Tales From The Riverbank - August 2019

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www.thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

August 2019

Ed Quarters Writing this on a Saturday morning, I cannot believe that technically speaking we are most of the way through the summer and there is a forecast for good weather to come, barring the windy weekend that we are seeing now! Many of our club members have been to Europe braving 40 deg temperatures, and in UK too we had the hottest summer with temperatures recorded at 37.8oC. Is it global warming or is it a change in the climate pattern? As riders it is great for us to have warm temperatures to enjoy our rides, but at the same time we must be conscious of the damage to our environment and must contribute in any possible way to prevent nature so that we can continue to enjoy riding!

We have an amazing collection of articles in this issue from pillion rider Laura on her experience to Mac’s article on National Rally, as he is normally photographing us! Gill & Paul share with us their Cascais experience, while Mike J tells us about Fenlanders Rally & Lad’s weekend.

I have also shared my story of bikes from India to UK. All stories and photos from other events clearly show how much we enjoy our club events as well as our Harley’s!

We are bringing to all our readership a means of advertising their services through our magazine – as part of this initiative club members can advertise their products/services or anything in our magazine at Quarter page ads @ £60 for six entries throughout the year or £15 for one month.

I hope that many of you will able to make use of this to help your personal business grow, while supporting the magazine! : s to ion rg.uk s s i o bm og. .uk r su alleyh gmag u o v o y nd ames w.tvh Se th t ww @ a tor ed i pl oa d u r O

There are still a lot of rides and events planned, so keep enjoying them and ride safe!

Mohit

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Inside this issue Front cover - Ride

Look out for our Facebook and instagram tweets

Page 2 Ed Quarters Page 4-7 Westie Writes Page 8-10 TVHOG Birthday Page 11-12 Sunshine, Lollipops & Rideouts Page 12-13 National Road Rally Page 14-15 Reading HD Bike Night Page 16 TV Times Page 17 The Committee

Huge thanks to all who have sent copy in for this month's magazine:

Page 18-19 Softail Scribblings Page 19-21 Ride outs

Nick W, Mike J, Laura, Mac, Linda, John, Gill & Paul Major Your contributions are appreciated.

Page 22-23 Long Way Round Page 24-26 Rock & Ride - European Rally

Youtube Channel We have launched a new Youtube channel - thanks to Robin or setting it up!

Page 28-29 Biker's Corner Page 30-31 Fenlander's Rally Back cover-West Wittering

There are a few videos uploaded there andI would like members to please check them out and provide us with feedback on what they want to see, so that we can make it better !

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Hi All, I have been fielding a few questions about The Valley Rally in recent weeks, mostly asking if we will do another next year. I can confirm that we are working on plans for a 2020 rally. The rally has to meet some fairly strict financial targets in order to be viable but early confidence is high and we have reserved a date already.

Last month I wrote to let you know that I was getting ready to join the lads weekend in France. I am not sure i was as prepared as I should have been ‌ no details here but suffice to say it was epic. Some things you just can never erase from your memory and there are a few which still give me night sweats !

We also had a HUGE turnout for the Chapter 21st birthday ! Over 100 attendees through the night joined us for a natter and a barby !

Huge thanks to all those who made it such a great night, including Nick Ekendahl, Gary Watts and Karen Barr. Thanks to Jo and John Green for arranging the cake and to those who helped with putting up bunting and banners. A real team effort, the Thames Valley way !!

For the first time, The National Road Rally came to Reading ! The dealership hosted some 40+ riders throughout the day as a new control point for the event. Andy Tunley co-ordinated the reception and passport stamping and we have already made an approach to offer help again next year. If you think you may be interested in participating in 2020 you can get some info at https:// www.nationalroadrally.co.uk . At the moment their site is still geared 4

up for the 2019 rally, but you should be able to get a good understanding of the event from their website.

Thames Valley also had a really strong presence and showing at the Woodcote Rally this year. Some 20 bikes both days and lots of interested passers by. Thanks to Nij and Trish for forming the core of our presence, to Fred, Jamie, John and Jo Green for setting up further space for the larger number of people and to all of those who rode in to support the event. On the Sunday the Chapter rallied over a dozen bikes to display ride around the showground to the rapture and applause of hundreds of onlookers. It was a truly amazing sight !

Our 2nd Wet and Wild ride out was fun with only a few opting to dunk into the lake for inflatable fun and the Stratford Upon Avon run was an inspired ride led and tailed by Sue and Dave Brown. The ride met up with some riders living closer at Annies Tea room by the Oxford Canal.It was particularly nice to see Nick and Deb King who I personally had not seen for 3 or 4 years.

Our 5 Counties ride was well supported and the circular ride took us almost 250 miles with Lunch at the OK Diner near Leominster..

At last I finally got the chance to actually run the Summer Surprise Ride ! Last year was cancelled due to storms but this year was a different kettle of fish. Again attracting over 20 bikes and almost 30 people for the ride to the secret destination. West Wittering Beach ‌ and waiting there with a running BBQ was Jamie McLaughlin. The entire ride processioned into the beach parking area and rolled onto a reserved spot at the far end. We got some proper looks ‌ and rightly so, it was quite a display. Thames Valley Massive thanks to Jamie for giving up the chance to ride with us so that he could get there, set up and cook our lunch !!

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Well done to the Activities team and Sue Knight on yet another fun Summer Social and Poker Run, this time at the Flowing Spring in Playhatch !

By the time you are reading this we will have seen the Convergence Rally come and go, the Fleet Air Arm Museum ride out, another Summer Social/Poker run and yet another excursion to the Chilli & Cheese festival in Winchester - one of my personal favourites.

Coming up ‌.

Immediately after Clubnight, on thursday morning, the Chapter Ride out to Thunder In The Glens heads out for Aviemore and the single biggest rally in the UK. The ride is meeting at Oxford Services on the M40 near Wheatley and will be riding to Carlisle for an overnight stop before the final leg on Friday. I will be hosting a Chapter Welcome Party on Saturday Night for all chapter members at the Rally. It will be a drinks and nibbles reception between 6:30 and 8:30pm in one of the lodges on the MacDonald Resort site. This should give members a chance to catch up and still leave time for them to get to the various shows and entertainment available over the weekend.

There will be a ride back to the Thames Valley area on Bank Holiday Monday, with an overnight stop near Washington / Newcastle. If you are heading to Aviemore but can’t join the ride there, please come and join us for drinks and a chat on the Saturday Night.

If you are not going to Thunder, Reading Bike Night on Thursday 22nd August will be a great take. The usual mix of entertainment, friendly staff, proper grub with Simon and LOADS of bikes !

Over the coming month Chapter members are supporting local rides.

Some will be going to Faaker See. The Petrol Rideout on 7th 6

September, The American Diner Ride on the 8th, The Ladies Of Harley Sparkle Tour and yet another Summer Social and Poker Run. We have another Mystery Ride on 21st September and a ride to the Kop Hill Climb event in Princes Risborough on the 22nd. The following week we are running a Chapter ride to New Forests Blazin’ 50’s Rally at Hayling Island.

Into October, we have Ride to the Wall. If you have never done this, it’s worth a look ! Speak to Malcolm Poulter about arrangements if you want to stay overnight as the Cuttlebridge Inn (where most of the Chapter members stop) gets really busy during that weekend.

We are looking for support to start running monthly Saturday rideouts from Reading HD specifically aimed at people who have made purchases at the dealership. The aim is to give them a proper introduction to the Chapter and to encourage them to get out on their new ride. Roadcrew will lead and tail the ride (Last Saturday of every month) but we would also like to involve a mix of chapter members too. If you think you may be able to help please let us know. Number will be limited but we can put volunteers on a rota. We don’t want too many, but enough volunteers to make the ride viable to demonstrate 2nd man drop to newbies.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to say “Hi” to David Kennedy, RHD new Dealer Principal, please take a moment to introduce yourself to him. He is very supportive of the Chapter and would love to get to meet you all.

Keep the shiney side up !

Nick

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TVHOG 21st Birthday Celebration We celebrated our club's 21st birthday at this month's club night where we had a barbeque organised by Nick, Gary & Karen. We had 81 members for the evening.

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New Members signing up were Danny Martin, Sally Martin, Karl

Barrett, Susan Barrett & Steve Prior. Our new dealer Principal David was also present through the night.

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SUNSHINE, LOLLIPOPS AND RIDE OUTS Let’s skip back a few weekends as I took part in my first official HOG ride out at the Thames Valley Rally.

I’m sure you remember it well… the sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was a choice of ride outs organised by the chapter members. We decided to choose the shorter 50ish mile ride through the Chilterns as it was a scorcher of a day and we didn’t want to come back looking like roasted potatoes.

The ride out was organised by Elaine, Jo and Sue (repping the Ladies of Harley) and the experience was off to a good start with the offering round of a tray of lollipops. The reason: Lanie’s circular route looked a bit like a lollipop on the map; hence the theme was born.

Lanie went through the rider briefing in good time, going over her drop signals and making sure everyone knew which direction to go in as soon as we’d left the rally site so we didn’t lose anyone at turn one. Check.

DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT (which it was) Now I’m sure most of you seasoned HOG members know all about this. But the rider drops process was all Greek to me when we started. Fortunately, I’m just the passenger here and it all made sense to James who was actually doing the riding for us. Everyone takes their turns to stop at a junction and point the direction for the rest of the group to follow.

Sue and Jo marked the rear of the group in their fetching hi-vis jackets, again making sure no one got lost or left behind.

I think we had about 15 bikes on the ride in total, which actually made it quite interesting as we got to spend time both at the 11

front and the back of the ride out as everyone took turns doing drops.

The route took us through Beaconsfield, Bourne End, Marlow and lots of glorious Chiltern countryside and country lanes. Down one particular lane we ended up stuck behind a bus for a while which kind of comes with the territory. And there were a lot of cyclists out there‌ definitely didn’t envy them doing a race in that heat!

To sum up, it was an enjoyable looping ride through some lovely places, and with minimal faffing about. On arrival back at the rally we promptly went off in search of some shade and an ice cream. Job done.

Laura Jones

National Road Rally 2019 I set out at 10:45 to reach Reading Harley-Davidson for the National Road Rally 2019 by 12:00. Andy and I manned the checkpoint then Hayley and others during the day. It was a great day for it with temperatures reaching 21c. I started at 12:00 finishing at 16:00. Andy come in early to set-up and carried on till 22:00.

I read the instruction pack and found it quite daunting but I would ask for assistance if required. I decided to take my camera just in case there was an opportunity to capture the event in some way. We had a trickle all day of riders on all manner of bikes including a few Harleys. Thanks to Andy we had a good supply biscuits. My task for the day was to deplete the supply of ginger snaps and stamp a few riders though our check-point. During my stint we had over 30 riders and 40 plus in total. Quite a few made Basingstoke their next stop.

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The routes looked most imposing. More like my Yule Tree lights when getting them out the box. You could start anywhere and stop anywhere gaining points at each stop and you know what that means “POINTS MEAN PRIZES� my prize was a prestigious a NRR19 wrist band and pin.

It is an annual event so if you have a few spare hours to assist next year your help would be very welcome.

MAC

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Reading HD Bike Night

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RIDE OUTS

SUMMER SOCIAL

Wednesday, 21 August Ride out to Club Night

August 14th September 11th October 9th

Thursday/Friday, 22 - 23 August Ride to Thunder in The Glens

CLUB NIGHTS

Monday/Tuesday, 26 - 27 August Ride Back from Thunder in The Glens

July 17th August 21st September 18th October 16th November 20th

Sunday, 1 September Borde Garden Saturday, 7 September White Waltham Members

MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTION DEADLINES

Saturday, 7 September Petrol heads ride Sunday, 8 September American Diner

Sep 5th Oct 3rd Nov 7th Dec 5th

Sunday, 15 September Ride to meet Sparkle Tour

Friday, 13 - Sunday, 15 September 2019 Sparkle Tour

Saturday, 21 September Mark's Mystery Ride Sunday, 22 September Cop Hill Climb Saturday/Sunday, 5 - 6 October Ride To The Wall Please check the website for the latest on all rides.

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2019 Officers & Committee https://www.facebook.com/ thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

PRIMARY OFFICERS

Nick West Director

Andy Tunley Lesley Lederer Secretary & Ass.Director Treasurer

John Green Assistant Director

COMMITTEE & SUPPORTING OFFICERS

Mohit Khanna Editor

Mike Connolly Membership

Robin Sasson Webmaster

David Kennedy Dealer Principal

Mike Connolly Safety Officer

Jamie McLaughlin Rally Manager

Gary Watts Activities

Nick Ekendahl Activities

Hayley West Social Media & Charities Officer

Linda Friend Photographer

Alex MacDonald Photographer

Payal Khanna Photographer

CLUB VENUE Burnham Cricket Club Memorial Ground, Taplow Common Road, Burnham, Slough, Berks, SL1 8LP Third Wednesday of every month 7:00pm

Email any committee member at (position held)@thamesvalleyhog.org.uk

Softail Scriblings Hi All, It’s been a month or so since my last scribble and a very busy time. On Sunday 23rd June Elaine and I ran a ride to Oxford Transport Museum, good weather, lots to see and an impromptu detour for ice cream to finish!

The weekend after was the event of the year – The VALLEY RALLY! We had fantastic weather and the bands were fantastic. If you didn’t go you really missed out, don’t make the same mistake next year and get your tickets early.

In July I unfortunately missed the Boy’s Weekend in France and went on a Tour1 trip to Normandy for a four-day tour of the D Day Landing sites. It was a fantastic weekend and increased my history knowledge considerably. Good weather and great company again The following weekend we were at the Woodcote Rally with a club stand, something the Chapter used to do years ago until interest waned. Everyone seemed to have a good time so we will aim to do this again next year.

The next weekend I did the ride to Wet n Wild on the Saturday followed by a great ride to Stratford upon Avon on the Sunday via some roads I’d not been down before – that’s always nice. I left the group for the ride home and diverted to Caffeine and Machine, which was on my coffee stop to try list for some time – great place and very busy on this particular afternoon.

The next Thursday saw Reading HD bike night, which was blessed with dry weather, good to catch up with people and have a cider with Mike Wilson at his leaving drink.

Sunday 28th I led Mike and Thelma’s 5 Counties Ride with Gary tailing as they could make it. No time to recce it other than online but 18

all went well – another fun and dry run with some great roads.

Last weekend I took the Sportster to Reading HD for a run as I felt guilty for leaving it parked up for 8 weeks, it has only done 600 miles from new in December which is pretty poor. The Fatboy, however, has done about 3,500 since the end of May and will need a 5,000 service after Thunder in the Glens. It’s easy to see which I prefer riding I guess.

We have lots more coming up with ride outs and rallies so let’s hope the weather stays dry at least for some time.

I hope to see you all out on a ride again soon - thanks for taking the time to read this.

Cheers

John Green Assistant Director

Five Counties Ride Led by John & Gary this ride went through some most beautiful scenic roads of the five counties.

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Wet & Wild Ride to Oxford Led by Hayley to a fun filled event where our director made a splash!

Ride to Stratford upon Avon Led by Dave & Sue Brown and enjoyed by many!

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Oxford Rally Great Rally, great food, great bands and great company, enough said...Linda F

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The BBC had Ewan McGregor …….. We’ve got “Ralph”

“The Long Way Round” Great ‘Lads Weekend’ away. Was looking forward a leisurely Sunday ‘2 Cuppas’ ride after another ‘early quiet’ night!!! After evening discussion, maps viewed, sat navs set, time for beer ready for the morning ride. Woke to rain which cleared & 20 bikes set off. Mike C & I at rear remembering last year that it was a nice gentle good ride, just what we needed… Started to think ‘This blatt’ doesn’t seem right?? + sat nav kept saying turn round? No it’s Ok Ralph’s planned it. Then saw sign saying ‘Le Touquet’ thought that’s yesterday’s ride?? Eventually we got onto a ‘D’ road and Mike & I had first chance to chat. He said Ralph’s sat navs must be playing up he’s going the wrong way. He blasted off past the ride to Ralph and we all pulled over. Seems Sat Nav was playing up and we had gone an hour the opposite direction. Decided to head back, pull in for coffee and re plan during 1st coffee break. This also was an interesting route as again the sat nav was having fun and games & we ended up 8 miles from our starting point in a very quiet town but least a coffee shop open….. Right ‘Albert’ WW1 War museum reset into Sat Nav …

Some of the guys decided to head back and have a chill out time back at base. We pressed on and had a great leisurely ride with good views & roads. Arrived Albert everywhere shutting but the owner of a Bar took pity on us and he & his staff stayed on and did us a ‘Croque Monsieur’ washed down with a needed pint.(ditched the coffee, in fact no choice owner assumed we ‘needed’ a beer ;-) ) ..

We then went to the underground museum which was very interesting showing you the Trench Life in WW1. Headed back nice ride sat nav suitably warned!!! To arrive back to a great ‘Welcoming’ Party set up by the guys, including drop off markers(showing different directions), signs showing Route to Ralphs room, maps, 22

empty beer bottles, etc, Well done guys ;-) … Despite this ‘Bitova’ “Long Way Round” mishap.(don’t always trust a sat nav) was a great weekend & Ralph had done Grand job on coastal route down with good views, stopping at Hardelot for lunch, & on Saturday the ride to Le Touquet for lunch.

Thanks to Ralph, Mike C, Malc for organising and as Kev said “To Unsung Heroes” Cheers Guys and here’s to next year ……….

Mike J

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“Rock & Ride” European H.O.G. Rally Cascais, Portugal 13th to 16th June 2019

After months of planning, weeks of excitement and days of packing the 3rd June came around.

This year it was not just my birthday, but time to set off on our adventures again! Our journey was from home in Bracknell to Cascais in Portugal via the Eurotunnel. As we are retired we were able to make the most of the journey itself and decided to take 8 days to travel the 1600 miles to Cascais, staying in hotels, located centrally in some of the amazing towns and cities we would pass.

Our first stop was in Rouen and as we had read about the incredible Cathedral and lovely architecture we decided to stay 2 nights and do a tour. It was well worth it! The drizzly weather that day didn’t spoil our walk around the city and the Cathedral. That evening we met up with Sue and Dave Knight for a drink and a nice meal, before leaving the next morning for Poitier.

On our 8 day journey we only had one spell of rain…. And this day was it! We rode approx 250 miles from Rouen to Poitier in torrential rain - it did not let up once!! I can’t really say much about the scenery along that route, because we didn’t see it! Anyway, Poitier was a very nice town and despite the drizzle that evening we met Sue and Dave again and wandered to a nice restaurant for dinner.

The next day we had sun - yay! So we set off on the next leg of our journey to Dax, close to the Pyrenees and the Spanish border. Dax is like the Eastbourne of France - people go there to “take treatments”, to relax and recuperate. It is quite a small town with interesting Roman Ruins as well as a number of Spas.

On Day 4 of our journey we rode across the western side of the 24

Pyrenees and across the Spanish border, heading for Lerma which is a small medieval town, complete with Duke’s Palace, cobbled streets and a huge town square. In Spain there is a chain of hotels, called The Paradore Hotels. So the Spanish government owns a number of historic buildings across the country (a bit like The National Trust) and sells the franchise to a Hotel Company - win:win! They restore and maintain these amazing old buildings and people get to stay in them. Our room in the Duke’s Palace in Lerma was HUGE with views from two sides across beautiful countryside and the hotel gardens.

Being fans of the Paradore Hotels we decided to stay in another at our next stop: Salamanca, home of the most amazing Cathedral and one of the oldest Universities in Europe.

The next day we crossed the border into Portugal. Anyone who has driven through Portugal will know about the electronic tolls, but the Portugese themselves seem to want to keep the system a secret!

Paul found out by chance on a hotel website that our route would be on motorways where these electronic tolls are used… but you can’t pay at or before the border. The first pay station is 10km inside Portugal - after you have passed through the number plate recognition cameras. After much research Paul found out that you could purchase the toll ticket online, but it is a complicated system and not user friendly! So, feeling pretty confident that we were covered we set off into Portugal. After a few kilometres we merged onto another motorway… with a manual toll system. As we rode round the bend to the toll plaza cars were swapping lanes and before we knew it we had passed through in a ‘Via Verde’ lane. This is for regulars who pay online and it meant we had not collected the ticket to pay at the other end. So we thought it best to come off at the next exit approx 10km on, which took us through the toll station. That toll booth attendant was NOT sympathetic and charged us 42 Euros!!

Ggrrrrr!!!! The redeeming feature of Portugal however is the glorious scenery - mountains and pretty valleys, filled with vineyards. We stayed in the only Paradore Hotel in Portugal - Casa da Insua, an old mansion house, set in lovely gardens and vineyards.

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Our last day’s ride was not too long and we arrived in good time in Cascais. This is such a great venue for the Rally with a harbour, beach and walled fort, loads of restaurants and bars and a spectacular coastline minutes away.

As we had arrived early with a couple of days to spare before the Rally started we took the opportunity with Sue and Dave to go sightseeing. A 45 minute train ride (for just 11 Euros return!!) took us into Lisbon where we took an open-top bus tour to see the City. It is a lovely city with a mix of old, elegant buildings, streets and squares and new modernistic buildings, with beautiful parks and tree-lined streets. We all loved the way many of the old buildings are covered in beautiful ceramic tiles (apparently an old form of fire-proofing) and the streets and squares are paved in mosaic blocks which often make the most amazing patterns.

We hopped off the bus at one point to visit a recommended bakery: Pastel de Nata. This name is given to the famous Portugese egg custard tart and oh my word it was worth the visit! Inside you could see the kitchens and Sue did a quick count. There were 760 tarts cooling on trays in front of us, but that was just a fraction of the 30,000 they sell EVERY day!!

One of the great things about arriving early for a big Rally like this is watching the town transform, as the Harley Crews get to work building the main stage, the many trader stands, food venues and bars, as well as decorating the place with banners, flags and bunting. Finally the Rally begins and people arrive from all over - from Russia, Turkey, Ireland, Germany, France... you name it! Not forgetting of course good ole England! We bumped into people from Oxford, Plymouth, Lakeside and many more places. We spent the next four days soaking up the atmosphere of the Rally, visiting the dealership and trader stands, seeing the new bikes, including the LiveWire, listening to the Bands and seeing the Parade Ride go past our Hotel and the amazing bikes in the Custom Bike Show. One of the many things that impressed us about this little town was the Volunteer Service. Each evening when we had finished at the Rally we walked to the site entrance where a team of 16 to 18 year olds from local schools waited to help visitors with directions, 26

information or help to phone and book taxis. They told us that this is part of an initiative where teenagers are given a list of volunteering opportunities and they can sign up for as much or as little as they like in areas where it can benefit them. The volunteers we spoke to had an interest in studying English (and were already impressively good, fluent and confident). All too soon the Rally was over, but we still had a day to explore the beautiful local coastline, including the most Westerly Point in Continental Europe.

Then it was time to head home via Santander and the ferry to Plymouth.

It was a great Rally with so much to see and so much to be excited about‌ not least the announcement that the 2020 European H.O.G. Rally is in Portoroz, Slovenia. Well it looks like we’re off to Slovenia then!!

Gill & Paul Major

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Biker's Corner Back in India, when I was growing up I was always fascinated with motorcycles and would jump upon as a pillion to anyone who had one in the family.

Motorcycles were not considered as safe means of transport, so when I went to University my dad first got me a moped and then a Scooter. I always wanted a motorcycle, so in 2006 when I got posted to Mumbai, the very first weekend after my arrival I got myself a Yamaha cruiser – Avenger.

The famous Royal Enfield’s are now made in India, and exported worldwide, and it is every child’s dream to own one with a deep base pipe sound. To some it is the closest they would come to a Harley in India and so I realised the dream and in 2008 got a Royal Enfield 350 Bullet from a colleague who was moving from India to Trinidad and then a new 2010 model Classic 500. We then moved to Jakarta in 2011 and so I had to part with my Enfield, and ended up getting a 1965 Vespa as a project , however due to move to Thailand and then to India had to leave behind the Vespa too to get a new 2013 Classic 500 Royal Enfield in Delhi. This is the bike I still have here as it was brought along with our belongings.

I then tried BMW RT1600 and RT1200 but somehow, donot ask me why, found them to be big. I had a go at Yamaha FJR in March 2017 and almost got it, but for the fact that I had to visit India. While in India I liked the Lind Group’s FB page and guess what Jason called me – I was in India, for a test ride!!! I returned end of April from India and with knowledge of various HD models tested a Road King and then a Streetglide. Both were great bikes and after long deliberations at home settled on the Streetglide (new 2017 FLHXS), in May 2017 as a birthday gift from my Dad and lovely wife! That’s where my story of Harley started.

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I went on my first ride with the TVHOG in September and then joined the club officially in April 2018 along with my wife!

I upgraded the bike a lot with sissy bar, luggage rack, back rest and a hummock seat before we got the bike for comfort of the pillion – Payal. I then added passenger footboards, rear panier protection bars, passing chrome lights and LED indicators, daymaker head lamp, heated grips, internal antennae, WHIM, complete Stage 1 with V&H Slash pipes, Screaming Eagle air filter and FP3 power commander, Live to Ride Derby, Timer and Tank Cover, Fairing pouch – vow have spent quiet a lot on accessorizing the bike! There are still a few more that I would want to add, but have now been told by the boss to stop and enjoy the bike!

Like every Harley owner, I love my bike and enjoy the riding comfort on it. Its denim grey shade is most enjoyable for me.

Both Payal and me have had great trips on it to Scotland via the east coast and return via Lake district in 2017; to Prague for the rally last year and to Hogstock this year. We plan to keep this bike for a while and do more long-distance riding along with the usual ride outs with TVHOG. I did use it through most of the winter last year to ride to work – Camberley to Woking and enjoyed the heated grips!

Mohit

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Fenlander's Rally 2019 Alan Moss had been saying for years ‘you must get to Fenlanders Rally” Finally sorted time out & booked into the stable block. Sod it closed the business early & Mike C and I set off on the hottest day of the year to end up filtering on M25 before finally M11, (missed meeting guys at Newmarket dealership) A11, A1065 to Fakenham Racecourse. First job, unload the Keg of beer bought with & pour a deserved/needed pint each. Stables cleaned, carpeted, table, chairs, cups, jar of biscuits, air beds and bedding provided very cosy. Some had arrived others coming later so headed off to see the bands. Mike was set on dancing all night and some other ‘Air Guitarists’ not that he remembered next morning !!!

Ride Out to Hunstanton on Friday. Good weather and a nice ride with roads blocked by Marshals making an easy flow. Some of our group decided to go to the new Newmarket dealership but I wasn’t up for an extra 80 ml ride. So returned with the ride to a chill out afternoon chatting with Ni & Lesley. Others returned, evening started again with good bands & later we all sat and chatted at the stables into the wee hours.

Saturday the big Ride Out to Sheringham & weather not looking good ;-( approx 200 bikes. This is a great ride to be part of & I didn’t expect. Going through different Coastal villages with people waving flags and us on despite the odd drizzle but lucky rain held off. Ride goes through “Holkham Hall” Estate chance to view the line of bikes is pretty impressive to see & be part of. (not sure in the streets cars turning left or right on route would agree). Then to an amazing greeting in Sheringham & customary Ice Cream. Back for last night again good bands but personally the young band on last in the bar on the first night enjoyed most. Jamie,Mike & I rode back Sunday with a group stop off brekkers at Browns in Mundford. Caught up with 30

Hayley and Alan when filtering in torrential rain on A11, then we all rode back into sunshine on A1, a very mixed weekend of weather from ‘Heatwave to Cool to Drenched to Dry’. In our late night chats we talked of adding Rally to Chapter Calender to make group TV event, well worth it.

Thanks to all for a great weekend.

Mike J

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West Wittering - Summer Surprise Ride 2019