Santas on bikes Charity Fund Raiser Event......
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By AndyW (CVAM) - Bikers, more charitable than most!
 

 

Santas on Bikes - charity fund raiser at Rockingham Race Circuit
 

First off this is what it was all in aid of:
 

 

Record Breakers are Urgently seeking 10,000 fun bikers to bring home the World Record for the Largest Gathering of Santas on Bikes, which is currently held by the Portuguese. Their record stands at 5,443 Santas. The record has been challenged in the UK once before but fell short, that was before we were beaten by Portugal in Euro 2004.

The amazing spectacle will be held on December 19th 2004 at Rockingham race circuit. The record attempt will be televised and featured in The Sun, Motor Cycle News and many other national media publications.

All funds raised to go in aid of a charity supporting children that have/are suffering the effects of cancer either directly or as a result of a parent having the disease.

 

 

Well I'm pleased to say that against the odds I did attend the event at Rockingham International Race Circuit on Sunday 19th December 2004.

 

I say "against the odds".......well 11:00pm the Saturday night before the event, luggage packed and loaded on the bike in the garage, the bike has had a good check over and I'm off to bed for an early night. The plan is to be up at 05:00am Sunday morning to get away by 06:00am, giving me 3 hours to make the 170 mile trip with time to spare for the meet with my 4 friends from the SV1000 owners group at Tesco's in Kettering at 09:00am. The plan, to have a nice fried breakfast there to set us up for the day and on to Rockingham 12 miles or so away having donned Santa Suites.
 

02:30am Sunday morning and I get a rude awakening (not that sort of "rude", Sue was fast asleep!), some silly so and so (PC description for public viewing!) was racing up and down the street on a Motocross bike!!! ........ I get up and wander down to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I stand at the kitchen sink, glass in hand tap running, staring out the window in stunned disbelief - it looks like a seen from a Christmas card outside!! There's at least an inch of snow on the ground and there's a minor blizzard still going strong!! Now this is more snow than I've seen here in Weston Super Mare for years and of all days it has to be this one! Explains why the guy on the crosser was hooning around the streets at that time of day (well night!).......enjoying the snow (anti-social bastard :-)
The view from our front door...
 

 

02:30am and there's a minor blizzard going on outside!
 

3 hours later having grabbed a couple more hours restless sleep and it's not looking much better outside, it is drizzling now though so there's hope of a thaw. Brave or stupid I don't know but the snow's turning to slush on the roads and I make the decision to give it a go. 06:30am and I'm on the bike gingerly making my way down local streets dragging my feet for extra stability in the cold slippery conditions, the temperature is just 2 degrees C (anyone that knows about wind chill factor will appreciate how cold this trip was going to be!). Conditions are much better by the time I'm on the M5, just very wet, windy and cold.....I take it steady for the first hour or so as visibility is poor and it's still dark, raining and I'm worried about being caught out by the occasional patches of slush. 70 miles in to the trip and I stop off to fuel the bike and myself with a coffee......10 minutes later and back on the road - the snow storms must have been very localised, the Motorway is almost dry (just the damp the road salt pulls down), it's now a bright morning and I pick up the pace to arrive on time at Kettering hopefully without another photograph those little yellow boxes they dot everywhere nowadays, having been taken!
Team SV1000 photo...
 

 

SV1000 owners charity group
 

So, on to the event.............despite the inclement start to the day the sun shined for us for the rest of the day and it was estimated that 2,500 motorcycling Father Christmases who had travelled from all over the country took part. We spent time mingling in the paddock checking out the bikes, chatting to other riders and generally being sociable while we waited for the organisers to get there act together and get the mass Santas on Bikes ride round the race circuit. When it finally happened it was quite an experience, the sound of so many bikes in close formation on the move (albeit slowly for safety) was just something else!
 


 

Sadly no records were broken but a great deal of money was raised which afterall was the main reason for the event.......I did read of the sum of £50,000 being quoted but this accounts only for the £20 per head paid up front by participants so a considerably larger final amount must have been raised!. We did our part with the total for the groupof 7 of us being in excess of £800 in addition to the £140 we'd paid between us to take part.
 

Those that know me know that I'm a bit excessive regards looking after my bikes (errr, I guess I am - Cleaning your bike).......and I got caught in the act in the paddock at Rockingham...
 

Beat road salt with Scottoiler FS365
 

....yes I actually had a bottle of Scottoiler FS365 with me :-0 But I can tell you, looking after your bike pays dividends when it comes to selling it on ;-) And in this case I had good cause as the bike was encrusted with road salt! [more info on FS365]
 

Road salt encrusted SV1000 motorcycle!
 

Rather than have the long ride home at the end of a long day 3 of us stayed over at a nearby TravelLodge.........the next morning there was no snow at least but it was bloody cold for the ride home!
 


 


 

 

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