DATE: 20 Jul 2007, 7:24 am / MOOD: Satisfied

i was recently asked by a friend doing some research to describe what kind of biker i am, in relation to stereotypes and realities...this was my reply.. 

i'm the kind of scantily black leathered biker that some women hate because they figure i'll give ladies on bikes a bad name...but i never claimed to be a lady!

i'm also the kind of "biker chick" that some men find intimidating, because i usually know at least as much about riding and wrenching as they do..

i won't stand for people who pass me over because i'm female - patronizing me can be hazardous to your health!

i don't wear makeup - i wear leather. i don't ride on the back - i ride it like i stole it. i exercise responsibility and the best judgment i can when leading my SCRC chapter as its 1st officer and road captain, but i only really exercise survival skills when it's just between me and the road.

i'll wave to anyone, and talk to anyone. i truly believe that everyone on two wheels is in it together, and i'll give you a chance to prove you're a prick before treating you like anything but my brother or sister in the wind.

being an accountant, i'm fighting against the RUB label - but i think at least a couple of people here have accepted me as a BAMF instead!

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DATE: 23 May 2007, 6:31 am / MOOD: Satisfied

this is copied from the original posting i did on the about.com motorcycles forums - i've had such a great response to it over the last year that i thought i'd post it somewhere easier for me to find for copying and pasting  

for those who are going to be taking friends and family out for a ride, i have put together a list of points that i think every new passenger should be informed about before the ride starts, and experienced passengers should be reminded of now and again. this is a list i go through with every person that rides on the back of my bike, and if they disagree with any of the points, they don't ride with me. simple as that.

1. you will wear a helmet (required by law anyway), sturdy footwear, eye protection, full length pants (i have spare chaps if you're in shorts), and preferably gloves. tanker and i have many helmets of different sizes, lots of pairs of gloves, a few pairs of jeans, a spare pair of chaps, and lots of sturdy jackets for our guests. never assume that someone who doesn't ride has appropriate gear!

2. you will keep your hands on my hips or waist at all times. this allows me to ensure you're still with me, and by your grip on me i can get a pretty accurate idea of how you're doing. removing one hand temporarily to adjust your helmet or glasses is ok, but other than that get a grip!

3. you will keep your feet on the pegs, and not fidget, when we are stopped for any reason.

4. you will inform me if you have to make any adjustment to your position, such that i can be prepared for the shift of your weight (i weigh +/-150lbs, and my passengers often outweigh me by 30lbs or more).

5. you will follow my motion when we are in a curve or turn. you can either follow your reflection in the back of my helmet, or look over the shoulder that is on the side we are turning towards. you will not try to fight the lean of the bike, or try to initiate the lean, or i will stop and ask you to get off. you've got legs - you can walk home.

6. you will tap me 3 times on the back of my helmet if you need to stop. this is only to be used in emergencies, like your leg fell off, you're having a heart attack, etc. you can yell in my ear to tell me you need to use the bathroom, but if you're missing a limb, i'd like to know immediately!

7. you will have fun! it's mandatory! :)

feel free to add, delete, divide, and multiply at will. i've worked this down to about a 45 second speech, and it seems to be relatively easy to follow for everyone. i haven't had to boot anyone off yet, and have had great times giving my friends miles of smiles.

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DATE: 23 Apr 2007, 8:29 am / MOOD: Satisfied

on sunday, april 22nd, 2007 tanker and i went out for a little ride in cambridge, as i'd been tied up doing office work all day and needed to get out into the gorgeous sunshine and 25 degree weather. it was the first time we'd had the weather for me to try out my new leather gauntlets which match my knee chaps, so i threw on my leather shorts, knee chaps, red leather halter, vest, and gauntlets - what i call my "superhero costume"  little did i know i'd end up feeling like a hero as well!

we had 2 places to go - shoppers drug mart to pick up some sunblock, as what we had was expired and had probably been frozen while sitting in our garage all winter. as a result, we'd both neglected to use it the day before, and both got burnt (see "spring kickoff ride 2007")! we also wanted to stop at dairy queen and pick up some ice cream to cool us down

since tanker is still riding the cb400 (his shadow is still in the shop), we ordinarily wouldn't take the 401 to get to hespeler road from our place, preferring surface routes instead. the 400 gets a speed wobble over 115kph, so we like to keep it off the superslab. but as we headed out from home, i felt the need for speed, so indicated to tanker to head for the highway.

we ripped across the slab at about 110kph, so tanker wouldn't be left behind or get into a tank slapper, and as we approached our exit (only 1 down from where we got on), we saw a poor soul pushing a sportbike along the side of the road. i immediately turned my signal on and looked back over my shoulder at tanker, who's very good at reading my mind  we pulled over onto the shoulder to see what the problem was.

nick, the gent with the sportbike (a fireblade - slick machine!), had run out of gas, and even when he switched to reserve the bike wouldn't fire up. there is a gas station only a block away from the exit, but that's one heck of a long way (close to 1km) to push the bike! so, i jumped on my bully (being the one with saddlebags), and ripped off to the esso to see if they had a jerry can that i could bring out to him.

got to the station, left the mandatory $10 deposit for the can (which fortunately was the perfect size for my saddlebag), and got $3 of gas. i was told i'd get $8 back when i brought the jerry can back, as they charge a $2 "rental" fee. so, i've spent $5. no big deal - i'm sure nick will appreciate it, and even if he doesn't pay me back (which i doubt), $5 is a small price to do someone in trouble a favour.

back on my bike, and i have to backtrack to king street to get back on the 401 eastbound to get to tanker and nick at the hespeler road exit. as i approach, i see flashing lights, and as i near them i see a police car with its cherries lit up sitting just behind the 2 other bikes. i threw my 4-ways on, and pulled over behind the cruiser. tanker came and grabbed the jerry can, and as he got it set up nick gave me a $20 bill, and thanked us profusely!

apparently while i'd been gone, the officer pulled over to see what was the matter and if he could be of assistance. when tanker and nick told officer decker (what a name to pull over for a couple of bikes!) that i'd already gone for fuel, he ran the registration and insurance for both nick and tanker's bikes, just to be sure, and checked their helmets. he was waiting in the car when i arrived.

nick got the fuel into his tank, and after a false start (he still had the bike on reserve), it fired right up. he didn't have anywhere to put the jerry can, so i offered to take it back to the gas station for him in my saddlebag. since it was on our way to the shopper's drug mart anyway, it was no trouble at all.

i was getting a little nervous, as my insurance paperwork, while valid, might not be entirely to the officer's liking, so i jumped on my bike and left tanker and nick to get geared up and running. as i was waiting to pull out, officer decker came walking over, and i figured "this is it - i'm screwed!". fortunately, all he had to say was thank you for stopping to help, but i'm NUTS to be riding in shorts! *lol* he bade me ride safe, and off i went, breathing a deep sigh of relief

when we got to the gas station and i returned the jerry can for the $8 deposit return, i tried to give it to nick, who refused me flatly. he said money was no object for him, but he was short on time, and he was so appreciative of our stopping and saving him an hour of pushing his bike to the station that he wouldn't dream of taking the deposit! he had rode in from london to meet a girl who was coming in from aurora, and since he hopes she'll be his new girlfriend, he didn't want to be late!

so nick went on his way, and we both wished him luck with the girl

tanker and i saddled up, now $15 richer than we were when we set out, and stopped at the shoppers drug mart. we bought the same sunblock we used last year, and the total price turned out to be....$14.81!

so our good deed paid for our purchase, and our ice cream tasted all the sweeter knowing that we'd done a good deed and made a new friend

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DATE: 23 Apr 2007, 8:08 am / MOOD: Happy

SCRC chapter 494 albion hills put on a fantastic multi-chapter spring kickoff ride on april 21st, 2007!

we started out from cambridge at about 10am with a surprising 8 bikes and 9 riders - since noone had responded to my post about the ride on our forum, i thought it would just be tanker and myself, but we had a pretty good showing!

i had mapped out a route to the starting point in caledon east, but when we got to ballinafad and i looked for hwy 42 east, there was no sign of it! about 10mins later we were in erin - one of the stops on the ride - and sweet from 494 was already there getting the barbecue started! as we arrived, some of the earlier riders were coming in from the first part of the route. we wondered about staying there and just meeting up with people at double r leathers, but since i'd made plans to ride with my dad and a couple of other people, we continued to trailside bistro on airport road. we actually managed to hook up with the rest of the route i'd planned, and we all made it there together and safely before the end of the staging, so i guess my "detour" wasn't too much of a problem

the route from trailside started kinda badly - i nearly missed the first (very poorly signed) turning, and one member had to lock up his brakes, but we got on route and the rest went smoothly. a very technical section through part of the forks of the credit road, and around the detour due to the forks being closed in the middle for reshaping. got back to double r and had some lunch, and met up with a bunch of our SCRC friends. hugs all around!

it was a great turnout - over 100 bikes at least!

the above photo doesn't even show the ones parked in 2 other lots nearby! but you can see my dad in the jeans and bue & white shirt with a burgman on it

the rest of the 501 members decided to head home from double r leathers rather than doing the rest of the route, so tanker, myself, my dad, and mike, the 1st officer of 365 peterboro (along with his lovely wife leigh-anne) hooked up for the rest of the route that would take us through orangeville, hockley, loretto, and into bolton. i changed the route as it had been mapped so we could take hockley road all the way from orangeville to loretto, as that's one of the most beautiful and fun to ride stretches of pavement in our part of the province. we stopped off at the loretto inn, because my dad said they have good restroom facilities, which are not to be sneezed at! while we were there, tanker snapped this great photo of my dad and i:

and here's our whole motley crew at the loretto inn:

from there, the planned route had us chasing some roads that don't seem to have names, and it was getting later in the day, so we decided to head straight down hwy 50 into bolton, and to the end point of the ride at shoeless joe's. we weren't the last to get there, but there were lots of people to greet us when we arrived!

we had a beverage, chatted with some friends, and stuck around for the raffle drawings - which worked out great! we'd forgotten to pick up a pack of pin locks at double r, but managed to win one in the raffle. since a pack is $10 and we only paid $5 for the 3 raffle tickets, i think we made out like bandits!

at about 5pm, we headed out of bolton on a route i'd picked out on my map, and ended up riding through a beautiful, technical bit of the cheltenham badlands on our way to georgetown. a straight blast across hwy 7, with a stop in guelph to return a borrowed game to a friend, and we made it home by about 7.20pm. 306.4km of riding in beautiful sunshine and warm weather left us both sunburnt and tired, but with smiles so big our ears were cracking!

a beautiful ride on the most beautiful day of the year so far

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DATE: 27 Mar 2007, 11:39 am / MOOD: Tired

well, i sucked it up and rode to work - tanker had to take the cage, because his shadow is still in the shop and the 400 just won't do slab, but i made sure to ask if he'd be pissed off first 

a few observations:

1) i hate the 401

2) when you're used to having a couple of smokes on the way in, 1 before leaving and 1 when i get to work ain't enough 

3) i miss drinking orange juice on the way in

4) i hate the 401

5) large pieces of transport truck retread come out of freakin' nowhere! swerved to avoid 3/4 of a dang tire in my lane!

6) bits of gravel smacking me in the face don't bother me as much as i thought they would, knowing how badly scratched and chipped our cage's windshield is.

7) i hate the 401

8) i can actually haul straight from home to work without stopping. this is farther than we usually ride at a stretch - ~45 miles at ~75mph.

9) i may consider a throttle lock if i'm gonna do this a lot. my wrist hurts, even with the throttle rocker.

10) i hate the 401!

11) the trip to work seems much shorter on my bike.

12) i was wide awake on the road, but adrenaline takes its toll when i get to the office!

and as much as i hate the 401, i'm actually more comfortable riding my bike on it than driving a car...probably since i put about 4 times the mileage in the saddle of my bike as i do in the driver's seat of our car in a year!

all in all, i'd do it again - and hopefully tanker will come with me once he gets his bike back! 

cheers!

-k

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DATE: 22 Feb 2007, 10:14 am / MOOD: Happy

i was recently asked on another board to write about how i started ridng...so i figured i'd post it here in case anyone else wanted to know!

i'd always wanted to ride, but growing up in the heart of suburbia in mississauga, ontario i didn't even know anyone who owned a bike! since i had no money to buy my own, i figured i would sort it out sooner or later. i met my husband when i was living in edmonton, and he had built his own custom, but before he could even take me for a ride his ex girlfriend sold it out from under him.

we moved to ontario, and i figured after we paid off our car in 2007 i would look at buying a bike that he could ride and that would be forgiving enough for me to learn on.

in march 2005, a 1979 honda cb400t came to our attention for $400. we snapped it up, brought it home on april 1st, 2005 (april fool's day, should have known!) and discovered it needed clutch work. finally got i back by may the 10th, and we were about to leave for friday the 13th in port dover - actually tying on the saddlebags - when i noticed fatigue cracks all around the sidewalls of the rear wheel. checked the front as well - same thing. we weren't going anywhere, especially not 2-up on a rainy, windy day!

got new tires put on the next day, and monday i wrote my test and got my M1 license. that evening we went out to a big empty parking lot, and i spent a nerve-wracking hour learning how to make it move, how to make it stop, and how to make it turn. my husband is a wonderfully patient instructor, and even went through some "dry land" exercises with me: i'd sit in a chair, with my hands on imaginary handlebars, and he'd hold a throwing knife over my left foot. i'd ease out my imaginary clutch, apply imaginary throttle, then roll off, pull clutch, and use the throwing knife as a shifter to practice the motions. this helped me gain some confidence in the mechanical operation of the bike.

less than a month later, i was taking the canada safety council beginner's motorcycling course, paid for as a birthday present by my dad who'd taken it the year before. he made me promise not to ride outside our very quiet residential neighbourhood until taking the course, and i kept my word. i immediately noticed a huge difference in my riding, even after just the first day of practical lessons. i am a firm believer that everyone should seek professional training (not just a friend or family member, who may teach outdated, disproved methods) when either starting or returning to motorcycling.

i got very comfortable very fast on my little cb400, and by the end of the summer i was group riding with confidence. it was then that i discovered my little bike simply wasn't built to keep up with the size of bikes i was riding with.

a couple of days after i started thinking about a bigger bike (knowing what i wanted, but certainly couldn't afford), my dad called and mentioned he wasn't too happy with me riding such an old bike - thought i'd be safer on something newer, less likely to break down. that day in september 2005 we started calling suzuki dealers to find one that had a 2005 C50 in stock!

that saturday i picked up my new bike, doubling my cc's in my first year. i got my husband (with 16 years of experience on all kinds of different bikes) to ride it the 80km home for me, and have been loving it ever since. i bought the perfect bike for me, and have had endless miles of enjoyment riding it, and hours of satisfaction customizing and maintaining it.

in september of 2006, i was given the great honour of being invited to become a road captain for my southern cruisers riding club chapter - just one year after my first group ride! i've since become the second officer of our chapter, along with providing technical assistance and wrenching help to hundreds of people. we may not ride as much mileage as some people, but we ride almost every day, and haven't missed a month since i got my license in may 2005!

riding is a huge part of my life, and i'm pleased to be able to make a contribution back to the community that has shown such support for a newer rider like myself.

cheers!

-mistress k

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DATE: 14 Nov 2006, 8:05 am / MOOD: Dont know



this is the speech that jeff gave at the elora legion at the veterans' banquet on the evening of november 11th, 2006, which tanker and i had the privilege of attending. i have reproduced it here exactly as he typed it, and believe that this is something that should have the widest possible readership.

I would like to thank Ashley Woods, and the Elora legion for inviting me here, I was overwhelmed and honoured to be asked to speak and it is my honour to do so today..

My Mother, Ellen is an excellent public speaker, and when she speaks.. I tell myself that THAT is the way to do it. She speaks clearly, keeps it interesting..Has poise.. Has confidence.....
Well.. A few weeks ago she revealed to me that she is TERRIFIED of public speaking, completely shattering that image and removing her as the example I try to follow, so now .. Tonight.. I find myself without a role model a little nervous to speak,

I deployed to Afghanistan on the 8th of August, I was wounded Sept 4th and by the 15th of that Month I was back in Canada. It amazes me to contemplate those dates. I experienced more in that month than in two previous tours combined. I do think it's been difficult for my friends and family to grasp what I've been through. They live in the Guelph/ Fergus area.. I live in Petawawa, from the last time I saw them before I deployed, to the next time I saw them when I was repatriated to Canada; it was about the same amount of time between my visits. But a lot can happen in a short amount of time..

I brought along a picture... it's most of my section overseas.. If you count the photographer, there are 7 of 10 members of 3 section, 8 platoon Charles company. All seven of these guys were wounded on the morning of Sept 4th, and 5 of these 7 were sent back to Canada..



The day before, we had launched Operation Medusa, Charles company had the first, and most important objective and once we had secured it.. The remaining companies would go forward and secure theirs..

That was not a good day, and we had to withdraw with 4 dead and a number of wounded; two of the dead were Frank and Rick.. Both of whom I had worked closely with for years and they were both mentors and friends. But we had work to do and the next morning we were going to go at it again.. We had a 5 am revile in order to launch at 7.

There were a lot of firsts for me this tour, my first tour in a leadership position, my first firefight, the first time I would command troops in battle,.. Soon after we woke up I was still sitting there, contemplating the objective area, thinking about the day before.. The orders I had given, the decisions I had made were they right or were they wrong? And I knew in another couple hours we would be tested again....

And then it happened..

I remember most the heat.. And I could feel it get hotter
The explosions..as they got louder..
The shrapnel and the debris more and more intense
The explosive energy rolling me across the rocks..

And in those furious moments.... I was angry...Angry.. Not at the army, not at whoever made this happen.. I was angry with myself. Myself..... because Before we left for this operation, I meant to write a letter to my loved ones, and I hadn't done it. I was so mad because I knew it was over for me and there wouldn't be that last letter...

But it wasn't over.. I laid there for moment, looked at my leg and saw that it wasn't too bad, I knew I had been hit in the back as well but I couldn't see it.. So I crawled to my kit..

I had received extra medical training before I went overseas, so I had the medical pack and a Job to do.. I could see people lying all over the place,

My whole platoon chewed apart in 2 seconds... A lot can happen in a short amount of time.

The first guy I crawled to was Bruce.. He's standing there in the picture on the ramp. He had a terrible head wound. At this time some guys were shouting,"Who threw ammo in the fire, Who threw ammo in the fire", and Rick, who's not in the picture was yelling again and again,"Jeff I need a dressing, JEFF I need a dressing" I hadn't finished tying Bruce's on and I rolled to look up at Rick, he also had a head wound..

This is where I started to detach, I felt like I was speaking in slow motion.. And maybe I was. Greg, whose also not in this picture, and the only guy not wounded in my section dressed my leg and I think he finished Bruce. My friend Donnie from another platoon dressed my back.. And then I was stretched off to the casualty collection point to wait for the helicopters.. That morning showed me a most incredible sight... that was both beautiful and horrible. The wounded treated the wounded as All available persons poured into us, no one was in charge, no one had to be. The guys were bandaged, stabilized and looked after in a frenzy of care and compassion. I will never forget it.

Sadly Mark was killed that day - that he was the only one is a genuine miracle.

Our current mission in Afghanistan is not always a popular one. Public opinion sways like a willow tree.. The naysayers can and WILL argue for years.. They can debate in articles until the 50th anniversary of the battle of Panjiway.. And they will. A little research will reveal that these debates are an echo of Parliament in the 1930's when Canada was faced with the growing threat of Germany and demands for participation from our allies. And you know… No matter what the circumstance, no matter how just the cause, someone, somewhere will cry out that it shouldn't be done. What are we doing there? What is the benefit to Canada by being there?

Soldiers are not politicians, we don't fight from an office. The reasons why we're there not so obscure when you walk those far away streets. When I was in Kabul in 2003 I was stunned to see all the kites that flew in that city, it was as though every child had a kite, and was flying it.

I asked the translator about it, expecting a cost comparison of kites to other recreational pursuits.. And he explained to me, that under Taliban rule, flying a kite was punishable by death, if you had time to fly a kite, you had time to read the Koran. But things weren't entirely better in Kabul, just after we left, a lynch mob tried to break into the local radio station, having decided that the weatherman need to be dealt with.. in Afghanistan, meteorology is some form of witchcraft..

Three years later in Kandahar province, the Afghani equivalent of redneck country. There were no kites flying. In that area schoolteachers are still being executed for teaching women how to read. Women have no need of such things, if they want words, their husbands can read the Koran to them.

You can disagree with the government, that is one of the wonderful freedoms we have in this country, we take for granted something that would have you killed in other lands..and these are the lands that the Canadian forces have deployed to. Should we be there or shouldn't we be there? Well.. WE ARE there, we are there to do a job, an important job, a just cause. Disagree all you like, but support the troops until they get the job done and get home again.

On the 17th of April, 2002 Ainsworth, Marc, Richard and Nathan were killed in Afghanistan and in the weeks that followed Canadians opened their eyes' and were somehow Surprised that the Canadian Forces had been neglected and cut back nearly to uselessness

The Prime Minister of the day, to justify some of the cutbacks, had stated previously, That Canada would not prepare for a war that wouldn't happen. And Yes it's true.. A Conventional war between the superpowers did NOT happen, but it was hardly an age of peace.

From 1947 to 1990 our military participated in 23 missions around the world, from 1990 to present day, there has been 53.. Thankfully, at last things have swung back the other way.. let's hope it continues,

Previous to 2002 Canada and Canadians had reached a point where they had forgotten... FORGOTTEN the Veterans, forgotten the military and forgotten what Remembrance Day was for. There was a time when it seemed everyone's Grandfather was a Veteran, every senior you saw on the street had served their country.. But as time marched on, and those men and women left us, our collective culture moved on....

In the last few years when I see school projects completed for Remembrance Day, there has been a shift.. These projects are "What remembrance day means to me".. And have themes of, non-violence in the schools, no gangs on city streets, helping out your neighbors...

It's NOT a bad thing that several generations of Canadians have no knowledge of war, but this is NOT what Remembrance Day is for. The poppy represents a specific phrase.. A specific phrase...and that is "LEST WE FORGET

I recently had a small interview for CBC radio. The goal of the interviewer was for my Friend and I to explore the connection between the veterans of old and the veterans of today. As a soldier you automatically have an affinity with those men, you empathize with their experience, you think that through training and service you can appreciate and understand what they went through. But only after you go through it, do you realize that you actually had no understanding, NO understanding. Of their experience or their sacrifice.

Most people, myself included, knew of the wars through the history books. Only in the last few years have documentaries focused Not only on the victories and defeats but on the people that participated in those battles IN those monumental events. Showing us a narrow window into the hardships they endured and their necessary grim resolve..

The Royal Canadian Regiment, of which I am a part of, has a regimental prayer. In Battleschool we were required to memorize it. To facilitate this my section would say that prayer every night, out loud to our darkened room. The second line of the prayer reads "Help us to prove worthy to accept the high ideals and traditions of the past, TO HONOUR AND REVERE THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US.. And it is that memory, the memory of those veterans who attended this legion, and who no longer attend this legion that makes me nervous, that humbles me.

Look around this room, and this building. There are decades old pictures hanging everywhere. When you look at these pictures, these old fading photos of the youth of that nation, look not at the uniforms, at the equipment.. Take a moment to look at the faces to study them, wonder who they were and what they are thinking. Often in these photos I'll see a small group of guys smiling, only they heard the joke, Which was the funny guy in the crowd? The quiet guy? The keen guy? The guy whom everyone had to help out all the time? Think of your own group of friends and coworkers. Of a cross section of any workforce and you'll have these same roles filled.

What WERE.. Those experiences in training that they conquered together think of the friendships that they formed. The laughs that they shared. That family bond, the challenges they faced as brothers.. And the loss of those left behind

In my lifetime, even during my teenage years I can count the amount of Remembrance Day services that I've missed on one hand, sadly as the years have passed.. The ranks of Veterans on parade has grown fewer and fewer, there is a line from "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" an old song about the New Zealand Regiment during the first world war, and that line states, "Soon no one will march there, at all...."

In the last year there has been many new Canadian Veterans, and we are not the first this country has produced since Korea. Cyprus, the former Yugoslavia, Africa, these are all places Canadian soldiers have taken lives and lost their lives.

The new veterans of today have an obligation to the veterans of old, to maintain this day of remembrance and the reasons why soldiers, not governments, go and fight

"To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high"

And we will hold it high…

Lest we forget.. Again

MCPL Jeff Rainey
Elora Legion Guest Speaker, 11 Nov 06


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DATE: 13 Nov 2006, 9:24 am / MOOD: Content

at 08:30 on november 12th, 2006 tanker and i rolled out of bed to observe a chilly 37 (3C) degrees outside our kitchen, but were bound and determined to make what will likely be the last SCRC 501 group ride of the season!

we headed down to tim hortons at myers and hwy 24 and had to get fuel for both the bikes and ourselves before departing!



then we all pulled out of the lot and headed for port dover! about 20 bikes, a couple of which had passengers as well...gotta wonder about our sanity!



a stop in oakland on the way down to let everyone's fingers defrost, and then back on the road! a super lunch at the beach house (mmm, chili...now we're jet propelled! ), and some shopping at on the fringe leathers. tanker and i turned up some 40 gram thinsulate leather gloves for $20 a pair, so decided we had nothing to lose but some cold! the air never got above about 41 (5C) degrees, but the new gloves helped - our fingers didn't lose feeling as quickly!

headed out of dover at about 14:30, then stopped in both oakland and paris for warmups. a little later getting home than expected (17:15 instead of 16:00), and getting colder by the minute, but a wonderful way to spend a november sunday!

all in all, it was a great day with some great friends - some thrills, lots of chills, but tons of laughter throughout it all!


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DATE: 07 Nov 2006, 10:18 am / MOOD: Dont know

well, jeff has been safely home in canada for awhile now, and dropped by not long after he got home to show us his wounds:



yep, less than 5mins after he comes through the front door he's dropped his trousers!



the shrapnel from this round is lodged somewhere in between his liver and his spleen. they decided it was small enough that it did not need to be removed. the hole goes nearly all the way through!



when these photos were taken, this wound was still giving jeff problems - it actually cut through a number of tendons in his knee, so walking down stairs was an extremely slow and painful process..

if these injuries don't look very impressive, perhaps it would give you some perspective if you saw what had caused them..



the above photo is a round from a 30mm cannon, the shrapnel from which is what caused jeff's wounds



and this is what an A-10 strafing run looks like at ground level.

you can see why we're so happy to have him home!

jeff also sent me this photo, in which you can see 6 canadian forces soldiers in his platoon. all of these men, plus the photographer, were injured in the "friendly fire" incident. bruce, the fellow on the ramp, and mike, the first gent you can see in the truck, were the most severely wounded - both required brain surgery. jeff tells me they are both recovering well now, so there is a lot to be thankful for in this photograph!



and a final closeup of our jeffles, newest member of the "cannot be killed by conventional weapons" club



~ we love you jeff! ~
~ never leave us again! ~

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DATE: 06 Nov 2006, 8:29 am / MOOD: Happy

so yesterday, november 5th, 2006, SCRC 501 ventured out to double r leathers in erin, ontario for their 3rd anniversary sale.

we met at a tim hortons in hespeler, and it turned out that our 1st officer has managed to wrench 5 tendons away from the bone in his arm. for reg's sake, i won't go into the details of how his mother in law crippled him, but he definitely wasn't riding!

after calling all the road captains together for a pre-ride meeting, he asked who wanted to be the lead road captain. i asked how he planned to get from our rendezvous place in guelph (where we were to pick up some additional riders) to double r, and was told that since i was the first one to open my mouth, i'd be in the lead for the day!

so, with 3 new-to-group-riding members tucked in behind me, followed by our 5th officer terry to keep an eye on the newer folks, off we went! reg's directions: turn left, then right on ellis, then turn on hwy 31 and head to hwy 7. made the right on ellis, found hwy 32 (which i know goes to hwy 7), and saw the end of the road ahead! so, via 32 we go, wondering if this is going to be indicative of reg's directions for the rest of the day.

got to guelph (ok, the tim hortons is on the left. we'll call it "lane change practice", ok? ), and added another new-to-group riding member. ran down hand signals and general group formation rules with him, and off we went again!

across woodlawn, under heavy construction, giving us a chance to practice our slow ride in formation. ride for sight here we come!

psych! nope that's not the road we want, scrub off that signal! now, got the corner we need, and half the group is left behind at the intersection (stupid in-town left turns!). pull the group over in the right lane just before it ends, and get everyone back on track. yeah!

fairly uneventful ride to erin, because once i'm on 124 i could do that ride in my sleep (well, except the 400 popping one of its plug wires off - but tanker discovered it'll still do 90km/hr on one cylinder!). a brief stop at double r, picking up a couple of patches, some new trik topz (they make spades now!) for tanker's bike, and a couple of stickers. then, back on the road to orangeville

hmm, different route to orangeville than i'm used to. glad i saw that sign saying turn right to get to orangeville as i was slowing for the stop sign! supposed to bring me out right by the tim hortons i know on hwy 10 - nope! reg says "when you reach the tim hortons, turn right, then the restaurant is on your left". reach an intersection, look left: there's the tim hortons. signal right - a couple of members start honking horns behind me. ok, turn left then!

got to the restaurant, apologised for the confusion, and was told there wasn't any! our membership really are great folks!

at lunch, passed a card around for a member whose birthday was that day. once everyone has signed, reg (who was driving his jeep as a chase vehicle) tells me that as the lead road captain, it's my responsibility to announce the birthday, present the card, and start the singin'! he might have been trying to test me, but i know the 501 too well to be intimidated announcement made, card presented, birthday wishes sung with as much harmony as a bunch of hungry bikers can manage, and then back on the road!

out of orangeville, into construction. group gets separated at another light - have to pull myself and alex over, wave a few cars past, then join up with the rest again. looking in my rearview, thinking "jeez, where'd everybody go!". apparently, my stately 40km/hr through the dirt and gravel they were calling a road at that point was a little faster than most people wanted to travel

onto hwy 3, and this time we didn't get rained on, frozen, or blinded by darkness! a first for tanker and i this season!

had a beautiful zen moment on hwy 3 - the second group (there were 3 groups, mine in the lead, moe's following, and chris's bringing up the rear) caught up to us in the construction zone, and coming around a curve at 95km/hr i see a mile-long line of bikes streaming out behind me. everyone leaned over, still in perfect formation, gliding along with a smile on every face. a sight i won't soon forget!

got into fergus, went to turn right the way tanker and i always go, and notice that the hand is flashing at the green signal. bring the group to a stop, because there's traffic waiting in the other direction, and i know there are going to be some quick maneuvers, so want to keep everyone together. hear horns behind me - they want me to go? fudge 'em! my call!

well, it turns out that i didn't have to make the right turn - could have just gone straight through, and would have got there faster. ahh well, shaken blake says he enjoyed his first tour of downtown fergus, and it was only a couple of extra kilometers

from fergus, most of us went our separate ways, but a few stayed on for a backcountry ride back to cambridge. starting to get much chillier as the sun goes down, we battled a headwind most of the way, much of it with the sun right in our eyes just visual inches above the horizon. we arrived back in cambridge without incident, just before the sun set, and bid our fellow riders goodbye with a honk of our horns as we all split off to get home and defrosted again.

however, the warmth i felt of being a part of such a wonderful group, especially folks so supportive of me in my first ride as a road captain (particularly since i was travelling many roads i'd never seen before), will keep a smile on my face that cannot be quashed by mere weather!

no u-turns, noone lost out of the group, and no demands that this little girl who's only been riding a year and a half return her road captain patch! a great day, and certainly one i won't soon forget


~ 501! ~




you can see just how wide awake all of us were for this trip!

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