Busy biking calendar as the weather improves

We have had a busy biking weekend, the weather is improving - actually Saturday and Sunday were very hot so now the biking calendar becomes very crowded. On Saturday we attended the Clique mcc "Wheels of steel" dayjol in nearby Velddrif. I am waiting for people to post more photos online that I can use before I post a story.

Meanwhile on Sunday members of the Meeulanders were hosted to a lovely buffet breakfast at one of our favourite local spots, Juffroushoogte by the local chapter of the Round Table for the official handover of the tins and non perishable food that we had collected.

It was a very pleasant morning out, the Round Table people are a great bunch and help us out with distribution every year. Thanks for the breakfast guys it was great!

While we wait for those photos from the Clique dayjol I thought I would post some photos taken by Michelle Liebenberg from the Clique Capetown chapter, of the 911 ride; Bikers unite for rural safety and security ride, she takes excellent photos and we were happy to get these;

Me turning out of the car park at the start of the run, it's always great to get a photo of yourself taken by someone else isn't it? I normally take photos for the blog so I'm rarely in them.

Meeulanders Sampie and Kathy

Meeulanders Metjie and Adrie

Meeulanders Hein and Gerda

Meeulanders Daan and Bev

I like this one, part of the mass ride taken from an overhead bridge with the big red machine in the centre, thanks Michelle, looking forward to some more of your photos.
Stay safe everyone, keep the shiny side up. (Click on the pictures to see them full size).

Bikers Nationwide Mass ride, 16th September - Stop killing our farmers

The call goes out! Bikers to unite and bring awareness, calling for an end to farm murders, we ride for Rural Safety and security. Whatsapp and facebook sites come alive, bikers all over the country get their bikes ready and within a very short time 32 separate mass rides are logged in from North to South and East to West. Bikers don't need much of an excuse to ride but this one is close to our hearts.

It was a cold and foggy Sunday morning as we gathered at our starting point, Meeulanders were the first to arrive and eventually we would be thirteen riders. We were soon joined by a good bunch from Megaforce and a couple of non affiliated riders. The coffee from the Wimpy was hot and welcome, we were to leave at 07h00 as we had just over an hour to ride to the official start point in Capetown.

We shuffled around in the early morning cold, our breath visible in the foggy air and then it was time for kickstands up, in staggered formation we roared south down the R27, slowing down through very dense patches of typical west coast fog. Into the outskirts of the city and the fog left us as the sun began warming our bones. At the N1 City car park the bikers had already started gathering.

My fellow club members gathered for a photo, I missed this opportunity as I was off buying a lousy cup of coffee from the nearby McDonalds, I won't buy their coffee again!

Just before 09h00 we listened to a ride briefing, the Traffic Department as well as road marshalls from the "Rod Bearers" a Police bike club would be facilitating the ride, making sure that all intersections would be open to us. At kickstands up there were apparently 200 bikes on the run, although to me it seemed like many more.

The road marshalls and the police did a good job of making sure that the ride stayed together, the leaders set a nice slow pace so that we could make our point, many of the bikes had banners and flags and we certainly attracted a lot of attention. We cruised along and into Stellenbosch where we pulled into a car park for a halfway break.

 

We chatted to other bikers, stretched aching saddle muscles and then it was time to head off again, it wasn't a long ride but it was slow and concentration levels were high. Every so often the ride would concertina and then open up again and we all desperately wanted to avoid the embarrassment of a slow speed fall down!

We cruised around through the outskirts of Paarl and then in a loop to the Klapmuts area, this is all very picturesque wine farming country and excellent riding, the end destination was wine farm called "Eaglevlei".

Parking for 200 bikes was a bit tight, I don't think they are used to such numbers but the venue was big enough for the riders,

The only problem was the queue for the bar! 200 bikes meant that there was probably as much as 300 people, if not more. Local farmers were scheduled to speak to the riders, my brother Gerrie and I hung around for a while but then decided to go to the nearby Klapmuts Hotel where we could get a beer in peace and quiet.

Look how peaceful that is! We were joined by another biking couple and after a chat and two beers we headed for home. By then the weather was extremely pleasant but it being springtime we were absolutely splattered with midges, bees and butterflies through the farming areas until we reached Malmesbury where Gerrie and I stopped for a late breakfast at the local Wimpy.

After an uneventful but enjoyable and rather fast ride I was home by mid afternoon having done around 420km. Write-ups on the various rides have been positive, I'm sure we have raised awareness but I have to wonder how much good it will do in this crime ridden country. We live in hope. 

A big thumbs up to the organisers of the run and to all of the bikers who took part. This is scheduled to be an annual run so we'll see you next year.  In the meantime I must wash my bike again!

Money's tight, a sign of the times

The result of club members work at the supermarkets in September 2016, an impressive collection of non-perishable food items.

This was from our efforts in September 2017, also an impressive collection.

This was the result of our collection at the beginning of September this year. We did nothing different, in fact we had one more shop than last year and I did a lot of advertising on the local business sites but it was just more difficult to get the public to donate. This is a definite sign that times are tough, I do not look upon our efforts as a waste of time though, that is still a lot of food that will go to needy people but when you think that sixteen members put in four hours at four different collection points that's not very much to show for it.

Busy weekend for bikers, tin run and breakfast run

On Saturday morning members of the club gathered at the entrances of the Pick 'n Pay franchise at the Laguna Mall in Langebaan, the Weskus Mall between Saldanha and Vredenburg and at the I.P.I.C centre in Vredenburg and also at the Spar in Saint Helena Bay.

The objective was to persuade members of the public to donate non-perishable food items for distribution to those in need. This is what we call our "Tin Run" and it is conducted annually, usually with great success. Other local clubs do the same on different dates, usually not too soon after one another so as not to put too much strain on public pockets.

This time we struggled. It would seem that people are feeling the financial pinch and definitely did not give as freely as in previous years.

The children love to give (Laguna Mall)

Adrie, Carlo, Frank and Stefanie at IPIC

We had agreed that we would be on site from 09h00 until 13h00 but some packed up earlier because it just wasn't working out.

Sampie, Floors and Elsje at Weskus Mall

Gerrie (photographer) left

I joined the small group out at Saint Helena Bay in front of the Spar where we had some success but still nowhere near as good as previous years,

This old replica attracted attention for us

Myself, Anton, Gerda, friend and Hein

We stayed on site until around 13h00 and then called it a day, I still count the morning as a success because the food that we gathered was still going to feed a lot of people and it was all food that we didn't have yesterday.

This was just from the Spar, this added to what was collected from the others would be handed over to the local Round Table chapter for distribution, well done to all who gave their time and to those non members who helped out, thank you very much.

Definitely the best part of the day was when most of the team got together afterwards at Juffroeshoogte for a couple of well-deserved refreshments and some banter.

Floors and Vice Pres Willie

Sampie

Me and Gerrie

Bronwyn and Rene came from Capetown to support

It was a pleasant day all in all, a little disappointing as far as the donations were concerned, but what can you do? Even bikers cannot force the public to donate.

Sunday was the date for our regular club breakfast run and rain was forecast, I posted the details on the "whatsapp" group and then headed out to our normal meeting place on a chilly and overcast Sunday morning, 16 Celsius as I parked in the space in front of Juffroeshoogte. Hein's Triumph and Willie's BMW were already there.

That was to be it, our youngest member Elsje was traveling with her friend in a bakkie to carry the stuff we were taking along to the "Cool Kidz" safe home, kickstands up at 09h00 and we rolled out along the R27 to Veddrif and I could see the dark grey, heavy clouds hanging over our destination.

The traditional "tea break" stop

Hein and Elsje

More tea anyone?

It was a cold run through to Lambert's Bay and we got a few drops of rain but the indications were that it would only get worse.

The sky's still blue but just you wait!

Fried Hottentot and chips

We were seated in the small "Marylin and Elvis" room on our own, not sure if they wanted to separate the bikers from the civilians but it was pleasant and my food was excellent again.  From there we visited our friends at Cool Kidz and stayed for a bit of a chat but we could see the weather closing in, time to get going.
It was a seriously cold and wet ride home, the rain pelted down and the temperature hovered around the 13 degree mark, we plowed on through the tempest and still I found myself smiling into my helmet, it's great on a motorbike and these are the things that memories are made of.
I said goodbye to my mates and stopped at the "Wielhuis" bar in Velddrif for a warming glass of Old Brown Sherry before the last homeward stretch. I was chilled to the bone by the time I got home but it didn't take long before I was comfortable again.

 This is the fruits of our labour, still an impressive amount of food, much of which was bought by the members and our friends, it will still bring comfort.

An unofficial handover to Eugene, President of the Round Table Chapter, there will be an official handover later when members will get together for a breakfast. Well done to all who were involved.