This is from a few weeks ago, I helped Sofia and her friends with guiding a meeting of the Triumph Moto Clube Portugal in the Douro. She is now president of the club and this would be her first meeting as such.
There were a few people coming from different locations, and we'd ride up the Douro valley, stop for lunch and then ride to the hotel for Gins, swimming pool, and dinner.
I waited under some shade, as it was about to be a really hot day.
First one arriving:
Then Sofia arriving with a few bikes from Lisbon, already 300/350km into the day for them:
Most people have known each other for a while now, but I only knew a couple.
Arriving from Viseu, Agostinho on a very pretty Rocket and João from the Algarve with a Speedmaster. Not everyone rode in on a Triumph though, it's a welcoming club. They would in fact be chasing my GS for the whole day and next morning
Off we went and onto the restaurant for lunch. I am not used to guiding big groups, and the twisty roads with multiple chances for the group to be split and lost made it slower than I'd like, but we got there. João, who organized the trip was riding a Kove since his Triumph had fallen off a hill and still not fixed, and the Kove had a bright yellow headlight, which came in handy as he was closing the group and was very easy to spot in the distance.
Even more people were joining us at the lunch stop, and I think in total it must have been 12 or 13 bikes.
Here we are, before all bikes were together:
https://youtube.com/shorts/-JwFELXx4Kw?si=4kCUUTmZJ8NDJY5T
Lunch stop, very scenic but the 36º made it hot out in the open balcony.
Rideout after lunch was tricky, very hot and the group took forever to start moving. Eventually we made it to the hotel and I retired to the coolness of the AC in my room to recover a little from the pollen allergies that were driving me insane. Later, gin tonics by the swimming pool got the mood going, and dinner was enjoyed:
After dinner it was still warm, made the gins flow easier and people were happy. Snooker started as serious but that didn't last for long
In the morning, I packed up and while people were dragging themselves around I rode up to Armamar in Sofia's bike to fuel it up. Sunday morning in a rural town, and the dogs were coming to town
There was posing for group pictures and all the Triumphs lined up, spirits were high.
We rode out and within 30 minutes stopped for the morning espresso
One of the Speed Triples suffered a broken alternator and had to be towed home, this meant the group was broken and while some went on to do some sightseeing a few of us stuck around waiting for the truck before meeting them later for lunch. Late sunday morning, it took a while to arrive but once there it was all very efficient.
All but one bike in front of our lunch stop.
Food was great, good laughs were had but I have no pictures of that. Eventually we said our goodbyes and we all headed home to different locations around the country, Sofia was very happy:
2 or 3 hours later, via country roads pestered with sunday afternoon traffic, we stopped for a cold water at the cafe we met the previous day:
A good weekend was had, not much in the way of riding motorcycles but a lot of laughs and hanging around and socializing. Made a few friends, which was the highlight of the meet.
This is from a few weeks ago, I helped Sofia and her friends with guiding a meeting of the Triumph Moto Clube Portugal in the Douro. She is now president of the club and this would be her first meeting as such. There were a few people coming from different locations, and we'd ride up the Douro valley, stop for lunch and then ride to the hotel for Gins, swimming pool, and dinner. I waited under some shade, as it was about to be a really hot day. First one arriving: Then Sofia arriving with a few bikes from Lisbon, already 300/350km into the day for them: Most people have known each other for a while now, but I only knew a couple. Arriving from Viseu, Agostinho on a very pretty Rocket and João from the Algarve with a Speedmaster. Not everyone rode in on a Triumph though, it's a welcoming club. They would in fact be chasing my GS for the whole day and next morning Off we went and onto the restaurant for lunch. I am not used to guiding big groups, and the twisty roads with multiple chances for the group to be split and lost made it slower than I'd like, but we got there. João, who organized the trip was riding a Kove since his Triumph had fallen off a hill and still not fixed, and the Kove had a bright yellow headlight, which came in handy as he was closing the group and was very easy to spot in the distance. Even more people were joining us at the lunch stop, and I think in total it must have been 12 or 13 bikes. Here we are, before all bikes were together: https://youtube.com/shorts/-JwFELXx4Kw?si=4kCUUTmZJ8NDJY5T Lunch stop, very scenic but the 36º made it hot out in the open balcony. Rideout after lunch was tricky, very hot and the group took forever to start moving. Eventually we made it to the hotel and I retired to the coolness of the AC in my room to recover a little from the pollen allergies that were driving me insane. Later, gin tonics by the swimming pool got the mood going, and dinner was enjoyed: After dinner it was still warm, made the gins flow easier and people were happy. Snooker started as serious but that didn't last for long In the morning, I packed up and while people were dragging themselves around I rode up to Armamar in Sofia's bike to fuel it up. Sunday morning in a rural town, and the dogs were coming to town There was posing for group pictures and all the Triumphs lined up, spirits were high. We rode out and within 30 minutes stopped for the morning espresso One of the Speed Triples suffered a broken alternator and had to be towed home, this meant the group was broken and while some went on to do some sightseeing a few of us stuck around waiting for the truck before meeting them later for lunch. Late sunday morning, it took a while to arrive but once there it was all very efficient. All but one bike in front of our lunch stop. Food was great, good laughs were had but I have no pictures of that. Eventually we said our goodbyes and we all headed home to different locations around the country, Sofia was very happy: 2 or 3 hours later, via country roads pestered with sunday afternoon traffic, we stopped for a cold water at the cafe we met the previous day: A good weekend was had, not much in the way of riding motorcycles but a lot of laughs and hanging around and socializing. Made a few friends, which was the highlight of the meet.
