The forecast for the day had been steadily improving as we got closer and closer. That morning, the sky dawned clear, and the well-dressed men on the news were now calling for temps of 80 degrees. Sweet, gonna be a great day to ride!
We had 5 bikes/6 attendees making the trip up this morning; Greg, Zig, Matty, and Billy & Mary (plus me makes 6). We rolled out of the driveway @ 9:45 sharp, giving us plenty of time to make the 50 minute trip to the rally point. Ok, so an hour SHOULD have been plenty of time, but as it turns out, taking the scenic route caused us to catch every red light on the face of the planet. So instead of arriving with plenty of time to spare, we arrived just as they were doing announcements and gearing up to kick things off.
There was a great turnout of bikes already lined up and ready, so we added ours to the rear and made our way to through the throngs of other participants, paused to say the National Anthem, then registered, and then hopped back on the bikes and headed out. We passed another large run that was going in the opposite direction - tons of bikes passing each other, each run in support of some great cause. I’ve never done that before, and there were lots of smiles and cheers – really a very cool spectacle, as the folks in their yards along the stretch where we were passing each other, were amazed at the sight unfolding in front of their eyes.
Oh yeah, just before we left on the run, there was an announcement that there would be no stops this year (IE: the usual 140 Pub Rendezvous). Bummer!! This didn’t seem to sit well with many of the other riders, either, because we kept losing chunks of the group each time we passed a watering hole. By the time we got back to the starting point (Kas Bar), I’d say we’d lost 2/3 of the starting numbers.
That’s a lot of folks to lose, but there were still plenty of others who did make it back…and who were standing in front of us when it came time to get in the food line!
But we had to do what we had to do, and getting a good base in our stomachs before we hit the beerverages, was key. Once the grub was devoured, it was time to kick back a bit. We hung out in the warm sunshine, some of us with our backs to the building. This proved to be an unfortunate decision for Matty, as there was some sort of water drainage pipe over his head which came to life at one point, catching him unaware, and offering some entertainment to the folks standing around.
There were lots of bikes there, but only a few that caught my eye. This one had an amazing paint job, and as I stepped in to snap a pic, the owner directed me to the other side, where there was an eagle’s head worked into the flames. Very cool!
This bike had rotating machine gun barrels in the back of his tailpipes. I’ve never seen these before but apparently they’ve been around for a while.
Lastly, I really liked this rigid bobber. Definitely a sweet ride.
Matty, Zig and I peeled off in Wrentham while Greg, Billy and Mary continued on (heading to their respective homes). Our destination was the Wrentham Legion, and pulling into that driveway, we saw a handful of cars parked there. Unfortunately, the owners of those vehicles must have been somewhere else, for the Post itself, was locked up and closed down.
Zig took advantage of this short break in the action to do some inspection on his bike; see the splines on his front shifter level have apparently become slightly tweaked, and the lever was dropping on its own, making shifting a bit interesting.
He’s got some work ahead of him (maybe even pulling the rear primary cover) before that issue gets resolved, but for now, he bolted things back up and we were off. Our destination this time?
That’s right; the Red Rooster. We popped in and enjoyed the atmosphere for a few more, then it was time to break for the evening’s plans. Mike was in town! He was up for Mother’s Day, so we all met at Wendell’s for eats (I shot home and grabbed Cindy, first), then we all headed across the way to the Sportsway Café to check out a band and play some pool. It was a great end to a great day…
…although, it wasn’t quite the end of the day. There was one more item of interest worth chatting about. Because it’s not often that you’re on the way home when your passenger suddenly yells into your year: “YOUR BIKE IS ON FIRE!!!”.......
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