Bikers Make A Difference rang true all bank holiday weekend as thousands of bikers made the pilgremmage (all be it mostly from just down the road...!) to Paignton, in Devon, this weekend for the 4th BMAD Motorbike festival.
Thanks to Phoenix Training for organising the donation of a stall space for our team from the organisers, without which we couldn't have had the impact that we have this weekend.
Setting up on Friday after a sunny ride down, the stand looked great and it was fantastic to see Tony and Ali (our...can I say fantastic again?...FANTASTIC (!) sponsors) and to meet Vince of Phoenix Training in Paignton.
The opening a 6pm was slow, but gradually more and more people began to stream through the gates (and over the fences) and by the time the band was playing out to a setting sun there was a real buzz around the site. Unfortunately, being hardened campers with a tent pitched 10 minutes outside of town, we had to head off beer-less to our palacial manor-tent in the country.
The festival opened with a bang as hoards of bikers, tourists and locals poured onto the site first thing Saturday morning. Hardcore, tattoo-headed chopper enthusiasts once again rubbed shoulders with walking stick wielding, blue rinsed old ladies in a way that only BMAD could make work so seamlessly. Catching us by surprise, we didn't seem able to be in enough places at once to collect from the generous crowd. With an uncharacteristic hot British sun, we were managing stints of 15 to 20 minutes at a time collecting before we melted and had to head for shade.
There isn't enough space here for me to go into full details of the event itself so for full information and photos of the event, visit www.bmad.co.uk or browse through our 'Team Enduro Photos' on the tab on the left.
Another sun filled day, despite forecasts to the contrary, Sunday built up to be another busy one. Accused of stealing the Brixham RNLI flag by the president of the Brixham station (once he found out that the RNLI had in fact given the flag to us and that we were raising money for them, he lightened up and showed us photos of his 1958 Norton International!) and after a collecting tin turf war that we won (that's teamwork for you...) we went on to collect over £400 towards our charities and the ride. Well done to Sarah for selling raffle tickets better than any of 'The Apprentice' hopefuls could, and to Flick for making contacts with some of the most useful and interesting people on the site.
Thanks again to everyone at BMAD, see you next year!!
Unfortunately due to health reasons Mikey has had to withdraw from the Team Enduro trip. All of the team are upset that Mikey will no longer be able to join the challenge, however he will still be a huge part of our fundraising events in the lead up to the trip.
On a brighter note, Mike and Sarah have now bought the bikes they will be using for the trip (both Aprilia Pegaso 650cc) and Flick will be buying her BMW f650 funduro shortly.
All of the team are looking forward to the Bikers Make A Difference festival this weekend and are hoping to raise more money for Help the Aged, RNLI and Unicef. Hopefully see some of you there!!
Team Enduro.
We are progressing well towards August with the team leaning towards using Aprilia egasos for the trip.
We are still in need of support from companies to assist us with purchase of all of the kit that is required to complete such a huge and complicated trip. Also, we need as many individuals as possible to donate anything from £1 to our charities to enable us to make the most of our efforts and really help 3 worthwhile causes.
Keep checking the events page to see upcoming events that you may like to attend or offer help in organising.
Stay tuned!
Mike
Get a