Quarter century for Indians

25th All-Indian Rally

Easter 2016 –Maleny, Qld

For the last 25 years, Easter has meant 4 days of Indian riding and meeting old and making new friends. The All-Indian Rally kicked off this year back at its birthplace, the Maleny Showgrounds, with all makes and models of Indians invited. The oldest of the 60 entrants was a 1911 board track racer through to modern Chieftains and Scouts. Many historical club members are owners of new Indians.

First ride on Friday was the unofficial chairman’s ride at 2pm with Maleny soon vibrating to the sound of 30 bikes making ready for a short 60km ride over Bellthorpe range and back via Bald Knob, where a short break was had at Dave Morgan’s residence complete with man cave. On returning to camp the club had a BBQ where Lars Glerup (secretary) offered his secret recipe rissoles and a few beers. Kelvin Swain and Bob Hodgson entertained with live music late into the night. Saturday morning and the weather was still fine as riders, well fed and ready to go lined up for either a short ride of 60km or a long ride of over 200km with both rides meeting for lunch at Yandina Pub. After lunch it was another 55km back up the mountain via Montville then back to Maleny with only one breakdown. On Sunday, Maleny was trying to live up to its wet reputation with heavy fog at dawn that cleared to a very light rain. By 9.30 that cleared away for the public to watch our field events on the oval. Riding styles were a bit erratic with the wet grass and road tyres but soon about 20 riders got involved much to the delight of about 100 members of the public watching from the safety outside the fenced oval for about 2 hours before we departed for a ride to the Glasshouse Mountains Hotel for lunch. It was a winding route down via Peachester to our lunch stop. Once again a crowd gathered to admire the bikes and take photos. After lunch, in a very disorderly fashion we bid farewell to the Glasshouse Mountains and reversed our trip back up the mountain. With time before dinner we had a vote for office bearers in the Sub-committee where all previous bearers were re-elected. Sunday night’s dinner was catered so we all could enjoy a sit-down meal together before a special presentation was made to one of our founding members, Graham Hodgson (Treasurer) who received a new leather Indian jacket for being at all 25 Indian rallies since inception. An auction of motorcycling goods donated from our many sponsors supporting our rally was held after dinner. On behalf of the Indian sub-committee I would like to thank all our sponsors; your support is greatly appreciated. Many thanks to Ian Rennie, who organised all these sponsorships. Thanks were given to all the rally organisers who made the long weekend a success. Monday saw an early clean up and everyone departed knowing they would be back next Easter for another All-Indian rally.