The 2019 MBSR (the final one) was both a triumph and a tragedy.
A triumph of planning, of executation, of managing a group of riders across a route that designed to be difficult, but possible – while also being interesting and scenic. The rally organizers did a masterful job.
And a tragedy in that it was the last of an event that had – quite literally – changed my life.
Before the MBSR, I was riding my scooter around Toronto pretty much exclusively – keeping to the city limits. Going to Ajax to visit my then girlfriend, now wife – that was an adventure into the unknown, into the blank spaces of my mental map.
The MBSR took me to corners of Ontario I didn’t know existed. It taught me as a rider and led me to adventures such as crossing Canada in a sidecar motorcycle, driving through the south of France on another sidecar machine, or riding a rented scooter through Tel Aviv while visiting the middle east.
Travel has a way of putting a crowbar into your views on the world, and the MBSR did that with gleeful abandon on my views of my home province.
But – the MBSR required a special set of sponsors and circumstance – and with changes to both it couldn’t go on. It ended as it should, with scooters and mayhem and madness and joy.
And the weird looks of people in small towns seeing the parade of crazy passing through.
Though it may have ended, I still keep it with me – with places I pass through that I remember from the rides. With the amazing people we met along the way.
And that’s why we decided we wanted to do the reunion.
Which is going to take a lot of planning.
The loose plan (very loose so far) will be a continental breakast type thing and a morning meetup in Goodwood, On. (Home of most of the filming sites for Schitt’s Creek if you are a fan of the show.)
Then a self guided ride – it isn’t a race, it isn’t a rally per se – we just have a suggested route and you ride at your own pace and discretion. We will aim for side roads, quieter whenever possible. We’ll try to make it interesting and fun – with suggested places to stop and take photos which we hope you will share with us. (We’ll provide an upload link.) The riding will be probably 6 hours or so – that’s the goal right now.
Then we finish up with a BBQ (or something similar) dinner in Goodwood. We’ll share photos of former MBSR rallies (We may ask for people to contribute theirs) and a chance to hang out. We’ll have Tshirts for sale at our cost. And some minor prizes (we reserve the right to surprise with them,. but it won’t be an entire scooter 🙂 ) Let’s just say those bringing a scooter that is itself a veteran of the rally might get a little something extra.
So it won’t be a massive thing, but it should be massive fun – and we’re looking forward to planning and running it and most of all, seeing some familiar faces and hearing some familiar engines.
Because the MBSR was about challenge, about appreciating small rides and small towns, about exploring near home on something that makes the distance feel a little further.
But mostly…. most importantly…. it was about the people.
And we are looking forward to an excuse to meet up with some of them again.