Six of us on five bikes met at the Grey Horse on Sunday 26th February for the Annual Leeds MAG Fred Hill Memorial Run. A bit of a disappointing turnout given it was mild with blue skies and dry roads, where was everybody !?!?!? The first rideout of the year and it was near perfect conditions.
Determined to enjoy our rideout however, we set off from the Grey Horse at 10, taking our trusty and scenic route to Squires, via Aberford Road, through Stanley, Methley, Castleford, Fairburn, Ledsham and arriving at Squires by around 10:45. Lots of time to grab a cup of coffee and meet .... all the other 20 odd Wakefield MAG members who had decided to go straight to Squires instead (no doubt the lure of fried breakfast products before the run proved just too much !!!!). Mystery solved anyway .... cracking turnout from our lot !!!
Cracking turnout indeed from the whole of Yorkshire MAG, with every Yorkshire MAG branch well represented.
Three of our bikes didn't get further than Squires, with Mick heading home for some kip ready for his night shift, Tracey having an appointment at 2, so playing safe with the timing, and Dave & Kaye retiring due to mechanical problems (or rather, too long pannier rail bolts fouling the back tyre when the suspension bottomed out - Dave wasn't too tactful by saying the problem was caused by excessive weight on the pillion seat !!! .... sure he'll have suffered for that comment later in the day !!!).
We all set off at 11:30 from Squires and it was a quite magnificent sight, with what looked like a few hundred bikes on the run. We followed the same trusty route to the Sun Inn at Otley, superbly marshalled by Leeds MAG and East Leeds Lions MCC.
Apparently 134 bikes arrived at The Sun Inn although that could be dodgy maths, it certainly looked like more.
A bucket collection went round at the Sun Inn which raised £143.50 for MAG! Excellent result. A huge thanks to Leeds MAG and their helpers for putting on an excellent Fred Hill Memorial Run.
A fitting tribute to a true MAG hero, and a rather good start to the riding season !!!!