RIDEOUT TO THE ACE CAFE - Sunday 1st September, by Phil Barker Five bikes from the branch with nine members met at Walkers Café, Barton Mills, for a 9:30am departure to the famous ACE Café, London. Whilst waiting for the group to arrive I got talking to the owner of a Hyabusa who also heading to the Ace Cafe and he suggested our group should stop off at the Silver Ball Café near Royston for breakfast, which we did. Sarah and myself, Andy and Denise, Tony and Penny, Roger and Freda plus Mark rode off to the Café and London traffic, the route was congested with the usual slow vehicles, poor driving, mountainous amounts of traffic lights and CCTV cameras everywhere waiting for you to trip up. As we approached Wembley the Ace Café to our right, loomed large and majestic, it looked as iconic as it did in all the photographs and films that I had seen before today. Riding into the car park, we saw a display of Japanese bikes, all from back in the day and even a mint Yamaha 50cc from the 70s, a bike from my childhood that I couldn't afford and my parents wouldn't buy me. On top of this were all the bikes that had brought their proud owners to the Ace Café, BMWs, Yamahas, old bikes, new bikes and ever a beautiful Goldwing 1800. It was a great ride down with firm friends and on the whole it was good ‘craic’, people spoke to strangers, talked bikes and had a good time, I did.
