Rallies

Jean-Francois Helias sent reports for Irish rallies last year, but we saved them for St Patrick's day; probably more appropriate than a Mick and Paddy joke in the Foz Spot. Any-road-up, we added a page about the Leinster Rally and hope that you can give us more stories about the rally and Leinster Classic MCC who organised it.

The Shamrock Rally is probably the best known Irish rally, although an inspection of Hans Veenendaal's Rally Listing shows plenty of competition. If you use your time machine to travel back to the Shamrock 1969, Francois has provided you with a ticket for that year's rally.

Gilles Gaudechoux collected together photos from Michael and Tom Foley covering the Shamrock 1970. Look at them and imagine the smell of peat fires and the taste of Dublin Guinness.

Although it is in the Shamrock 1978 report, Francois added an evocative photo from 1977 of an unknown rallyist. We want to know much more about both riders shown and the 1977 rally so that we can make up a 1977 page that it deserves.

G Rally Badges page expanded by 66 more badges to bring the total there to 533 badges for 199 rallies. All the new badges are from Francois, but 31 contributors have added to that page so far. Have you?

Hans Veenendaal is keeping his Rally Listing climbing in numbers as we enter spring. There are now over 1300 rallies, twelve coming this week and 25 the week after. Send us a note about the rallies you attend, a couple of digital snaps, and maybe a link to the organisers' website. These may seem transitory events today, but in twenty years time they will be legends that you — and many others — will want to look back upon.

Club Badges

Fifty more Club Badges added to take the total to 1724. For some clubs there is a single badge to attest to the existence of an enthusiastic band of riders.

Some clubs have a range of badges that evolve as technology advances — and skills are lost!

Club Night

Tuesday, 25 March may be your last chance to catch up with the Leicester Phoenix MCC at the Heathcote Arms, Croft. The club is about to transition to its summer nomadic meetings.

Skype Night

Next Virtual Club Night is on Wednesday, 26 March when we will continue our research into alternatives for Skype.

Last week we successfully tried WhatsApp on mobile phones but the experience on PCs and tablets didn't impress us.

What do you recommend? Join our discussion from 8pm by clicking the link that appears on the website. (That's another feature we may lose when Skype closes)

Embers

We were spoilt for weather on our latest ride; Velo John and Ricardo broke out their short trousers. We half expected their pockets to be full of toffees and marbles with a catapult handing out of the back pocket.

We were pleased to meet Richard Taylor out walking before going for a ride on his latest motorcycle.

Through March we are still fielding a dozen or so riders each week. As holidays begin we hope you will join us to keep the party spirit going.

This week we are meeting at Melton Country Park before setting off in search of cake, coffee, and comfortable pub. Then look forward to April, longer days for slower rides, warmer weather for walking up hills, and blossoming hedgerows for peeing behind.

A young lady was swimming at a pool and was having a great time burning calories and keeping fit.

To her horror, she found that her swimsuit had torn open at the bottom leaving her exposed.

Using her hands to cover up her modesty, she stealthily exited the pool by the side and grabbed a nearby sign to cover up.

This somehow got her more attention, and she looked down at the sign.

"Depth 1.8metres"

Slightly embarrassed, she got rid of that sign and quickly grabbed another.

More stares came her way ...... the sign read:

"Men's entrance"

She could sense her face getting redder by the moment, threw away the sign and grabbed the last one she could grab.

Practically everyone was looking at her now, if not for the spectacle she was causing, but also for what was now on that sign.

"Repairs ongoing, please enter from the rear"