F or those of you who haven ’ t heard , the GS Rallye is a brand agnostic navigational rallye put on by BMW New Zealand to celebrate the GS gravel / road style of riding . It ’ s an all-inclusive kind of event that ’ s brand agnostic and open to every make of motorcycle , so anyone who likes to ride gravel can come along . For 2020 , the Rallye made its way to the wine region of the Wairarapa , hosted at the Martinborough Rugby Club . The Rallye drew 160 riders and pillions from all over the country , keen to ride the route created by Bill Biber . Keeping things under control was Iona Gibbs who expertly registered and processed everyone , and kept the whole show moving . KR contributors Mathieu Day-Gillett and Ray Heron rode the event on the smallest capacity bikes in the field , this is their recall of the weekend .
MATHIEU DAY-GILLETT ’ S RALLYE The GS Rallye has become an annual pilgrimage since I joined the KR team . Not only is it a great weekend of riding , but it ’ s also great fun hanging out and talking to the other pilgrims .
This year ’ s ride was a blast for two reasons . Firstly , with the Rallye taking place in Martinborough , the ride down was going to take me on a whole load of roads I ’ d not ridden before . Secondly , this year ’ s ride I was going to get to ride the whole event on my own CRF250L Rally , rather than on a press bike as is more the norm . That ’ s the beauty of the way the GS Rallye is set up - it ’ s brand agnostic and all brands of bike are welcome . My Rallye started in the early hours of Friday morning in Cambridge . With an agreement to meet up with Editor Ben in Rotorua before 9am . I ’ ll admit I was a tad excited and that my Givi panniers were packed about a week beforehand ... so it was easy enough to say goodbyes and I was on the road for 7:45am . Arriving at the Ed ’ s at 9:02 - thanks to my inability to overtake most trucks ( that ’ s my excuse , Ben , and I ’ m sticking to it ) - we set off on the long and pretty uneventful ride south to Martinborough . The only issue I encountered , other than the iPhone I use for navigation dying while we road along the east coast of Lake Taupo , was the lack of power from the Honda over the big , open roads of the
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