Dragon Lords' Matric Drive, Saturday 21st July

The weather was absolutely atrocious! The whole week leading up to the weekend had been great but the forcast was for 80% rain and strong winds on Saturday, calming a bit on Sunday. I was a bit dubious about whether Janet would want to go but she said "It's just an hour's ride, we'll just put our wets on and go." That's my biker girl.

The Dragon Lords were holding a Matric Drive in Killarney Gardens, collecting Matric outfits for underprivileged school kids who would otherwise not be able to have an end of school dance. We considered this a really worthy cause and determined to attend, to which end we managed to accumulate four girl's dresses, some shoes and a handbag as well as some shirts and ties.

As the jol was only starting at 14h00 we only needed to leave at around 12h00 or so, plenty of time to see what the weather was going to do. It rained through the night but seemed to be clearing later and when I looked to the south I could see that indeed the sky did seem to have blue patches amongst the heavy, dreary grey clouds.

We put our rainsuits on just after 12h00 and were riding out of town by 12h30 but I could see that the cloud cover was solid and heavy, as we turned onto the R27 West Coast road heading south the temperature was 16,5 celsius and those blue areas I had spotted earlier were nowhere to be seen. The wind was blowing very strong northerly but as we were heading south it didn't matter much.

Before we even got half way it started to rain, lightly at first but with growing intensity as we got nearer to Capetown and by the time we were riding past Melkbos towards Tableview all hell broke loose!
It rained so hard that I couldn't see through my helmet visor, visibility was severely restricted but still the cagers were behaving like idiots and way too many of them were driving without headlights! Some had park lights on but they were as dim as their brains, luckily I could raise my visor and was able to see much better but the pelting rain was stinging my face, I had to reduce my speed considerably and was constantly on the lookout for large standing pools of water and for fools coming up behind me too fast.
We haven't ridden in rain like that for ages and it was a great relief to arrive in one piece at the Daytona Palms Pub in Killarney Gardens, I parked the big red machine outside and as the rain had temporarily subsided we removed our rain jackets and headed into the tent. There were not many motorbikes parked outside and I noticed later that although the crowd grew considerably the number of motorbikes did not, there were a lot of cars though!

There were quite a few revellers already on the go and a large marquee as well as some smaller tents had been set up to keep us all dry and happy.

We moved through the marquee and into the very pleasant wooden panelled bar area in search of beverages to ward off the chill, there we were met and greeted by one of the organisers of the drive, and a member of the Dragon Lords; Vera Basson Manuel a very pleasant lady and obviously passionate about the charity events that they are involved in.

 As the afternoon progressed the bar area filled up, particularly when there was another brief rain shower. It was a very festive atmosphere and I greeted several friends from the many rallies we have attended.

My friends Nancy and Peter were there, I bump into them at almost every local bike do and we discussed getting a bunch of them to come and ride up the west coast with us for a day, I will show them our local attractions and favourite spots.



I went out to wander around the site for a bit, there was a mens and ladies boiled egg eating contest taking place, I was not moved to partake of that!



It was whilst I was wandering around with my beer that I became aware of a strangely hypnotic yet somehow familiar rythmic drumming sound, something that seemed to react with my long-buried tribal roots perhaps, I followed the sound and came across a lot of people involved in a "drumming circle", it was very compelling and tugged at something deep within me that was long forgotten. It was not only me that was affected, many people joined in, pounding happily at the hide drums losing themselves to their inner rythms. I can imagine that it would be very therapeutic.



By late afternoon the rain seemed to be a thing of the past and more and more people arrived, crowding the tents and the bar with rowdy revellers intent on partying. Fires were lit outside and although the organisers had advertised that tents could be erected for sleepover I saw no evidence of that on the soggy grass.

I stayed for a while longer, chatting to other bikers and to the organisers. It appeared to have been a successful jol, perhaps not as good as it would have been were the weather not so bad but those who braved the elements seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The Dragon Lords are a worthy bunch of bikers, seemingly often involved in charity events and this was not the first matric drive that they have held. You've heard me say it before and you'll hear me say it again; Bikers are good folk and I will certainly support this club again.

Later that night I braaied chicken thighs at Linda's house while at the same time attempting to dry our sodden gloves next to the fire, it had been a good day inspite of the storm and Sunday promised to be better weather.
The ride home was much nicer, it did rain again before we left but although cold it was dry and I was able to enjoy myself on the bike. We ended off with a late lunch and some wine at the Beach Bar when we reached Saldanha, tired but happy!

Next weekend is the fifth annual Polar Bear run, I will tell you all about it but one thing I can tell you for sure; I'm not worried about the weather now, after that storm I am well and truly "weathered"!