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JAYNE WITH A WHY |
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January 2006 . : On My Perch at Night, I'm Reading A Book On My Kindle: .
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Friday, May 07, 2010SUN, SAND, SEA & A WHOLE HEAP OF HARLEYSWe arrived in Margate absolutely knackered! The 1010km trip took 12hrs, thanks to the bastard roadworks on the highways outside Pretoria & Joburg. (I'll be so glad when this fuckin' Soccer World Cup is over & bloody done with! All the upgrading of existing roads is a bloody nightmare.) We started passing bikes shortly after we hit the N3 (Durban highway) & the closer we got to the coast, the more bikes there were. After unhitching T2 at the spot where we'd booked in, we set off in search of food. Not long after that, we hit the perch & it was a case of sinking into a welcome coma for the next 8hrs! The following day - Friday - we rode into town to suss out what was happening in 'Harley Street'. Oh my gawd, what a pleasure! The powers-that-be closed off the main street which ran the length of the beachfront & it became Harley Heaven! There were bikes, dealer showrooms & tents, local tourist traders & more bikes. Despite this being a HOG rally, all makes of bike were welcome to attend. (I gotta admit though, that the sight of someone wearing Hells Angels South Africa colours, riding a rice rocket, literally made me cringe.)  Harley Street (aka Marine Parade) - the street where everyone sussed out everyone elses bike!  The gathering of bikes at the Shelly Centre on Sunday morning, in preparation for the mass ride.   The above 2 photos were of the mass ride - from Shelly Beach to Margate. Despite the departures being staggered, the later departures made up the rear of a solid 9km 'train' of bikes. Bloody awesome!  Harley Street in full swing - heaps of peeps & heaps of bikes.  Preparing to leave the Shelly Centre.  Hubs & I took a ride out to Oribi Gorge, less than 40km away. The scenery was stunning. What made it nicer was we took our hemets off in the gorge - what a pleasure to hear the birds & critter, plus the dulcet tones of T2 :-)    The above 3 photos were all taken from the spot where we stayed. It was so peaceful - even with the roar of hundreds of bikes passing by at regular intervals - & the outlook was really beautiful.  Nice paint jobby - gets the message across quite eloquently dontcha think?  A vintage BMW with sidecar - I like the mounted machine gun.........I bet no one even thinks of road-rage when they see that........hehehe  There were several trikes at the rally & as much as I like them, I didn't come across a single one that retained any of the original bike power. I liked the paint jobby on this one though.  T2, parked up by the front door of our chalet. Any closer & I could've sat on her to watch TV at night! Thumbs up to the management of Villa del Sol, who accommodated the bikes & bikers with great service.  New screen on T2...............I'm not exactly a 'skull theme' type of dumb blonde, but I gotta admit I really liked this screen when I first saw it, so Hubs got for T2  I got me some new ink done whilst I was in town. There were at least 3 tattooists in Margate, but I waited until the town had quietend down before making an appointment. I took a good book with me & only said "oww" once. Less than 45mins later & I was all done - what a pleasure! (The new ink is a medical warning that I take a blood thinner & tend to bleed profusely when cut) Overall, there was only one thing that truly pissed on my battery during the rally & that was seeing a lovely blue TriGlide (the HD trike) on proud display in the Harley Davidson main showroom. I could've wept honestly, as (for the 1 or 2 regular readers of my drivel will know) I've wanted one for months & months. The dealership we dealt with when we first came back to SA told us a heap of bollocks & we ended up buying T2, an Ultra Classic Limited. Don't get me wrong, T2 is a fabulous bike & we're very happy with her, but the TriGlide was always my dream. Fuck em, I'll wait & see what the 2011 bikes are like, cos I'm not prepared to wait several more months to get a TriGlide in the colour I want, plus lose a shitload of dosh on a trade in. The residents of Margate & surrounding towns deserve a huge 'Thank You' for being such gracious hosts to some 8,000 bikes & more than 20,000 visitors. They lined the roads & waved to everyone on the mass ride out on Sunday & I never heard a single complaint from anyone. I also never saw a single person who was ratarse (in public) or who caused any form of (annoying) disturbance. That to me, is a major compliment to everyone who attended. Hubs got to finish his dissertation - YAY! - so we have to wait now until sometime in June for the results. I helped him as much as I could, but that was mostly by making sure he was kept well fed & watered. Mind you, what I know about Economic Duress (the subject of his thesis) nowadays is quite inspiring! Next on the agenda: deciding where to bugger off to in July, cos I sure as hell don't want to be here for the fiasco of the Soccer World Cup! Labels: 2nd All Africa HOG Rally, Harley Davidson, Margate KZN, Oribi Gorg, Villa del Sol  
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