AMC National Rally 2011

Hosted this year by the Sunshine Coast Chapter of the American Motorcycle Club the rally returned back to Queensland after a four year absence whilst it was held in other states, Kenilworth was once again the town of choice for the venue, and, with it being situated in the hinterlands of the Sunshine Coast it was a forgone conclusion that the roads around the area were going to be just as great for riding as last time, and that we were all going to have a ball wearing out a bit of rubber on the sides of our tyres.

I arrived late Friday afternoon at the Ettamogah Pub in Palmview on the Bruce Highway and was greeted by one of the riders that had been doing the all day hourly guided runs from the pub out to the rally site, after topping up with fuel and a quick drink, with a couple more riders in tow we arrived at the venue to be given our rally packs and directions to the bar and food buildings, bunkhouses, camping areas etc. It’s things like this, that, whilst they may seem like only a small part of the overall event go a long way to quickly getting the arrivals, some of whom may have traveled considerable distances that day, into kick back and relax mode.

With the bike unpacked and the tent erected it was time to head off to the food hall for the first of the feeds for the weekend, I have to say that it more than filled the gap and set the standard for the catering, for every meal that weekend there was always plenty on the plate and it tasted good as well. Friday night was a quiet one for me as I unwound from the ride up, and, I even left the camera in the tent.

Saturday morning was very overcast and a heavy covering of mist obscured the surrounding countryside, however that soon cleared and although still cloudy it was a good day for riding and a lot of people took the opportunity to sample the roads around the district before returning to participate in the Chapter Challenge that afternoon, a good time was had by both participants and the crowd and later on in the evening there was a tattoo show and various presentations for the Challenge and other event winners. Entertainment that night was provided by a band called ‘Cut Lunch” and a DJ with a movie screen showing various photos and video clips of AMC members.

Sunday morning saw a few sore heads and seedy complexions surfacing for breakfast, but, it wasn’t too long before they got scrubbed up and ready for the Dice Run, I would like to extend a big thank you to Dappa and his lovely wife Sue for taking me around the course taken by the riders. They were doing some of the marshalling, handing out sunscreen plus cooking lunch etc for the riders, and. very kindly took me with them in their car to get to various places I could take photos. Winners are grinners and Sunday night was no exception to the rule, there were a heap of prizes for the Dice Run and raffles, I even got a minor place score so that sort of softened the blow of not riding. Highlight of the night had to go to Dappa and Sue though, as he had arranged, unbeknownst to Sue, to renew their wedding vows, It went over really well and was a great way to round off a fantastic weekend, all up a huge job well done by the Sunshine Coast Chapter and it’s going to be a hard act to follow for the next National. Thanks folks, you did yourselves and the AMC proud.

Crusty

Now, for a footnote, Firstly the bad bit, on the way up and about fifty klicks south of Tamworth I hit one of New South Wales prolific potholes somewhat hard and blew the fork seals on the bike. However, and this is the good bit, "Bikes and Bits" has the Harley dealership in Tamworth and they have recently come under new ownership, the new owners bent over backwards to fit my bike into their already busy line up of work and by the end of the day they had put new seals in the forks. And, it gets even better, after I had paid the bill I was given back a gift voucher for two hundred dollars to take up to the rally and give it to the organisers to put into the kitty of prizes. I don’t know about you, but I reckon that’s a bloody good effort considering my bill was not much over what they gave back. Bikes and Bits don’t just work on Harleys, so, if you are into bikes and looking for someone to look after you and your bike I am more than happy, from my personal experience with them, to recommend you try them out...Crusty