Well, that was a top weekend for me. I didn’t hit any creatures and the bike is fully intact! Always a bonus these days it seems.
Thanks to Gatey for the organizing. I think the dozen or thirteen had a great time. Beers were cold, food was excellent by all counts, and the rooms were quite livable given the low price.
A few of us settled back and dissected Bam’s ride while the Moto GP was playing in the bar. I think Bam would have thoroughly enjoyed a gathering such as this and if you are a believer in departed spirits looking over us, then he would probably have been there somewhere telling us all that it’s all ok. The few who met him said he came across as a thoroughly decent bloke. Those who followed his journey thought much the same and had those thoughts confirmed. In some ways, this seemed to be a de-facto farewell for him from IBA Aus. RIP Bam.
Derrick was blessed numerous times by the UDF (Ural Delay Factor). Great effort on the Orange Beastie. It drew a crowd from us and most visitors to the pub through the daytime and evening time. The only missing accessory was the lack of a Border Collie in the chair! That has to be fixed!
Sam, being the newest/youngest/smartest of the riders wasn’t shy about joining in. I think he was explaining how big It was at some stage. What ‘It’ was, is anybody’s guess! I have also added the correct sized jar of Vaseline to my tool-kit. Apparently, this is now mandatory for all IBA riders in case of emergencies. Bending over is optional, supposedly. This was a long (too long!) conversation that had most of us in stitches during dinner!
Our hosts were great. Paul and Louise did a lovely job looking after us, as did the new-in Irish lassies doing their Remote Working Visa stints out bush. Lovely young ladies, even if they had serious trouble understanding us and we rarely had a clue as to what they were saying. Adds to the fun. Not sure they were happy when told the big Shopping Mall was across the paddock and creek, but watch for the snakes and drop-bears!
A few of us also enlightened some of the later FarRider/recent IBA riders to some of the history from then to now. Older hands know most of it, but many do not know some of the ins and outs of what went on. I won’t regurgitate all that again here. As we said last night: History is History and we try not to repeat the same mistakes.
I got an early start so sorry for those I failed to say farewell to. My room neighbor with size 14 feet put his motorcycle boots on at around 5 am and danced an Irish Jig in honour of our Irish Bar Staff until about 6 am. You can all guess who Bigfoot is! And I never knew he could dance a jig. Riverdance has nothing to worry about!
Fun time. Thank you one and all. Catch you another time. Mick.
