Hello all, this is the report of the "Slow" runs trip to the isle of Wight for the second year running.
The line up was similar this year with Baby barrel on his CZ125, Me (webby) who since last time has swapped a Yam SR125 for a Honda Steed 600, Paul on his Virago which has been chopped since last year, our excellent run captain Spam on his ever-reliable BMW and a new addition - John on his fazer 1000 with Pauls wife pam as pillion. You may look at this line-up and think: "why do a slow run for only one slow bike?" But we are the Barrel bikers and if a member wants to get to a rally it doesn't matter if they are riding a bike that only does 20mph - we will still get them there. Baby barrel was adamant on taking his little CZ for a second year running as he was determined to prove it possible amidst the jibes that it would explode.
We met up at 10am Friday with the rest of the club at the Little Chef in Stony Stratford. The day did not start well as many of the club turned up early to get a cooked breakfast and hot coffee before the run only to find the little chef closed till 11am. The weather was looking dodgy with big black clouds all around. We waited till our usual 10mins after the main run and set off. Almost immediately it started to rain - not a good omen for the rest of the trip. We rode out to oxford and got on the A34, as with last year we met up with the main run at the M4/A34 services and arrives only a few minutes before them proving for another year that we are not all that slow! After loo stops and coffee at the services the two runs set off again but this time on different routes as they were headed for the Southampton ferry and us for the one in the new forest. The clouds cleared for a short time and we stopped for a nice pub lunch.
As we left the pub the weather spotted that we had warmed up and started tipping it down again. From then on in nature was determined to make us turn back. The wind rose to gale force and the rain came down so hard that we were soaked to our undies after only a few minutes. Riding across the open parts of the new forest in this was, as you can imagine, a nightmare. We were all wrapped as low as we could go around our tanks to avoid the wind and the 2 bikes with higher centres of gravity were struggling to stay on the road against the wind. After this nightmare of a ride which went by in a blur of pounding rain, slippery roads and sudden gusting winds we reached the ferry port and shot inside to warm up and get our tickets. We were on the ferry quick and just as I voiced my concern that our bikes would not stay upright on the wet metal flooring with the ferry rocking in the waves the captain came on the tannoy and requested that all motorcyclists stay with their vehicles as the trip was going to be very rough. We settled onto our bikes, wedging ourselves upright against the ferries walls and cars tyres and settled in for the trip. We had to keep our gear on and visors down for most of it as the gusting winds and rocking boat threw large waves of water onto us. At the far end of the trip we were glad to have reached land without any bikes going over and we headed off towards the rally site. As with last year the quickest route to the site was closed again with no explanation so we took the long way round and spent it all trying to stay on the roads against the weather. We finally reached the rally site and were very glad for our warm chalets and dry changes of clothes.
After drying out, changing and a few hot drinks we heard news that our friends had arrived and headed over to see them. Waffle, Annie, Flob, Colin and Chucky were trying to put tents up in the high winds without much success. After no very long we all gave up and went to sit out the rain in the games room with several portions of hot chips. We offered them the floors of our chalets but Waffle was determined to get his tent up and after some rather iffy scientific theories about wind flow around buildings we headed for the end of the building facing the sea (rather than the seemingly sheltered end) to try again with the tents. Strangely enough Waffle's theory was correct and the wind seemed to have created a calm spot here which we hurriedly set all the tents up in. Then after changing out of another set of soaked clothes we headed for the marquee with all the beer we could carry so we didn't have to face the weather again.
Sometime during the night the weather calmed down and we awake next morning to beautiful sunshine and dry bikes. After a good breakfast on the site we headed off sightseeing around the island and had a great time on the bumper cars at Shanklin.
The funniest part of the day was when we all hit a massive bump in the road at about 50 over a blind hill which shot several of our group into the air and resulted in Flob pulling over quickly and sliding off his bike to hop around in the road clenching his nuts which he swore had left an imprint on the tank. As always the white riders put on a great bash in the evening and we all had a great day. Chucky got Rally virgined in the evening as he had been threatening to do it too Goose all weekend. Unfortunately, as Chucky had used all his eggs and flour on Goose and Graz earlier in the day we had to think of something else to do to him. So, we tied him to a pole in the beer tent and several of the club gave him a reverse mohican - he was so drunk he didn't really notice till the next day!
We got Goose as well that night but were a bit nicer to her.
The next day heralded more sightseeing and the invention of the barrel bikers tacky souvenir competition after Colin's comment about how everything at the islands main attraction had "isle of Wight" written on it from the coffee cups to the loo seats! Later another great evening was had in which Mona judged the tacky souvenir competition. John came 3rd with an "Isle of white" prisons keyring, Paul came second with a pencil with a multi-coloured sand filled end and I came first with my Isle of Wight doily coasters (who would buy that as a souvenir? Honestly?!?!?). After another great night it was the day we were all dreading - time to go home. We headed off in far better weather than we had arrived after another excellent Isle of Wight.
Many thanks to the Wight Riders for throwing such a great rally every year!
Webby
