Lands End to John O\'Groats run report, and fund raising report. How the Multistrada performed.
 

For any newbies or anyone who has managed to avoid my deluge of postings it was and end to end run in a day on a Multistrada TO RAISE MONEY FOR FRANCIS HOUSE HOSPICE FOR CHILDREN, AND MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE.

Its still not too late to make a donation, so far i've raised about £2500, and it would be nice to reach the £3000 mark if possible.

THE ACTUAL RUN.

Once the good old weatherman promised a few dry days i was off. Gotta admit after sitting out August because of the constant rain it was a real relief to get going. Having said that as the Multistrada's annoying fuel light coming on after the normal 100-120 miles i thought ********, should have borrowed a Pan European from my mate with the Honda shop. When you've got miles to cover its annoying, having said that experience shows that you can do another 50 miles after the light has come on before filling up. Its just hard to ignore the bloody light.

That annoyance changed when i had rattled of a few hundred more miles heading upto my start point of John O'Groats. The roads got progressively more fun the further north i got and it was a case of great roads and far less traffic than darn sarf. Mile after mile of smile inducing brake, slam it on its side (very easy with the Multistrads big wide bars), apex and use the lovely torquey engine to further enchance the grin on the exit.

Northern Scotland is also littered with some absolutely delightful road signs such as "Let quicker traffic pass safely"
"Use laybys to let traffic get by" and "Queue's cause frustration" I nearly bought an aerosol to spray "Oi, you, yes you, the **** towing the caravan, get out the F****** way now"

I'd never been further north on the east coast of Scotland than Inverness before, but it was really pleasant untill i got to Wick, 10 miles south of J O G, and it looked like the land that time forgot, and if i did the run from here it would have been Ar$e End to Lands End.

Pulled up in John O'Groats after 495 miles, had a quick look around, not very impressive to be honest, necked a couple of pints and went to bed early in preparation for an early start.

All things considered (fuel light aside and average mirrors) i was incredibly pleased with the Multinumpty. It had covered miles quickly and in surprising comfort, whilst being real fun to ride. Sod the idea of a Pan European. The couple of changes i had made to the bike had paid off, namely the higher comfort screen, essential for lanky gits like me, and i had donated the standard seat to a Newcastle supporter and replaced it with a Sargant seat, which is 10 million times better than the standard instrument of torture; but its an absolute swine to change the seat.

DAY 2.

My body was in a state of complete shock crawling out of bed to leave the hotel with no breakfast, in the dark at 5.45am. Sort of time i'm still normalling snoring away under the duvet. To make matters worse it was absolutely brass monkeys.

Within 500 yards of leaving the hotel 2 kamikazee deer run across the road in front of me. Oh ****, Mum gets across the road, Bambi gets half way then runs back, sees Mummy has got across, then runs back over again. Certainly woke me up properly so at least i could see all the bleeding suicidal rabbits that Honda had employed for me not using a Pan!

Sunrise was spectacular, but brought no real warmth at all, indeed at the first petrol stop there was actually a bit of ice. In fact it was so cold that as i passed each sea loch and fresh water loch the were clouds of steam rising up from the water as it was obviously warmer than the air. Marvellous, i did think about going for a quick swim to warm up.

Northern Scotland really is sparsely populated and i couldn't find an open cafe for breakfast until i'd done nearly 200 miles!!!!! and the weather had worsened, very grey, overcast, damp and cold. I was now planning on torturing the first weatherman i could find. Funny the thoughts that go through your head when you're travelling, or maybe i'm just a fruitcake. Traditional Scottish breakkie was superb, stopped me grumbling for a while and very fortunately by the time i got between Perth and Glasgow Mr Sun put in an overdue appearance, Bill Giles was saved and my spirits shot up with the temperatures. Layers of clothing were being tucked away in the topbox.

By now i'd started texting reports to guest1 who would probably be keeping half a dozen interested people updated, and annoying loads of others who were probably sick to death of hearing about the frigging charity ride.

I crossed the border into England at Gretna having already done 380 miles. Scotland really is bigger than you think, but it was also a bit of a physcological barrier being back in England, nearly there, less than 500 miles to go, less than yesterdays ride now, easy.

I also had a prearranged text date with DCR at junction 36 on the M6. Wha hey, something to relieve the motorway boredom, but unfortunately he wasn't there.

Not a lot you can say about the M6/M5 motorway run, it was pretty boring, not as much fun as up north in Scotland but far more effective at covering mileage. Traffic was flowing remarkably well, even around Birmingham in afternoon rush hour. Somewhere south of Bristol terminal numb bum began to set in, but by now i'd done over 600 miles today, but it still didn't get as excrutiating as the standard seat after 100 miles.

As you get to the end of the M5 at Exeter it felt as if i was almost there, whereas in actual fact there's nearly 120 miles of A roads left to Lands End.

Got onto the A30 and followed as fast local car at some distance in the dark and used him as a gatso detector just in case i strayed over the limit. Everything had been going well untill darkness fell and with it came athunderstorm for the last 50 miles, and the roads get progreesively worse the closer you get to Lands End.

I finally reached my goal, the Lands End Hotel to quite a feeling of elation having covered 850 miles in16.5 hours.

The one good point about the rain was that it had put the bonfire out so the locals couldn't re enact "The Wickerman".

In fact the receptionist didn't bat an eyelid when a dripping wet biker got blown through the door in the gale force wind. even though the kitchen was closed they rustled up some food and i downed one of the nicest pints of lager i've tasted in ages.

Turns out Anita the receptionist and her hubby are bikers and she said we'll keep the bar open as long as you want being a resident. I only had 3 pints, rang the wife, texted half the world then went of to bed. Although i was a bit tired i didn't feel half as knackered as i expected.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

The return trip was a mere 379 miles, but really brought home to me how lucky i had been with the previous 2 days journey. Traffic conditions were dreadfull, bad weather, tailbacks all over in Devon amd Cornwall, 2 accidents on the M5 and to top it off Birmingham was absolutely gridlocked as the M6 was closed in both directions. Obviously God, Allah, or Ogri was looking out for me on the big day, but felt i'd used up my fair share of luck with the traffic yesterday!

I've got to say the trip was not about riding too fast or a re-run of the Cannonball Run. It wasn't a race or case of seting records as i haven't a clue of any other times to do the run. It was a case of being incredibly lucky with the traffic and weather conditions, and keeping stops to a safe minimum for food, fuel and rest. It was all about raising money for charity so there would have been no point in doing something stupid (can't account for the deer in the dark though).

For any Multistrada owners i'll post a few thoughts, facts and figures later on, along with details of where to send money if anyone feels so inclined.

[Edited on 21-9-2004 by BDG]

[Edited on 21-9-2004 by BDG]

[Edited on 22-9-2004 by BDG]

[Edited on 23-2-2005 by BDG]

Thanks, BDG! Bravely done.

Well done big fella. Let me know how I can make a donation.

Nice one Shaun and well done.

Superb write up as usual Shaun. I reckon you've missed your calling. Travel writing is definitely one of your fortes. The other is clearly motorbike endurance.

Posted my contribution whilst you were still down in Cornwall. Great job, well done. Hope you get to the £3K mark. :sing::sing:

Great report, and good to hear it went so well.
Sounds like the Numpty was perfect too, no wonder they are getting so popular.:)

TP, you are the only Aussie i could call a gentleman after that offer of money.

Please make any donation payable to........
LANDS END TO JOHN O'GROATS CHARITY RIDE

AND BUNG IN THE POST TO

SPEED COURIERS
54 WESTBROOK ROAD
TRAFFORD PARK
MANCHESTER
M17 1AY.

If you want to pay direct into the bank account you'll need to have a dredge thru the million other posts on the subject.

Really appreciate the offer of money and yet again THANKS to everyone who has donated.

As for the rest of the story, sod it for tonight i'm going in the garage for a beer.

DCR no problem you weren't there, i never get anywhere on time myself, unless i'm getting paid for it:D

Scratch the donation then, can't have you thinking that!

;)

I dug out the bank details from the first thread, donation has left my account ....

Hard Man
 

Proud moment for you BDG.

Enjoyed the read and inspired to do something like this myself.

What's next then??

I'll post a small donation off today.

Nice one!

Martin (aka skippy)

Thanks Skippy, get out there and do it, as for whats next.

Another charity ride (but don't worry i won't be pestering the DSC members for money again) but in October its

Ducati to the Desert or Multistrada to Morocco, a few of us are riding down to the Sahara desert to the highest sand dune in Morocco, Erg Chebbi which is about a 1000 ft tall. The other two both (or their wives) had premature babies cared for in the special needs unit at Tameside hospital so thats the good cause for this trip.

I've ridden off road many times in the desert but we all fancied riding down there for a change.

Wahay!
 

Jees, you like this kinda stuff don't you!

Umm, listen... don't tell anyone else at the DSC but... I'm collecting a new BMW 1200 GS next week. Thought I'd 'fighter it to look like the Multi.

Close run thing between the two when choosing but I have to be honest, cost of ownership won out. I can beat the crap out of it in any weather, any terrain and stuff 20k miles on it and still get 80% of what I paid in four years time. And it never, ever needs oil ? Looks like a truck wreck though!

Good luck with the trip to the Sahara, oh and if you get lost, don't ask the tall fair haired Englishman for directions??

Martin.

I think your spot on with your assesment of the 1200GS, did consider it myself especially for the next trip, but i'm just not logical about these buying descisions. Good luck with it.

Promise i won't tell anyone in the club, it'll be our special secret! SSShh!

Multistrada musings
 

After doing the trip 1724 miles in 3 days i'm really surprised how good a mile coverer the bike is.

As you can probably tell i think the standard seat is criminal (although i know the likes of KeefyB has covered a lot of miles and finds it OK).

The Mirrors are not brilliant, you can see there is a white car behind you, but not if it has blue lights.

Fuel gauge/light comes on too early.

These are the 3 negative things in my view. I also fitted the higher comfort screen which is miles better (no pun intended) than the standard screen for me at 6' 3"

The bike also went on the dyno at GT Motorcycles in Plymouth and produced 82bhp and 60 ft/lbs torque. What these figures don't tell you is how responsive the engine is low down which makes for relaxed riding but also very rapid overtakes. It does begin to get a bit breathless over 120.

The riding position is goood and comfy and the wide bars make it very flickable. Feels a bit like a giant supermoto and is a real hoot to ride. Handling is vastly improved by winding up the rear spring preload as everyone i've looked at has come with minimum preload (again thanks to KeefyB for varoius hints).

A few boring facts and figures. In the 1724 miles it used 190 litres of juice, which cost £160. The average fuel consumption was 42mpg with a best of 50 mpg and a worst of 38 mpg depending on mood and roads.

It didn't use a drop of oil or need the chain adjusting.

Nearly forgot to say the headlight is superb.

Overall apart from a few small niggles i'm well impressed with the bike having used it for this trip, commuting, scratching and thrashing.:D

Finally thank you to

Woods of Abergele
JHP Ducati Coventry
Ducati UK

for help and assistance provided.

[Edited on 5-10-2004 by BDG]

He's only gone and done it!

I've been beaten to the OVER 500 GANG:sniff:

Well done Shaun;)

Steve walks away, head bowed in shame.

Ps. you having a bit of an end of season sale then???????

Well Steve i took advantage of you being on holiday, and all this charity stuff is really fictitious, just an excuse to out post you whilst your back was turned:lol:


Errr..what end of season sale, i've missed something here:puzzled:

Your KTM and 996 for sale
There are some fantastic bikes for sale at the moment on the site.

Ah, the pennys dropped.

Not desperate to sell the SPS but have seen a very nice 996R. If it stays it stays.

possible new dirt bike prompts floging the KTM as we're coming into the dirtbike season-(winter). to be honest this is more probable than the SPS going.

Was going to advertise the KTM elsewhere but thought i'd give the board a try.

Having just read your report I have been encouraged to leave the Deauville in the garage and take the Numpty strada to work this afternoon.
I will get a cheque in the post to you
Well done mate

Winner of the mileage competition
 

Nobody correctly guessed the exact mileage i covered which was 850 miles, but there were 3 people 1 mile out, Monty, Flanker, and Brian Keen.

These 3 names were put into a hat and Brian Keen (a client, not DSC, from Basingstoke) is the winner of the £200 for a meal and drinks on me.

So far i've raised just over £3300 of which £275 has come from members of the DSC so i'd just like to say A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED ME.

As a note of interest the lowest mileage estimates were 268, and 512, don't people know how big a country we live in, and the highest was a rather optimistic 2,847,321 miles:lol:

Well done Brian, damn, means now i'll have to take other 'alf out on my own money :lol:

Well done BDG.

£3300 - you can rightly feel proud, very very well done.

Sorry about delay in sending cheque but I have been doing 12 hour night shifts (thereforeknackered) and then Sue & I have been away fora few days.I have only just got back. I will get cheque off in next couple of days. Is the Speed Couriers address still OK?

Thanks Rocker, yea that address is still OK

Well done Shaun,been away for a few weeks, so only just caught up on the latests. Sounds like you enjoyed the challenge of the GOGLE. Some nice roads south of Wick and down towards towards Dornock Im sure you could enjoy them more on a quite Sunday morning's blast,just a pity ther'e so far North and in a area thats unobtainable for the likes of us Southern folk. Regards 4D

Hey BDG you can be my wing man anytime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;) simply awsome u2u me the addy for my donation !!! mav

Cheque went in the post today. I hope it helps

Just had a call from Brian Keen, the mileage competition winner, he has discussed the prize with his fellow directors of the company that sponspred me and they've asked that the £200 prize money for the meal and booze goes to the charity fund. What a nice gesture, that means i've cracked the £3500 mark.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH EVERYONE.

Custard,

Re your request for info on Charity ride from End to End here is my report, hope it helps. Any questions either u2u or giz a call on 07973 741335.

Good luck.


Final comment, I cracked the £4000 mark and over £300 of that came from DSC members, many of whom were complete strangers, so THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOLKS.