Hello All,

Well, just like you I looked outta my window on Sunday morning and was greeted by grey skies. Just like you I also wanted to carry on lying in, but I had promised the missus to take her for a ride to try out her new helmet.  I got up and put on my kit.

Yes I know this is old news already, but sometimes I have to work as well. The nice thing about owning an eLTee is that you can mix business with pleasure – especially in the winter. I use the grand “old lady” every day to visit customers! And I’ve ridden it a lot this week with no time to do reports!

Well, as you know, we all went down the South Coast on Sunday to ride through Oribi Gorge and have breakfast at Leopard Rock. What a great turnout, especially after we joined up with the Durban contingent at the Umgababa Shell Ultra City. At least 30 bikes joined in for the days ride which was really heartening - ‘cos it’s a long ride!

Sunday 1^st August started with a beautiful morning not a cloud in the sky as is usual for this time of year.

 When I arrived at The Hog at 7-30am  there were  two early birds to greet me. As it grew closer to eight o’clock the gathering had swollen to +/- 50. I say +/- as when you are counting that many people who keep moving around it’s hard to get an accurate figure!

The weather was perfect and after our advertising campaign (one emailed flier on Friday), the turnout at the whole hog on Sunday morning was more than heartening. Some thirty bikes and riders gathered for the long ride to Muden via Greytown in the crisp “coolth” of the winter morning.  We all left around 8:20am after waiting for Trevor – who didn’t pitch. (It was later established that he was yachting)! Anyway, the ride was just a bit longer than anticipated – especially for Lance. Apparently he went to fill up along the way and then got lost! Breakfast Ride Rule number 2 states that “the rider who comes on a breakfast ride must arrive at the Whole Hog with a full tank of fuel”. Refuelling along the way has lead to many people getting lost, many people waiting for other people and the normal wailing and gnashing of teeth! Lance missed a damn fine breakfast!

Sometimes one forgets where you’ve been on a Free Ride Sunday, and have to be reminded to post something about the trip. (Thanks Sid) Well, a few weeks ago, we all set off for Lords of the Manor just outside Mooi River. This was the second time the “free riders” had visited this venue. It’s now become a bit of a well-kept-secret inasmuch as we haven’t been there on a club ride. But this will soon change because after having been there twice, the folks at this venue are really special. They go to great lengths to seat everyone at the same table, and their breakfast is outstanding!

It's that time of year when riding your bike is just fantastic. You've just got to get out there and enjoy it! On Sunday with 18 members making the effort to get out of bed, we took a leisurely ride up the hill to St Ives. Haven't been here for a while. We were welcomed by Chris who had set up a table for us on the deck. Great breakfast, after which 3 of us went on a long off-road ride eventually ending up at the Oaks.

With the Comrades Marathon slicing our normal ride routes in two, we decided to avoid all the hassles and go north for a change. I know that there are a lot of members who hate “riding the coast”, but this ride was special. It was decided that we all needed to become familiar (I like that term) with our new airport at La Mercy. That’s a misnomer in itself, as the new airport is closer to Tongaat than La Mercy.

Just thinking about yesterday's ride gives me goosebumps! There I was on my brand new GeeEss (rides-like-a-dream) just officially run in and time to give it a real blast. All that I can say is that I owe the traffic police some jail time!

We had an exceptional turnout yesterday, bolstered in no mean way by the customers brought along by Ryder Motorrad. Twenty bikes in all and a lot of potential members, we discussed the route and re-groups and made our way to the Pickle Pot.  The ride there was pretty much sedentary. We all arrived at PP to find that it was closed!! Whilst I was looking like a bit of a twat for my organisational skills, along came Tyrone with his staff who soon had things fired up and under way. All that I remember about breakfast is the huge ommelette that Chris Andrews got. (I think he's still there trying to finish it) Very nice once again breakfasting in the Pickle Pot garden.

What a weekend for the club! It all started on Saturday morning when we arrived at Ryder Motorrad to set up for the long awaited Book Tour. Bikes were parked in rows whilst others continued to stream in. Club flags and tents were erected and soon we had things organised to get underway at exactly 8:30am as advertised. Two man teams were handed their route plan and we soon had everyone away in two minute intervals. This allowed the organisers to get the fires going and the supplies purchased.

The last to leave and the first to arrive back was Roger Kane Berman. He won the first prize of a brand new GeeEss Adventure kindly donated by Ryder Motorrad. He immediately put it back into stock! Thereafter everyone started arriving back with everyone raving about the route - except for the KTM boys who got lost!! Instead of riding according to the route and riding the 75,6 kays, they thought that because they rode orange bikes that the route was over the combined total of all the mileages (Which is over 850 kays and had to be completed in 3 hours - Not even possible on a new RR)! Anyway, everyone had great fun and couldn't stop talking about it.  Let's hope that someone writes a story about their ride and posts some pictures.