CONGRATS TO LEON ON 10 YEAR MEMBERSHIP!

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VIRAGO STAR OWNERS CLUB www.vsoc.org.uk www.lostriders.

Leon (with wife Margaret) having his 10 year patch presented by Malc at the dinner before last month s meeting at the Arkwright Arms in Derbyshire.

(Speaking of Viragos, I recently rode the the wife s Virago 535 back from Cardigan Bay while she towed our caravan back with the car - a distance of about 240

whole journey. Wow! Viragos rock! - Ed.) Centre Rep & Merchandiser E J 30 Mareham Lane Sleaford Lincs. NG34 7FR 01529 414671 07872 075851 darlingtone@aol.

co.uk Leicestershire & Northants Counties Rep Pete Brown 0116 291 6809 leonebrown@btinternet.com Notts County Rep John Simpson 01159 373570 Harold.Simpson@bem.

1 VIRAGO STAR OWNERS CLUB Centre 9 East & North Midlands August 2008 Derbyshire, Notts, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northants, Rutland CONGRATS TO LEON ON 10 YEAR MEMBERSHIP! Leon (with wife Margaret) having his 10 year patch presented by Malc at the dinner before last month s meeting at the Arkwright Arms in Derbyshire. Like any sensible person, Leon rides a Virago 1100, but rumour has it he is also the proud owner of a Triumph Bonnie. (Speaking of Viragos, I recently rode the the wife s Virago 535 back from Cardigan Bay while she towed our caravan back with the car - a distance of about 240 miles - and I must say it did very well indeed on a really hot day with only two 5 minute stops for petrol (for the bike) and a sandwich (for me) during the whole journey. Wow! Viragos rock! - Ed.) Centre Rep & Merchandiser E J 30 Mareham Lane Sleaford Lincs. NG34 7FR darlingtone@aol.com Deputy Centre Rep & Lincolnshire County Rep Trevor Bridgwood trac5641@yahoo.co.uk CENTRE 9 CONTACTS Derbyshire County Rep Warren Kirk karltromans@hotmail.co.uk Leicestershire & Northants Counties Rep Pete Brown leonebrown@btinternet.com Notts County Rep John Simpson Harold.Simpson@bem.fki-et.com Newsletter Editor Keith Mason rumblingstar@aol.com Ride-out Liaison Officer Karl Tromans karltromans@hotmail.co.uk Treasurer Tessa Lunn tessa.lunn@sky.com Webmaster Terry Warren billio51@hotmail.com 1

1st - 3rd August Grim Reaper Rally Wot s On MEETING DATES & VENUES 5th August First monthly meeting at The Centre 9 Lost Riders new venue - The Boot & Shoe Inn, Main Street, Flintham NG23 5LA - come

2 1st - 3rd August Grim Reaper Rally Wot s On MEETING DATES & VENUES 5th August First monthly meeting at The Centre 9 Lost Riders new venue - The Boot & Shoe Inn, Main Street, Flintham NG23 5LA - come on folks, let s make this a success! See map (below) 22nd - 25th August Centre 3 Rally MONDAY 25th AUGUST - DEADLINE FOR SEPT. NEWSLETTER Sunday 31st August The 7th Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance Run From Bottesford to Skegness run will be taking place this year, and will be going to a new venue. We are going to the Lilywhites Social Club at Skegness Town Football Club because the Welcome Inn was unable to accommodate us on this occasion. All bikes, trikes and scooters are welcome. A donation of 5 per bike will be collected on arrival at Skegness 12th-14th September Wedding of Kev & Jen 14th September Brighton Burn Up Ace Cafe 10th - 12th October Catapult 3 CENTRE 9 MAIN MEETING - FIRST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH From August, Centre 9 meetings will be held at The Boot & Shoe Inn, Main Street, Flintham NG23 5LA. Flintham is on the A46 in between Newark and Bingham. There will still be a monthly meeting at the Grey Goose held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. DERBYSHIRE 1st Sunday of the Month Meeting - Clay Cross Powersports am. Chin-wag & brekkie 2nd Monday of Month Meeting - THE ARKWRIGHT ARMS, Sutton-cum-Duckmanton, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S44 5JG Tel: (01246) (just off J29 of M1) - see Lost Riders website for Google Map. Includes free food such as chip butties with home-made chips Third Sunday of the Month Ride-Out starting from Clay Cross Powersports am. Contact Karl Tromans for details: LEICESTERSHIRE / NORTHANTS The Tavern Inn WALCOTE, Nr Lutterworth 1 minute from J20 M1 2nd Wednesday of the month from 7.30pm LINCOLNSHIRE Castle Inn, CONINGSBY 2nd Wednesday of each month from 8pm ALSO 2nd Sunday s - various locations! 1st & 2nd November Imps Mcc End of Season Party 27th November - 7th December NEC Bike Show 30th November Bottesford Toy Run see Lost Riders website for more info. on above events: NOTTS The Grey Goose Gedling, 3rd Tuesday of the month, starting from August (see above). 2

Warren s Word s Hi Everyone, hope you are all well, etc. Just a few words on what s been happening. Early June saw Karl and myself heading towards Tonna, in South Wales for their party.

The Welsh lads and Lassies are very hospitable and Saturday s band was absolutely fantastic, with a fantastic Mustang Sally sung by Centre 9 s Kev!

) I ve just got back from the Farmyard bash in Helmsley, run by MAG, (Motorcycle Action Group) - big, big rally. Should we make it a club weekend next year?

3 Warren s Word s Hi Everyone, hope you are all well, etc. Just a few words on what s been happening. Early June saw Karl and myself heading towards Tonna, in South Wales for their party. It s a pity a few more of you couldn t make it cos we had a really good time weekend. At Tonna I think there were 7 Centre 9 Lost Riders who made the trip, and it was well worth it. The Welsh lads and Lassies are very hospitable and Saturday s band was absolutely fantastic, with a fantastic Mustang Sally sung by Centre 9 s Kev! I m now riding a TDM 900, and it s a bit of a hooligan compared to the Deauville and I m enjoying its fun aspect (if you know what I mean?) I ve just got back from the Farmyard bash in Helmsley, run by MAG, (Motorcycle Action Group) - big, big rally. Should we make it a club weekend next year? I bumped into quite a few Centre 9ers up there. Anyway, we are hoping to meet you at Claycross Powersports, on the 1 st and 3 rd Sundays of each month, the 3 rd Sunday being a rideout meet, and the 1 st Sunday being a coffee and chat meet; of course, we can always go for a ride if anyone wants to. Best to go now, as I have been going on too long. See you soon. Be safe and happy. Warren (Derbyshire Rep.) news Around the regions & reps trevor s lincolnshire news Another month over! These deadlines seem to race by and talking of racing last night several Lincolnshire members attended the Cruiser Bike night at Cadwell Park. It was a glorious summer evening and even just going along for the ride there was fun. Five members actually went round the track to my knowledge, but there could have been others earlier as I didn t get there till 19:30. It was great fun as you can see from the pics. I was a little surprised that none of the Centre 9 speed kings were in attendance though! Last weekend was the Sherwood Forest meet with the Yorkies; hopefully the weather will continue and by the time you are reading this we will be able to talk about another great day out. There are still plenty of things going on over the summer so make the most of the weather and get out on those bikes! EJ s Corner Hi Everyone, Well what can I say, this month has been hectic to say the least. Boston Bike Night was brilliant. The weather meant that it was one of the best attended that I have seen in years; we had a good stand with quite a few VSOC members bringing their bikes to show off, and not just Lincolnshire members either, a few made it across from Nottingham. I couldn t attend the Centre 19 Rally but by all accounts everyone had a good time. Instead I was presenting a couple of trophies on behalf of the VSOC for the National Youth Bike Finals. Centre 6 had their Camping Weekend at Tattershall Leisure Park and a couple of Lost trev (Deputy Centre Rep. & Lincs. Rep) Riders made it there, and a group from the Yorkies (Centre 5). I popped across for the evening and joined in with the BBQ and some of the partying. It was a most enjoyable evening and one for the diary next year. The Family Fun Day at Sherwood with the Yorkies was really good fun, quite a few Lost Riders turned up to say hello but were not able to stay for the games. I thought I was reasonably fit but I must admit I did ache on Monday after 2 games of rounders. More to follow about this in the next newsletter. I hope the good weather has got more of you out and about on your bikes, let s only hope that we have more of the same over the next month. Ride safe, EJ (Centre Rep.) 3

I think I can normally keep up with John, but who knows?

) when the main group took off like bats out of hell while I was still fumbling with my bungies to ensure that my rucksack was fixed securely to the rear carrier.

4 Thanks, Big John (Notts.) for your suggestion about a NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED RIDE-OUT in last month s Newsletter. If you have any views on this, please let us know. John s piece follows on from my reminder in the previous month s issue about ride-out etiquette and how the Second Man (Woman, Furry Animal) system works. I think I can normally keep up with John, but who knows? Speaking from personal experience of the Willingham Woods ride-out, I admit I was left for dead in the car park at Newark (I think it was Newark?) when the main group took off like bats out of hell while I was still fumbling with my bungies to ensure that my rucksack was fixed securely to the rear carrier. Warren, as Last Man, quite rightly waited for me to finishing poncing with my bungies, after which we finally endeavoured to leave Newark. By this time it felt as if the rest of the group were at least 5 minutes ahead! After doing 85+ m.p.h. on my Virago 1100 winding up some country lanes with Warren in hot pursuit on his venerable Honda DeVille (Warren didn t then have his superb new Yamaha TDM 900 which he displayed at Tonna), we did eventually catch up with the rest, and I must say I enjoyed that bit of fast riding. But I am a relatively (so I kid myself) experienced rider, as is Warren. Had I been new to the club, or recently passed my test, or less confident on the lanes, I might have given up. We did lose some people on the Willingham ride-out, which is something we should try to avoid in future. Although I did a bit of fastish-riding through the countryside, I kept religiously to 30 when we went through towns and villages, and the reason for this is simple. In September 2006 I got 3 points on my licence gratis the Derbyshire Constabulary, who had a very sneaky temporary speed trap hidden up an alley on Boythorpe Road, Chesterfield. I was doing 37 miles an hour in my wife s Peugeot 406 Estate coming back from the garage where I d taken it because it s engine management system was playing up. I was trying to see whether there was any improvement in the way it was running, and without thinking, I revved the engine a bit to test it and was doing 37 in a 30 m.p.h. zone before I had time to realise what I was doing. This was about 10:30 in the morning when there was no other traffic at all on the road, no school kids, in fact the road was deserted except for me and the Old Bill hiding up the alley. So I got nicked. I wasn t even given the option of doing one of those courses (I know someone who did the course and didn t get 3 points on their licence, even though they were doing 49!) The 3 points won t be spent until 2010, and I don t want to get any more in the meantime, which is why I insist on crawling through 30 mile-an-hour areas at 30 m.p.h., 40 zones at 40, and so on. Other C9 members with 3 or 6 points on their licence may, like me, be reluctant to take a chance on going over the legal speed limit in built-up areas. I can only echo Malc (Newton) on this matter, who has led a few ride-outs in his time. Malc says that when you are leading a rideout (at least an official C9 one), you should always go at the speed of the slowest rider. That way, no one is riding beyond their capabilities or risking points on their licence. So there you go; I wish the police would spend more time pursuing terrorists, rapists, murderers, muggers, burglars, pick-pockets, and young thugs who make life miserable for ordinary folk in some of our towns and cities, but they (the police) obviously prefer to persecute bikers, motorists and other (fairly) law-abiding citizens, who are easy prey as a source of revenue for the government. So we have to stick to the legal speed limit on official Centre 9 ride-outs. I value my licence and don t want to get any more points on it. If you have any views on this or any other matters, please don t hesitate to me at: rumblingstar@aol.com. Ride safe and at whatever speed you feel comfortable, gothic keith FINLAND RALLY 3 Lost Riders - Mike, Mick and Joe - managed to get to the Finland International Rally at Sakyla where we had a great time meeting everyone from Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Estonia, Norway, Holland and the UK. Good to see our Finnish friends in the Group - Kippis! SEE PAGES 5-6 FOR MORE PIX Mike Godwin ( did 3400 miles on the trip). 4 Mike & Nigel

5 INTERNATIONAL RALLY PHOTOS FROMTHE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN (FINLAND!) John trying to get warm Nutters... 5

6 MORE FINLAND 2008 PIX... (some bikes Mike met on his trip to Finland...) IN NEXT MONTH S SIZZLING EDITION: PHOTOS OF SHERWOOD MEET WITH YORKIES PHOTOS OF CADWELL PARK 6

KEV WEARS DAI S HAIR AS MOUSTACHE ON MONKEY HAT!

VIRAGO STAR OWNERS CLUB www.vsoc.org.uk www.lostriders.co.uk Centre 9 East & North Midlands JULY 2008 Derbyshire, Notts, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northants, Rutland KEV WEARS DAI S HAIR AS MOUSTACHE