JO BOES, LEADER OF HIGHWAY DRAGONS, CLEANING UP WHILE WE PLAYED - LEAD BY EXAMPLE?

The Dragon Rally was held at Castaways Holiday Resort, KZN South Coast from 26th to 29th July 2007. Hosted by well-known Durban club, Highway Dragons, the event has grown in popularity over the years and is firmly established on the national annual bike rally calendar.

Traditionally, the Dragon kicks off with the pre-rally Jack Frost jol on the Thursday evening prior to the start of the rally. I could not make Jack Frost, but when I called a tired-sounding Jo on Friday morning to ask how it went he informed that it was awesome and better attended than ever before.

Lady Friend and I pitched early Friday evening - and by car because my bike is giving me more shit that I care to believe exists in the world! Registration was painless, although the Highway Dragons' guys at the gate were looking decidedly stressed - which is as good an indicator as any that one hell of a party was underway! 

We started with a little walkabout just to see what was what. We successfully negotiated the bikes and tents that littered the place, found the bar, main marquee (from which the music was already pumping) and the several food stalls. And of course, the ever present CMA (South Coast chapter) kept the coffee piping hot throughout.

The party was on!

SOME CLUBS SPOTTED

Thumpers MC was the best represented club with 54 registered pre-entries and millions of the buggers wherever one looked. And, amongst their numbers they counted Durban's best-known ballie biker, Des Pistorius (you know, that chap that rides with his dog, Boswell...?). I'd never met Uncle Des before and was chuffed for the opportunity to do so - and to receive his invite to go along to his place for a chat. That will make great reading for The Rag in our next edition!

DES PISTORIUS & BOSWELL POSE FOR THE RAG

I'm pretty sure I drank harder on Friday night than I have in a while, but I'm not sure. Somewhere along the line my memory appears to have faded away - and it is just as well that I took photograph after photograph!. Bar prices were reasonable too; R7 a beer; R8 a tot of spirits. No wonder I got really canned.

Friday night was mostly music by a DJ and drinking! Around 22h00 a wind came up that almost took the marquee out for a date, an event we were saved from from the dozens of bikers that rapidly grabbed guide ropes and hung on for dear life!

THE PARTY

LOONE'S BEST BIKES AT THE DRAGON

DUC 999

ZX14

Saturday was all hang-over, sleep and recoup for Saturday night, so I missed the mass ride, the concourse, the doughnuts and pub-crawling - all of which, I'm told, were great.

As we entered the rally site on Saturday evening an injured biker was being carted off to hospital. As far as I know, sore heads aside, this was the only casualty.

A live band was bashing out some hard rock in the marquee and a DJ was doing his thing in the bar/entertainment area, all of which took a break for the prize-giving and the crowning of Ms and Mr Dragon. Total prize value was about R 60K, including a custom spray job and a bike trailer - and a little bit of everything for a whole lot of bikers. Me, I got nothing, as usual, but the biker chick next to me won herself a leather jacket worth about R 3K in the lucky drawer.

MS & MR DRAGON 2007

SPOTTED! HANNELIE AND NEVILLE FROM
HIGHWAY RIDERS MC

And naturally, there was the obligatory strip show. The Dragons are not a sexist lot, I guess, so they threw in one of each kind...

LADY FRIEND AND THE MALE STRIPPER "GET IT ON". I WAS SO BUSY LAUGHING I DID NOT HAVE TIME TO MOER HIM...

Later, Lady Friend and I talk a stroll round the campsite and met up with the guys from Sting MC (Durban chapter). They had with them a lady biker named Cynthia Milton...

STING MC CAMPSITE. PRESIDENT & TRIKE RIDER CHRSTO KRUGE IS ON THE LEFT

En route to The Dragon, Sting MC came across Cynthia at the Marianhill toll plaza, where they "hijacked" her to join them at The Dragon. Cynthia is on the final leg of an around the world bike ride. The lady has got to be one of the most unassuming people I have ever met. She has done the ride all by herself and without any on-road support structures, doing her own thing quietly and motivated only by her personal desire to have her own adventure. Awesome - and a person that makes the average biker a total novice just because she has done it. Quietly. You can see her thing at:

www.cynthia.boxerman.co.uk/index.htm

The organisers of The Dragon paid tribute to her presence by awarding her the prize for the biker who had traveled the most distance to get to The Dragon!

CYNTHIA MILTON, A 52 YEAR OLD BRIT PASSING THROUGH SA ON THE LAST LEG OF HER SOLO AROUND THE WORLD BIKE RIDE

CYNTHIA'S BIKE - BMW R80G/S

After meeting Cyntia The Rag emailed a bunch of bike clubs through the Cape to inform of her ride. I'm told that she has been overwhelmed by good, old-fashioned South African biker hospitality and is today in PE and going well.

Highway Dragons, well done. It was a damn fine rally! As the big guy says, "I'll be back!"

While The Dragon ended well for us, it did not do so for Christo Kruge of Sting MC (Durban). Riding back to Durban his trike caught fire and was pretty much trashed!

You can reach Christo at christok@lantic.net. He's not the kind of guy to ask for help, but if you have a spare resource or two to help get him back on the road, I'm sure he could use it.

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