Ride to Live, 2016, Westcoast Motorcycle Ride

Formerly the Ride for Dad, the 2016, Ride to Live is the West Coast Motorcycle Fund raiser for Prostate Cancer Research. It’s been going on for 7 years.  I’ve been in most of those.  If the weather is good it’s huge. Today rain was forecast so there was only a modest number of bikers compared to previous years.
Dave and Marcia came by at 8 am . Dave’s Harley Heritage Soft tail  rumble is hard not to notice.   Laura and I were ready but I was hardly on the highway when I remembered I’d not locked up.  I shouted to Dave and Marcia to go on, swung back and sure enough only Gilbert was guarding the place. Laura though said she’d felt her earache and sore throat come back with the cold wind so wanted to stay.  That was sad.  We’d worried she might not be up to it.  But with the blue sky showing and hope that it wouldn’t rain, she’d given it a go.
I drove on and joined up with Dave and Marcia at Trev Deely Motorcycle.  When the Howitzer fired we were all off.  It’s always a sight to be hold.  A double like of large motorcycles as far as the eye can see. Vancouver Police on their bikes and with their members keeping intersections safe.
The rain didn’t come. Blue sky and white clouds.  Perfect motorcycle weather. Whoever planned the route picked the best views of the city and country. It was a truly lovely ride, so picturesque.  Being with Dave and Marcia I didn’t do my usual thing of getting lost in Richmond.
The Red Bull girls had been handing out cans. I drank one.  Then cranked up Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” on my Electroglide’s stereo. Ahead of me Marcia was on the back of Dave’s bike dancing with her hands and arms to the tunes she had playing in her ears.  When we got to the Legion at Crescent Beach both Dave and I remembered last year when we had our dogs, Gilbert and Emory and they’d played in the grass there.
We arrived at Cloverdale Rodeo and Fair Grounds after noon.  Burgers were ready.  We chowed down sitting on the grass.
I met up with Murray again and talked about his having had another bike totalled.  Drunken drivers going through red lights have certainly disrupted his life. He’d been riding since fourteen and never an accident and now these two big ones in the last few years.  He was on crutches back then but this time he was looking a whole lot better after his latest ordeal.
The band was playing when we arrived.  The Vancouver Police, Scotia Bank, and Honda were also sponsors of the cancer research fund raisers.  Great people . Great bikes.  I thanked Dave and Marcia and headed back to join up with Laura and Gilbert for the rest of this sunny afternoon. What a great Ride to Live 2016!  What a great cause
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