by Will Kemp
As Sunday 10th was the second Sunday of the month, T´n´T had another run organised for a start time of 0930. Just so happened that there was a Classic vehicle, well, cars and bikes, display followed by a nice shortish route run. This was to have left at 0830 so I was on the road by 0700 for the hour or so ride to Castalla.
It just has to be much the same as an organised do back in Scotland, the sky was full of heavy, wet looking clouds and the same thoughts, shall I go and get wet or put the feet up. I did the only thing that was right, went back to bed, no I didn´t!! Took a chance and went for it. I took the KKTriumph this time as the Honda gives me a sore back on longer journeys. Had enough petrol to get to the big town. 4 € worth filled the tank! On the way, it was a case of watching the clouds and also looking at the side of the road for our friends dog that went missing a few weeks ago. No ´deid dugs´and no wet stuff either!
Into Castalla and the search for the ´town hall´.(rally HQ). Luckily there was a couple of bikes pulling out of a garage, so just took a chance and followed them. Very handy cos they went to the right place with no wrong turns or detours. Parked in amongst the bikes and spotted 3 or 4 members of T´n´T. Got the camera out to take some photos and the bl66dy lens thing wouldn´t come out to play! Found out later when I got home that it helps to charge the battery now and again! ooops! Mobile phone came in handy and took some shots of a few bikes etc, quality not as good but still a little view of what was there. When the air horn went off, everybody got on their bikes and made some noise. The majority of the bikes were 2 strokes and it could well have been a Bultaco meeting. One of the photos shows a part of the entrants waiting to go and when they did finally move off, you should have seen the smoke haze that was left behind. Reminded me of another smoke haze from way back in the 60´s and it wasn´t 2 stroke!!
I didn´t go on either run as the clutch on my bike was really not quite right. When letting it out, it was like the plates had got warped or the springs had moved (thats a good explanation eh!) There was only one bike that didnt get a good start with the others, the MV riden by Javi another TnT Club member, wouldn´t start. It finally went after having the plug in and out, fuel checked and I think,the Ignition turned on! Sounded nice though.
The usual coffee and then the ride back. Slightly miscalculated the mileage, as I had to go on to reserve well before the big town. I had passed a few service stations on theway, but thought there was enough. Luckily enough, when the engine did stop, I was only a few hundred yards away from the garage and managed to coast most of the way. Then the red face part, pushing!!! 7 € worth this time, switched on to find no oil light or head lights, now what? It had 
rained on the way back which was bad enough, but then running out of petrol and then no electrics.... Not saying that I´m a good mechanic or whatever, but as most classic bike owners have had to do their own maintenance, repairs etc, you get to know roughly what and where the problem could be. Turned out that one of the wires from the battery had decided to part company with it,leaving no supply to the ignition switch. That was fixed and off again on the last leg. The handling then started to go funny, stopped at the side of the road and pulled and pushed at the forks and back wheel to see if anything had come loose, seemed ok with those rough and ready checks so off again. The last village before ours has a garage and thought I would try the tyre pressures.
Well they were ok when I started in the morning!! a little deflated here though. With them both pumped up, I finally made it up our mountain without any more problems, phew!
Again, a nice run there and back even with the wee troubles and worth it for the Classic show.
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