MORONEY
Words : Roger Moroney Photo : Geoff Osborne
Rain ...? That ’ s not going to stop the ride
THE RIDE IS ON ...
As I scribe this missive there is a springtime sound in the air ... apart from the MotoGP Ducatis .
And behind me , through the window , a springtime sight to accompany it . It is raining ... an event I heard described by one old bloke to another down at the shops earlier as “ typical for this time of the year .” It took me back to my school ‘ daze ’ when I was taught ( or supposed to be taught ) basic science during my third form year by a teacher who was slightly besotted with things of a meteorological nature . Weather . That ’ s when I learnt about the equinox . That time of spring when the daylight hours match the night-time hours and from that point on the days grow longer . But he described it as a confusing time for the weather patterns as the cooler times of the passed winter lingered to embrace the warming times of the approaching , but still distant , summer . Lows and highs attempting to cuddle each other and the rains and windy disorder that created .
So yeah , I can hear the sounds of Spring in the rain ... and I can hear the old teacher ’ s tones in my mind . But we can only just soldier on and count down the 48 hours to Saturday arvo when this rainy low thing is scheduled to be shunted away . Like the delivery bloke I watched soldiering away along the street earlier aboard his saddle-bag equipped , step-through style motorcycle . It was a good-sized job too , and the four-stroke engine was barking nicely in the rain . All kitted up in wet weather gear , gloves , boots and a well-visored open-face helmet . And he wasn ’ t messing about . Back in the 90s , Aussie Mick Doohan was amazing in the wet and this delivery bloke was clearly in possession of some of Mick ’ s skills . I encountered a few showers and rainstorms out on my motorcycling travels through the years , but it never bothered or worried me . I always rode away from the centre of the lanes in the rains , for the centre used to host decades of built-up oil drops from cars and trucks and they enticed skating when the rains fell on them .
82 KIWI RIDER