2009 Vincent Rally (6-7 Feb 2009)

**sels1** · 8th February 2009, 21:11

Live from a backpackers in Hamner Springs......
We had a great time at the rally, catching up with the usual suspects and meeting a few new ones. Had a good ride down the pig route with Bent51 and Gareth51after leaving Oldrider at the brunch stop in Ranfuly. Uneventful journey after that...bloody hot up thru Canterbury - we had to stop for refreshments at the Chequered Flag!
Had a good soak in the Hot pools (ahhh...) and heading for the ferry via the inland route in the morning. Gareth will put some pics up when he gets home. (Be afraid...very afraid)lol

**Kemet** · 8th February 2009, 21:12

Originally Posted by xknuts

We turned back between Kyeburn and Hyde! Just too windy and I suspected that Lee Stream & Rocklands on the high side of Middlemarch would be extremely dangerous. Piccy's of Clyde dam follow.

It was Farkin dicey when I went through there on the way up on Friday. Almost turned around but found going slower made riding it out harder so didn't want to try and stop just so I could turn around. had a couple of moments going round right hand corners where I could just about slide on my Left knee.

Originally Posted by Daphilps

gunna treasure that first badge. good to meet you all, went looking for you all on sat night but got distracted by the wet tee's, will catch up again next time.

Were you not in up the front the stage. If you were you should have at least found Nighthawk there as well as some others!!

**FlyingDutchMan** · 9th February 2009, 08:34

Had a great time in the w/e - thanks to all. Glad I left early - since I had a full tank I went straight through to Tekapo, with only one stop - the booze bus. And still didn't get any V. Only passed 5 vehicles between the rally and Omarama. Traffic picked up a bit after that. Once I got out of Tekapo got a hefty tail wind to push me through Burke's pass.

Pretty much non-eventful until Rolleston. Could see a 3 of cop cars had stopped a few bikers, and another (cop) was on it's way in a hurry. A few minutes down the road I was passed by the same bikers who had been pulled over - a few minions of Satans Slaves and Outlaw bikers from various location from the NI - passing into oncoming traffic past cars buses etc. Got home and well at 1:45.

**oldrider** · 9th February 2009, 08:39

Originally Posted by FlyingDutchMan

Had a great time in the w/e - thanks to all. Glad I left early - since I had a full tank I went straight through to Tekapo, with only one stop - the booze bus. And still didn't get any V. Only passed 5 vehicles between the rally and Omarama. Traffic picked up a bit after that. Once I got out of Tekapo got a hefty tail wind to push me through Burke's pass.

Pretty much non-eventful until Rolleston. Could see a 3 of cop cars had stopped a few bikers, and another (cop) was on it's way in a hurry. A few minutes down the road I was passed by the same bikers who had been pulled over - a few minions of Satans Slaves and Outlaw bikers from various location from the NI - passing into oncoming traffic past cars buses etc. Got home and well at 1:45.

Hey, your new avatar is a great likeness!

Colours perfect!

Cheers, John.

**Daphilps** · 9th February 2009, 09:39

Originally Posted by Kemet

Were you not in up the front the stage. If you were you should have at least found Nighthawk there as well as some others!!

Didn't quite make it to the front, next time for sure though.

**SDU** · 9th February 2009, 19:47

It was Great to catch up with all & meet new peoples. Including those north islanders Gareth51 (bent51's brother LOL) & sels1 (or is it 2

)
Had a great time as usual. Funniest thing I seen was a scary lady with PINK SILK PJ's & bike boots waiting outside the shit houses on sunday morning

scariest was sleepy head running around in jocks sat morning -FQ I'm too nice to post pics

Oh Winston Fact 1- this chic was cooking for self not doing anyones bidding but lucky you know who has the best beast
Always nice doing the inland road. Had a few scary moments going down the worst was near the Rakia gorge - I got caught out by a gust off wind (& forgetting I had heavy bags on) 1/2 way around the corner sending me on the wrong side off the road fast approaching the edge after having to brake hard, I managed to haul in the wildly bucking pony & get back on course with my heart in my mouth. On top off that my bike decided to play up surging at the most appropriate moments -whilst overtaking/ leaning around corners/ up hill- a bit off injection cleaner cleared the problem not long out off Alex on the trip home making the Lindis pass beautiful. Fuel filter now ordered.
Going home was awesome ride, hardly any traffic most off the way but hot. went up the middle, stopped to add to a old mates' cairn just before Omarama & stopped for breathtest before stopping for lunch at Tekapo. Where we got crap service at the bakery & average food. On through the Rakia Gorge onto Hororata for a cold one & home by 3:30 with enough time to make self human before collecting the animals from there prisons- (they had better accomodation than us).
Scariest thing on the road was the bus as Lemans said- I was gobsmacked I was seeing that. When I was about to do a quick over take off bus & car & trailer he was up the arse off, he decided he had to over take the car & trailer barely getting past as he was going around a blind corner- where was

when we need them.
Sorry for the novel folks

**Winston001** · 9th February 2009, 20:15

Originally Posted by SDU

Oh Winston Fact 1- this chic was cooking for self not doing anyones bidding but lucky you know who has the best beast

Just a feeble attempt at humour...

Great to meet you and Lemans. KB corner was a lot of fun.

**sels1** · 9th February 2009, 21:48

Finally back home after a most excellent 5 days away. We had a good ride through the inland Kaikoura route and had a good run up to the ferry, despite the gusty NWestery, and lots of campervans (aka mobile chicances!)

The only casualty of the trip was my cellphone, which managed to escape my pocket and presumably is now in a thousand pieces somewhere on SH1.
Sigh, oh well, it was time for a new one anyway, but its the loss of the numbers in it that is the most annoying.

Again, it was great to meet some more of the S.I. KBers and put faces to the online names.

**SDU** · 9th February 2009, 22:24

You north islanders remember to tell ya buddies up there that the roads are crap & full off idiot drivers & there is no fun to be had down here.

Hope you enjoyed the soak in the hot pools. Drop in next time either off you are down this way. Say hi to those buggars in your neighbour hood that deserted from down here last year & tell SS we miss the Coffee.

**sels1** · 9th February 2009, 22:40

Originally Posted by SDU

You north islanders remember to tell ya buddies up there that the roads are crap & full off idiot drivers & there is no fun to be had down here.

Absolutely! Wouldnt want the place over-run with them would we now?

BTW...a few folk commented to me about the lack of rallies in the N.I. in the summer months. There is a small one held in conjuction with the Cliffhanger Hillclimb event in southern Waiararapa. The first one last year was small but very enjoyable, with a lot of KBers attending
Check it out: http://www.cliffhanger.org.nz/hillclimb/rallypage.htm
And the main event:http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=92127

**Xaria** · 10th February 2009, 05:58

Friday I got up and went to the gym and when I got home we realised online that most people had either gone or were not yet ready to leave so we just left without yas. We went via the pigroute an apart from a huge amout of traffic, it was incident free. Mentioned to Nighthawk at Ranfurly that the wind was really picking up but he hadn't noticed.

Got to Alexandra about 1.30 and visiteed my Mum for a cuppa and than NH got a text that the gates were open, and as the wind was really picking up we decided to get the tent set up. We got the site we were looking for, in the corner as far away from the entry as possible which meant that we would have less people tripping over the tent guy ropes. Lots of other people kept turning up most of whom I can't remember names for, but had a blast.

Talked shit, drank booze and danced until the cinderella hour.
Saturday I got up and went to a garage sale with Mum, and had coffee. Got back to the bike just in time to see the rest of the KB crowd going to the dam via earnscleugh. No a worry, I will head down the main road. However the dam is rather large and I only founf the right approach to it on my third try. When I got to the gates they were shut and the group had the safety gear on so I just headed back to camp so I didn't hold everyone up.
I ended up out at Chatto Creek with Kemet and ClairSky for a coffee then back to site to watch the helmet race. Bit worried that Anthony recorded the event and the number of KB males that were up fron and centre to watch..

Tea at Allens bus, a yummy roast chicken. Very civilised. then normal rally stuff: Talked shit drank lots and ended up back in the tent slightly later than cinderella.

Sunday we dithered around breaking up camp by the time we said goodbye to everyone and Clair Sky and I left to get a photo of her at Clare road. Eventually got to Roxburgh for a much needed milkshake and bottle of water, 30 deg as we went through alex at 11.30. The wind really picked up after Roxburgh but I was much more controlled in this wind than other times and got home unscathed just in time to put lots of washing on and put all the gear away.

Lots of fun and I'm already waiting for the Garstonian.

**cold comfort** · 10th February 2009, 09:38

"The only casualty of the trip was my cellphone, which managed to escape my pocket and presumably is now in a thousand pieces somewhere on SH1.
Sigh, oh well, it was time for a new one anyway, but its the loss of the numbers in it that is the most annoying".

.[/QUOTE]

Lost my car keys (with remote) between Alex and Dunedin -$345 +gst for replacement! At least i did not donate a similar amount to LTSA slush fund as did my companion

**SDU** · 10th February 2009, 09:41

Originally Posted by Winston001

Just a feeble attempt at humour...

Great to meet you and Lemans. KB corner was a lot of fun.

you take me too seriously but it was good to meet you too! like I said at least you knew who had the superior beast

Originally Posted by sels1

Absolutely! Wouldnt want the place over-run with them would we now?

We are very particular on who we let have passports for the mainland unless we are after some fresh sport

**Mr Triple** · 10th February 2009, 13:40

I hadn't been to the Vincent before and what a great weekend it was. Left home at 08:45 and went up through Oxford to Waddington where I was to meet up with Lemans, SDU, FQ, Mr Sensible and his wife. We had a good ride down to Geraldine where we had a feed and some chit chat and on our way again. Another good ride with no dramas apart from two check points that we passed through in the middle of the day.

At the first one Lemans wanted to

them because they made him take his helmet off because of his nose piece.

he was not happy. When we got to the second check point, I thought this is going to be interesting, but the cop was a little more lenient

We called into one of the dams to see the spill ways in action but the bugger was not going.
Off to Oldriders place for some more chin wag and as we were turning into his street we saw Sels1 and Gareth51 leaving. They turned around and came back to Oldriders and all caught up.
The eight of us left there and headed for Alexandra and after a quick ride through the Lindis it didn't seem too long to get there. Got some gas in Alex and then off to the site where we met up with other KBers and a great wee group it was.
After putting up the tent and getting out of the bike gear it was time for some dinks, thirsty work getting to these rallies you know.
The next morning most of the KB crowd went into Alex for breakfast and bloody good too. After the good feed we all jumped back on our bikes and Scumdog lead us around some back roads to the Clyde dam, where we met up with Jantar for a very good tour of the place.
Jantar even opened the spill gates while we were there and man that was amazing to see. The power of that water coming down and seeing all the people running was a laugh. Thanks again Jantar for that

Lunch at Clyde before heading back to the rally site and some more dinks and laughs.
It was great to meet some more KBers and the one that sticks in my mind would have to be Winston001 what a laugh. It was about three hours or more to put your tent up. I thought I was going to have to hold a touch so you could see in the dark.

The next day we all packed our gear up and most of us went our own ways home. Oldrider, Sels1, Gareth51 and I went through to Ranfuly for breakfast. After that Oldrider went his way and Sels, Gareth and myself headed off through the pig route and a good ride it was. Got fuel at Palmerston and then up highway 1. Once we got past Timaru it was like someone flicked a switch and put the heater on full, man was it hot. Got to the Chequered Flag for some refreshment and a feed and it was off again. It was hot all the way home I'm glad I took all the lining out of my jacket in Palmerston but still too hot.
Waved goodbye to Sels and Gareth on the motorway as I turned off to Rangiora and they both went on to Hamner Springs for the night. Thanks for the campany home guys it was great and may see you both next year.

A great rally enjoyed the ride down and back and all the people in between