September 2023 – Clyde Valley HOG 9894

Campsies and the Falkirk Wheel

11/09/2023

Saturday’s ride out was a nice wee run into the Campsies turning along the Carron Valley and arriving in glorious sunshine at the Falkirk Wheel where we were able to park up the bikes in the plaza in front of the wheel itself, which made for a nice stop off.

Connor was leading, supported by his new road crew bitch, Burnsy. Burnsy in turn was being supervised by Head Road Captain Jigger for about half the run and Lairdy returned to be last man after a long lay off as founding member of the Cult of Lairdy and the Disciples of the Dislocated Arm.

There’s a new bitch in town

It was a wee bit foggy over the top of the Campsies heading towards Fintry but as soon as we dropped down the north side of the fells, the sun made an appearance and pretty hot it was too.

All the bikes were parked up in a line of the Plaza at the Wheel and they attracted a fair bit of attention from both visitors and staff alike. Myself and Burnsy kept some American tourists entertained when they told us they visited the Wheel every year they visit and this was their fourth time. I had to admit though I live barely 15 minutes away I had only visited once in the last 20 years and Burnsy told them this was his first time!

After Connor left to go play with his oval balls ( rugby ), the rest of us just generally milled about, drinking coffee, eating ice cream and watching the wheel go round and round. All very pleasant and civilized. Good too, to see some of the less regulars out with us as well this weekend.

Falkirk Wheel and Campsies 2023 — All our pictures on Flickr……

Roseneath Ride Out ’23

06/09/2023

Last Saturday, some might argue the second day of Autumn (meteorologically speaking) felt like the first day of Summer ( yes I have forgotten about early June already- it was years ago!)

Somewhat unusually we had a bit of an “all boys” ride out this time, up towards Luss then across the Haul road, popping out at Faslane then – across the top of the peninsula to Coulport before riding around the Roseneath point and back to Faslane, then heading down to Helensburgh for Chips, Ice Cream or both. ( I think Ice Cream was the majority choice).

A great wee ride in nice weather.

But lads…Red is so in for Autumn 2023 only two of you were on trend; the shame.

After Ice Cream with sprinkles (really!) was consumed….or slittered down your front depending how you eat your cone….

An onsite emergency committee meeting was hurriedly convened to discuss the massive fashion faux pas that was this ride out.

Discussion had, Chris laid down the law that no one should cock up so horribly again or they would be out…out you hear?

The downtrodden fashionistas returned to their bikes, some wanted to fight for on-trend shirts, and some were merely inconsolable.

We rode home and the sunshine cheered us all up again…well apart from those that wouldn’t dare be seen with these style half wits…. they weren’t happy.

On a more serious note, worth mentioning the chapter received a nice message from a horse rider lady who we encountered on the return leg. Her horse got a bit nervous (fairly understandable if you have ever had Jigger come up behind you).

….I am talking about his exhaust noise….

Everyone took extreme care to pass quietly and cautiously and the lady reached out to mention her appreciation. Well done Clyde Valley….it goes some way to redeem yourselves for the otherwise appalling fashion transgression.

DJI_20230902132119_0057_D — All the photos from the Roseneath ride out on Flickr

Clyde Valley HOG do Thunder 2023. Probably

01/09/2023

2023 was the 25th running of Thunder in the Glens and it would be rude for CVH not to be there. A sizable contingent of Clyde Valley began making their way to Aviemore on Thursday but we still had a good-sized group riding up on the Chapter ride to Thunder from West Coast HD.

Led by Jigger around 17 bikes left WCHD at 11:30 in what were pretty changeable conditions. It actually started quite dry, but was mostly wet with torrential rain around the Stepps bypass heading out on the M80 and, as ever past …what’s it called?…. Cumbernauld.

Cumbernauld folk have evolved to have webbed feet and lay their eggs in puddles and ponds each spring. Probably.

Cumbernauld. The wettest place on earth. Probably

The group arrived safely at Stirling where we picked up around another 10 or so bikes for the next leg up to Pitlochry. This also provided an opportunity for one rider to lose their keys down the leg of their knickers.

Probably.

As always the sun was shining as we parked up at the Blair Atholl Distillery and grabbed a sandwich. Davie Fulton had nipped down from Thunder to meet us and join us for the ride back up. (maybe not the best move as the weather got progressively worse over the last 50 miles of the trip- but he don’t care… Probably).

Suitably checked in at Thunder we met up at the Winking Owl…supposedly for a photo but the weather (utterly persisting down) and later arrival of some meant others had drifted away and that kind of never happened. There were smurfs though.

After a wet Friday night it was pretty much raining stair rods again most of Saturday for the mass ride out to Grantown on Spey via Lochindorb. If you had done it before, in the conditions, many would have went….”nah, not this time”, but if you have never done the ride out then it was a case of why let rain spoil the fun. Around 900-1000 riders were of the latter view and it made for a spectacular sight leaving Aviemore. Quite a few CVH members joined the ride joined by some who rode up for the day as well. Then there was the Ladies of Harley event…staying classy as we knew you would . Probably.

Can you hear it?… Dunedin road crew leading off.

As usual, there was plenty of entertainment both official and unofficial in the various venues that line the Aviemore “strip”.

Sunday started a bit more variable with showery conditions which did initially worsen but then by early afternoon it was actually quite bright and dare I say, sunny. The Sunday ride out to Cairngorm while a smaller affair than Saturday’s ride, was actually very well attended, I am tempted to suggest there were more bikes this year than last year, and someone needs to explain to me the bone-dry couple of miles at the head of Loch Morlich heading up to the hill ( which was merely moist as well). It got wetter the closer to Aviemore High Street you went ( official: scientifically proven study conducted by me) until early afternoon when it all cleared up.

Sunday night had some great entertainment with top British Rock band Massive Wagons leading the way, followed by the rally finale led by the Rick Parfitt Junior Band singing all the usual covers and getting the audience involved.

A final post script: Clyde Valley HOG wish to convey our best wishes to Dunedin Chapter Director Stewart Willox and his partner Kerry who were involved in a rather nasty RTA on the Flying Fortress on Monday while heading to Grantown to get fuel. Apparently, the car driver that hit them pulling out of a junction didn’t see them… how can you miss seeing a huge Harley painted like an American flag on a highland road….? Speedy recovery to you both!