Wheel alignment

Sunday 16 September 2012

Bikers in Blue charity run

Blue September is the Prostate Cancer Foundation fund-raising month in NZ.  There are all sorts of events to raise money for this worthy cause and the Fat Bikers Motorcycle Club organised charity rides in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.  IAM members were asked to go along and show the flag and it didn't take much prompting!

Unfortunately, the weather didn't co-operate in the early morning with torrential rain (it's been a very wet winter in the north island of NZ) and the 2 1/2 hour ride from Coromandel to Auckland to get to the start of the ride was awful, with a lot of standing water about.  To make matters worse, the zip zipper-up thingy on my overjacket exploded en route without me being aware until a rivulet of icy water ran down my chest.  Never mind, good excuse to visit an accessory shop in the next few days!

The Triple all decked out in blue tinsel

Fortunately, the rain stopped shortly after arriving and the roads dried out pretty quickly for the run itself which was great.

All manner of sports bikes and cruisers came along and the next photo of a Suzuki Gladius with a life-sized dummy on the back is especially for Brandy.  It might give her ideas for punishing Brad if he's blotted his copybook ;-).

A seating position to make your eyes water!

There were some nicely finished bikes there and the Suzuki M109 clearly had a lot of money spent on it.

Beautiful M109 with blue helmet hair!

Didja notice the nitrous bottle in the previous photo?

Another M109 from the front!

An awful lot of Can-Ams

Mark (Fat Max) Hill, the FBMC front man; gave a hilarious ride briefing where he had everyone in stitches.  At the end of the ride, there were heaps of donated raffle prizes with Mark again as the MC.  We all know that events like this take a huge amount of organising but Mark and his team made it all look easy.  The hallmark of very slick work.  A big well done guys! 

 Love the tee shirt Mark!

To end on an appropriate note, Mark talked for a bit about prostate cancer and what I didn't realise is that 1 in 10 men will suffer from it at some time in their life.  That's a pretty high percentage and I'll be ringing the doc to get a test in the next few days.  Thanks Mark, you're a gem - I'll even buy you a pie from the Coromandel Pie Company if you get up this way!



19 comments:

  1. Good stuff, Geoff. Awareness rides are a always a great thing, and proven to be quite efficient in a male dominated environment such as motorcycling.

    It shouldn't be an issue to have their private parts checked out every so often (for ladies it doesn't seem to be) but for some guys this particular trip to the doctor is a road less or too late traveled.

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    1. Hi Sonja!
      It certainly doesn't bother me but it was good to have a reminder to pick up the phone. Mark said that it only took a little prick so maybe it's a blood test nowadays. Then again, it could have been a derogatory comment about all the males attending the ride :-).

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  2. Onya Geoff! I'm a fat biker but yet to do any of their runs (a bit far away). Mmmmm, an M109 with nitrous - I likee!

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    1. Cheers Andrew,
      Yeah, that M109 was pretty nice but caning it through the twisties might be a terrifying experience!

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  3. Blotted my copybook.... hmmmm. I had to look that one up.

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    1. Haha - not an internationally known phrase clearly. All right - stuffed up, irritated Brandy.... you choose ;-)

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  4. Some cool bikes there Geoff and for a good cause. Thanks for including the pic of the Gladdy. I don't think I could wrangle Brad to sit on Max backwards let alone long enough to tie him down to it, lol. But great idea.......

    I think it is punishment enough that when he rides Max now it has a small blue and white rubber Smurfette attached to the top of the right radiator cover. Good thing he is secure in his masculinity.

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  5. Hi Brandy!

    There were more cruisers than other bikes but some nice stuff nonetheless. Perhaps dragging Brad behind the Gladius would be more appropriate??? Incidentally, I rode behind the woman with the Gladius for a little while and it as hellish noisy with that aftermarket can on!

    Hehe - perhaps the Smurfett could be his guardian angel!

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  6. A great cause for you to support Geoff. I've had a close mate with prostate cancer at age 55, but with early diagnosis and treatment his outlook is excellent. Other than the digital rectal exam there is a blood test called a PSA, however, it's use and benefit remains controversial.

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  7. Great cause Geoff; MArk is certainly a larger than life personality. I looked at the weather at nine and it was pouring so decided not to put the kids through that..made roast pork lunch instead!

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    1. Tsk, tsk Rog,

      Ya live a couple of minutes from the venue and it stopped raining well before departure. You've gone soft since you bought a BMW ;-). Must admit that riding down the coast road with waterfalls pouring off the cliffs, there was a strong temptation to turn round and head back myself!

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  8. Hi Jules!
    I guess with your medical knowledge, your use of the word digital doesn't mean an instrument with a digital readout, more's the pity! Oh well, I'll still go through with it!

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  9. Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Bikers in Blue charity run":

    Hi Geoff.
    Great blog on the ride. I myself am a fat biker (the one they give all the sh*t to) There were a total of 72 bikes on the day. It was my very first charity ride (well riding myself) and i absolutly loved it. Prostate Cancer is a big issue amongst men in NZ. 550 men per year die of prostate cancer in NZ alone.. Now thats a scary thought. Guys get your prostate checked. Its worth doing. Im going to get mine checked and im only 18. Remember early detecion means early treatment.

    Hi Anon,
    Sorry for stuffing up your reply - pressed the wrong button! Yeah, you did seem to cop plenty of stick at the event, it was great. FBMC are an impressive bunch of people.

    I seem to remember that you came down from Whangarei. If it was as bad as my run to the event, I sympathise but it was well worth it.

    Thanks for dropping by!

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  10. Such a great event. My father was diagnosis with prostate cancer a couple years ago. His PSA test proved his cancer at a very early stage. Radiation pellets inserted under the skin provided treatment and all is looking good. Thank you for profiling the event.

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    1. Thanks Lori,
      Guys in general aren'lt that good about getting health checks and it's great to help publicise the need to take care of ourselves

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  11. What a great event! Too bad the weather was a little uncooperative, but doesn't look like it put a damper on things over all. Fun to see the bikes all decked out in blue.

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  12. Hi Kari,
    Yeah, it'll be nice when summer kicks in but any day on 2 wheels is a good day, especially meeting other great people for the first time. Even met a guy I haven't seen for about 5 years which was pretty cool.

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  13. Great Cause to ride for - we have a Ride for Dad here in Ontario for the same cause.

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  14. Sure is Karen! And what's more, I'll be making an appointment this week for a check. It's the Pink Ribbon ride for breast cancer awareness next month and the IAM are marshalling the event. Just wait until you see Roger and me pretty in pink!!!

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