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GATEWAY TO THE RAINFOREST RALLY 03

As this was my first rally with the `Cats I was trying to stay out of much trouble as possible, but being behind Rowdy for six hundred and ninety odd kilometres is not the best way to be introduced to the wide world of bikes. On our arrival at Kyogle we were greeted by Tallie and Shelly at their home. Slippery had arrived prior and was in great spirits.

Friday before the rally Tallie and I went to Lismore to look at some bikes, in the hope of finding a bike better than my CT110 Postie. At one of the bike shops I took a GS500 Suzuki for a test ride, it was beautiful with blue fenders. The bloke in the shop told me the best route to take but as I didn’t know the roads I asked Tallie to come with me.

The trip was great, the bike was very comfortable and easy to ride. When Tallie and I turned around I said to him that I would like go first and asked him to follow me. The road was windy, a bit hilly and had a few holes. I hit one, the handle bars started to wobble and over the bars I went. All I can remember is that I was rolling on the ground and when I awoke I was staring at the sky. According to Tallie I was in the riding position in mid air and I did a half-baked cart-wheel on the ground.

I remember hearing Tallie say “Steve are you OK?” I could only really mumble “Yeh”. Tallie, the tall prick, just started to laugh and said “Oh gee you wrecked this bike man”. I sort of half stumbled up to have a look and all I could think of was what the guy at the bike shop was going to say. Tallie & I tried to get it up the hill but did not get very far. A young bloke in a car drove past, realised the problem, locked up his wheels and gave us a hand. The hot bike muffler got another victim. Another passer by stopped and the four of us got the bike back up from the 6 foot gully. Duds had his ESP working overtime, he rang just as we got the bike up.

I was sore all over but Tallie told me that I had to ride the bike back to town. He had a piece of snapped side fender tucked down his shirt.

Back at the bike shop, I hesitated about going in but the salesman was more concerned with me than the bike. After sorting out the payment on the bike we headed for a cuppa (I was 3 days off being 18) so a beer was out of the question.

Later that afternoon Cookie Monster came up and Tallie told him and he suggested that I should be called “Trench”. After a bit of group discussion about the accident, doing the blond thing Slippery came up with the nickname “Spit” and that has stuck, thanks Slippery!!

That one Friday was one of the weirdest days for all of us, I had the prang, Rowdy had a tooth pulled and several other bad things happened. It was dubbed Friday the 13^th on the 12^th.

Mid Saturday we all rocked out to the local show ground, and set up camp, luckily in the last shelter there. After setting up our tents we relaxed for a while then the gymkhana events began. First up was the bike judging, and surprisingly Rowdy asked me to bring his bike up. Although this was the first time I had ridden a Harley I took it very slowly and when I got to the lose rocks I slowed down heaps. Rowdy had told me that morning how much the bike was worth and I really didn’t want to have another bill for a bike that I didn’t own.

A trim little Ducati won the bike judging. Next the horseshoe toss commenced, unfortunately we were unsuccessful and the same with the dummy spit. Then the sack race and the once reigning Tallie lost miserably.

Then the slow bike (push bike) race started and we were narrowly beaten, but finally Shelly came through for the club and won the tyre toss. We kept on the roll with Slipper and Shelly winning the egg toss. Late in the afternoon the trophies were presented and our club won 5 trophies all up. I won the longest pillion and the hard luck story. Slippery won the Tough Titties award for putting up with Rowdy.

Throughout the night they had a monster raffle where we cleaned up really well. Cookie Monster won 2 cartons of beer plus some buts and Tallie and Shelly had wins also.

All in all the rally was fun and exciting. Congratulations to the band on the night for the great music. A huge thank to the folks in the canteen on the day for their spectacular food and great hospitality. I would also like to thank Tallie, Shelly and their kids for putting up with us and letting us crash at their house. Lets hope that next year it will be bigger and all of the Cats will make it……

- SPIT