|
Great
London Ride Out - Sunday 18th May 2003
God
almighty, talk about an early start! I arrive at the Piazza
at just after 7.15 in the morning to find Len all alone
and then 5 minutes later Stewart arrives. 7.30 arrives and
as they stub out their fags and start their engines (bleedin'
fancy push button starts - maybe there's something to be
said for vespas after all) I'm kicking the Lambretta into
life; and kicking, and kicking and ahhhh there we go, and
still no coffee!!
As the sky continues to threaten rain I assure my colleagues
that the weather will hold, of course, no sooner are the
words escaping my lips but it starts to gently rain; but
only gently. |
Click
for larger image
(May take up to 30 seconds) |
Click
for larger image
(May take up to 30 seconds) |
We meet up with Wilstead Dave the other side of, er, well,
Wilstead and before we know it we are halfway to St. Albans
to meet up the SAS crowd for 8.30am, picking John up at
Clophill on the way. Of course, Wilstead Dave forgot to
tell myself and Len that John was only following us until
his turn off for work, we thought that we had lost one
until he caught up with us halfway back to Bedford looking
for him. Ah well, all adds to the craic!
So,
onwards and upwards and before we know it, we're pulling
into St. Alban's kicking off our gear and trying to help
a bloke who's rear hub is coming off the back of his vespa!
20 minutes later, and after a quick Mc Donalds from across
the road, (no hot drinks today!!), we are setting off
for London and the Great London Ride Out, my first and
a good test for my Lambretta in preparation for the Isle
of Wight in August! |
The ride
to Hyde Park was uneventful other than the fact that we ended
up in Regent's Park, a fact that confused us until someone informed
us that the venue had been changed due to a fun run. Blinking
glad I was with the group that knew about it!
After we had parked up it was time to have a little look about
at some of the other scooters that had turned up including a
gorgeous model d and a lovely series 1 with just about every
rare embellisher going. Bootiful as Del Boy would say. I have
since been reliably informed that the lady that turned up on
the Model d is none other than Christine Jackson who used to
race scooters in the 60's!
Click
for larger image
(May take up to 30 seconds) |
Click
for larger image
(May take up to 30 seconds) |
Now
at this point, I was gagging for a coffee but it was Wilstead
Dave to the rescue who sussed where to get one, as it happened
Stuart was already in the queue buying me one, God bless him!
Once everyone was tanked up with coffee, and a brief excursion
to the bathroom, where there were some strange goings on that
Wilstead Dave has said simply "Don't ask", we headed
back to the scooters and before we knew it a TV crew from
Men & Motors were interviewing us! It remains to be seen
if we actually get on the telly though.
Soon
thereafter its on the scooters and several hundred Lambrettas,
Vespas and even a few autos are making their way slowly through
London. It's a site to behold that's for sure. You ever watch
a flock of swallows or starlings the way they all turn at
pretty much the same time? Well it was kind of like that but
with added noise, mirrors, horns and the smell of two stroke.
The marshalls were great and tried to keep everyone pretty
much together by blocking junctions to help the flow, much
to the annoyance of some in cars. But hell, why would they
be in such a rush anyway, it was a Sunday in London, they're
hardly late for work now are they??
I will admit to being a bit jealous of the autos though, I
bet they didn't have a problem with their hand going numb
with all the gear changing as we struggled through London
and finally as we reach the outskirts, the dual carriageway
and speeds in excess of 30mph, well, safely anyway.
Click
for Part 2
|
|
|
Home 
Contact us 
