We meet up with everyone, we were over 20, I was thinking there is no way they will let this many people in, our escort a retired RCMP officer said no problem. Breakfast went very late, we had only 1/2 hour till start time when the parade left, I was thinking this better work. Guess what, it did, as we rode up to the start there was an enormous Canadian flag between 2 ladder trucks from the fire department there to ride through to start the parade.
Being at the start of the parade is different. The big advantage is that you don't have to stop and start during the parade route, it is a constant flow straight through. One thing I missed was there is a point in the route that you crest a hill and normally we would only see a constant stream of motorcycles in front of us leading the way, well with only about 100 bikes in front we only saw the lead police bikes ahead and empty road... different but still a great experience. Now a HUGE plus is that you are the first bikes into the stops of the poker run also which means you are some of the first out also... Poker stops look like this, a confusion of bikes, coming in and going out.
We had great weather the entire day, a little overcast but great to ride in. Another post I now need to get up for the enjoyment of others is how to move a large group through traffic. For most of the ride I was back in the pack, we were getting separated a lot at lights, stop signs, and yields... I sure don't like that but the people up front, didn't seem to see any issues, well after lunch and a gas stop, I thought enough is enough. I got to the front and from that point on, the pack did not stop. I blocked at traffic circles, stop signs and lights, when I was finished (the pack was through) I would speed up to the front to do it all again (remember we had a retired police officer riding with us, and at times I thought, once a cop, always a cop, this may not turn out well...) this moved the group pretty well, some members had not seen this happen before so it was a little hairy for me to come back up around.
We made it to the last stop with the group still intacted and way quicker than expected. And guess what, the first person to come up to me after was our friend the officer. Here I am thinking... lecture time. Out comes a hand and a big thanks for getting the group through so well, he says it was nice knowing they could keep moving, then his wife and others start saying the same thing... It's nice to know at heart, we just care about each other and the ride...
At the end of the day a few more than 2300 people had registered (not sure how that translates to bikes) and over $400,000 raised for a very good cause. There are rides all over Canada currently and I know interest to bring the ride to other countries, if you can, ride the ride and support it, as a male... I'll say thanks for doing it right now, and if you are male, you might want to thank those that ride the MRFD! 1 in 6 of us will get prostate cancer... Think about it!
Paws
