Triumph Rat Raid on the Dragon
by Neale Bayly, September 28, 2003
I have to say that the Triumph Rat Raid on the Dragon has to be my favorite event of the year. Just an hour and some change (depending what you're riding) from my house, and based at one of the most tranquil places in the world, the Tapoco Lodge, it is just about as close to the perfect motorcycle weekend as you could ask for. For two days, the lodge is home to over 100 Triumph motorcycle riders from as far a field as Canada, Florida and Wisconsin and what a jolly splendid lot they are too!

The weather was everything from perfect to down right disgusting, with pouring rain, thunder and lightening mixing it up with the warm autumn sunshine. But they are a hardy group, the Triumph crew, and everyone rode on having an absolute blast into the bargain. My weekend was spent looking through the lens of a video camera as Jim Miller, aka videobikedude, and I filmed the festivities for an upcoming video. We met a bunch of old friends, made a bunch of new ones and had a simply marvelous time. There was a nasty rash of kilt wearing this year, and it even persisted after some stout advice to, "drink a few more beers and it will go away." It certainly made for some great fun and we even had a couple of ladies entering into the festivities.

The final morning of the raid saw the Canadian contingent leading a small party of brave (?) kilted riders up the Dragon. I have to admit to wondering if the Sunday morning cruiser crowd felt anything like the English in "Brave Heart," when Mel Gibson and the gang came screaming over the hill with the kilts up?

There was great food at the lodge, great music from the same local band that played last year (that's right I can't remember their name) and lots of good conversation. New Rat leader, Jim Callaghan, is doing a fantastic job at the helm and had as much fun as anyone. He did some cool onboard video for us, and had some awesome prizes lined up for the raffle ticket winners. All the usual suspects attended, as did recently departed Triumph CEO Mike Vaughan, and it seemed that there were more people in attendance this year than last. Ron and Nancy Johnson did the mad dash back from Nevada to lead a Tiger ride into the local countryside, and the word is, it is going to be tougher next year. Killboy was shooting still pictures on the Dragon, so the good new is, everyone can go home and purchase cool action shots of them selves in action.

If you weren't there, you missed a fantastic event. If you were there it was great to see you and I hope you had as much fun as we did. For those who had long rides home, I hope you all had a safe one and hope to see you all next year. Stay tuned for the upcoming video; it is going to be very cool.

CLICK HERE to read about last years event.

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