The focus, though, remains on biking. “Romances have blossomed over the years, albeit not as often as you might think,” reveals GBMCC treasurer Stephen Blurton, 60. He’s another BMW man, now on his sixth GS.
“It’s about making friends and having a common interest. I’ve travelled 277 miles to come here this weekend; the journey is all part of the fun. It’s getting out and about instead of being sat at home watching Corrie. Social isolation is a problem we all have these days. We gained more members in Covid, even when we weren’t doing any events. People always need community.”
Sean McAllister, 34, rides a Honda CB650R and joined the GBMCC just as Covid restrictions were beginning to ease.
“I’d just passed my test but had no one to go out riding with,” he says. “Joining a club like this meant one less barrier to entry, one less way to feel like an outsider as a new biker. I wasn’t the most experienced rider, so my local rep encouraged me to follow him on my first event, to tuck in behind him and follow his bike positioning.”
McAllister has been on a host of events since and even led his own routes through the south of England, one of which centred on the Super Sausage Café, a bustling bikers’ haven near Silverstone “Motorbiking can be seen as quite a macho thing,” he continues.
