive a car instead? If you opt to ride, when you’ve completed your journey, your bike needs a jolly good clean or you risk it going rusty (Kawasaki doesn’t have the best reputation for the quality/micron thickness of its surface plating).
The admissions that precede this paragraph have been made because this Saturday saw the Daventry Motorcycle Festival take place and, to be frank, the weather was awful. I had planned to join the ride in, but decided against it at the last minute. As it turned out, I wasn’t the only one that made that call.
Regular readers will know that I am a staunch advocate of the festival (other event review links below); the rain affected the turnout more than I have ever seen it impacted before. In 2015 it rained, but that year’s attendance wasn’t anywhere near so low.
The ride in on Saturday saw only a handful of bikes arrive, there were so few that many of my fellow observers were left wondering if there was a problem and that the rest of the expected convoy had been held up.
For the organisers, it must have been the worst nightmare, all the arrangements were made weeks in advance, all the work had already been done, all the resources to manage a large-scale event were marshalled, the road closures were in place … and yet the number of machines on display was depressingly low.
I didn’t take my bike and therefore accept some personal responsibility for the low show, I did however make the effort to go to the event and show some support to those that had invested so much time to make it happen.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed in 2020.
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home
Midlife crisis? ... Sort of
Previous Daventry Motorcycle Festival articles
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
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