AMC National 2007

Kenilworth, a small Queensland town situated inland from the Sunshine Coast is a popular stopping point for local motorcyclists many of whom ride throughout the areas spectacular hinterland scenery on most weekends of the year. Those riders also include members of the Sunshine Coast AMC Chapter, who, in choosing to share their little bit of biker heaven with their southern cousins, went all out to give us a weekend of doing what we like best when they hosted the 2007 National Rally, electing to set the site up at the well appointed local Showground, which was only a short slightly uphill walk to the pub and shops, and an even easier downhill stagger to get back to the tents later on, they even went to the extent of holding it on a NSW long weekend to make it easier for us to attend. With it only being a normal weekend for Queenslanders, no doubt a lot of the local AMC would have been dipping into their holiday pay, before they even started all the hard work they put into getting everything up and running, a nice gesture I thought, and certainly worthy of thanks.

More than worthy of a mention early up, the cooking and catering for the rally meals at the showground was done by the ladies from the Kenilworth Pony Club, no half measures from these good folk, a bloody good serving on each plate with seconds available for the bigger appetites if they needed it, and the same applied to the breakfasts as well, thanks ladies, you did yourselves proud. Saturday morning had some of us doing a quick 30 kilometre long fang through the bends on a guided ride to the huge weekend markets at Eumundi, a massive crowd and cars parked for miles out of town meant there wasn’t a parking spot to be had anywhere, that is, until the publican opened up the gates to an area out the back and let us park at the pub right in the middle of town, talk about VIP treatment. I opted for a bit of a slower ride back to Kenilworth in order to enjoy the scenery, and arrived back just in time to head over to the oval for the gymkhana. All the usual fun and games kept the participants and the onlookers amused, until it finally culminated in a wet T-shirt comp, and the presentations for the winners and grinners just before the sun went down, a short walk over to the Pony Club ladies for a feed rounded the evening off and then it was settle back in party mood to see the night out.

Sunday morning’s breakfast kicked the day off, and it was not too long before we were on the road for the dice run, the Sunshine Coast Chapter did a top notch job with the marshalling and the run was kept practically interruption free for the entire distance, a stop at a mechanical water-skiing park was an interesting interlude for a few of us inland type folk, and the food for lunch, cooked up by some of the AMC ladies at a stop in a rainforest park went down really well. In order to get some ride photos, I left the park early to get ahead of the run on the final leg, at about 20 klicks down the road it started to rain, not too bad for a short distance, then, it starts to bucket down, very wet but still rideable, but then it starts bloody hailing, had to keep riding as there was nowhere safe to pull over, until, spotting, and then overshooting a bus shelter, I finally get the bike off the road and walk back through about four inches of water running across the road, a bloke and his missus on a BMW that were a bit behind me on the road obviously didn’t like being in the hail either, and they rode into the shelter just as I got there. The three of us had a bit of a chat, until, with it easing off a bit, they motored off, leaving me to try and get enough water off the camera and myself in order to get some photos, the rain stopped a couple of minutes later, and here I am looking like a drowned rat with water still running out of my clothes, as a nice and dry dice run goes roaring past me in glorious sunshine, and to add insult to injury, I didn’t get a photo that was worth keeping.

Sunday evening saw a bit of a whip round at dinner for the AMC ladies Pink Ribbon fund raiser, resulting in another $130.00 dollars going into the fund, and, to round off the rally there was the drawing of the raffle prizes and presentations to the dice run winners. With the bulk of the riders heading home the following day, it was a fairly quiet evening for most of us, and it was not too far into the night that the sound of people sawing wood in their tents was all that could be heard.

All up, a damn good weekend enjoying the hospitality of the folks at Kenilworth, and a huge vote of thanks to the Sunshine Coast AMC, the ladies from the Pony Club and all those involved behind the scenes in giving us a great time, take a bow folks.