Fancy a crack at the Cannonball Bike Run? Here’s how

The Cannonball Bike Run’s heading to Asia to celebrate its 20th anniversary – and there’s still time for you to get involved.

The bonkers eight-day, 3300km rally kicks off at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic and finishes at Sunny Beach in Bulgaria via the gateway to the East – Istanbul, and the infamous Transfagarasan Pass in Romania. Not a bad run, right?

The Cannonball pays homage to Erwin ‘Cannon Ball’ Baker who raced trains across the US, racking up over 800,000km in high-speed, coastto-coast bike runs – while inspiring car races and Hollywood films in the process.

It was revived back in 2005, and over the past 20 years has offered an action-packed adventure to bikers of a certain disposition. And despite what you might think, it’s no race. There’s no timing, and no prizes for arriving first. It’s all about having as much fun as possible; covering big miles, meeting cool people, riding special roads and making memories. Nice.

It’s pretty much hassle-free, too, with the organisers sorting the digs; luggage transfers between them; putting on support vehicles between the stages; and setting up proper snappers to capture the action. There’s even an option to ship your bike back home if you’re short on time.

The ‘InvAsia’ Cannonball Bike Run kicks off on June 28 at Brno (where you can take to the track before hitting the road on the 29). Away from that, details are intentionally a bit hazy. Daily activities, destinations and the route you’ll be riding will be announced each morning. We do know that by July 5 you’ll be in Istanbul, before jumping back on the bike and heading for Sunny Beach in Bulgaria for a mega party to celebrate making it to the end.

Speaking about the event, founder Steve Mason said: “There’s a lot of misconceptions about CBR; we’re not a crazy group of bikers racing each other to the next destination. We’re all about relentlessly searching out the most epic riding roads, savouring the raw thrill of motorcycling far away from tourist traffic, and creating an unrepeatable shared experience with the most legendary group of people.”

Priced at €2499, it’s not exactly a cheap trip. But when you consider you get eight nights in luxury digs; breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; technical support; luggage transfers; on-event activities; detailed road maps; insurance; some merch; trophies; and a batch of photographs, it starts to look like pretty good value. If you’re interested, you’d better act fast as places are limited.

For more information, visit: www.cannonballism.com