ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB

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June 2009 Club News

Girls Overnight Ride

By Raelene Blake

Sitting demurely 'round table...Our trip this year was preceded with a week of very rough weather alerts so it was with trepidation we were all watching the forecast for Saturday 23rd May. Fortunately the weather on waking was not exactly perfect but certainly respectable enough to go ahead with our ride. 7 keen riders assembled: Tammie, Lidia, Jo, Meagan, Julie, Jeanette, Chris and I. Unfortunately Chris wasn’t able to do the trip with us but was able to join us as far as Gilbert’s for coffee. Everyone had on their T shirts that Jo had been busy designing and getting printed in time for this ride. We had discussed this at length on last year’s ride, so it was great to have them. The logo on the back being “Heels on Wheels”. They look fantastic. Big thanks to Jo for doing this.

What you don't normally see on the side away from the camera...It was drizzling as we reached Gilbert’s and on leaving an hour later the rain got heavier for about 15 minutes then cleared and that was all the rain we had for the day. We had a lovely ride to Boyup Brook. A few bikes fuelled up here then it was off again, missed the short cut to Balingup, so arrived in Bridgetown, turned right at the centre of town and enjoyed the lovely ride to Balingup for lunch.

We had planned to lunch at the tavern which looked very inviting but were 10 minutes too late for the kitchen so went to the “Taste” café in the main street, where the owner thought it was quite a novelty to have a  group of female riders in for lunch. The food was excellent.

We had a wander through the shops in the main street, all relieved that we didn’t have any spare luggage space as there were some tempting pieces in the alpaca & antique shop. Then it was time to enjoy that nice windy road back to Bridgetown and find Nelsons motel where we staying the night. Tammie found an alcove at the end of the motel units where we backed our bikes in, out of harm's way. Probably an interesting exercise if anyone had been watching us!

A brisk walk down the street to find a bottle shop and back for a quick drink and debrief of the days ride, then shower and dress for dinner, Lidia & Meagan were in keeping with our logo and had their “heels” on. We headed off to the revamped Bridgetown Hotel for dinner. A couple of girls had worn their H.O.W.  T-shirts which created some interest and one group of blokes dining were heard to comment to Tammie that he thought the logo should be “Angels on Wheels”, very kind of him but not sure how he had come to that conclusion.

Mobile lifestyleMeanwhile Lidia was giving Jo a makeover with her “bright red” lipstick, kept in her purse, for emergencies.
Everyone agreed, Jo looked very bright and sparkly with lollipop red lippy! We had a lovely meal, service was excellent and then a challenge was on for a game of  pool between Jo/Lidia and Meagan/Julie.

There was a lot of coaching going on and explanation of the rules and then a group of very young-looking local lads walked in, one of them addressed Lidia by placing $2 on the table and said he wanted to challenge, to which Lidia replied “We can’t play you, you're only 4ft 2", brave words coming from someone barely 5ft 2. He was very short though.

Game finished, with the winners being the Hog Girls, it was back to the motel for another debrief and laughs. A few more wines, black russians for Meagan and Baileys for Jo then off to bed for hopefully a good nights sleep. Not so for Jeanette as Meagan was keen to watch a few late night movies.

In the morning, we returned to the hotel for a big brekky before fuelling up and heading to Manjimup, then on to Walpole. We regrouped at Middleton Rd and as we were leaving Julie, who was on Dean’s bike noticed her chain was loose. Fortunately there was a ute & caravan stopped there, so Meagan tapped on his window, informed him of the dilemma and he was only too happy to be able to oblige with the “appropriate” tools and tighten the chain on Julie’s bike.

I think there was going to be a “discussion” in their house Sunday night re bike maintenance.  When we got to Walpole it was great to see quite few partners and club members waiting for us. They had all enjoyed a ride and stop for coffee at Bow Bridge on the way.

More photos were taken of us “with shirts” and then everyone headed in their own direction. The ride back to Albany was brilliant, no wind, roads quiet and a perfect end to yet another fun weekend away.

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