Paris and back in 24hrs

Two sports bike riding nightclub doormen are planning a 48-hour dash to Madrid and back to raise charity cash for the air ambulance service.

Simon ‘Evzie’ Eve and Mark ‘Smudge’ Smith, from Wrexham, have already had a practice run – Paris and back in 24 hours.

Smudge works in sales at Demon Tweeks when he’s not on the door or on his bike.

Read their story – to get a few tips on riding in Paris!

Evzie explains: “We decided we would take our wives to Paris and back after our Saturday night shift (3am) to return to North Wales within 24 hours.

“Leaving Wrexham at 3.05am we arrived in Folkestone at 5.55am to catch the train to France.

“Having to fill the fuel tanks every 75-80 miles proved more difficult at times than expected… with my grade ‘E’ in GCSE French. On one occasion I was locked in a security booth with a lady babbling at me telling me I could only fill one bike up or had to use pump number one.

”Eventually Paris outskirts loomed and the first Parisian biker passed us and attempted to slap me in the head and kick my machine!

“I retaliated by trying to hit his kill switch as did Smudge as he passed him, and again attempted to assault his machine and person. It was only 5 minutes later that we observed two locals passing each other and exchanging what now became apparent as a bikers acknowledgement…Oops.

“On arriving in Paris it was surprisingly difficult to locate the Eiffel Tower. We eventually gave up trying to dodge the insane drivers while trying to make sense of the road signs and pulled over for directions.

“Eventually we found ourselves travelling towards the Arc de Triumph, on wet cobbles.

“We had not encountered a huge amount of roundabouts in France and in the early hours they were certainly not busy. Hence the heart attack when we realised that the traffic on the roundabouts actually stop dead to give priority to the joining traffic!

”We headed to the Eiffel Tower through a downpour unrivalled by any I’ve been caught by in the past, and stopped. Where we found Smudge could set his alarm but not disarm it.

“We needed a solution. The RAC said it would take 24 hours to activate an upgraded policy and even then they would only deliver him to a local dealer to try disarm the alarm.

“Next plan: ‘Tiny’, a rather large doorman with his own van-driving business was called. It took 20 minutes to convince him that we had managed to make it to Paris since he saw us the night before.

“Finally the plan for a van to be despatched was sorted and I went off to find a hotel for the night. The run back was cancelled.

“But on my return I found an overjoyed Smudge. His bike had disarmed itself when he fell to his knees before it.

“The plan was back on and we had two hours to get out of Paris.

“This involved some of the most stimulating and frightening filtering through rush hour I’ve ever done.

“Back to the train in Calais and a quick dart up the country only disrupted by a fuel stop and, 30 minutes from home I had to lean the R1 over – and my wife fell off and into a flower bed.

“But we were home for 2.56am. Mission accomplished.”

The next instalment:

We are going to attempt a run, at just over double the distance of our Paris run, approximately 2531 miles to Real Madrid FC, Spain, and back in 48 hours.

The pledges have already been rolling in, over £1000 in sponsorship already, ith the hope of more on the build up to the run which departs from Scotts Nightclub Wrexham on April 21 at 7pm arriving back April 23 at 7pm.

The return is going to be greeted by a charity night hosted by the club starting at 6pm and finishing whenever the last person leaves ! Fingers crossed for guest speakers yet to be confirmed.

Bill Smiths Motors based in Chester have offered a full service for the four machines involved, and have donated a range of motor cycle accessories to auction off at the evening function.

Demon Tweeks have helped with various essential products and accessories.

Arrow rider training have donated a full DAS training course for auction on the 23rd.

MFM and Buzz FM are providing us with the well received local radio coverage, along with two presenters, Dave Lee and Becky Wicks, presiding over the charity auction in the club on the 23rd.

If you want to help, email Evzie at EVZIE247@aol.com