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29 January 2012 - Manawatu's Nostalia Ride

Hiram organised this month's ride and suitably named it a "Nostalgia Ride". Brekky and a brief meeting were held at Sparky's. We were joined by a a couple of bikes from Wanganui and set of for Otaki where we met up with some of the Wellington contingent and off to Te Horo to Lenny's where we saw his collection of old Triumphs and socialised for a while before heading to Spannar's in Shannon to have lunch and check out his collection of bikes and memorablia. Spannar had refreshments at the bar and was generous in contributing towards food and the koha that was collected to help Philippa get some new boots ready for her race at Pukekohe next weekend.

There would have been about 20 or more bikes on the run and it was a very enjoyable day out, thanks to all those who made the effort to be there, and well done Hiram for organising a successful day out.

15 January 2012 - My Ride (written by Les)

Yep, it was all arranged, I would leave Friday night for Tauranga to see my son and his two boys, and return Sunday. The weather wasn't looking too good so Sally suggested the car, but then Sally couldn't come so I took the bike! :))

A summer ride with the possibility of the odd shower.. no sweat! So I packed a t-shirt or two and a change of undies and socks and my Rhino pants and toiletries and off I went! The roar of my Thunderbird bringing a smile to my face as I headed out of town minus my pillion speed restrictor. It was a great ride. It didn't start raining til I got just north of Bulls and yeah, it stopped just before Rotorua. Good thing I packed my oilskin! The Desert Road was windy as, with lots of strong wind gusts and the rain so heavy I had to adjust my shocks! I finally got to my son's place in Tauranga around 9pm and had pretty much sorta dried out by then. He was due home about 10 and I figured a nice cup of coffee would put some warmth back in the bod... did I mention the cold? It was like crossing the Desert Road in the middle of winter!! Anyway, I searched the pantry for coffee without much success, til I spotted the box that said Nescafe Cupac.. Cuppuccino.. yeah, that would do. I reached the box down and pulled out a sachet.. this is new. I carefully read the instructions... "Empty the sachet into your favourite cup..." Damn!!

It was an enjoyable weekend with my son and his two boys and a real bonus that my daughter turned up as well. I said my goodbyes on Sunday morning and headed towards home. The weather was a lot kinder on the way home and the ride a lot more enjoyable, a good trip. The fuel economy was pretty good. I filled up the tank at Sanson on the way north, then again at Rotorua where I took the time to catch up with Baz, a new member there. Nice guy! On the way back I filled bike and belly up at Turangi and that got me home with some to spare. Looks like a new tire before the rally tho.. always something to spend money on eh?

1 January 2012

Wellington Chapter had their first official get together. Original plans to do an overnighter were canned due to weather conditions, so we opted to meet at Steve's for bbq and beer instead. With many giving apologies due to family gatherings and other plans, it was a small turnout of six members and some partners, and a guest who has promised to join. The bbq was great as was the company, well done Steve! We went for a quick spin down Ngauranga Gorge, up the Hutt Motorway, over the Haywards and back to Johnsonville via some back roads led by Simon. That Silver Jubilee certainly gets along!

All in all a great day out and a few more of the world's problems sorted out! Monthly get togethers and rides will be on the first Sunday of each month, the next one being to our first annual rally in Pukekohe the first weekend in Feb. Watch the Events page for further info.

Simon struck it up with one of the young ladies there.

18 December 2011

This day saw the first meeting of our Manawatu chapter take place at Sparky's Restaurant and Bar in Himatangi. It was a good turnout and the chapter was formerly set up under Ed's (Manawatu President) guidance. Andy has taken on the role of Treasurer and Lee took on the Secretary's role, thanks to both. Our monthly meetings and rides will take place from Sparky's on the last Sunday of each month. After the meeting Ed led the ride to Mangatainoka, Bulls etc before disbanding. All in all a great day out, supported by some of the Wanganui guys and a good feeling about a vibrant chapter formed.

5 December 2011

It was a good turnout to a special meeting at the Rat Hole in Bulls to establish our 3rd chapter in Manawatu. Ed Winiana is the new President of the Manawatu Chapter and I'm sure he will do well as he is an enthusiastic Triumph man and has the skills and motivation to see the chapter become very successful.

It was also interesting to see the numbers that turned out from the Kapiti Coast, and we expect that there will be a chapter formed there in the near future.

Congratulations to Corban, our 60th member. Another milestone reached in what has been a rapid growth of the club. Welcome also to Phillipa and Jim who just joined us today taking our membership to 62.

The day was finished with a tour through Palmerston North before heading home after a very successful day.

26 November 2011: Meeting at Manfeild Classic Races

It was a good turnout at Manfeild with bikes members coming from Wellington, Wanganui, Wairarapa, Manawatu and Horowhenua. Our newest member Andy even arrived from Feilding, complete with patch which had just been posted to him two days prior.

It was a good day with good weather and some really cool old bikes hooning around the circuit. The old Triumphs were well represented on the track. We left Manfeild and most of the club headed to the Rat Hole in Bulls for refreshments. It was good to see a 2002 Daytona already there and he looked with interest as all the club Triumphs rolled in. Another new member signed up at the Rat Hole, welcome to the club Craig!

Time to leave and we all set off in various directions. A good ride home before the weather turned wet, although I did hear that the Welly guys copped a bit of the wet stuff before they got home.

22 October 2011: Wanganui Chapter's Inaugural Dice Run  

On the 22nd October we held our first annual Dice Run. It was a well organised event and I have to take my hat off to the organisers. Well done guys and girls! With 63 people registered for the event with 53 bikes it was a good start to a wet Wanganui morning. The atmosphere was great and the opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new members was appreciated.

Ralph led the bikes out from Caltex Wanganui at 10am and it was an enjoyable ride over to Halcolme were we stopped for refreshments and the first role of the dice. Then it was on to Rongotea led by Terry for another role of the dice, snacks and refreshments. Les led the third stage of the ride from Rongotea to Sparky's at Himatangi where there was a third throw of the dice and another opportunity to spin a few yarns and admire the bikes on the run.

We left Himatangi led by Rat, on the way to Turakina. It was a sedate ride and we found ourselves sitting behind a row of cars that were stuck behind a large caravan. The lead bikes pulled out to pass the line of cars and caravan and the next thing we saw was black smoke coming off the tires of the bikes as the caravan turned down a side road on the right without any indication or warning. We watched in horror as one bike slid into and became attached to the side of the caravan and another bike slid sideways across the road. Three cars following the offending caravan were engaged in a nose to tail and the whole scene was one of chaos. Fortunately no-one was seriously injured and only one bike had to be loaded onto the support trailer, although both bikes suffered a reasonable amount of damage. The majority of bikes on the run went on to Turakina and waited for the rest of the guys to join us.

The police were called to the scene, but the guy with the caravan shot through and the police had to give chase. It seems that the caravan had just been purchased from Wellington and had no registration or WoF and. We have yet to hear the outcome of the accident from the police, but we are thankful that things weren't any worse than they were.

The bbq was fired up at the Railway Hotel in Turakina and a fantastic feed of venison, chops and sausages was enjoyed by all. Prizegiving was a great time with Simon Hendricks from Wellington taking out the grand prize of $500 with the best dice score. I think he pretty well knew he had it in the bag when he threw four sixes in the last throw. He was quick to point out that he won the top prize in the inaugural annual dice run and no-one could take that from him. He also scored another prize, best Meriden, with his Silver Jubilee Bonneville.  Second prize of $200 went to Donna Jones and well deserved it was as Donna had gone to the wrong start point but persevered by riding around the central North Island until finally catching us at Sparkys  where the organisers who were impressed with her  effort to be involved encouraged her to register thereby allowing her to have four rolls at that point. Third prize of $100 went to Phil Williams.

As well as the major prizes there were also vouchers to be won by participants with the voucher for the  best Hinckley going to Spike, Furthest travelled going to Ian Barnes , Napier, oldest bike to the rider of  the  72 Trident and as mentioned, best Meriden went to Simon  Hendricks. The major voucher went to the hard luck prize which was won by Matty Britton.

Unfortunately, no prize was available for the lowest number thrown at any given stop otherwise Bernie would’ve taken that one with a throw of 5 with 4 dice!
There was also a draw for a free membership sub from amongst riders who signed up on the day with the winner of that one being Todd Carter.

Spot prizes were handed out and a spinning jenny was in operation at Rongotea and Turakina, which proved to be popular. There were also dice run badge orders being taken (no 1). The badge design is a credit to the designer (Rat) and those that ordered will have something special to commemorate this inaugural event.

All in all it was a great day out in spite of the accident. It would have to be the best event I have been on and the feedback from the guys I spoke to was really positive also. From Turakina it was off to the club rooms for those that wanted to and off to the four winds for the rest.

See you all at the next Triumph Riders Dice Run.

Congrats TRMCC Wanganui on a great day out!!