Bikewise 2013

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to another edition of the Arctic Ride 2014 blog!

This week's blog is all about my trip to the BikeWise show in Durham on the 27th July. BikeWise is an annual motorbike show held at the Durham Constabulary Police Headquarters. The event sees thousands of bikers flock to Durham to see stalls from local bike clubs, clothing and helmet stalls, dealers, and anything BIKE related. I was lucky enough to be asked by the NEMCRC to attend with them and be on their stand.

NEMCRC  have recently become a sponsor of Arctic Ride 2014 (click for blog on this) and it was a pleasure to attend with them and represent them at the show. Being at the show allowed me to get out there what I am I doing and why to a large biker community audience. To help promote the Arcic Ride 2014 brand I got the bike logo'd up with my sponsors and the charity's logo. I also got some literature printed off and my wife Kirsty baked some motorbike related cakes and we popped them on the stand to help raise some funds.

Cakes on the Arctic Ride 2014 stall

Now the day didn't get off to the of best starts. After a stressful Saturday prepping for the event, I awoke early (about 5am I recall) and looked out the window to see grey skies and endless rain hitting the ground. "Any day but today" were my first words to Kirsty as we were packing the panniers in the living room. Although after checking out the forecast I was reassured that by about 10am all the rain would be gone and I just had to get through the 30 mile ride to Durham in the rain and that was it. Now I know a lot of bikers will be reading this but for those of you who aren't bikers I think I speak for the majority of the biking community that riding in the rain isn't fun, especially when 2 up with 3 boxes loaded with gear. Throw into the mix an almost unbelievable amount of rain and spray on the motorway and it certainly wasn't fun.

Anyway, we made it down to Durham without incident and got ourselves set up for the day. Punters started arriving from 10am onwards and from then on it was go-go-go. Between Kirsty and I we were almost always chatting to someone about my trip and it was great to get such positive feedback from the biking community. We also sold plenty of cakes and got the word out about Cerebra and the wonderful work they do for brain-injured children.

Another reason for attending the event was so that NEMCRC could officially present me with a sponsorship cheque. I was lucky enough to get this presented to me twice. First by Michael Anderson, NEMCRC club President.

NEMCRC President Michael Anderson and Gordon at Durham BikeWise

Then, expectantly, the club brought 2003 World SuperBike Champion Neil Hodgson to the stand to come and have a chat with me and present the cheque to me on the Club's behalf as a special thank you.

Gordon and Neil Hodgson

It was an absolute dream of a day and I can't thank NEMCRC enough for inviting me along.

Here are a few of the comments from some of the folk I chatted to on the day:

"Its sound great what you are doing! I'll follow your progress closely"

"Can I come with you?"

"Norway eh? I've been there... what do you mean your riding the whole way? Why aren't you getting the ferry?!"

"You must be mental!" - Neil Hodgson - 2003 World SuperBike Champion.

After the show, the sun had finally decided to show its face so I was able to enjoy the ride home after a very successful day.

Please check out my video from the day at BikeWise below:



Please comment, like and subscribe on YouTube. Its does a great deal for the commercial side of my trip and helping to get more sponsors on board.

Thanks is all for this week folks.

A reminder, if you haven't already, please VOTE for the name of my mascot. CLICK HERE for details. Voting closes this week.

Unitil next time... Ride Safe.

Gordon


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