Protest ride.

 


Had a day off work to ride to Wellington to protest at proposed ACC
price hikes. I rode down on my own, passing small groups of bikes, who
would them speed up to match my speed. As this 'group' caught up to and
passed other groups, the same thing happened until there were 40-50
bikes (all sorts...'L' platers to 1%ers) riding the white line with all
traffic moving aside. The biggest pain was other riders not passing and
blocking the others. It's legal to pass on a double yellow line, as long
as you don't cross it and you are indicating.....I'm afraid the
'cruiser' crowd just don't get it. Once they twigged to 'keep left' if
your'e not passing, things sped up again.

Great to see the motorway full of bikes. The traffic lights were all
green and cops were everywhere keeping the way clear for the bikes. The
walk from the parking lot to parliament grounds was uncomfortable in the
midday heat. For some reason they had chained one of the side gates to
the grounds shut (The one closest to the parking lot of course). It
wasn't much of a challenge to scale the wall (4 feet high) and get a
good spot among the trees for shade. They had a few speeches before the
ACC minister came out. It was good to hear a few thousand people chant
"Bullshit, Bullshit" in unison.  :)

I left early to miss the rush and had an excellent ride home. Cops
everywhere, but the timing was always spot on....I was either in traffic
  or we passed each other on a crest. The cops have stopped leaving
their radars on to try and avoid detection from radar detectors....so
they flick them on when they see a potential target. If they aren't
quick enough, they miss their chance.

The harley boguns were great to follow until they hit traffic, thats
when the KTM came into it's own. Enough grunt and fast handling to
squeeze through traffic.

The rear brake didn't howl at all. Pulling the wheel off, de-glazing the
pads/rotors and giving everything a wipe down seems to have cured it
(for now....apparently it's common on RC8's?)





http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3068553/Biker-protest-heads-to-Parliament

 

BrianNZ wrote:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3068553/Biker-protest-heads-to-Parliament  

Great stuff, Brian. One of the few things that can rouse Canadians
from our chronic complaisant lethargy in protest of anything is when
our National Sacred Ritual is threatened (ie, Hockey Night in Canada).

By way of illustration, one of the most poignant productions
in the history of Canadian film is _The Hockey Sweater_. It's only
10 minutes running time but you'd have to have grown up in Canada
to truly understand the devastating impact on a young boy's when his
mother gets him a hockey sweater with the wrong team's colors.
Read about here, if you dare:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hockey_Sweater

Ps. Starting 2001 the back of the Cdn $5 bill has had this quotation:

   Les hivers de mon enfance étaient des saisons longues, longues.
   Nous vivions en trois lieux: l'école, l'église et la patinoire;
   mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire. -- Roch Carrier

   ("The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived
   in three places - the school, the church and the skating rink -
   but our life was on the skating rink.")

SQ

 


Accessory price hikes? Anti-Catholic Coalition? Most of us don't know what
you are talking about.

 

Stupendous Man wrote:

 > BrianNZ wrote:

Maybe the Animal Condom Company?  He is in New Zealand.  Gotta protect
the sheep.

--
"Outback" Jon  -  KC2BNE
outback_jon@g.no.sp.am.mail.com
http://folding.stanford.edu  - got folding?  Team 32

2006 ZG1000A Concours "Blueline" COG# 7385 CDA# 0157

 

Stupendous Man wrote:

If you'd read the article you could have figured it out.  I believe it
refers to what the government charges owners to title their bikes when
first purchased.

Of course, if I got that wrong.... in the immortal words of Emily
Litella: "never mind".



Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerd at carolina.rr.com