PAST EVENTS



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Calderdale Show 3-6-01
U-Boat ride-out 29-7-01

Another Fine Bike Show..(Calderdale 3-6-01)

 


The day dawned fine and dry, ( which I must admit to getting used to ). There was a good turn out at the truckstop, with a promise of more to come at Birch services. We had a fast (ish ) ride over the hills to Bradford, and we didn't get lost once! Our 'stand' turned out to be a picnic bench, which, despite Janet's best efforts, was what it became. We entered the bikes in the show, because if you didn't, they asked you to go and park outside the square, and then walk in. No, I don't think so!!

All of us were having a merry time of it, with some rather more ethnic food than we would normally partake of, ( the burger stand had a queue a mile long ). And a reasonable beer tent. By the end of the day, we had all had at least one lunch, and a couple of beers. We whiled away the time to the prizegiving by watching Dave Feeney trying to set light to Hayd's diesel rat, by sitting on it and grounding the live alternator wire to the propstand.

Coming to the prizes, and easy guess, Hayd took best rat. Not so easy guess, he also got best engineering. ( what price are those custom frames? ) Not to be outdone, Lee got best V twin. That's it, we thought, time to go home. Not so. The Hatman,( may his name be praised ), wins best chop. Interestingly, he hadn't entered that class, but someone obviously thought it was a winner. O.K. now we can leave. Oh, no we can't. the Hatman wins again. Only one category left, so it has to be Best in Show. We shall now have to refer to Robert as "Chopper Harris" a.k.a. the Hatman.

Just goes to show what you can do with a pile of scrap from your back yard, or a few spanners and a bit of imagination. Well done to all concerned. Now we can go. No we can't . The winners all have to have their photos taken for BSH, and to cap it all, Lee can't find his helmet. (don't be smutty). Turns out Jilly B has mistaken it for Hayds, and has hidden it by his rat. Draw your own pictures here, I can't afford a libel case!
Such an enjoyable pastime, this biking lark. Good for the soul, you might say. ( you probably won't, but hey, it's a free country, mostly.)

We all finally tore ourselves away from this excellent show, and gathered for the ride home. It all held together pretty well until we got separated on the motorway, and Turkey refused to go above 55, because he was low on petrol. Us at the back didn't realise this, and thinking he had a problem, stuck with him. Still, we finally knew what was going on, and we didn't get wet at all!.

S'good, that, innit.
Fart Bob ( it's the curry, I tell you !! )
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Breakdown, U-Boats and Chips (29-7-01)

I had decided to go on my own bike on this rideout, I thought if it does breakdown again, the Wirral and Birkenhead docks are not too far away if I have to be rescued. Earlier this year I made an effort to start to ride again but this was daunted by demons - actually I hope it was only a faulty brake light switch…

One Sunday earlier this year Denis and I set out on our bikes for a little trundle around, to get me back into the saddle. After a few miles a lot of popping and banging occurred, followed by a dying engine.. ah ha … No petrol. We sourced a garage, filled up and away we went, that seemed to be it.

Okay, I'll go to Calderdale on it, the day dawned and off we set, but after only ½ mile, and full of petrol, the demon was at it again. Luckily it had stopped on top of a bridge, so I turned around and coasted down popping and banging back into our garage. I jumped on the back of the Fatboy, and just made it to the Truckstop in time to leave for the Calderdale Bike show.

This little mishap was deemed to have been caused by 'me' of course, by leaving the choke on for too long! Holidays came and went and the Pres checked my Sportster over, no problems, it's okay, he'd just done a lap of our local circuit without missing a beat. 'It's definitely you' he said.

The MOT was due so he booked it with Big Twin Services over in Southport, for the Saturday morning of the Peace Centre BBQ. By 9am he was on his way, I did my shopping and arrived home at noon. No sign of him, no messages either, so I thought he'd be chatting as men do when around bikes. But when it got to 1:30pm I was getting a little worried. Then I got a call … 'Guess what - your bikes passed its MOT, but it packed up on my way home, so come and pick me up from Big Twin'. (so it was ME was it!)

I hurried along to collect him, time was running short, for the 3pm meet so we were driving 'a little quick' along the M58 when bang went a rear tyre. We've had this car three years but never changed a wheel, needless to say the handbook came in very handy!. Finally got home, jumped on the Fatboy, but by this time we missed the meet at the Truckstop.

The following Saturday Lee and Dennis set off to collect the bike. Ant from Big Twin had rung up during the week to say they had hopefully fixed the problem. Russ & Julie (Enjoying life in deepest Wales) were coming over for lunch, so I said be back by 1:30pm. No Calls, no sign of them by two, had the demon struck again? Thankfully not, just chatting as men do…..

And that brings us back to the beginning. About 15 bikes set off, down the A49 towards Whitchurch, lovely weather, and hardly any traffic as we ambled along through the country lanes. We stopped en route for a little drink as usual, then on to West Kirby before the tour of the U-Boat. I was a little apprehensive as we climbed inside, it was a bit claustrophobic, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finally it was time for tea, it wasn't far to the chippy and Alice had phoned Mike to check our ETA so we were soon tucking in to the best fish and chipy I've tasted in a long while. I'd just like to say thanks to Alice for opening up on her day off especially for us.

Well I made it, the first ride I have done for ages, 150 miles, no rain, no demons and best of all no cooking when I got home.

Janet.

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