The Blog and the Club

 Just a few words because people tend to stumble upon this Blog from time to time. 

The Club is a very old one, formed we think shortly after the 1st world war.

Between the wars the club was quite big and carried out training in motorcycle riding and management as well as taking part in sporting events. We still have in our possession a relic from those days, which is the 1924 BSA Roundtank pictured above. This bike is and was owned by the club and was used for training. Post war, our collective knowledge does not go back before the 1980s. It would seem a group of young people joined around that time. Many of them are still with us. 

Today the club is more an informal group of friends that like motorcycling. There is no longer a subscription or a committee. None of us live in Wimbledon or district any more. The nearest is Sutton and the furthest Norfolk. Some of us are into old Brit iron, others like bikes that start on the button and don't need tinkering with. Most of us are now over 60 but there is a smattering of younger members so there is some hope for the future. One, perhaps, unusual feature is that we have quite a large female representation for a motorcycle club. Jo is pillion only, Sally rides, Sheryl rides, Liz used to ride but is now pillion only, Ann used to ride, Monique is an occasional pillion, Rosie is I think mainly pillion, Jill is pillion. For our annual Christmas bash (Covid permitting) we can usually muster up about 25 people.

I started this blog some years ago. It was one of those doomed attempts to inject a bit more profile and buzz. It has laid dormant for quite a while until somebody reminded me that it existed. I seem to be the only one that ever writes anything, so what you get I am afraid is my mutterings about my old bikes, in the main. I will sometimes mention people by their forenames only. Some members are internet phobic.

Geoff

At last a run out

 

Having emerged from another lockdown, we felt we could venture out for a run. Of course no one really understands the rules but we are all in Tier 2 and it did not seem to be pushing the envelope too much to go out on a bit of a run. The plan was to meet at Rykas at Box Hill last weekend and then go for a bit of run round the Surrey villages and terminate at the Tea Hut on Epsom Downs.

I decided to give the Inter a bit of an outing. Probably the best bit of the run was the early morning run to Rykas. The roads were near empty and not too nadgery. It was possible now and then to let the beast thunder on a bit. Arriving at Box Hill we met up with Rob on his Norton Dominator 88, Phillip on his Sunbeam S8, Niall and Liz on their Harley, Richard on his BMW boxer trailie, Sally I think was on a Hinckley Bonnie, Pete on his CCM, a friend of Rob's whose name escapes me on a 125 Honda, also someone was on Moto Guzzi V50, can't remember who.

Off we all set for a fairly slow run round Shere and other Surrey villages. The lanes were full of cyclists and big lumbering 4 x 4s so a lot of time was spent in 2nd or 3rd gear. Reaching the Tea Hut on the Downs, the queue was very long for tea or coffee and the Council in its wisdom had closed the loos so we did not hang about long.

The run back home was fun. I was able blow the cobwebs out of the Inter on the M25 and the roads back home were quite free of traffic.