There's always an energy that starts to build when June rolls around on the calendar during a Mad Bastard year.  That energy is filled with excitement (and also a bit of stress for us organizers) - but mostly excitement and anticipation.  We cannot wait for MBSR weekend to come and we are working hard at HQ to make it the best one yet!

We all know that the MBSR is not a race, and it's not just a bunch of crazy bastards riding around on scooters.  There are the scavenger hunt type clue stops (which we guarantee will have you scratching your head this year), mandatory stops to refuel your scooter (gas) and yourselves (thank you Sparkplug Coffee), as well as some fun challenges along the way.

So that's that - for now.  Nothing else to see here folks.  We need to get back to other important aspects of rally planning.

If you're registered for the rally, see you in 9 days, if not, be sure to follow up on Facebook and/or Instagram to keep up with the insanity of the MBSR19!

It's always an exciting time - that Friday morning of the rally.  Headquarters is buzzing with excitement and we are extremely busy preparing for the impending doom...er we mean the amazing weekend to come!

As registration opens up, so do the flood gates of mad bastard attendees.  Usually still in street clothes, we are excited to see the old familiar faces of our Alumni, and finally put a face to a name of a Newbie. There is definitely an energy in the air, and after registration, most people head out to the parking lot to scope out the competition.

It was in 2015 when we took over the MBSR from the grandest of grand fromages Rob Harris & CMG that we introduced a couple of new recognition type awards to the rally, some of which are presented at the Friday Rider Meeting.

1.  "Best in Show" - This is our award for best costume, with a twist.  We invite our "Little" guests from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peterborough to make the important decision as to who will win this prize.   

2.  "The Do-Gooder" - Awarded to the Bastard who raises the most funds for our incredible charity Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peterborough.

3.  "The Weary Traveller" - Awarded to the Bastard who travels the farthest to attend the rally.

4. "The Old Fart" - Not what you think it is.... we're talking about the oldest scooter, not the oldest Bastard!

5.  "The Eager Beaver" - Awarded to the Bastard who could hardly wait for registration to open, and inevitably is the first one to register!

While our unconventional award winners get recognized at the Friday rider meeting, we have a special award that we introduced at the 2017 MBSR - the Rob Harris Spirit Award created in memory of the beloved and very much missed Rob Harris who created the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally.

There is no real criteria for the Rob Harris Spirit Award (and if you ever worked behind the scenes of the MBSR with Rob as we did many times, you will know that this too is a tribute to him).  Our decision will be based on our gut and likely won't be made until a few moments before the Sunday Awards Brunch.

An important element of the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally over the years has been the fundraising aspect.  It was in 2015 that we decided to focus our efforts on raising funds for a local charity - if we were swarming a city/town, we want to raise funds for that specific population.... and that's when Big Brothers Big Sisters entered into the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally world!

The last two rallies saw us fundraising for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Guelph and London chapters.  This year we reached out to the Peterborough chapter and we are so excited to work with them to bring awareness to their fabulous efforts.

Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Peterborough promotes the growth and development of at-risk children and youth in our community through the provision of mentoring programs with positive adult role models.

Big Brothers was established in Peterborough in 1964 to provide a mentoring program for boys of single parent led families. In the first year of operation the agency supported 9 young boys. The agency has grown exponentially over the years and in 1972 introduced the Big Sister program as well. 54 years later we are still delivering top quality mentoring programs to children in the City and County of Peterborough. We continue to provide our community based Big Brother and Big Sister programs as well as the In-School Mentoring, Go Girls and Game On programs. We also offer a variety of activities and programs for the children on our waiting list. Last year we served over 350 children and we are on track to serve even more this year.

It is our goal to raise over $15,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peterborough, and we are confident that we will exceed it.  We know that the #realmadbastards are up for the challenge. 

Riders will have a personal fundraising page, however, if you don't know any of the riders and want to donate to this amazing cause, just click the donate now button below!

​Happy New Year to everyone!  We know that you have been patiently waiting for news about the 2019 Mad Bastard Scooter Rally, so we are writing this post with some news.

​We are working diligently behind the scenes with the hopes of opening registration on March 1st.  We are so excited to bring the MBSR to the city of Peterborough and explore this part of Ontario on two wheels.  In the coming weeks we will release further information about our hotel HQ, details about the weekend itself and pricing.  So stay tuned!

​Although we love this rally with our entire heart and soul (and we know that you do too), we are sad to announce that this will be the last Mad Bastard Scooter Rally.  As we/BECO Motors are no longer the importer for KYMCO in Canada, KYMCO is no longer the title sponsor of this event.  The cost of the rally and lack of sponsorship makes it an incredibly costly event and much (scratch that) ALL of the time that we put into the event is completely voluntary.  Putting together this rally is a two year affair, and though it is a labour of love, we have made the difficult decision to forego planning any future rallies at this time.

​That's you!  (kidding).  We couldn't be more excited about MBSR2019 and are really hoping to see everyone come out for one last hurrah.  All of our heart and soul will go into planning this amazing weekend and we are counting on you bringing all of your amazing energy and enthusiasm to this event that is so close to all of our hearts.

​So - start prepping those scooters, getting your teams together and planning your strategies (if you haven't already) because the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally 2019 countdown has officially begun.

"The Best in Show" - Congratulations Wonder Woman (aka Jess Kline)
"The Do-Gooder", - Awarded to Todd McAlary for raising the most funds for our charity
"The Weary Traveller" - Awarded to Raph Kroll for traveling the farthest to get to the rally (over 3,000km)
"The Old Fart" - Awarded to Bob Davidson for riding the oldest scooter (a 1961 Harley Davidson Topper)
and "The Eager Beaver" - Awarded to Chris Marszalek for being the first to register the very moment we opened reg!

This year we also introduced the Rob Harris Spirit Award, in honour of the original Mad Bastard himself, Le Grand Fromage, and founder of the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally. Rob Harris passed away tragically last year and we miss him dearly.  The winner of this special award would be announced at the Sunday Awards Banquet. 

Though we try to end the rider meeting in a timely manner so that we can all get some sleep, we inevitably find ourselves in our hotel suite listening to the sound of 2 stroke engines buzzing around the parking lot and fielding requests for last minute repairs (you try finding a spark plug in London around midnight on a Friday night).  If we sleep even an hour, we're lucky!

Before we know it, it's 3:30am and we're getting ready in the parking lot to send the Mad Bastards and their scooters on their 550+km journey through some of South Western Ontario's best roads.  This is when the real "Show & Shine" begins!  Not only are riders clad from head to toe in their costumes, but in recent rally years, the level of, shall we call it "performance art" has been second to none.  From old fashioned bribery (thanks for the candy Green Goblin), to lessons about french oars from the Codfathers, these Bastards brought their game!

As rally masters, probably one of the best moments for us is when the riders start returning back to HQ!  Hearing their stories, seeing how exhausted they are, while at the same time seeing the sparkle in their eyes from the excitement and exhilaration - they completed the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally - what an accomplishment!

Once all rally participants have been accounted for (roughly 3am) then rally headquarters gets to work.  We have photos to sort & judge, video submissions to watch, clue sheet answers to check, and challenges to go over.  Before rally riders are awake for the Sunday Awards Brunch, we are well on our way to establishing the undisputed winners of the 2017 Mad Bastard Scooter Rally.

The whole ballroom buzzes with excitement as riders await to see highlights from the previous day, and learn the results Maddest Bastards of 2017!  Congratulations to each of the amazing people (and the one animal - shout out to Misha the Mini-Schnauzer) who rode the 2017 Mad Bastard Scooter Rally!

We were unsure of the criteria for this award going in - but that, in and of itself was very Rob-like!  We trusted our gut, and chose the recipient(s) of this award for their commitment, spirit, and love of this event.  It is a true family affair for these two,  so it was only fitting that the first Rob Harris Spirit Award be given to husband and wife team Chris & Deirdre Marszalek - Congratulations!

So here we are - not even one week after the rally, most definitely suffering from an MBSR hangover.  Loving all of the posts on social media and enjoying the fact that we get to stay in touch with many of you in between rally years.

We wish to extend a very special thanks to all of the sponsors and volunteers without whom this rally wouldn't be possible.  We would also like to commend all of our Mad Bastard riders for raising over $10,000 for this year's charity Big Brothers, Big Sisters of London & Area.

In a few months we will be starting up again - honing in on our new HQ location, scouting the mad route, and before you know it, 2019 will be here and we will be ready to embark on another great adventure.

We hope you will join us.

It's been a long standing tradition - one that Rob was quite proud of - that the winners of the various categories of the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally were rewarded with BEER.  But when our long standing sponsor was no longer able to jump aboard on our crazy adventures, we went out in search of a new one.

You have no idea how awkward it is to make a cold call to a potential sponsor and tell them about the rally - we never know how it's going to be received.  Sometimes, the conversation doesn't go so well, but when we got on the phone with Scott from Railway City Brewing Co. out in St. Thomas, ON (just south of our London HQ)  he GOT IT and we were thrilled when they jumped on board as a sponsor for this year's rally.

Have you checked out their website?  With beers called "Dead Elephant Ale", "Double Dead Elephant Ale" "The Whitty Traveler", and seasonal specialties with equally cool names such as "Mov-amber ale" and "Hoptoberfest" we knew even before they did that this was the perfect fit!

So thank you Railway City Brewing Co. for jumping in bed with us before we even met face to face.  Must be GOOD beer!

Details about the bonus route remain TOP SECRET and are only revealed to riders upon their return to Headquarters after a gruelling day of riding.  We're excited about this one though!

It's official!  The chosen charity for the 2017 MBSR is Big Brother Big Sisters of London & Area!
 
It was in 2015 when we connected with Big Brothers Big Sisters for the first time.  We really wanted the charity portion of our rally to benefit the local community that we were swarming rally weekend.  We reached out to the fabulous people at BBBS Guelph and began our fundraising efforts.  The incredible MBSR15 riders raised over $16,000 for the Guelph chapter and it was amazing to see how that money could be spent changing the lives of young girls and boys in the local community on a real grass roots level.  It was our experience with BBBS Guelph that made this year's choice for our charity a no-brainer. 

We look forward to raising funds for the children of London and the surrounding communities.  Our goal for 2017 is to raise over $20,000.   This year's rally participants will have an opportunity to set up their fundraising pages upon registration.  Stay connected with us through our Facebook and Instagram pages for more details on how you can contribute!

Plans for MBSR17 are well underway, and we are thrilled to announced that rally headquarters will be in London, Ontario on June 23-25, 2017!

What's new for 2017? 

NEW LOGO
Super talented Mad Bastard alumni Gary Davidson has once again captured the essence of the rally with his incredible logo design for MBSR17.  His tribute to Rob makes this logo particularly special with the incorporation of an image that may be familiar to some alumni from the first Mad Bastard Scooter Rally.

NEW HQ
We are thrilled to be taking the rally to London, ON and are excited about our headquarters location for this year (which, by the way, we will not be disclosing as of yet - we can't give it all away in one day).

NEW REGISTRATION OPTIONS
For all the die hards (aka the #RealMadBastards) we have added the option of a HOLD MY SPOT registration.  What exactly does this mean?  Well, you know the dates of the rally now, and you know the HQ city, which means that if you are so inclined you can reserve a rider's spot in the rally with a $100 (refundable) deposit (see full details on the registration page.  No need to know what class you're riding in, just sign up and we'll hold your spot!

NEW VIDEO
Check out the official video from the 2015 Mad Bastard Scooter Rally from the amazing people at What A Ride!  Check out their latest write up about the rally here!

It has been a difficult week for many people as we all come to grips with the fact that Rob Harris isn't here in this world with us anymore.  So many beautiful tributes are being shared on social media and on the CMG website - a testament to Rob.  He was really something.  He was more than a Mad Bastard though, he was our friend. 

As we work on completing the new Mad Bastard Scooter Rally website, it saddens us that the first blog post we write is about losing the original Mad Bastard. 

Rob, we will miss you terribly.  Your spirit will continue to live on through the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally.  You will always be a part of it's past, and we will ensure that you will always be a part of it's future.

Rest in peace Rob Harris.
1967-2016

Read Mark Richardson's beautiful tribute to Rob HERE.

Don't miss out on watching Sarah Thomas Moffat's bitter sweet tribute to Rob below: