Auckland Rescue Helicopter Ride

**meteor** · 26th February 2012, 19:53

Travelling out for a trail ride this morning I headed south at the Highbrook on ramp and saw a the biggest group ride ever! There were bikes solid in lane 3 as far as I could see. I finally got to the end of the group as I was going under the Manukau off overpass. Holy cow, that's bloody impressive, never seen anything like it. For those that don't know Highbrook to Manukau is about 6 km ish, and I was going the opposite way at 100kph. Wonder how many riders there were? hundreds...

**iYRe** · 26th February 2012, 20:31

no idea.. but I was in the middle somewhere, right behind hellokitty :P

**psykonosis** · 26th February 2012, 20:47

Pity that you weren't there to join us! It was an excellent turn out today

**hellokitty** · 27th February 2012, 11:37

Originally Posted by iYRe

no idea.. but I was in the middle somewhere, right behind hellokitty :P

Yeah I am hard to miss!

**Murray** · 27th February 2012, 11:56

Yeah I saw you and you were not WAVING. How rude

**hellokitty** · 27th February 2012, 12:39

Originally Posted by Murray

Yeah I saw you and you were not WAVING. How rude

OMG how rude! Burn him!!!!!!!!

or are you talking about me?

if so whoops

**TrentNz** · 27th February 2012, 13:32

Jeez most ive ever seen was 20-30 riders
must of been a helluva sight

**meteor** · 27th February 2012, 13:46

Originally Posted by TrentNz

must of been a helluva sight

Absolutely was (despite the lack of waving and yellow invincibility vests) was bloody awesome and if I hadn't promised the sons a day at Thundercross I'd have been there. Really suprised it wasn't on the news... probably coz it was a good news story about bikers, the filthy unwashed heathens, no one wants to hear that!

**iYRe** · 27th February 2012, 16:44

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Yeah I am hard to miss!

hard enough.. I was following behind so I had plenty of time to figure out who it was :P

**Sis** · 27th February 2012, 21:35

Originally Posted by meteor

Wonder how many riders there were? hundreds...

Over 500 bikes

The most for the Helicopter Ride has been 1500, when it was thought that we would be forced to stop doing it anymore.

Now there are so many other bike events on that 500 is a good number.

Always looking for ways to increase numbers without distracting from the purpose of the ride.

**Sis** · 27th February 2012, 21:38

Originally Posted by meteor

Absolutely was (despite the lack of waving and yellow invincibility vests) was bloody awesome and if I hadn't promised the sons a day at Thundercross I'd have been there. Really suprised it wasn't on the news... probably coz it was a good news story about bikers, the filthy unwashed heathens, no one wants to hear that!

We are always trying to get TV coverage.
And I think you are right- not interested when it is good news.

There were a few people on the overbridges but did any of the cagers really know that we were supporting the Helicopter that everyone uses

**hellokitty** · 29th February 2012, 08:01

I wonder how much money was raised?
I thought ordering the badges was a good idea, as apparently in previous years, there have been badges left over and money lost that way. So pre-paying makes more sense.

**iYRe** · 29th February 2012, 08:26

Originally Posted by hellokitty

I wonder how much money was raised?
I thought ordering the badges was a good idea, as apparently in previous years, there have been badges left over and money lost that way. So pre-paying makes more sense.

yeah.. also the westpac helicopter caps.. wickedly good.. I have a bunch of caps from various places (working in IT, alot of our vendors give us things like that), but the westpac ones.. really good.

**Old Steve** · 29th February 2012, 19:19

Originally Posted by hellokitty

I wonder how much money was raised?
I thought ordering the badges was a good idea, as apparently in previous years, there have been badges left over and money lost that way. So pre-paying makes more sense.

On charity rides I don't take a badge, its an extra cost so it doesnt go to the charity. I just make my donation, take whatever raffle ticket is going, and ride.

Badges cost the organisers about $5 or more, so more than half of the donations dont go to the charity but to the badge manufacturer.

BOYCOTT CHARITY RIDE BADGES!