Monday, August 2, 2021

August 02, 2021 - No comments

Riding to the Elephantreffen in Early February, 1976

 The Elephant Rally, or Elefantentreffen, is a winter motorcycle rally, which takes place on the first weekend in February or on the last weekend in January annually at the Nurburgring in the Bavarian Forest in Germany. It was originally a gathering of riders of the Zundapp "Green Elephant" sidecar motorcycles from WW2, to see who could get there in the winter snow.

 

In 1976 my roommate Don Britain and I took Navy leave and rode my 1975 BMW R90/6 from Scotland down to England in the snow, then a ferry across the English Channel and through a few countries to Germany.  So that Don could sleep while riding on the back of my bike, and make room for camping gear, we made a crude "sissy bar" out of bent conduit, covered it with a  long length of heat-shrink tubing and clamped it to the bike frame.  Don was wearing my Eddie Bauer down filled mittens that came up to your elbow, and at rest stops on the motorway in Scotland and England and we stuffed them inside the hot air hand driers to make the drier stay on to warm our hands longer.  Eventually snow in Scotland turned to miserable rain in England.

The highlight of the rally in Germany on Saturday night was riding around the Nürburgring race track (17 miles long) that winds around the wooded hills around the town of Nürburg.  On the banked, sloping racetrack in the dark, in the snow and ice, trying not to fall down...  It was a blast !!  Everyone carried a burning torch, Don had one stuck in each of his boots as we slid around the track with thousands of other crazy bikers.  What a sight, the stream of bikes and torches curving through the forest at night.


 Don Britain, camping in the snow and mud at the Nurburgring.

 

Me at the Elephant Rally in Germany

On the way back from the rally we slept in a barn outside a restaurant in Belgium, heading to the ferry to England, and about 100 bicycles magically showed up early the next morning when local people showed up for their jobs in the area.  Being surrounded by dozens and dozens of bicycles and no one speaking English was the strangest thing to wake up to!

Once we got to England we "met" some bobbies (English cops) when we slept at a loading dock of a car dealership, it was hard to find places to camp in England in mid-February, campgrounds were all closed for the winter.  There was also the guy that called us "bloody heroes" when we camped in his yard on the way back.

   Sleeping at those car places ! 

The car dealership where we slept at the loading dock in cardboard boxes.
 

 
 
We met Roger, who owned Dalesbike MC shop in Yorkshire and his friend coming back from the rally.  I kept in touch with Roger and in 1979 borrowed a 400cc Kawasaki from his shop when I went back and rode all over GB with a girlfriend from Minnesota.. We put 4000 miles on it in 3 weeks traveling around England, Wales and Scotland!!  Riding two-up on a 400 Kawi wasn't the most comfortable trip I ever made, but she wanted to see London and Stonehenge and Loch Ness, so we rode !  Riding across the Salisbury Plain to Stonehenge on a cold, raining, windy day in 1979 on a cramped motorcycle was pretty f.....g miserable....  At some point that day we stopped for a break, I got off the bike, turned around and Debbie was sobbing away inside the full-face helmet...

Don and I had quite the strange motorcycle adventure in the winter of 1976, all because I had a big picture book with photos of crazy bikers in the snow at the Elephant Rally.  That was where I got the idea to go to the Elephantreffen in Bavaria ...

 In 1975 I took the train from Scotland to London to buy my new BMW R90/6 because I couldn't find one in Scotland.  I rode the brand-new motorcycle 500 miles back to Edzell, Scotland the next day.  It cost an even 1600 pounds. Whenever I would park it when out riding in Scotland or England, guys would stop and ask how much it cost. They were always shocked at how expensive it was and would tell their wives that I was a REAL enthusiast.. I can't count how many times I heard that !!  The exchange rate was about $2.10 to pound when I bought the bike.

Somewhere I did say that this blog rambles a bit...

 

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