Keepin the shiny side up

Well I tried to keep the shiny side up, but it didn't work so well. We had our annual weekend away on the bikes to Canowindra (western NSW), with the Illawarra HOG Chapter. It was a lovely day, hot, sunny and a lot of great people. We have a few raffles amongst members and raised $3,500 for the Kidz Wish Foundation, a local charity for sick kids and kids with a disability in the Illawarra area.

In our chapter there is a patch "Ground HOG", yes it is for those who can't keep their bikes upright, or drops it over so far that you can't pick it up yourself, even if it doesn't actually all hit the ground. I had always thought when others were getting these patches, that the only way I wanted to get a ground hog patch was if the bike was sliding down the road, yes I know that would hurt, but I wasn't thinking of that, it was the embarrassment of dropping the bike at a standing position or similar. Well we arrived at Canowindra, all bikes at the front of the Canowindra pub for the officially photo's. Then park the bikes around the back for the night. Most had parked there bikes along the side fence, but if there is a heavy dew, then the seat is wet when you get on the bike in the morning, so there was one bike under a lovely big tree, DH road his bike up under the tree, I followed and had plenty of room between the two bikes (photo below), as I road in, DH turned his bike to stop, our mirrors hit, I lost balance and toppled over, but I wasn't going to let my bike hit the ground, and RJ's bike (brand new I might add) actually stopped my bike from going all the way to the ground, so with my leg between the two bikes, and my left hand mirror resting on his saddle bags, it didn't go all the way down, but I couldn't lift it, shit. JB came over and picked the bike up and asked if my legs were OK or were they a bit shaky, no they weren't shaky, I put the side stand down, looked at RJ's bike and was so relieved that is didn't damage his bike. I did go and find RJ and tell him about the accident, he said he would worry about it in the morning. The next morning he come out and said, where did you damage my bike, I showed him the tiniest scratch on the hard case saddle bag (pannier??? bag), he wasn't worried about it at all, after all he is a spray painter.

The ride home through Cowra and Yass was great, we were so tired when we got home, it is such a huge weekend. Riding up through the Blue Mountains of Lawson, Leura, Katoomba, Blackheath and Mt Victoria, then through Lithgow, Lunch at Bathurst, the on through Orange, and finally to Canowindra. The local Lions Club always cook us dinner and breakfast, they have for the last 10 times we have visited, they even made a special cake to celebrate. We did stop at 11am for Remembrance Day, we were outside the Hydro Majestic Motel at Medlow Bath (Blue Mountains area) at about 30 seconds to 11am, by the time the last bike pulled in it was 11am. One minute later we were starting up the bikes again and on our way. We have two members who served in Vietnam, one who is a member of the Vietnam Veteran Motorcycle Club.

I didn't take knitting, and have only finished one more beanie today, and another on the needles tonight, (number 14).

Blogger isn't playing fair, and won't upload my photos. I will try to put them in this post tomorrow. Now the next day (Tuesday night) and blogger still won't upload pictures. WTF.