NC500

[Rev Ken]

Originally Posted by Art

+1 for a leisurely 150 mile ride through scenic country lanes but there's no harm in an annual endurance ride.

The Iron Butt UK Roll of Honour includes 2,587 entries and none of us are mad, well not completely. All members must complete an initial 1,000 mile certified ride inside 24 hours, its not a race and there's probably less speeding than on that 150 mile scenic country route. The most common entry ride in the UK seems to be the annual Summer solstice event organised by The Royal British Legion Riders Association which also raises funds for the Poppy Appeal. They organise three certifications The RBLR500 - 500 miles in 36 hours, The RBLR1000 - 1,000 miles in 36 hours and the Iron Butt SS1000 - 1,000 miles in 24 hours. There are five routes to choose from that start just west of Leeds, I've done them all.

Routes A & B are 1,000 mile Northern loops that take in Scotland
Routes C & D are 1,000 mile Southern loops that take in Wales
Route E is a 500 mile North East loop that takes in Wales.

Each of the 1,000 mile routes take in just short of 400 miles of Motorway, the 500 mile route takes in 42 miles of Motorway which can easily be avoided and has been completed by L platers.

Never ride further than your angel can fly.

Thanks for educating me! I am a member of the Legion's riding club, but it isn't very active in this part of the world. (I've only been out on a couple of rides and enjoyed them especially as I appear glowing in Hi-Viz with no leather!) Well perhaps I might have been interested in these long runs, 40 years ago, but far too late now! My respect to all of you. I'll just stick to abseiling and skydiving to support Service Charities....

I enjoyed both. The hardest thing I had to do when abseiling down from Blackpool Big Dipper, 250 ft, was the long 400+ steps to get there. I was in my 70s and was quite impressed with myself, but the next guy was an 89 year old Dunkirk veteran! However the star of the day was an Afghanistan veteran who had only one arm as well as losing both legs which had been blown off just above his knees. Can you imagine climbing over 400 steps with two prosthetic legs? He at last made it, but had to be lowered down as he obviously couldn't abseil. He waved all the way down being cheered by everybody. As he got up he asked his fellow veteran for a fag. His friend was similarly disabled who said. 'You'll never grow tall if you smoke!' Oh how I miss military black humour.

The Sky dive was again great fun. There were another 26 young Army soldiers from Harrogate all of us wearing the same 'T' shirt - I stood out a little as I was 80! They were a great crowd, I was proud to be associated with them. I did some army parachuting when at college with service parachutes that were smaller than current parachutes, so it was necessary to learn how to role when landing. I was surprised that they thought I might be a bit rusty and insisted I had a man strapped to my back. 12,000 feet, and it was a fantastic experience!

Of course I've got photos of both events, but haven't a clue how to post them.

Perhaps Wing Walking next time if I can get insurance.....

[moayling]

Originally Posted by Art

That's a proper rapid rate of knots especially when you add in the 12 photo stops, 4/5 fuel stops and however many refreshment stops. You'd probably breeze through a SS1000 at that rate but note the RBLR and Iron Butt Association have a strict Rider Guidance and code of conduct.

I didn’t set the pace and a lot of it was done on dual carriageways and motorways. I think we only ate twice. The fastest bit was from Bodmin back to my home in Devon. I still go touring but at 76 l only want to do 1.5 hours before stopping. I’ve just remembered that the guy leading was one of the founding members of RBLR.

[Art]

You take care of those hips now Ken

[Rev Ken]

Originally Posted by Art

You take care of those hips now Ken

And the rest!

[paul.chucky]

NC500 is great trip amazing scenary and some fantastic roads  just have to put up with some dual carriage way to get up there but after inverness it`s motorcycle heaven apart from the  campervans that like to stop in middle of road to take pictures "f###ing arseholes"

[Art]

Getting to Inverness without the dual carriageways.

In 2013 I followed the old pre 1960 course of the A6 from London to Carlisle, A7 to Edinburgh, A93 Perth to Bridge of Gairn, A939 to Grantown-on-Spey, A95/A938/B9007 and your back on the A939 where some unclassified roads got me to Inverness and beyond. The only dual carriageways were the by-passes around Kettering, Leicester, Derby (would have been a better start point), Manchester, Carlisle and Edinburgh and 25 miles of the M90 Edinburgh to Perth.

At 570 miles and 18 hours in the saddle it takes a full two days riding, three if you want to stop start here and there.

[paul.chucky]

Appologies to moderator and all members of the group for my swearing in post  as i`m new i was not aware of such misbehaviour this will not happen again
Much respect Paul