Cannonball Bike Run

[Oil-Of-AJ]

Hi All, I'm new here and wanted to firstly inro myself to you all. Been riding for 15 years, some track stuff but mainly road and European trisp are my thing. I recently took part in the Cannonball Bike Run 2006 and thought you might like some bedtime reading or even toilet trash!!

Anyway, here is my story of the CBR06:

The Cannonball Bike Run 2006

“A Fine too far!”

After reading an article in Performance Bike back in April 2006 announcing the launch of the Cannonball Bike Run 2006 (CBR06) Leggy and I decided it would be a laugh to enter and see how we would fair to those who entered and won last year!

After many months of preparation and purchasing pointless accessories for our bikes and ourselves, we are set for what was going to be a trip of a lifetime with countries and roads never to be visited again!

After purchasing a 2006 R1 for the trip and only having done the run in mileage, it was booked for it’s first service and add-ons to be ready for the trip, to be told by Pro Bike Newbury that it had a hairline crack in the engine…… a couple of hours later a deal had been made for them to keep the R1 and provide me with a K6 GSXR1000 – a much more worthy machine and more of a joy to ride, so not such a kick in the pants after all.

LEAVING THE UK:

Tuesday 22nd August – 05:15am Leggy and I meet at the Shell garage on the Bagshot Road, Bracknell. Loaded up and fired up for our trip. We head to Dover for the first meet point and get booked onto the ferry. We arrive at Dover at 06:50 to be greeted by the English and French authorities to have a thorough check over the bikes, paperwork and luggage. All ok and boarded we meet all the other UK entrants in the Pride of Dover restaurant whilst crossing the channel. Nick (one of the CBR06 organisers) welcomes us with a small presentation and low down on the next stage. We’re off to a Castle converted into a hotel in Wúrzburg, Germany for the official pre launch dinner and introductions.

We land at Calais and offload our bags then set off (at our own pace) to Germany. Having purchased onboard camera equipment, we decided it would be a good time to test them and record the first stint before our first fuel stop. With just over 400 miles to cover before the hotel we took it relatively slow…………. Yeah right!!! The usual 186mph and obligatory wheelies would always be required, especially if the camera is rolling!

We encounter our first tug by the Belgium Police and are escorted to the local police station and booked for doing 177kph in a 120kph limit and fined on the spot €230 each for our troubles, we thought this was a bad start, but paid up and fucked off before they changed their minds.

We meet up with friends in a service station just outside Brussels and laugh about the pace we are maintaining!!! We then leave with too much speed and a little less haste and make an immediate wrong turn and find ourselves on the Brussels inner ring road. Great underground tunnels which almost took the Cballers first casualty (ME) going too fast in a tunnel and no signs to notify us of an almost 90° bend, managed to scrub off the speed and brush the concrete crash barrier, then started to breathe again! Found our way out of Brussels and got back on route.

Having bumped into the camera crew on route we had a play with them for the remainder of the journey and I must say the car they were driving was worthy of being a fulltime camera car! Driven by Ant was his well modified and Gumball 3000 2006 3rd place BMW D3, yes a D3, modelled on the M series was this 170+mph 330 diesel.

The first night:

Wúrzburg, Germany: The hotel is fantastic, the views are out of this world and the beer is cheap too. BRILLIANT!

Nick talks of tails from the first session of CBR06 and Leggy and I the largest fine to date and now named the Gixer Twins! He then tells us all what the plan is for the start of the event and where we are heading. We leave at 07:30 and going to St Moritz, Switzerland with some twisties and sweeping bends to keep us on our toes.

All feeling a little too fucked from the early start and long day in the saddle we downed several well earned beers and retired around 00:00

Day 1 - THE START:

Up bright and early, albeit due to the fact that Leggy has a bad case of the shits and isn’t feeling 100%. We head down to breakfast and see that we are far from being the first up or ready to leave. We eat the wholesome breakfast laid on (croissants, ham and cheese!!) pack up and get saddled up for a damn good hoon to Switzerland, or at least that’s what we thought we were going to do today!

We stop for fuel and meet 2 other Cballers in Wúrzburg and they were quick to notice that nobody was taking a record of our mileage, so some new tactics came into play! They say they are heading down the motorway out of Germany to shave off some time. Leggy and I (the honest gixer twins) decide to stick to the planned route and head off with maps and directions in tow.

One wrong turn heading to Stuttgart, but quickly noticed and corrected! Now on the famous German autobahn we make up some good ground and pass many slower Cballers. We’re going to come in first, or worst case the top 5, we were sure of it…. Then we get flagged down and pulled by an unmarked German police car and they tried to book us for speeding. They wanted to book us for 240kph in a 120kph when I gladly explained that we were on an autobahn until the last 100 yards when they stopped us and that we could still see the autobahn sign heading the other way. They groaned for a while and looked at our documents then sent us on our way, fine free!

Passing a group of 5 Danish whilst filtering and overtaking some slow moving traffic we pick up some speed and pass a crashed Cballer who didn’t make a sweeping right hander. Police present so we chose to press on…… a mile or so later we get flagged down and pulled in to a road stop where there were 2 other Cballers. Within 15 minutes another 7 were pulled in and we realised it was purely for our benefit!!!

Whilst Leggy and I were being booked €150 each for the sheer pleasure of taking part in an organised and not approved event through Germany a blue Vauxhall Omega pulled in and started talking to the local police and then asked who were the owners of the 2 Suzuki GSXR1000’s!!!??? We openly put our hands up thinking it was an angry driver that we had overtaken and thought it may have been quite funny to have a row then get going. The driver of the Omega then said “ven you av vinished ere, you come ova to our car and we av a video to show you” – “Oh fuck, unmarked coppers!!!!!”

After watching the onboard video footage, it was quickly realised that the slow moving cars we overtook after the Danish included this damn Omega. Can you believe they booked us for 105kph in a 70 and overtaking on a solid white line (although it was clear to see anything coming for at least ½ a mile) a grand total of €1000 fine and a €50 admin charge!!!! To add insult to injury we had to borrow a friend’s bike to go to the nearest town to draw the cash out the wall. This town also had a road block with approximately 15 Cballers pulled over!!!

To add even more insult to injury they noticed my onboard camera and confiscated this for further prosecution and will be sending to the Belgium and French authorities to be dealt with accordingly. 3 hours after being pulled over, we were on our way at last feeling somewhat raped and disgruntled and the general vibe amongst all those pulled was to head home. Having our luggage on the CBR support van meant we had to arrive in St Moritz and re-group.

I don’t know what it is about the German’s but they seem to have great pleasure in bollocking the English and making some serious cash out of us. Are they really not over the war or the 1966 World Cup?

We head into Switzerland and then start to have some fun and hit some seriously nice roads which amazingly take away the bad vibes.

Dinner in St Moritz and a night on the town seemed a great idea, talking about the day’s fines and events from the previous 470 miles. There were 6 of us around our table that evening and we discussed a plan to retreat and head back to the UK without having to go through Germany again and enjoy some of the French Alps with stops in areas we chose as we were under the impression that we would be heading back into Germany at some point and rumoured that the finish line was in Munich! After much deliberation and the announcement that tomorrow was up through 4 mountain ranges in Switzerland and Italy then finishing in Venice we were to continue with the CBR06 route and then see what happens during that day.

Day 2 - THE MOUNTAIN SECTION:

With rumours of cheating and the stops encountered in Day 1, the organisers announced that today was to be the new start of the race and managed to tell several, but not all Cballers that an arranged checkpoint in the mountains had been cancelled, us included!!! We set off in about 30th position thinking we had it all to ride for and aimed ourselves on meeting and overtaking those ahead. The clouds were low and the air was fresh, and we were on it with a very long awaited smile on our faces and some superb roads ahead.

We stopped for our first fuel stop and met up with 8 of those 30 Cballers, fuelled up and left at the same time we quickly overtook and headed off to hunt down the next batch. With only the organisers directions we found ourselves passing 3 more Cballers, although they we heading in the other direction!!!! We approached a town and junction that wasn’t on the route and noticed the mileage was wrong and turns incorrectly placed on the directions provided. Out came the map and realised we and those other 3 Cballers were 10 miles away from the route in the wrong direction so we had to cover ground already made. We then see the other 8 previously overtaken clearly taking the wrong route also!! We have a little chuckle and done the courteous favour of not notifying them that they were going the wrong way also!!!

Now back on route it was obvious that those further ahead were either making up their own route or seriously quicker than us!!! Hmmm something isn’t right………… We hit our first summit and having endured an entire mountain climb which involved only 1st gear bends and straights that would not get you past 2nd gear we met 2 other Cballers who joined us for a while before they pulled over and we carried on. They too admitted they missed a section to get them to the mountains quicker…….. We didn’t call them cheating bastards but they could see we were up for the win and we cracked on!

Another wrong turn after summit 3 left us off route and about 15 miles off track, we head back to the route and passed only 2 other riders (Chris and Lanky bloke) sticking to the route thank god! This put us off the timings for the checkpoint closing so we shot past it and made our way to Venice. Some more twisties and a small 70 mile motorway stint into Venice left and we were quietly confident we were top runners who stuck to the route! 50 miles on the motorway and guess what? Yes we get pulled for speeding “AGAIN” A mere €90 fine and a stern talking too and we’re off. We find the hotel in Venice without a single mistake, pull up to see other Cballers showered and changed and told that we were in 36th and 37th position some 3 hours and 40 minutes behind the leaders……. I make it very clear to the time keeper that there is some serious cheating going on and that the route isn’t being stuck too. It was then made clear (for the first time to us) that the checkpoint had been cancelled. That was it, we had enough and not even an offer to deduct some time from our arrival to make us even closely competitive to the leaders!!

Dinner then an organised boat taxi into Venice and a drink in Marks Square was on the cards which we looked forward too. Soon after dinner had finished and we met outside the hotel to head off, the rain started and a thunderstorm like I have never seen before appeared from nowhere! Leggy, Nick, Omi, Tony, the Danish boys and I decided to stay in the hotel for beers and to organise our planned route back home……. We had all had enough of the way it had been organised and the lack of timing starts and mileage checks along with checkpoints to ensure those competing were being truthful to the planned route. Not to mention that certain entrants that were running with the front crowd admitted they were not sticking to the route. This makes for an entry fee of £1599 and a first prize to compete in the USA Cannonball Bike Run with full expenses and a bike provided somewhat ridiculous.

Day 3 – HEADING HOME:

Leggy, Nick, Omi, Tony and I checked out of the hotel in Venice and headed west through Switzerland and into France, riding roads and mountain peaks like nothing else. We stopped in Chamonix, Mont Blanc for lunch and agreed to make our way to Dijon and then find a hotel. Tony left us in Mont Blanc and decided to stay a couple of days before heading home.

100 mile after 100 mile fuel stops we just kept going. It was getting late and we were all starting to feel tired. Espresso’s and full tanks all round at each stop with a few cigarettes thrown in for good measure and on we pushed. Leggy and Nick had shown me a new riding position which involved the pillion pegs and to lay on the tank and rest your shins on the rear pegs to resume the superman position………….. little did I realise that this would be far too comfortable, only when I slowed down and went across a rumble strip at about 90mph did I realise that I had fallen asleep……….. MORE COFFEE FOR ME PLEASE!

We reached Calais at about 23:00 and had to wait for the 02:40 crossing so we found what can only be described as a toilet floor to lay on and get some sleep…… nice!

Leggy and I finally arrived back at my place at 09:00 after a long breakfast stop in Clacket Lane Services and then pretty much slept all day!

Venice to home: 1080 miles in 24 hours, 9 fuel stops, 20 fags and numerous cups of coffee.

Would we do it again? Of course, if the CBR crew can provide a true cheat free event and guarantees that it will be a fair and full event with the appropriate authorisation from certain countries to allow the CBR to go through without too many complications.

Monojuice will be organising UK and European trips, with a combination of WSB, MotoGP, Le Mans and European Rallies. Watch this space or email events@monojuice.net

Pictures and video footage can be seen on our site!
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AJ

www.monojuice.net - "just scratching the surface"

[TOM M]

Excellent write up


Really enjoyed that
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Now owner of a 1200 Bandit

[feef]

Wuld be easy to provide a cheat free event.

Give all the competitors a garmin GPS, with tracking turned on.



I'd like to try something like that, indeed, I have my own hairbrained trip that I'm going to try and do in the spring

a
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Mudskipper wrote: feef, that is such a beautiful post that it gave me a lady tingle
Windchill calculator - London Bike parking
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[colin1]

sounds cool
i didnt see the link at first, so here it is for ppl like me https://www.monojuice.net/CBR06picsmovies.htm
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Oil-Of-AJ]

glad you enjoyed it, it has also been sent to PB, Fast Bikes, MCN and T.W.O should they choose to use it!!

Did you see the video intro at the top of the link "you" provided? (thanks)

The fat b*st*rd pulling wheelies on the gixer is me (wouldn't put it on my site otherwise, would I)

The video is the intro for this years CBR06 DVD - should be out in a few months.
____________________
AJ

www.monojuice.net - "just scratching the surface"

[Modo]

Excellent write up made a great read

[mrtEE]

GSXR-1000: £9000
Entrance fees and speeding fines: £2000
Camera equipment and hotels and fuel: £2000

Giving up and going home cos it was unfair: Priceless.

[Oil-Of-AJ]

correction, sorry!

GSXR-1000: £10500 (with extras)
Leathers & Helmet £1600 (I really didn't need)
Entrance fees and speeding fines: £4200
Camera equipment and hotels and fuel: £900

Giving up and going home cos it was a shambles: Priceless/Pointless!!
____________________
AJ

www.monojuice.net - "just scratching the surface"

[mrtEE]

So it cost you 17 grand for a 4 day holiday? F*ck me!

[Oil-Of-AJ]

well i try not to look at it like that, after all I still have the bike, leathers, helmet etc
____________________
AJ

www.monojuice.net - "just scratching the surface"

[R4nger]

You like spending money, rich git!