Introduction

Background

The British National Parks Ride was started at the beginning of 2009 to support the work of the Air Ambulance in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire (WNAA). A report on those who took part in this ride and the certificates they achieved can be found on the report page here and the list of completed rides here. Quite a few riders got in touch to ask me if I was thinking about promoting any other rides. This coincided with me working on a number of other rides, for a variety of reasons, and the idea for Grim Riders MCC was born. This does not aim to replace or compete with other rides and details of some of these can be found here. Its aims are twofold - one to raise money for charity, and two to encourage riders to discover parts of Britain they may not have visited otherwise. The charity ride for 2010 visited Battlefields across Britain, and the report for this year can be found here. For 2011 riders will be visiting British Castles.

The Rides - two types
Each year there will be a charity ride, in the style of this year's BNPR, in which riders are invited to visit a number of locations across Britain after registering with a payment of at least £15 to the WNAA. Riders are then sent a ride flag with their own number on it and can then complete the ride by visiting as many of the fifteen landmarks as they wish within the year (by December 1st, later by arrangement). At the end of the year certificates will be sent out to all riders who have visited at least five of the landmarks.
Once registered riders become members of Grim Riders MCC for the year and can have a go at any of the other rides listed on this site. These rides will include any previous year's charity rides. Once completed, riders can send in the evidence and fee required for each ride to gain a certificate of recognition of their achievement.

Completing Rides - two ways
All rides may be completed in one of two ways:

1. Touring rides - riders complete a ride by visiting landmarks listed for it at any time and in any order with no time restrictions, so do not need to be completed within a year. Rides are evidenced by sending in digital photographs of the rider's ride flag and motorbike at each of the landmarks. Visit a third of the landmarks for a bronze certificate; two thirds for a silver certificate; and all of them for a gold certificate.

2. Challenge rides - riders complete a ride by visiting at least a third of the landmarks listed for it on one ride (e.g 5 landmarks for a bronze certificate; 10 for a silver certificate; 15 for a gold certificate). Rides are evidenced by sending in digital photographs and providing copies of receipts from a number of locations as listed for each ride - these may require riders having to include a certain landmark in their list of landmarks visited to gain a particular award. For further details of these rides see the Challenge Rides page here or details for individual rides. There is no time limit for these rides, but the time taken will be recorded on the rider's certificate. Some of these rides may be combined with certificate rides for other organisations (e.g. IBA or LDR) but they may have additional or different verification requirements.

Grim Riders MCC Newsletters

Charity Ride 2011

Charity Ride Forms

List of Rides

Grim Riders Forum - forum to discuss experiences of and questions about rides

Completed Rides - a list of all riders who have completed rides

Examples of Certificates

FAQs - if you have any other questions about anything to do with rides please contact me at grim@thegrimrider.com or visit the forum for each ride here.