The 30 Motorcycle Club of Ulster, in conjunction with Lisburn Borough Council, organised a static display and ride around the UGP Course in support of UGP Bike Week.

An invitation to join in was extended to the Vintage Motorcycle Club (VMCC) and the Northern Ireland Bangor Section of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC).

At 19:00 on the Monday evening 46 motorcycles assembled at the Lisburn Civic Centre where we were greeted by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Paul Porter, and Joan from the 30 Club.

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For half an hour the bikes were assembled into a display and I was delighted to see such a varied collection. Besides our beloved Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha there were AJS, Ariel, BMW, BSA, Morini, Moto Guzzi, MZ, Norton, NSU, Scott and Triumph machines.

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After checking out the bikes and having a chat with friends we were waved off on our journey. It wasn’t long before we all found ourselves flowing around the UGP course, easily recognised by its marker boards and bails strategically placed to cover the more obvious dangers to any racer should they be unfortunate enough to come off.

The course was in excellent condition and testament to all the enormous effort which goes into staging the event. £400,000 had been spent on improvements in the past year.

Here are a few pictures taken during the scheduled stop at the pits.

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After the pit stop we completed our lap and set off back to the Lisburn Civic Centre. The Council very generously supplied us with refreshments when we arrived and each participating rider was presented with a souvenir glass engraved with “UGP 2010 Bike Week”.

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Did you notice how even receiving a presentation from a councillor didn't interfere with Brian finishing his sandwiches?