HDRCGB 50th Sportster Rally
By Mr Ray Douglas himself at 30/07/2007 03:10:42 PM
HDRCGB 50th ANNIVERSARY SPORTSTER RALLY
I loaded the bike on the Thursday evening as I wanted to get an early start on Friday morning. I also checked out the weather forecast, shit!!!. Next morning I checked the weather forecast again, shit!!!! again. I rang Graham and told him to put the kettle on as I was on my way.
I set off at 09.30am going round the North Circular Road and up the M1. I was getting a lot of road spray by Junction 11 but luckily I had planned ahead and had my waterproofs on. There were a lot of cars and trucks with no headlights on, even in the bad light. By junction 15 it had started to rain and by the time I was on the A43 it was hammering down. I arrived at Graham’s house and discovered that my waterproof jacket wasn’t as waterproof as I thought. I stripped off the wet gear and hung it up to dry before settling back with a nice cup of tea.
The phone started ringing as various club members rang up to check the rally was still on. Most people said they would come up on Saturday morning. We watched the torrential rain through the window as we drank more tea and watched the TV. At 4.00pm the rain stopped so we loaded the bikes up, returned to the house to put the waterproofs on and went back to the bikes. It was raining again. We gave it another five minutes and decided to go for it.
Off round the A43 and up the A508 towards Market Harborough. My front tyre clipped a small bit of wood on the road, which flipped up, hit me on the shin and then went shooting over my shoulder into the opposite lane. If anything had been coming it would have went straight onto the windscreen. My shin was sore for quite a while.
Just as we arrived on site Gerry turned up to so we paid to get in and retired to the bar, not for beer but for some hot food (shepherds pie and chips-very welcome) and more tea. We saw some of the East Coast Harley Club arrive and they looked wetter than us. After stuffing our faces we went and put the tents up. Everything was damp so we returned to the bar. Gary and Wayne turned up next followed by Paul and Anna. We all had some beer to celebrate everyone getting there safely and headed off to bed about 1.00am.
I woke up at 7.00am to the sound of rain so I dozed off again. I woke up at 10.00am to drizzle so I got up and went and had some breakfast. Catweasle and Heather arrived next closely followed by Martin and his son. Teas were passed around again. Tony and Sandra turned up; Sandra had come off her bike on a roundabout, sliding into the back of Tony’s bike, mostly superficial damage luckily.
Most of the club went into Market Harborough for a look around while I decided to go on the ride-out. A little bit of rain wasn’t going to stop me from riding my bike. We went through Melton Mowbray and in to Ashfordby where we stopped for a cup of tea and biscuits at a grade 2 listed mansion owned by one of Kev Scrivener’s friends. From there we rode in to Oakham for a quick pint before heading back through Uppingham to the site, via lots of back roads.
The rest of the club had turned up by now so we went and had a look around all the bikes that had turned up. There were some really nice old bikes on site, the owners should be really proud of them. When everyone arrived back on site I discovered that they had been banned from a pub for eating outside at the front of the pub. Well done for losing lots of money whoever decided that!
Lots of photos were taken of the bikes, and then we carried on drinking, getting ready for the evening party. At one point Gerry decided to do some gymnastics by jumping between the tables outside. He managed to do one leap but as he landed on the table his foot slid away and he landed very heavily on his arse. He retired to bed early and as he walked away he did look as if he was suffering. The band was great, they had loads of people on the floor, including me, and luckily they didn’t play any Irish music. Sandra won one of the trophies for her Buell Chop and then the band came on again, I ended up dancing with Becky, Heather and even with Catweasle and Eddy at one point. I finally went to bed around 2.00am.
Next morning after breakfast I packed up. Gerry had already left. After saying goodbye to everyone I headed off south. The sun was shining and it was a much better ride home than the ride here on Friday. I got home, put the bike away and then unpacked. Everything was still damp so into the wash it all went. Well done to Kev Scrivener for organising the weekend, you did a really good job mate, hope you organise the 100th Anniversary Rally as well as this one.
Geordie Ray
West London Harley Riders
