This post is also available in:
Day 12, Wima Rally 2019, 16.08.2019
Castleton, 8:00. It’s raining, it’s raining hard.
The expected days high temperature: 11°.
Therefore it will be a planned comfortable start into the day.
The Wima Officer’s are mostly scattered all over Europe. And we normally hear and see each other – in flesh and blood – only during a rally. Apart from that, eMail, and recently also Zoom, must be enough to maintain contacts and exchange information.
And, what’s more. Even on a rally, there is so little time for the participants to meet. The programme is so dense, or so different are their own driving interests, to have a common meeting for exchange.
Therefore, in addition to the Presidents Meeting in the evening, the next day there will be a “Get together Breakfast” of the Wima International Officer’s.
We reflect on yesterday’s NP round, tell a little bit about our “other” life and talk about the next steps.At about 10:00 the breakfast is over and the day is still young.
Meanwhile neither low temperature nor rain is frightening anymore, and the rain has decreased noticeably in the last half hour. Maybe we can use the last day in the Peak District to visit our beloved curve radii one last time?
I’m going to talk about the idea and Sabine and Dagmar want to take part in the farewell lap as well.
So we tackle the Snake Pass and the rain comes back with full force in the further course. But now turn around? Naahh.
So we fight our way further via Capel en le Frith and Buxton (with a short refueling stop) over the roads. The rain and the wind do not get weaker, on the contrary.
In the end we make our way back via Cat and the Fiddle.
I have now ridden the track in all kinds of weather, and normally the surface was really grippy. But with this amount of water and temperature, even Michelin Road 5 loses grip in the corners now and then, mind you, at moderate speed.
The craziest thing is when a truck comes towards me. Due to the strong cross wind, the whole spray blows like a wall in front of my track. A cold first order shower follows…
There are only two possibilities in such a situation:
Keep driving and freeze to the skin.
or
Continue to freeze through to the skin and have fun doing so 😉
Back at the Youth Hostel we spread out our completely soaked equipment in the (already overcrowded) drying room. In the faint hope that they will be dry by tomorrow morning for the departure.
For a short time I stay in the drying room, the heat in the room produces a little bit the feeling of summer. Sometimes I wonder why I love biking so much anyway, I am really mad like a hatter sometimes. But a hot shower wakes up the spirit again.
After I am redressed, I find out that Hayley Bell (WRWR Founder) has already arrived and also her presentation has been rescheduled earlier, so that she can drive home early again in this weather. In the first months I was actively involved as an admin in WRWR, before I had to decide between Ambassador for Austria or being an international Admin for WRWR. That’s why we have never met in person before, only via Zoom meetings. All the more amusing her greeting: Versya! You are real!
Well, for my knowledge, some people might say something completely different with regards to me 😉
Im Anschluss an die WRWR Präsentation gibt es die Raffle Lotterie und meine Auktion der Merchandise Prototypen, die ich mit nach England gebracht habe.
Der Erlös wird von mir an den Support Fond von Wima GB übergeben, damit erhöht sich der gesamte Spendenbetrag beträchtlich.
Zwischendurch kurz bei Stiefeln und Handschuhen vorbei geschaut, alles feucht, es bleibt spannend.
Am Abend gibt es auch noch das Promotion Video für die Wima Rally 2020 in Malaysia. Zum ersten Mal eher eine Wanderrally statt einer punktuellen. Das klingt, neben der Schönheit von Malaysia, schon sehr
After the WRWR presentation there will be the Raffle Lottery and my auction of the merchandise prototypes I brought with me to England.
The earnings will then be donated from me to the Support Fund of Wima GB, which will increase the total amount of donations considerably.
In between I have a quick look at boots and gloves, everything is wet, it remains nerve-wracking.
In the evening there is also the promotion video for the Wima Rally 2020 in Malaysia. For the first time rather a moving rally than an onsite one. That sounds, apart from the beauty of Malaysia, very tempting. But what irritates me a bit is the fact that in the promotion video there are only men. This is unusual. Usually Wima members do the satistas on routes and locations for the teaser. In this form the suspicion arises that it is a promotional video of a tour company, which was simply adapted? Just my 2 cents.
The farewell dinner starts immediately afterwards and has some madness or highlights (depending of the point of view 😉 )to offer:
No, not the food. Hey, remember? We are in England 😉
The real highlights are:
The prices for the
Winner of the Treasure Hunt – drum roll – 12 points, Austria!!!
Rider with a Skirt (Tütü) – Drumroll – Versya!
And many other bizarre prizes, such as:
Spending a day with a night snail in a boot,… Etc.
The prize is a ceramic that was made for this occasion.
I pass on my price for the rally skirt to the girls from Estonia.
After all, they gave me the idea in 2017 to use it as a trademark for special WIMA occasions.
But we are not yet finished with the madness:
It follows: Thor, Gods of Rock
Lets imagine it that way: A loosely dressed giant in (Marvel) Thor and mixed with some Jack Sparrow look, with a powerful voice that manages to rock the cabin all evening, including table dance interludes, etc… it is definitely getting hot here in the tent.
Ein weiteres (Pausen) Highlight:
Another highlight during one break:
The teaser of the summer rally 2020 in Germany.
A professionally made promotion clip for the pre- and main rally in the Ruhr area (Duisburg – surroundings) and Siegerland. 🙂
In between I fetch my motorbike earplugs, so Thor is a real madness and so it gets very, very late and hot 😉 Finally 🙂
