Today's highlight was the Garmin Zumo "Ride Out", with Charley Boorman, launched at On Yer Bike, a bike and repair shop.
Charley showed up on many rider's radar when he and Ewan McGregor rode the "Long Way Round"; London UK to New York, 20000miles, 12 countries, 19 timezones, 115 days. Then as an encore, the two rode the "Long Way Down", from the top of Scotland down to Cape Town. As they're both actors, they had a support crew and filmed the majority of their adventures, releasing them to the viewing public. Since then, he's done several of his own projects, continuing his passion for motorcycling, including recently crossing Canada for his Extreme Frontiers documentaries.
Garmin warned that interest was pretty intense for this event, and they weren't kidding. Hundreds of riders showed up, seemingly the majority waiting for Charley to arrive.
Charley showed up on a BMW R1200GS Adventure, the same model (but not the same bike) that he rode for LWD and for crossing Canada, and an upgrade to the older R1150GS Adventure he used for LWR. He seems clearly to have changed his mind about KTM vs. BMW, a debate captured in LWR. That, or BMW is giving him endless free bikes in honour of the awesome showing he and Ewan gave for the bikes.
Within minutes of his arrival, he was cornered by hundreds of people seeking pictures and autographs.
After a time, I went to do my own ride of one of the Garmin-recommended routes around the area. It was about 80 miles, and took almost 2 hours. I started alone, but a handful of us found each other during the ride and finished it as a group.
I only mashed the left-side-traffic thing about 4 times. Sigh. Okay, maybe 5. Or... Only one driver was inconvenienced to the point of honking though!
The route finished back at On Yer Bike. I returned just in time to verify that I didn't win the grand prize; I believe it was the "African Adventure", which implies an epic Africa tour. I clearly was eager and anxious to win this. ;)
After the prizes were awarded, Charley joined everyone for a short group ride, with an untold number of people following, including me immediately behind Charley, who was in the #2 position himself. Of course, the very first thing he did when he got out of the parking lot was settle all the gear on his bike with a good wheelie. Then we were off!
It was a fast tour of the local area again, perhaps a 1/3rd of the 80mile circuit.
I didn't really get to talk to Charley much. I think I heard him tell people his next trip is in October, perhaps South America.
I eventually took off. My bike was running on fumes at this point, and I wanted to reclaim my laundry, which I dropped at Launderama in downtown Aylesbury early this morning. Then it was back to the hotel, and a tasty roast beef dinner (with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, stuffing, gravy), and an apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
I just read an interesting thing; Charley had an R1200GS Adventure stolen, the one he used for his Canadian crossing. Within hours, the bike was traced back to the thieves, and was already partially dismantled. Impressive that they hadn't discovered the tracking module yet and disabled it. I know who I'll be looking to secure my bike if I buy a bike in the UK.
Oh, I see I've been remis with some details people might find interesting. I shall go back in time and add these details to my previous days posts as well.
Premium (95 RON) as prices in the UK appear to be about GBP 1.36/L, or CAD $2.13/L.
Averaging 5.9 L/100km today, on roughly 100km/h roads
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