Bulgarian biker bash
Nik Macve reports from Veliko Larnovo
Former South West Regional MAG Rep Nik Macve has moved to Bulgaria from where she reports on a biker bash, The Veliko Larnovo Moto Subor...
As Bulgarian importers for HEL brake hoses, it seemed like a good plan to sponsor the racing and have a trade stand. This was accomplished with only hours to spare. The rally is organised by two local bike clubs, Moto Clubs Bad Company and Boliari.
The rally started on Thursday evening. At this point it was quite small. The majority of bikes turning up at this point were crash-damaged race reps imported from Italy. The site is just outside the city, in a place called Sveta Gora (Holy Wood). It's a park with trees and an open space at the top of a hill.
The children's playground had been replaced with a beer monsters' playground, with five bars, none of which sold anything noticeably different from any of the others. There were two bands that evening. The first was a Bulgarian band, Chernorizets, singing heavy metal renditions of Bulgarian songs about Bulgaria. I hardly understood a word of it but I enjoyed it nevertheless and apparently so did everyone else. The other band, The Hitchhikers, played heavy metal covers of 70s songs and were also good. The show finished at about midnight. The beer went on until much later - I think I crawled into my sleeping bag at about 2am. Other people stayed up later, I know this because they were busy revving the balls off their bikes until the sun came up.
On Friday morning I had to go and do some work. I left the site and was apprehended by three Bulgarians in a car on the dual carriageway. "Kude suborut?" they cried. I understand "Where is the rally?" but who knows if they found it following my directions in Bulgarian?
I returned on Friday afternoon to find that the site was a lot fuller. I met lots of Bulgarians, but also Americans and Brits in roughly equal quantities. I tried to eat as much of my birthday cake as I could before it liquidised in the 100 degree heat, and drank lots of water. I was eating an ice-cream when the Prime Minister arrived. Sounds like a big deal, but apparently at any gathering of this size (upwards of 5,000 people) he, or a cabinet minister, will attend. Also the population of Bulgaria is quite small and bikers are a big community and therefore influential. The PM who opened the rally owns a huge fat shiny blue Honda.
At about 8.30 I joined the general exodus towards the city centre where there is a son et lumiere at Tzarevets castle. It commemorates the capture of Veliko Tarnovo by Turkey in the 14th century. The castle is nearly encircled by the River Yantra and looks like it should have been quite easy to defend, but apparently some treacherous Bulgarian opened the gates of Tzarevets to the invading Turks, who then said he wasn't to be trusted and chopped his head off.
The show is worth watching, especially close up with the music. From the packed town square we had a fantastic view of the lazers and the light show. There I met Doug (American) and Poly (Bulgarian), who have just opened a biker campsite/motel in Poly's home village.
There was no organised run to or from the castle, everyone just followed someone who they hoped knew the way. Junctions were supervised by police and conveniently blind eyes were turned to some blatant traffic infringements and spectacular wheelies.
The bands on Friday night were Trooper, from Romania according to the programme, and Axat. Both played covers of 70s and 80s rock and metal, which is extremely popular here. The dentist was telling me in a one sided conversation how much he enjoyed Metallica in our capital Sofia last month.
Later Doug and Poly stopped by the stand and helped to eat the birthday cake. Colin and Colin, formerly from Yorkshire and Lancashire, also helped. Bikes of all types kept rolling in as long as I was up. There were some nutcases who thought it was clever to race up and down the main drag, which didn't look too safe. Once again the guys next door had different ideas to most of us about sleep and one was doing burnouts at 3am.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny with everything covered in a cloud of burnt rubber. At 0730 am people were still arriving. I went into town for breakfast and a cup of tea, picked up some stuff including earplugs and went back to the site. Out on the dual carriageway, people were preparing for the racing which started at 1pm on the motorway. The nearest carriageway had been officially closed to normal traffic and was used for a sprint track. Again the Prime Minister was present, looking nice and comfy on the back of a Goldwing.
There'd been very little shade down at the races, so a shower was very welcome, especially a breathtakingly cold one.
After that there was a bike tug-of-war. An Africa Twin appeared to be taking on all comers comfortably but it hasn't rained for weeks and most of what could be seen was a big dust cloud.
At some point a lad with a knee injury was deposited in our marquee. Turns out that one of the campsite racers had run into him and maybe six bikes, damaging two of them. An ambulance arrived along with the police and lots of people stood around looking serious and talking on mobile phones. There was noticeably less revving of engines that night, although still a fair bit of drunken riding up and down the main drag.
There were three bands. First off, Sunrise, who played Uriah Heep and Deep Purple songs. Then came fireworks and a bit of a break. At some point I got hungry and thought about buying a salad, but the language barrier intervened and I wasn't too sure if I was asking for carrot or sea-food, so I played it safe and had more beer and birthday cake. Two more bands, Odd Crew and Fobos, played Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Rainbow songs indistinguishably from each other. I was getting a bit bored with the same music by then, so I went back to the bar. I think the organisers had had a word about revving of motors after the incident, because it was definitely quieter!
So, I'm happy to report that Bulgarian bikers can put on a good rally.
Nik Macve
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