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Rain rain go away.
Rain rain go away…
Other working titles for this report were: - The Magnificent 7 ride again - Metro Retro - Baboons to Bibby - Mojo to Mojos Col called a ride for oldies and newbies – not having had a CQ ride for 2 years almost to the day – I qualified on both counts. He FB (that’s Facebook for the real oldies) on Fri that there would be no dust due to recent rain and sunshine forecast for Sat. I awoke to lighting, thunder & deep black clouds out to the east. My neighbour Pete and his five mates were setting off on their Harleys for a weekend away – an hour later it would seem like a scuba diving weekend – it was bucketing down. Scratch dust as a potential issue for the ride today. At the meetup point it was like déjà vu all over again, as they say in Ireland. The 3 baboons were there – rarely seen together in the wild these days – with Steve in tow – to bring 3 yellow tractors to the field. Col’s was pimped up for the Safari tag along tour in a couple of weeks – right down to mousse. Fancy deserts they have on the Safari these days. Biggles was there, fresh (well kinda fresh) from AD4E stewardship duties – the pace would be a little less hot today. Lindsay was along and would lead a few sections today. We changed in the pouring rain – trying hard to not get too wet before we even set off, wondering if the five no-shows had made the right choice to turn over and go back to sleep. Soon we were off. Roley was the designated lead – pushed to the front by his brothers; with Col as the sweep so as to not tempt fate with a Safari looming. It was a long time since I’d ridden Metros – what’s the main feature I remember. A few minutes in – ah yes whoops. Good to know that I still had my whoops mojo – and was soon reaching my personal best of one in a row. I would be in Mojos later on that night with my 15 year old daughter and a couple of friends at her first pub gig – to see Peter Bibby. I wondered if he was an Aussie Justin Bieber. There was water everywhere – satisfying Steve’s desire for more puddle training. Roley was doing a sterling job up front, with a few stops for GPS directions from Pete. We were all happy with the pace, yes we may be old but we’re still slow. A fine loop of over 80kms and less than 800kms was sampled. The rain was there for most of the ride. Roley and myself had put our 10 years reading of ADB to good use with a set of safety glasses to stop the fogging issues. That’s a top tip that they haven’t printed for at least two months – so must be due out again in next month’s issue. Col gasped later that there would be a 450 shoot out too! Roley scores ROTD for his leading duties. It was great to be out on a Crusty ride again, I missed the motivational coaching you get during the ride. Picking myself and my bike up after sliding off on a slippery rock, Col rode up next to me “Did you fall off mate?”. At the end of the ride, we packed up – the hunger pangs were biting. A quick retreat to the Rocke Inne for a beer, steak sanger, a roving skimpy and Freo putting Geelong to the sword at their own home ground. A nice way to end the day. Back home – I was hugging the couch when I was reminded of my Mojos duty. Dragged off, into the gig. Peter Bibby hits the stage. His signature tune is about a homeless guy he regularly meets on the train from Midland. It has a heartfelt opening line with a universal message that will stay in my memory for a long time. It goes something like... “Hello my name is c**t!” Justin Bieber he’s not. Geez the kids grow up quick! This could have been the tune of the election day – depending on your politics for the outgoing or incoming PM – or both. Or for Freo if you’re a Geelong supporter. For me it’s my whoops song. Get out there and ride. Enjoy the safari Col .. thanks all for a top day.      |
