TOYRUN 2008 part 2

again, to make it easier for the viewer to open lots of photos, I’ll do a separate post

Before the sun went down yesterday, our bikes were ready to roll







we decided to do breakfast before the toyrun……at 06:00

food was not all that great but it was a good idea and a nice outing

7 of us made it and 2 almost did





loads of excitement in the air at Shell Atterbury



time for a quick cup of java (one of the 2 that missed breakfast )



some of the faces/bikes at Shell





In Silverton there was a hype of activity





and a few familiar faces were spotted

















and a familiar bike (or 50)



not sure who this is but he sure tried his best to match his hair with his suit......and maybe to the silver in his bike as well



no idea who you are but "hi" to you too



likewise here but it made a good picture



and we start to leave for Nasrec via........



fun and games.......M1 instead of N1..........only to turn around and go all the way back.........eish!

traffic came to a virtual standstill mainly due to an accident involving a bike. A lot of people just stopped next to the road instead of going nowhere slowly





the barriers can be used for other purposes as well



wonder what brand of helmet this is



after almost 3 hours, we arrived at the venue



and were finally able to make our contribution to the ever growing moutain of toys (check out the flying shark......lucky shot captured just at the right time)



after which some relaxing was in order







ps. remind me to tell the story sometime - when I had lots to drink - about the chair, the highway and the camera in no particular order

Thanks for YOUR pics and comments.

You'd think that with ALL the preparation for the Toy Run that the leader would know the route ?????

Not the best Toy Run I've attended. (As far as organisation skills are involved !)

I always do the Toy Run because of the end result - ie bringing joy to many ,many children - and not because of the event itself !

Did not take many pics. Thanks to all who met at Atterbury for the ride - counted 40 bikes - and some members met us in Silverton.

So all-in-all good representation from the club.

Some scenes in Silverton:

thanks for your contribution in pics and for leading the ride to Menlyn.

The effort behind the scenes, do not go unnoticed.

Our lead of today (pre-official toyrun) fit in a quick recce before departure to look at the route the club followed to Silverton

THANK YOU!

take note Toyrun 2008 organisors

Yep, the ride to Silverton was sure well organized, as is usual for club events.

I think that is it.

We are spoilt with the likes of Dave, Dorothy,Pieter, Dani etc,etc,etc ( please excuse those I have excluded)( and often taken for granted - but we do appreciate your efforts) where our weekends away and club rides are SO well organised that we become irritated when we attend an event like the Toy Run. I understand that there are thousands of bikers at an event like this - no excuse - it all comes down to management !

Pity that such a wonderful event is spoilt by bad organisation.

lifted from Think Bike's forum - posted by the Marshall involved

We were Marshaling the Toy run from Midas in Pretoria, stopping cages at the intersections. The group was led by a Tswane Metro Police officer, all went well until the lead was taken over by a JMPD B/Fem Officer. We were trying to get to the head of the pack after we shut down the on ramp at Brakfontein. Getting back to the front was made extremely difficult by the bikers not keeping to the two lanes as requested but spreading over all lanes. They would not budge for marshals trying to get to the front to shut the on ramps for their own safety, we were still trying to get to the front of the pack at Bucclue when we noticed that instead of taking the N1 South the pack was continuing down the M1 South. When we eventually managed to catch up with the JMPD lead at Hollard on the M1 and pulled up to her asking where she was going the reply "Ish I think I'm lost" Quick decision made on the fly take the ST Andrew Offramp (just before Jan Smuts) over the bridge back onto the the M1 North and then onto the N1 South past woodmead. From this point we were leading the group. All went well until we turned onto the N1 South and encountered traffic congestion, if the JMPD followed the route the shutdown and Marshals would not have been compromised.

and about the accicdent........

2km past Rivonia road, A white merc indicated and changed lanes in front of us reducing our following distance, as I started to slowdown a White Toyota Carola shot over from the left right in front of the merc and stopped dead. The merc driver stood on his brakes, I grabbed front and back brakes but even with ABS still hit the merc at 60km/h. I went into the back windscreen face first next thing I remember is getting up even while peeps were trying to keep me down (Sorry Guys, JJ was my first concern), my son JJ went over the merc, landed on the boot of the Corolla (As per witnesses) rolled off and slid along the base of the concrete barrier. The Corolla sped away without stopping and although a lot saw the Corolla no one got a reg number.

First on the scene was the bike behind me Johan, and his wife an paramedic instantly provided assistance to JJ, then an off duty paramedic, next was the TB Marshals and the TSWANE METRO - they assisted (even though its not their jurisdiction) till the Lost JMPD arrived on the scent to take details. An off duty trauma Doctor from Life Med stopped and assisted and rode in the ambu with up to the Fourways Lifemed Hospital.............

JJ sustained severe bruising to the abdomen and chest, and got a blister thru his ATGATT on the side of his knee and a sprained little finger. I have a cracked bone in my hand and sore back muscles. No fractures. Were both stiff and eina. JJ's cats scans came back good, and the doc decided to keep him for the night for observation.

Damn, no one gave chance to the Corolla.

Glad the marshal and JJ are not seriously injured.

The JMPD lead got lost on the Jhb freeways, their home turf!!!!!

Yip, the traffic was the spoiler on the day :-( everything went well up until the U turn
The attitude of certain cage was drivers also not acceptable – they simply did not listen to the marshals stopping them at on-ramps!

Hopefully by next year the road works will be done and better marshalling from JMPD

Heard there was about 50 000 bikers – any one else got a figure yet?

Thanks for the pics for those of us that were not there.

I have done a few toy runs and in all honesty, did not miss not being there. I would have missed my weekend away a lot more had I not gone.

Maybe see you guys there next year but with the road works the way they are, I doubt it.

I am happy no one from the club was injured.

Morpheus

Interesting. Very interesting.
Thanks for the pictures and for keeping us 'Gone for the weekends' informed!

Question:
Dave mentioned 40 Club bikes at Shell - is that an accurate count of members would you say that took part?

is this a trick question?

sounds about right

not all the riders/pillions that were at Shell are members but some club members went straight to Silverton

It is a pity that such an august occation was spoiled by the "bad management". The start was excellent and well planned. The route change through town must have been a red herring that took some quick thinking to sort out. Unfortunately that split the group up very quickly as there were marshals at all of the intersections to facilitate the easy flow of all coming up behind.

One cannot deign to comment on the idiocy with regards to the "Eish i think i am lost" but enough said on that. No further comment necessary. When we passed the scene of the accident we seriously thought the accident was fatal as JJ was just laying there. Glad to know that he and his son survived.

Other than that - the end venue at Nasrec is the best so far and i would recommend that it again be held there.

GSlady wrote:Question:
Dave mentioned 40 Club bikes at Shell - is that an accurate count of members would you say that took part?

made a quick list and I can list at least 33 club members and I'm sure I left out some names......so yes I think the 40 estimate is just about spot on.

Thanks MadnohB
The S&P editor needs info like this . . .

This was my third toy run and I have to say the best for me. We left from Brightwater commons. The vibe was electric and there was a large crowd of well behaved bikers. The Metro Police were amazing. Blocking all the intersections down Malibongwe and the traffic on the highway so the the group could enter without any cage drivers in their midst. Most of the onramps such as Beyers Naude, 14 th Avenue etc had no JMPD but some very considerate cage drivers who just stopped and allowed the bikes through. The end venue was definitely better than the last two years. I am glad that the persons injured are ok.

thanks for your input Tony.

judging from reports from the other 3 starting points, It seems the Silverton starting was the bad apple due to various reasons

As far as I know also the only point where the boundry between two traffic departments was crossed

Looks like Tshwane Metro had their ducks in a row as usual - just the JHB ones that don't seem to know their highways!!

I counted 40 bikes before departure from Atterbury - was a quick count so could have been out by a couple.

Estimate is about 26 000 bikes at the Toy Run and over 60 000 toys collected.

And, as always, there were the interesting bikes

the weird bikes

...and the bikes with an identity crisis

and then the usual suspects from the club