Hi!
When was the last time you rode 500km, over 2 days through forests and gravel tracks and only opened (and closed) maybe, 3 gates?
OK, in Scandinavia I’ll give it to you, that’s probably a normal day on the bike, but here in the UK it’s a total impossibility.
Apart from the fact that I just did it, right here, in Northumberland.
It was pretty special.
Here’s how.
RallyMoto have been honing their ‘500’ events for about 5 years, the idea being to give regular riders like you and me the opportunity to get a taste of the Dakar Rally without remortgaging the house (and keeping our marriage's intact).
In fact, you can turn up on your adventure bike, bolt on as basic or as fancy a roadbook setup as you like (paper or digital), ride 2 x 250km days through stunning, normally off limits, forest gravel tracks, and then turn up for work Monday morning.
Trust me, NO ONE in the office will have stories like yours from the weekend.
I don’t care how much they enjoy golf.
The first Kielder 500 of 2023 has just taken place, and the next opportunity to ride north is in October, and in between there’s the Wales 500 in July.
If you’ve got an adventure bike, want to try roadbook navigation, don’t want to shell out your entire family holiday funds, and can only get away for a weekend, then these events were designed for you.
“Hey that’s great for all you Brits, but what about us over the water?
Well this guy rode from Germany, it’s that good.
He rode it. Didn’t van it. A proper adventure rider.
And if you live in Portugal the RallyMoto team have got you covered.
👌🙂
Greg Villalobos
The Kielder 500 is a GREAT way to put your Adventure Spec gear to the test.
But a terrible place to get photos of said gear in action due to the mandatory HiVis jackets.
Dan was wearing his Mongolia Pants, Singletrack Jacket and Dirt Gloves.
I only met him that morning so didn’t get into what he was wearing underneath, but if he’s as smart as he looks I would suggest a Supershirt and Baltic Insulated Jacket would have been the perfect combo to keep him warm and dry on what was quite a cold and wet weekend.
We make outdoors gear for adventure riders, from the deserts of Dakar all the way to the forests of Kielder, Northumberland.
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