Anyway on to our day. We headed to the Chevron in Port Moody to pick up Ron who was gassing up. Ron rides a V8. I thought I took a picture of Ron's ride but it seems to be missing. Nice bike!
From there we headed to Trev Deeley for the start of the ride. We were there by 7:30 and the ride did not officially start until 9. But we were by no means early.
After a brief opening ceremony, including the national Anthem, Amazing Grace on the bagpipes, a few speakers and a Lion dance for luck the starting gun sounded.
Can we actually call this a starting gun??
With the Vancouver Police as the ride escort we headed out. North on Boundary to Hastings. Anyone who knows that intersection can imagine my panic of that corner -major hill start, but Mike reminded me the road was closed - no stopping required! YEAH!
There we many spectators along the route. It was an awesome sight to look ahead down Hastings to see a long line of bikes riding in two lines, then to see the same in the review mirror.
At Concord Pacific we drove thru the "Poker Run" tents. I was so excited at Trev Deeley to have pulled the queen of hearts. I was sure it was a sign of good things to come. Second card at Concord as a 7 of spades :(
From this point the ride was much on your own although with that many bikes you are rarely alone. We headed down First to Boundary and north on Boundary again to Hastings. So last time we had the closed roads and police escort this time we were bound by the laws of the road. CRAP!
Before I could even get there, other bikes were stuck. I stalled - no surprise there. In my panic to get going I have no real idea what I did but I got moving after hearing a bang (yikes) Just as I got going the bike two ahead of me stalled and rolled back into the bike between us. I was fortunate to have the space to go around and some really great bikers had blocked the intersection so I did not have to worry about traffic.
Mike, Ron and Shawn were now far ahead. But by the time we got to Coqutilam we were all together again. I was starting to realize there was something wrong with my bike - the clutch felt funny. I played around with it riding down the Barnet and realised that the cable seemed to have slipped as the "sweet spot" was now at the very end of my finger tips!
At Coquitlam Town Center another poker run tent - 2 of clubs :-(
We parked and Shawn took a look at my bike and made a quick adjustment (which I could do myself now) and all was now good with my clutch. Thank you Shawn!
From here we headed out with a fairly large group east on the Lougheed to Mission. As we entered Mission mike and I could see Ron and Shawn behind us in the group. Crossing the bridge to Abbotford, Shawn pulled up with us. Ron never appeared. We were riding alone now and stopped to see if he was with the next group or two of riders. He was not. We decided the best course of action was to assume he was with another group and to head onto the next stop.
With Mike in the lead we headed off. I must admit I had no idea where we were much of the time and we were not seeing any other bikes, I started to assume Mike was on his own route. But I knew eventually we would get where we were going. I was a little worried a couple of times when we saw groups going the opposite direction, but Mike said they were the Chilliwack starters. The ride was lovely. We rode along the south side of the river into Fort Langley, then into Langley and straight to the event centre. Well not quite straight - there was a missed corner fixed with a little synchronized motorcycle riding in a church parking lot. We parked at the Poker run tents (I got a Q of spades) and waited for Ron.
Together again we headed to Fraser Downs Casino and Racetrack (Cloverdale Racetrack for those who know the old name)
As we arrived we were directed on to the race track. It was very cool to drive around the track and park. By the time all were there the double lined parked bikes stretched from the finish line well around into the backstretch.
This was an interesting sight.......
It was at Trev too!Lunch was served and live music was played and we got the last of our poker cards. I got a 7 of who cares what :-( Mike had four 8s. The draw for the Harley was done and the 5050 draw´and the poker run prizes handed out. The sun shine was amazing and the crowd fun. Ron and Shawn headed off after lunch and Mike and I stayed till the end. We are glad we did this ride and hope to do more.
The one thing I must mention - it is important all men are checked for prostate cancer. If you have not had a digital check, please do so. It is important!
