Rallies

Since February, when we posted Jean-Francois Helias' report of the first Chamois Rally, Dave Richmond discovered the photo below, and recognised his old editor, Harry Louis.

Dave announced his discovery on Facebook and was confirmed by fellow staffer, Jerry Clayton. Their FB comments have been added to our report.

Francois continued the history of this venerable rally with an account of the Chamois 1966, illustrated by more photos from his compatriot Gilles Gaudechoux. In July there was rain, fog and sleet; British participants would have been at home.

Following on from a report of his club, MC Dragons' first Vercingétorix Rally, Francois added an account printed at the time in respected journal, Moto Revue by Michel Poujart. Francois very kindly translated the item into English for us monoglots.

What rallies did you attend beginning with C? Did you go to the Chamois or Captain Cook? We have reports for thirty-two C rallies but 837 badges for 322 different series.

Francois added 24 more C Rally Badges, most of which are waiting for you to send a report.

Maybe you are still too busy attending the events that Hans Veenendaal collects for his Rally Listing. Numbers from now to this end of the year are pushing 1500 with 70 (8 in the UK) in the next couple of weeks.

We recommend sitting down quietly to recover from your latest rally to write a short therapeutic report for our pages.

Speed 3

John Ellis continues his search for Speed with the story of his experiences on a Royal Enfield Bullet. That sounds like an oxymoron.

Read part three of John's motobiographical exploits and count how many times you nod and think, "Yep, I did that!"

Run Badges

After posting Mark Taylor's excellent video of the LPMCC Easter club run, we have added 40 Run Badges to our collection.

So many great rides go unrecorded by photo, video or badge, but they remain in our hearts as the reason we love motorcycling. It is good that at least some rides are commemorated with a badge to aid failing memory.

Statistics

As we pass into May we looked back at our website performance during April. Numbers seem to be returning to the levels we would expect. That's whitewash for 'dropping'. We are still trying to figure out why there is such a big interest in LPMCC from Vietnam, shown in the non-English speaking pie chart. Are readers there using it to learn English or to find out how to generate a motorcycle rallying culture? We can only hope that someone there will answer.

LPMCC Club Night

Keeping up with the club's nomadic meetings on Tuesday, 5 May shows they are gathering at the Cock Inn, Peatling Magna. Meet them there and find out about their many activities, including another club run on Thursday, 7 May to Gibraltar...Point. (I almost panicked then)

Virtual Club Night

Next Virtual Club Night is on Wednesday, 6 May. We start at 8pm Blighty time and things tail off by 10pm, well past our usual bedtime. Participants come and go as the evening progresses, sometimes to fetch a beer (or sausage roll), but usually when their connection to the interweb drops. Jitsi brings us back into the hub-hub very quickly. Give it a go, you've nowt to lose.

Embers

We spent much of our final fling of April trying to find our way past Melton Mowbray fortifications. We eventually succeeded in reaching the White Lion at Whissendine, but then had to overcome similar defences on our return ride. Nevertheless, throughout the month 17 Embers covered 1819 official miles. Report for April recounts all the detours.

We are now looking forward to a full programme of May cycling the highways and byways. On Thursday, 7 May we will meet at Sutton Wharf at 10am for refreshments before a local ride to an unsuspecting hostelry.

Thursday, 14 May is pencilled in for Manton — more likely the garden centre café just east — for a gambol round Rutland.

A sociologist conducted a study titled "Attitudes of People of Different Nationalities Toward Other People's Property."

He travelled to cities around the world, left a suitcase in the middle of a train station hall, hid himself, and timed the results. Here is what he found out:

In Stockholm, no one touched the suitcase.

In London, the suitcase was stolen after half an hour.

In Paris, after twenty minutes.

In Rome, after ten.

In Tokyo, after five minutes the suitcase was turned in to the lost-and-found office.

In Tel Aviv, three minutes later the police arrived, cordoned off the station, loaded the suitcase into an armoured van, and drove it out of the city to blow it up.

In Istanbul, it was impossible to obtain an accurate result because while the researcher was watching the suitcase, his watch was stolen.

The final experiment took place in Tehran where, along with the suitcase, the sociologist himself was kidnapped.