Working behind the scene to organize a Bike show can be a roller coaster ride of emotions, especially when relying on other people to do their part.
Ned Kelly’s Rally at the Mt Alford Hotel has been an annual event of stalls, bands and also a show and shine of the crowd’s bikes.
Last year Harry from “Harry’s Custom Bikework” decided he would like to participate in doing the “Bikeshow” instead of Ned’s show and shine. This is a more traditional type of show that has been done internationally for many years in the biker scene. Now this is Harry’s second year, having learnt from the first year, hopefully all the kinks are ironed out; this year should be bigger and better than the last.
Harry’s reputation in Australia speaks for itself so acquiring sponsors came easily. They all play a crucial part in the success, be it advertising, donating money and or prizes, plus one company played a big part in the end product of the trophies!
In the final few days leading up to the show the trophies and T-shirts had not arrived yet, but so long as everything was ready to be packed by Thursday, then loaded into the truck ready to hit the road to Mt Alford on Friday morning!
I planned to be at the shop Thursday morning to itemize and pack the parts etc. We could not wait to see what QLD Motorcycle Panel & Paint had done with the airplane pistons to be turned into trophies. Last years trophies were great so this year Harry wanted to raise the bar and blow the crowds minds! The trophies and T-shirts arrived Thursday morning just before I arrived, not only did the trophies raise the bar but they took it to another level, awesome!!!
By the afternoon all parts, trophies, t-shirts and prizes were finally all packed up ready to go.
Saturday is going to rock! So if you’ve missed this event it’s going to be a whole year to wait again!
People have been ringing, emailing and visiting the shop wondering if the government’s new laws on the news will make any difference to the show. Giving their support to the events, a couple of non bikers walked in the shop whilst I was there to comment about their distaste for the governments actions!!!! Now there is always a police presence wherever bikers are but we hoped they were coming with a good attitude and actions.
Saturday arrives, the sun is out and apparently the weather is supposed to be in the low 30’s (Celsius), which is 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
The crowd slowly trickles in around 9am; by 11am we’ve heard reports of police roadblocks around Rathdowny only pulling over bikes, which was not stopping the riders.
Vietnam Vets MC arrived in force with an ABC news crew; they were not stopped by police, which was a disappointment as the TV crews were ready to film. The Police helicopter was circling above maybe filming it all. Come noon there must have been at least 600 bikes parked everywhere; this was an awesome sight to behold!
There were quite a few stalls, a pizza oven attached to a trailer made mad pizzas,
Khan from “Mutantbuell HD Eddiehorror Motorcycles” put on a fantastic display of gore, coffins and bikes juiced up with zombie blood. Of course the usual jewelry, hamburgers, milkshakes, Bric-a-Brac stalls and of course Harry’s stall run by the lovely Diane and myself.
So many great ideas on people’s rides, I’m so glad we are not all the same or this world would be boring! Quite a few bikes were entered in the competition and many more that should’ve been. The judges Whytee and Steve had a tough time. The awards were to be announced at 5pm, however by 4pm a large portion of riders had left.
Last year I was asked to announce the awards and winners 30 minutes before and was so nervous, at the end Harry had a Jack Daniels waiting for me as I gladly sat down before my knees gave way, LOL. This year I had more time to prepare thus not forgetting to thank the judges this time. Now with the winners, their trophies and goodies bags all posing for the cameras, all that was left to do was drink my first Jack Daniels for the day and pack up again.
Another great day in the biker calendar ticked and marked till next year!
A big thank you to:
Bridget, Scott and her two daughters for taking care of the bike registrations, Whytee and Steve the judges, Jules from “Ozbike” who took so many pictures, hope to see them in the magazine soon.
Jeff and Karen took loads of great photos for “Live to Ride” magazine.
Mick N Co was doing pictures for Harry plus he did a photo shot around the front of the pub, to the delight of onlookers, Chops from “Dirty Love Magazine” was snapping many pictures too. This is a relatively new magazine so please show your support and check it out.
To all the sponsors, we hope to have you on board again next year.
Thanks to Ned Kelly for all his hard work.
Thanks to all the brave riders coming to keep these events and keeping our life style alive regardless, and to ABC station for showing our side of events.
Last but not least a big Thank you to Harry for putting on such a great show and for allowing me to play some part in it all!!!!
Until next time, take it easy, knees in the breeze. FTW!
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