INSIDE THE ADVENTURE CANNON BALL
Finally free of lockdown 40 riders head for Salisbury Plain.
Finally free of lockdown 40 riders headed to Salisbury Plain in July to tackle Rallymoto’s Adventure Cannonball. Road book navigational events, such as this, might just be the perfect challenge for adventure bike riders… The Adventure Cannonball
Adventure Cannonballs are fun roadbook events run by Rallymoto. This one happened on 38,000 hectares of MOD land, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire where there’s a network of byways and roads accessible to the public. Post lockdown it was an opportunity for adventure bike riders to test their riding and navigation skills and most importantly have some laughs. Provided they avoided getting shelled by a Challenger 2 main battle tank.
Dave Campbell, Africa Twin
‘I bought my 2019 CRF1000 specifically for Rallymoto events,’ says Dave. ‘I first saw their Kielder ride advertised in Bike and thought, “I’ll have a bit of that!”. I went on a KTM 350 EXC but it was a bit small for 300 miles. Because I’m in the lucky position of being retired I thought, “do you know what, I’m going to buy a bike to do the full series of rallies”. Of course that’s been knocked on the head by COVID. I do track days too, but off-roading is another string to my bow.’
‘I do track days too, but off-roading is another string to my bow’
Gabriella Lindford, CRF 250X
‘I did my first roadbook rally in Bosnia last year,’ says Garbriella, ‘and was instantly hooked. So, as soon as I got back to the UK I searched far and wide to see if there was anything like that going on in the UK and, of course, there was. It’s getting people off the road and into the wilderness and I am all about that. It makes me want to get an adventure bike.’
‘It’s getting people off the road and into the wilderness and I’m all about that’
David Nardini, 790Ktmadventurer
Kicking up a rooster tail is part and parcel of Adventure Cannonballs. David’s KTM is fitted with a Rebel X rally fairing and navigation tower. Although smaller bikes are welcome Rallymoto events are biased towards big adventure bikes and most of the routes are suitable for dual sport tyres so you can ride to the event, complete the rally, then ride home again.
The roadbook
Roadbooks are given to each rider at the start of the day and consist of a long reel of paper held in place by two rollers in a waterproof ‘reader’ (which you can hire if needed). Each section of the route is broken up by distance and an arrow tells you which route to follow and compass bearings. Riders also use their phones as trips to show distance covered and current compass bearing. Robert Hughes, founder of Rallymoto, says the roadbooks are written to the same standard as bigger rallies such as the Dakar.
Up to 300 miles
After completing the Salisbury Plain Adventure Cannonball course Russell White disassembles the roadbook and reader, ready to hand back to the rally organisers. The Cannonball costs just £35 to enter and on average covers around 100 miles, use of a roadbook holder/reader is included in that £35. Some of Rallymoto’s bigger two-day events cover distances of 300+ miles and typically cost around £200 to enter. With mileages such as this it’s easy to see why devotees go for bigger motorcycles.
The key, the secret
Following a road book isn’t quite as simple as allowing a sat-nav to lead you around. Especially if you are a newcomer to the world of off-road rallies. To help ease the process Russell White sketched himself a symbols key on two sheets of A4 and then gaffa taped them to the tank of his CCM GP450. ‘In the end I didn’t need my key, because the roadbook’s so simple to follow,’ he says having successfully completed the event.
Life in lockdown
During lockdown the club set up the Stir Crazy Desktop Rally Series. An opportunity for members to test and hone their navigation expertise from the safety – virus wise – of home. Money was raised for the NHS and appetites whetted for the return of events such as the Cannonball.
JOHN PIPER, BMW R1250GS
‘This is probably the biggest bike here,’ says John. ‘I’ve been keen to come out because I’ve hardly used it. I’m not the best rider in the world but it’s quite a nimble bike, I wouldn’t want to pick it up too many times though. I rode enduro many years ago, I’m getting older now so I don’t quite have the stamina like I used to when I raced– so this is perfect for me. But it can still be quite tiring, if you get dehydrated.’
‘It’s really quite safe… This is open countryside and there’s nothing to crash into’
Steve Cooper, KTM 625 SXC
Steve, from the Forest of Dean, sat with his KTM 625 SXC loaded in the van alongside his mate’s CCM 644 Dual sport. ‘I’ve never done one of these before. I normally do enduros but I thought I’d try something different, great fun though innit.’
Mark Stride, Yamaha Ténéré 700
‘I’ve done trail riding before and I’m hopefully off to Portugal, in September. I’ve also got a 1200 Ténéré, a Tiger 800 and an XT660 Ténéré. My first bike was a Yamaha DT 175, in the white and red. Which, as you can see, I quite like.’
Tony Rees, Triumph Tiger 800 XC
Tony travelled from London with his mate Mark Thake, both riding Triumph Tiger 800 XCS. ‘My first time doing this was last week and it’s great. I find navigating quite easy. This is my first adventure bike, before it I had a Suzuki Bandit 600.’
Alan Maguire, KTM 690 Enduro R
‘I’ve done a fair few of these rallies. It’s really quite safe because you’re navigating all the time so you’re riding quite slowly. This is open countryside and there’s nothing to crash into. Injuries are relatively rare.’
John Wright, 690 Enduro R
‘The bike has done at least 35,000 miles, purely on rallies. I’ve also got a 14plate BMW F800GS with 97,300 miles on it, it would have been over 100,000 if COVID hadn’t happened because I should be in Russia now! We had three weeks planned going up into Georgia, then Russia and Ukraine.’
Nick Oak, Scrambler 1200
‘I’ve done one of these events with my Triumph before and found it massively limiting – mainly because I’m completely talentless and it’s incredibly heavy. I’ve made a few modifications to try to make things easier, most importantly soft panniers so if I fall off I can pick it up again’
‘The bike has done at least 35,000 miles, purely on rallies’