Sunday 22 January 2012

2012 Motorcycle Show at the Tradex!

Woo hoo - I made it to the show, my blog alas will not be as well written to my esteemed riding buddy Ms Princess Scooterpie!  She is such an awesome friend.  We are certainly going to be getting into mischief as the year rolls on by.  
Wow awakening at 4:30AM on a saturday is a rude awakening....but once awake, showered, dressed and packed my back pack for the day.  I was told by a friend to take a back pack to put all the stuff in you collect through the day......boy was Mike right!!  It weighed a ton by the end of the day.
The plan for the day was to enter all the competitions I could find, pick up all the brochures I could find and sit on as many bikes as I could. Check, check and check.  We three moto divas sure did that.
So as the day started, hopped into my little car and drove down to the meeting place, and of course as usual, I am always the first to arrive anywhere, and always by a good amount of time, so I sat and waited.
Soon my riding buddies arrived and after getting out of the cars, jumping around with excitement we awaited the scared Martin and Kevin to arrive.  Oh and while waiting, we still couldnt figure out why the fire ambulance across the road starting beeping his siren??  Was it at the 3 mature woman jumping around at 5:15am in the morning?
The guys arrived and after the hugs and screams we got into Kevins NICE escalade with the cream leather seats and so many lights inside that it looked like a christmas tree.  We pulled out of the parking lot to a cheer from us girls of "woo we are on our way"!!
It wasnt long before the guys were hearing "are we there yet" and then we got to Swartz Bay and boarded the ferry.
Now dont think the ride onto the ferry was uneventful, cause it wasnt.  Amidst the girls cheering , our lane started to move and we were directed up the ramp.....now BC Ferry staff...note here that you need to space cones so that it is actually possible for a vehicle to make it around the curves, and not dead end a lane into another lane!  Oh and then to the young man who was waving us onto the ramp, if you want us to stop, use the right signals!! Poor Kevin got glared at by the young man and yelled at to stop....
BUT did we care - no not at all cause we was a heading to the motorcycle show.....
We ended up with the best parking spot in the house - right up front with a view.  That is as long as the ferry didnt have a HARD landing again.  haha We met up with another rider friend Richard who came over and spoke with us.
We got into the line up for the yummy ferry white spot breakfasts, after getting our food and sitting down, I had to go and purchase a second cup of coffee.  The first one was a little on the spicy side, I had mistakenly put salt and pepper in my coffee instead of the sweetner!  Oops what can I say - excitement and the early hour contributed to that oopsy. lol
The trip sure didnt seem to take too long with all the excitement and the window shopping in the gift store!  Its sure expensive on the ferry.
It was time to get back in the van and get reading to get off the ferry.
 It was a pretty good docking - once the captien finally docked the ferry, it was the slowest docking I have ever had - I guess they have to try and improve their dockings without crashing eh?  Oh that wasnt nice to say hehe
Then we were off and heading out to the show....now you would think, Kevin had a pretty nice GPS on board, yet still asked for directions.  Darlene was getting directions from her blogging friend Bob, Cindy was messaging her hubby for directions, Martin was using the GPS on his phone and Martin was looking at the GPS in his car and also directions that were given to him.....they all had different directions - BUT we made it.
No potty breaks were had from the ferry to the show and so we had two highly caffeinated and doing the potty dance in the line up waiting for the doors to open, cracking jokes and trying not to laugh.  Finally we got in and everyone immediately disappeared to the closest bathrooms.
AND NOW the show began.  I was absolutely overwhelmed by how much was there and how many people!  Holy cow it was HUGE.  I didnt know where to start so the plan was to methodically work out way around the building in quarters.............that kind worked but Princess Scooterpie, like me, is very easily sidetracked, like kids in a candy store!

My favourite colour is yellow so of course this attracted me, I like Kawasakis too.  I realized that these sport bikes arent so bad afterall - this one I could pretty much sit upright which is what I want.
Here is Darlene on her favourite bike.  Doesnt she look cool on this bike?
Again here is another bike - I have lost track of the bike model but Im pretty sure this was a Ninja?  I have to work more on learning the looks of the different model of bikes.
Now here is my dream bike - the BMW650GS!! Sigh....and its a great fit, I could handle this bike.  But I am thinking this is not a possibility because its so expensive.
Well this was a great start to the day, but its late and I have to go to work in the morning, I might just ride depending on what the weather report says in the morning.  I want to try out my new helmet and tank bag,  its so cool getting all this bike stuff and outfitting my bike.  I will carry on my blog tomorrow evening.  Good night for now ..... sleep well.

6 comments:

  1. Miss Adventure Kiwi - you indeed were sitting on a green Ninja! I think you have great taste in bikes! I am hoping you get the Gladius it is a sweeeeeeeet looking bike! I had a blast with you and Cindy and the boys! I am looking forward to next year! What a gorgeous day today! Keep the rubber side down.

    PS I think you are right about us getting into a lot of trouble this year. :)

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  2. The GS suits you to a te....I love mine! Looks like a great time had, you guys are lucky you get great shows , we get nothing like that here in NZ!

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    1. But in NZ you have amazing scenic roads to ride :)

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  3. If you like yellow, you would have loved my F650GS which I sold last year to a lady from Tasmania who took the bike on a trip down PanAmericana (seriously!).
    Wasn't it a great show? Much better than Seattle.

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  4. Your trip to Tradex was amazing! No wonder you were all excited to go there. How many bikes did you manage to sit on? I bet waking up at 4:30 in the morning and traveling a long way was all worth it, hearing how happy you were that day. Anyway, have you decided what bike you want to buy?


    @Hannah Parkin

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  5. Hmm, where do I start? First off, you are very lucky to be in that motorcycle show. Many shows don’t give the participants a chance to touch, let alone sit, on the bikes. And, I can see why the BMW 650 GS is your favorite. I consider it to be perfect for both on-road and off-road trips. Now that’s versatility!

    Katelynn Woodbury

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