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Post by lew on May 9, 2008 14:06:53 GMT
Erm.....most have gone  ....if you want to, pm me with your mobile no, I can pass it on to one of the ladies....sorry |
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Post by Wyvern on May 9, 2008 14:35:50 GMT
I'm here! The epic journey from Plymouth took almost 9 hours, once the delay that made me miss my last connection was taken into account, but on the plus side if I hadn't been delayed at Chester I wouldn't have seen a Caterham 7 puttering around and neither would I have seen a lovely new Bentley Continental GT parked outside the station  Looking forward to meeting the others, but first going to have a mooch and find supplies... |
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2008 14:39:45 GMT
Wow great car spotting!!! |
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Post by Wyvern on May 9, 2008 14:44:23 GMT
You know me The Bentley was parked up next to an X-Type, which was nice enough, but then I caught a glimpse of the Bentley's back end and I thought, ooh, what have we here?! Not something you see every day! Sadly, it had personalised plates, but still, very nice  |
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Post by Wyvern on May 10, 2008 14:39:01 GMT
We're all here. It's very warm and XJ bought a rather kinky top at the bike show The hotel definitely smells. |
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Post by Wyvern on May 11, 2008 23:09:04 GMT
Well, the Thundersprint is over for another year and I'm sitting quietly in my hotel room. Not really sure where to begin, but I have had an absolutely fantastic weekend and it has been lovely to meet up with so many boardies. I suppose I could start at the beginning, which for me was 7am on Friday when I left the house. I've already mentioned the journey but it was over 8 hours later when I finally reached the hotel. We found an Italian restaurant which was reasonably priced and although I can't speak for the others, my meal was lovely. Then we hit the bar and got chatting to some people who were with the event sponsors. Take note of this, you may see a pattern emerging... Saturday was show day, so we wandered down to the local rugby club and had a good nose around. It didn't seem all that huge, but there was an interesting and impressive selection of bikes, trikes and ephemera on display, not to mention lots of stalls selling very odd combinations of items. Then we realised the bar was open, so we had a drink (JUST ONE!) followed by another mooch around and wandered back. There then followed a minor technological crisis as my laptop decided to go into meltdown and try to take MF's fic with it. Fortunately, I'm quite tenacious and two hours, and an emergency software purchase, later, everything was fixed and all was well. More boardies were located and we ended up having dinner in Wethersthingys (beers included "Piston Broke" and "Bruin's Ruin") before coming back to the hotel and chatting with some Thundersprint-ers in the bar until the wee small hours. Which brings us onto today, the day of the Thundersprint "proper". It started well for me, with a truly massive breakfast. I had a feeling I would need it, and I was right The weather has been stunning and the event had such a good atmosphere - loads of stalls, bouncy castles and the like, charities (including Help for Heroes, I was pleased to note) and of course, hundreds of bikes; bikes on display, bikes for sale and of course all the riders and competitors. There were cheerleaders and morris dancers, street musicians and face painters, a real carnival atmosphere. And then came the Cavalcade, in which the competitors and some other riders brought their bikes, trikes and combinations (not to mention a few old cars, and the Lord Mayor on the back of a pickup) in procession through the streets of Northwich. The noise was quite magnificent and I think the police outriders probably had the best job in town. On returning to the site, we confirmed that the declaration on the website that Thundersprint is more about Maypole dancing than pole dancing is absolutely true; we found the maypole to prove it. By now it was the hottest part of the day, so I decided to go and find a hat. I'm glad that I did, because what happened next would have been odd in company. maybe it's because I've always had a fascination with them, or maybe it's because I've been reading so much about their background lately, but when the Spitfire did its flypast, I simply couldn't contain my emotions. It was somehow deeply moving, which is how I found myself staring into the blue with tears streaming down my face and a deep sense of gratitude to providence that I had remembered my sunglasses. And yet, the moment was also profoundly uplifting - as the pilot tipped the Spit's wings in farewell, I was buzzing. And then I saw something wide, black and menacing lurking in a marquee. I'd gone into that part of the site to look at some Royal Enfield bikes, but I was distracted by the sinister shape over the way. So I went and had a mooch and found a black Audi R8 with black leather interior. Of course, I had a good look and tried not to drool on the paintwork. Whether you love it or not, it's hard to dismiss its presence and I was pleased to have the opportunity to get up close to one. Then I met back up with the others, a little bit of arsing about ensued (but I won't go into that for the moment because you may well get to hear more about that in the days to come) - which was fun - and then it was time for the sprints, when bikes in various different classes take turns to do timed laps of a circuit that in this case is normally the carpark behind a branch of M&S. Again, the noise and the variety of bikes was wonderful, especially as this time you got to hear them one at a time. It was a little bit like watching Top Gear in that you soon got to realise what a quick laptime would be, how different types of vehicle would vary over the course and when a rider was on course to set a particularly good time. There was also an incredible trike built in part from the back end of an XJS, but at 17 feet long it was apparently not feasible to take it around the track; it wouldn't have managed the corners. But it was a fabulous beast and its owner was a very entertaining lady. Towards the end of the day we wandered up to the paddock and were given another little treat by providence; the marquees were packing up and the R8 had been brought outside. Time to have a good mooch again... many photos and declarations of "pure filth!" at the exposed engine followed before we had the rare good fortune to see and hear it in action. It did sound beautiful, a surprisingly mellow, throaty purr as it started up. I watched it leave and caught a final glimpse as it ran along the road at the top of the site. Eventually, after flaking out on the grass in the paddock, we managed to haul ourselves back the Floatel and went (surprise) to the bar. But it was shut. However, it wasn't a problem - we just popped back into town, found a bar and had a last drink there before finally going our ways. I'm not sure what my most enduring memory of the weekend will be, there have been so many fantastic moments. But most of all, I am glad I shared those moments with such a great bunch of people. Thanks, MF, XJ, DD, Kimmi, Sarah (and your mate), Ly and Inky for making it so special ;D |
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2008 23:19:43 GMT
Thank you for the report Wy, sounds like a fantastic time was had by all |
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Post by cheeselova on May 11, 2008 23:24:34 GMT
Would it be ok to put the photo's I have of the people I met today on here? Or is it best somewhere else ? DD, ive prepared a Locked Thread on Public Events, James sub-board ready for you. Just tell me when you're ready to post  |
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Post by cheeselova on May 11, 2008 23:29:07 GMT
Wy, im already planning next year ;D
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Post by starfish on May 12, 2008 9:30:55 GMT
That was a great report Wy. Thank you. I may consider coming next year & see what its all about evan if James doesn't go again.
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Post by lymaze on May 12, 2008 15:00:05 GMT
Afternoon. Well i don't think I can say much more - Wyvern has pretty much described the event perfectly. It was great to meet up with Inky, Mayfayre and XJ again, and meet Wy, Sarah, Kimmi and DD. Thanks to everyone for making it a lovely weekend.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2008 21:05:57 GMT
This is a pic from last year. But I snaffled it from HH and Ttyrants!  Hope you don't mind TT  Thank you!   bump this up |
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Post by Mayfayre on May 12, 2008 22:55:13 GMT
Basically, what they said ^^^ and thanks to XJ for the lift back to London.
I have loads of pics, I'll have to get them sorted & online, which will take a day or 2, but I'll post a link to them here for everyone.
Now I really need to go and unpack....
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Post by Mayfayre on May 13, 2008 16:54:06 GMT
And you DD, and a few others. Right my photos are now online here. Don't worry, there are no people in them! |
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Post by Wyvern on May 13, 2008 17:11:22 GMT
And you DD, and a few others. Right my photos are now online here. Don't worry, there are no people in them! By no people, I take it you mean none of us? I've just been getting rather distracted by the bare-chested chap with the long hair and leathers, and I definitely think he counts as a "people" Great photos - that's a cracking camera you've got there, and you're obviously very handy with it! |
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Post by lymaze on May 13, 2008 17:21:51 GMT
Great photos Mayfayre. I want to be Wendy (the XJS/bike riding hells angel woman) in my next life. ;D There's a Members Photos thread under the Mind Body Soul area - so if anyone wants to post any of members (with their permission obviously) they can go there. |
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Post by lew on May 13, 2008 17:26:31 GMT
Great photos Mayfayre. I want to be Wendy (the XJS/bike riding hells angel woman) in my next life. ;D There's a Members Photos area under MBS - so if anyone wants to post any of members (with their permission obviously) they can go there. Sorry that bloke on the 2nd lot of pics is rather mouth watering ;D |
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Post by lew on May 13, 2008 17:40:47 GMT
Sorry mf......all the pics are lovely it's just one stood out |
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Post by lymaze on May 13, 2008 17:43:33 GMT
It does doesn't it. Do we know his name? We could change the Boards.......   |
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Post by Mayfayre on May 13, 2008 19:05:03 GMT
No idea who he was at all, he just kinda caught my eye as I waked past. ;D
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Post by Wyvern on May 13, 2008 19:07:12 GMT
Yours and several others |
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Post by xjsarah on May 13, 2008 19:17:53 GMT
Great pics, MF. What happened to the spanners?! |
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Post by lew on May 13, 2008 20:41:14 GMT
It does doesn't it. Do we know his name? We could change the Boards....... Right at the stroke of midnight this board changes it's name ;D |
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Post by starfish on May 13, 2008 20:54:19 GMT
Thanks for posting those Pics Mf.
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Post by lymaze on May 13, 2008 21:03:09 GMT
It does doesn't it. Do we know his name? We could change the Boards....... Right at the stroke of midnight this board changes it's name ;D The Unknown Biker Board - sounds good. |
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Post by lew on May 13, 2008 21:11:18 GMT
Right at the stroke of midnight this board changes it's name ;D The Unknown Biker Board - sounds good. Excellent...... as we hold the keys, we can do as we like |
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Post by lymaze on May 13, 2008 21:14:05 GMT
If we ask Aaurora nicely she might make us a new header. ;D
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Post by lew on May 13, 2008 21:16:05 GMT
If we ask Aaurora nicely she might make us a new header. ;D Blimey yes.....actually we need to find him ;D...drag him to us |
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Post by Mayfayre on May 13, 2008 22:15:17 GMT
There's a video clip of the cavalcade here.And I've added the spanner photo to the album as well. |
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Post by Wyvern on May 29, 2008 12:43:50 GMT
I had a charming email from Frank Melling this morning. He seemed rather surprised I'd endured 8 hours of the hell on earth formerly known as British Rail in order to get to Thundersprint... but that aside, dates for your diaries, ladies! Next year's Thundersprint will be held over the weekend of May 9/10 so make sure that you put the date in your diary.Thank you, Frank |
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....if you want to, pm me with your mobile no, I can pass it on to one of the ladies....sorry 
Thank you! 
