That’s what my wife says for some reason.
Why we do winter rallies
- Thread starter AndyB_11
- Start date
That’s what my wife says for some reason.
she's slagging you off on Nick's Facebook feed after seeing what the snow is really like...
That’d be right. She muttered about coming then said it would be too cold to go sleep in a tent.
It’s always a plus when the bike starts in the morning 
It’s still -4c but I’ve had 2 cups of coffee so it’s time to pack up and head south.
It’s still -4c but I’ve had 2 cups of coffee so it’s time to pack up and head south.
Frozen Nuts Rally near Stoke on Feb 1st. As usual, cold enough to keep the ice cream from melting.
Times like this it pays to have quality camping equipment and a decent 12v battery.
Sent from Steve's fancy iPad using Tapatalk
Times like this it pays to have quality camping equipment and a decent 12v battery.
Sent from Steve's fancy iPad using Tapatalk
Just ordered a ‘double black diamond’ down filled blanket for the above. Something to do with age related comfort requirements, or maybe I could do with a thermal onesie
.Sent from Steve's fancy iPad using Tapatalk
Right then, I got home late last night so now I’m warm and dry why the hell did I do it?
Well it’s been a couple of years since I did a winter rally so I bunged an email out to a winter rally mailing list I’ve been running for about 12 years and unsurprising now we’re all a lot older and some are a bit wiser the usual excuses were trotted out but essentially one person expressed a degree of enthusiasm and suggested Denmark as being a gentle return to the game so we contacted the organisers, blagged an invite and that was it.
As Rugged Path says, good winter camping kit is essential, probably more so than eye wateringly expensive bike kit because you can stop to warm up every hour if you want when riding but getting warm at 2am when you’ve got ice inside your tent is a bit tougher.
We got soaked riding to just south of Flensburg on Thursday so bike gear was spread over radiators, beer and food thrown down our necks and that was us for the night. Friday morning was cold, so cold that the rain and snow had frozen and my ignition lock was solid. Where’s my lock de-icer? At home. Not a problem, they sold it at a garage a few hundred yards up the road but that’s another thing to put on your winter rally packing list.
We’d left ourselves under 200 miles to get to the rally site so even after stopping to get local currency and have lunch we were there in daylight. Ever put a tent up in the dark when it’s already below freezing? It’s shit, always do the hard miles the day before so you’ve got more chance of being dry when you get there and maybe get a fire going before dark if you need to.
This was the point when I remembered why winter rallies are better than summer ones. Everyone has made an extra effort to get there and if you’re furrin they ply you with a lot of free alcohol. Licorice flavoured schnapps seems to be a Danish favourite and we drank lots
Getting up to find that the rally organisers have got the communal bonfire sparked up and free bacon and scrambled eggs are waiting is another plus point as were the numerous jugs of coffee that were available all day.
Saturday was a blur, Saturday night was goto bed earlier and not quite as drunk because of the need to get on the bike and leave by 11am with the goal being to get south of Bremen. Easy, we were in a very nice hotel by 18:30 and in the bar talking bollocks to Germans less than an hour later.
Monday morning was brutal, my phone said -7c, Nicks bike said -9c, my fingers said what the fuck are you doing here?
On the ferry by 1pm and apart from a 2 hour ride home that was it.
If you’ve never been to a winter rally you should go, even better go to one abroad and if you don’t mind a bit of suffering do the Elefant because that’s the biggest and probably the one most people have heard of and are tempted by. I’ll go back to Denmark at some point in the future because it’s only a small rally and everybody was really friendly. They’ve even said that if I want to go next year but without all the clutter on the bike they’ll put a tent up ready for when I arrive. You don’t often get that kind of offer even though I like to have my own tent in case I don’t make it and need to camp somewhere else because of bad weather.
Well it’s been a couple of years since I did a winter rally so I bunged an email out to a winter rally mailing list I’ve been running for about 12 years and unsurprising now we’re all a lot older and some are a bit wiser the usual excuses were trotted out but essentially one person expressed a degree of enthusiasm and suggested Denmark as being a gentle return to the game so we contacted the organisers, blagged an invite and that was it.
As Rugged Path says, good winter camping kit is essential, probably more so than eye wateringly expensive bike kit because you can stop to warm up every hour if you want when riding but getting warm at 2am when you’ve got ice inside your tent is a bit tougher.
We got soaked riding to just south of Flensburg on Thursday so bike gear was spread over radiators, beer and food thrown down our necks and that was us for the night. Friday morning was cold, so cold that the rain and snow had frozen and my ignition lock was solid. Where’s my lock de-icer? At home. Not a problem, they sold it at a garage a few hundred yards up the road but that’s another thing to put on your winter rally packing list.
We’d left ourselves under 200 miles to get to the rally site so even after stopping to get local currency and have lunch we were there in daylight. Ever put a tent up in the dark when it’s already below freezing? It’s shit, always do the hard miles the day before so you’ve got more chance of being dry when you get there and maybe get a fire going before dark if you need to.
This was the point when I remembered why winter rallies are better than summer ones. Everyone has made an extra effort to get there and if you’re furrin they ply you with a lot of free alcohol. Licorice flavoured schnapps seems to be a Danish favourite and we drank lots
Getting up to find that the rally organisers have got the communal bonfire sparked up and free bacon and scrambled eggs are waiting is another plus point as were the numerous jugs of coffee that were available all day.
Saturday was a blur, Saturday night was goto bed earlier and not quite as drunk because of the need to get on the bike and leave by 11am with the goal being to get south of Bremen. Easy, we were in a very nice hotel by 18:30 and in the bar talking bollocks to Germans less than an hour later.
Monday morning was brutal, my phone said -7c, Nicks bike said -9c, my fingers said what the fuck are you doing here?
On the ferry by 1pm and apart from a 2 hour ride home that was it.
If you’ve never been to a winter rally you should go, even better go to one abroad and if you don’t mind a bit of suffering do the Elefant because that’s the biggest and probably the one most people have heard of and are tempted by. I’ll go back to Denmark at some point in the future because it’s only a small rally and everybody was really friendly. They’ve even said that if I want to go next year but without all the clutter on the bike they’ll put a tent up ready for when I arrive. You don’t often get that kind of offer even though I like to have my own tent in case I don’t make it and need to camp somewhere else because of bad weather.
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