Ogri Rally 2007

Where better to be on a bank holiday weekend than in a field with hundreds of people who share your interest - bikes! You pack up, make sure that you have all your gear, tent, sleeping bags etc., etc., then you're off. Maybe you took the Friday off work like Jake and myself just so we could have a nice ride up there. We had arranged to meet with some mates en route, but unfortunately we were running late (again) so missed them. We did, however, bump into a very nice South African couple who were touring around England before they headed home, otherwise they would of loved to come along to the rally. Then we were off again and heading for Cirencester, the traffic was a bit busy when we got past Membury services, but Jake is an excellent rider in these situations and it didn't take us long to get through it. It took us in all about 2hrs to get to our destination.

The first thing you notice about this rally is the scene is brilliant with loads of wide open spaces, fresh air and a small airfield nearby. The Ogri MCC run this rally excellently - they man the gates, run the bar, sort the stages out for the live bands, organise events, do security and even run a very safe baby‑sitting service for their own members. The one good thing we like about it, is it's not too big - there are a lot of rallies now that are more like festivals and are very expensive.

The atmosphere is always so chilled, it's the 3rd year for me and you just arrive, pitch your tent and relax from there on in. Although we did discover that we had forgotten the sleeping bags and the tent, doh!! Not quite sure how we managed this; so lucky for us that Cirencester was a short bike ride away, where we managed to pick up a couple of sleeping bags. Gayboy Jay was there with Jules, Tash & Nosmo and Phil & Ange - that's what so good with coming to these rallies you meet up with old mates. So we settled down and were invited to share a tent with Tash & Simon - although they say we invaded it, but that's what are friends for!

We helped put the rest of the tents up and wandered up to where things were going on, first stop the beer tent then onto the food bar. The bands: they seem to get always have the audience rocking. We had a look around the stalls, which are always interesting - jewellery, clothes, etc and you always want to buy something. This year a couple of our friends had tattoos done, which were excellent. You never go hungry either coz there's always lots of food. Usually the NAAFI are in the big tent and the food is good & cheap, this year was a little different as they had outside caterers, but the breakfast is the thing that you look forward to and need after a hard night's drinking, they even cater for vegetarians and they are always up early. The Ogri also did food this year and those baguettes went down a treat.

The air displays are always fun - some young gun is up there showing us his skills and they fly so low you can almost see their eyes. It seems that some arse has moved into the area and started complaining about the airfield that has been there forever, something about the noise etc., there is an online petition going on to protect the base.

The nice thing is you can come and go freely and there is a good run into Cirencester - when you get out of the airfield there is a lovely long stretch, last year we had a bit of a race with an Evo6, well Jake did, and she wasn't gonna give in - good girl (She still lost though when I changed down into 4th - Jake) - when you get into town you can go for a walk around the town as there are lots of interesting places to check out or get some food & a drink of real ale.

Back at the Ogri the evenings are great fun and this year was no exception - the weather was warm and there were a lot people just sitting out on the grass under the trees or having BBQs round their tents. On Saturday was the 'Best Bike' contest for the best rat, classic, hog, etc with trophies to be won. Then there were the games - a lot of the crowd got involved in the silliness and some got a lovely soaking, which was great coz it was so hot. Around the grass area we had different people playing music and singing - there were different band members dressed in 70's glitter gear and singing The Sweet and other 70's music. The bands in the evening were really raucous and getting us up to dance the night away.

You meet lots of people who are invariably relaxed - some are so chilled that you find them still passed out on the floor where you saw them 2 hrs previously! Eh Swee??? Even got a picture of you - although she had been awake all Friday night!! If you go for more than 1 yr you meet up with old friends from previous years. Ben, aka Wicked Clown, had a bit of an accident on the motorway - our Slob did a video reconstruction of the accident and its up on our site - so you might of thought he was acting a bit gay with the way he was walking, but really it was the metal contraption he has to wear to keep his spine in place. Then there's Chainsaw - poor old Chainsaw, last year someone wasn't very nice and cut his green bit of hair off, which wasn't good coz it was the longest bit. He was a bit shocked, but afterwards he just had another pint, and another after another, and then we found him passed out on the floor too - good job the weather's pretty good on these weekends!

If there's any trouble it's stamped on very quickly - it's meant to be a weekend where you can enjoy yourselves and not have to worry about hassle. The guys and girls do an excellent job of making this one very, very enjoyable. Considering the amount of people they have to keep an eye on they do it effortlessly.

Well done and here's to next year Ogri - cheers!!