RTCC / Laconia

I just got back from 7 wet days away on the bike.

Day 1
We left on a Friday morning (we had rain for the first 3 hours of the ride) to help out at a charity ride RTCC, for which we met up at Ontario Place for the instructions for the weekend...  after waiting around for an hour they finally told us how it would work, it could have been done in 10 min... sigh.

We stayed in Toronto at the HoJo's near Ontario Place, NEVER stay there...  it seems like it was an old rooming house turned into a Hotel, it is at the end of the streetcar turn around and you hear squeaking and bells all night. Now I must say we did have a good dinner and we were tired after the ride so it was not all bad.

Day 2
We got up early, we had to be at the site to leave at 7:45 so we left the hotel at 6:45.  What a way to start a vacation.  We got to the starting gates and then had a quick bite to eat.  These charity rides are very well organized and there was plenty of food and drinks to start the riders off right.  Because we are volunteers we get access also.

We mounted up then sped through the city on the route the bikes would be following. At points along the route the organizers would let you know which intersection to 'man' to help the bikes through.  I got dropped with my partner for the day at Millgrove Side rd and Concession 5. It was a 4 way stop so as bikes approached all we had to do was hold cars.  Pretty easy day, it was overcast so also not too hot.

When the last bike left we were off to the Camp for the night.  Dinner and a few too many beers later we were asleep in the tent city, about 1000 tents in all.

Day 3

We woke up after very little sleep and were on our way for the next leg of the event.  This time we had to leave at 6:00am... not good but once again we were dropped at a corner and went through the whole procedure again.  we finished up this day around 1:30 in the afternoon and after checking in we were told we were free to go so, off to the hotel for the night.  This hotel was really nice, the Ramada, we upgraded the rooms, one problem, only one bed, but the couches pulled out so everyone was happy.  We went and saw the falls then had dinner and went to bed, boy were we tired.

Day 4

We woke to rain, lots of rain, the weather did not look good for the longest ride of our trip, we would be riding from Niagara Falls ON two Concord NH on the highway the whole way to try and make up the time.  We took off, crossed the boarder and rode all the way, straight through without any long breaks until we hit Concord. We got in around 7:00pm to the Hampton Inn in Bow (just south of Concord).  Boy were we tired.  A long day of riding.  We went for dinner, at the Barley House Pub which had fantastic food and then it was back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Day 5

Off to Laconia, Weir's beach in the rain... it just would not be bike week in Laconia without rain...

We walked around Weir's beach then off to the vendor village.  Bought the T-shirt, patch and then off to Laconia Harley Davidson in Meredith.  There was another bunch of vendors there as well as a very well equipped Harley dealership.  It was very hard to walk away without buying a bike, you can bring used ones across the boarder pretty easy.  Once the 'shopping' was done it was back to the Hotel and back to the brew pub for another great meal.

Day 6

Off in the rain again, this time we were headed for Burlington VT.  We took Highway 4 straight across and then up the 100, we had 8 miles of very rough construction roads just before we headed off on Highway 17.  if you ever get to this area hit this highway.  The top gives a fantastic view of the mountains.

And then we were off to Shelburne to stay in a Quality Inn for the night. Because we got there so early we headed off to Green Mountain Harley. Once again we tried very hard NOT to by a bike...  They seemed to have an even better selection than the last dealer and much more friendly.  If your in Canada, look for a bike from this dealership to bring across, you'll be glad you did.

Day 7

The ride home, we left before 7:45am to make the ferry across lake Champlain.  We hit the 8:00am ferry and were on our way to NY state and home.

We headed up to Lake Placid, then to the boarder, more nice roads through the Adirondack's and home to Canada.  We rolled in home at about 3:30pm, tired and happy, all in all a great trip with twisty roads and good friend, and yes more rain than we ever wanted.

PAWS

MRFD

Yesterday was a big day, the MRFD in Ottawa.

I almost didn't go, this year the ride was forced to change again from a city that just not seem to care about the good work that is being done (another $500,000 raise this year to stay local for research).  Instead of starting at 9:00am we were told we had to start at 8:30am.  You see the city said we blocked too much traffic with the parade.  Too many people were affected...  THAT'S THE POINT.  The ride has had to (all because of the city) Move dates, locations a number of times, routes a number of times and now starting time.  Soon they will want us starting at 3:00am so less people get 'inconvenienced'. I'm sure if we were not all riding motorcycles we would be opened with wide arms and the mayor would join in on the 'parade'.

Here is a thought, stop asking the city for permission and start calling the MRFD a protest against the ignorance of people that do not care about cancers in men.  That way we could just go through the city in the middle of the day and stop all traffic.  LOL

The reason I did go... a very good friend was saved from prostate cancer, he now rides every year.  He asked if we wanted to join him again this year.  A brother is worth more to me than a board of directors of a charity that allow themselves to be walked over.

We had a blast as usual, big stories, smiley faces, good friends.  Waiting, not so much fun.

PAWS