The day started well,
Teego recalls: "Riding from Derby to Buxton in the early morning fog, turning
my head all the time to blow the condensation off my visor and wondering if the
roads had any grip. Over the Cat and Fiddle on an empty road above the clouds
with the sun beginning to warm while plod was still in bed. Perfect." The
first rendezvous is MacDonald's in Whitefield, for coffee and tabs whilst waiting
for the rest of the crew to arrive. Then it's off to Rivington Barn, a famed biker
meeting point for those from the top end of the map. "We'll soon be out of
town and onto the twisties," Teego thought, "Wrong! Town seems to go
on forever and someone up there must have the master franchise for Gatso - never
seen so many." Eventually they hit some open country and after some
interesting manouevres by whoever's leading they are on the country roads. These
are best described as narrow and bumpy as fook, enough to have Teego wishing for
a motocrosser. There is a good scene at Rivington. General discussion about
women and how to treat them - mainly under the thumb in Lincolnshire - plus Dave's
tales of club racing and how Plastic gave up the dreaded weed but found lager
and Jaffa Cakes. Then out of the mists Zoltan (for it is he) arrives on
an Exup that has seen better days - mainly before it was thrown down the road.
But no worries he said, there's a Foxeye at home and an OW01 having its flatslides
sorted out. He decided to join them for the run to Blackpool. But wait,
what's this? Jase has lost his wallet, probably at Macdonalds. Not much hope there
then. Anyway, rather than have to go through the whole hassle of cancelling credit
cards etc, Jase decided to scoot back to MacD's to see if he can recover it. Fat
chance, they all think. But 45 minutes later, as everyone's starting to suffer
terminal boredom, he's back. Bloody hell, he's got a result. Someone handed it
in. So off to Blackpool. Not too much adventure as you've got to get through
Preston and the Gatso salesman has been working hard there too. Except Ted has
an encounter with stupid bird in a BMW trying to T-bone him as she pulls out of
her parking slot. No-one can hear what he says but you wouldn't want to be on
the receiving end of his body language. Could this have been an omen? At
last Plastic leads them into Blackpool - or not, as they get well and truly lost
in the one way system. Where's the sea? About 100 yards down there. Back on the
bikes and 3 miles later we hit the promenade. All except Zoltan, for he has disappeared.
Was he ever really there? Fish and chips are scoffed in the sunshine before
everyone goes their different ways. Ted's off home to pack for his holiday and
3am alarm call, Jase back to Wigan, Teego to Derby and the rest to Devil's Bridge
- another well-known biker meet. Devil's Bridge is scenic as ever, but all
that fresh sea air has taken its toll and after a short visit the lads elect to
head back to Malc's for a cuppa. Leaving the Bridge on the A65, they made progress
through the traffic. Malc was leading when he moved to overtake a Volvo which
promptly turned right... Malc locks up, the 'Ace spins across the road and deposits
him in a heap on the tarmac. Ow. The Air Ambulance whisks Malc off
to Keighley Hospital with Dave in hot pursuit, reporting back later on a broken
collarbone (after a couple of weeks it turns out to be busted in two places and
might need pinning), concussion and severe bruising. OW! At the time of writing
Malc's recovering well and was back on the forum within 24 hours with his sense
of humour completely intact. Whew, a lucky result for our first forum rideout
casualty. I know they say chicks dig scars, Malc, but for Pete's sake...! Post
Script: Shortly after the accident, Malc had to move house. Unable to lift
anything and still in some discomfort, he posted about his predicament and Exup1000.co.uk
rose magnificently to the occasion. It's amazing what grown men will do for a
bacon butty. Plodder even became our second forum rideout casualty, after a fashion,
slipping on the step at Malc's old house and buggering his ankle! The other casualty
of the day was Malc's ex-neighbour's crocuses, but they aren't members here so
ner. You can find all the pics from the day here.
| 
