July 15^th, 2007

I went on another motorcycle group ride this weekend, this time to Harrison Lake. Here's what I wrote on the forum about the trip (and here are the pictures from the trip):

First, I'd like to thank Denham for getting the wheels turning on this again. We sort of dropped the idea of a group ride, but he brought up the subject, and, together with Hop-Scotch, we put together a ride to Harrison Lake.

Second, I'd like to thank Hop-Scotch for making the trip up to Canada from Washington State to be part of the ride.

It started in the morning at 8:00AM. Hop-Scotch and I met up in the parking lot of the McDonald's head office. It is just a few short minutes from where I live, and close to where he was staying with a friend (he came up from Mukilteo the night before).

Here is Hop-Scotch:

Here I am:

So from Burnaby we gassed up and headed out on Lougheed Highway (Highway 7) to meet up with Denham in Maple Ridge. It was early enough in the morning that there weren't many cages out (although there were a few bikes, and waves all around), but we seemed to hit nearly every damned red light we possibly could on that "highway". I'm not complaining, really, but ... yeah, I am complaining :) Oh well.

Anyhow, we got to the McDonald's in Maple Ridge (Ray Kroc: You owe us advertising fees) a few minutes before our 9:00 AM meeting time, and shortly thereafter arrived a third Ninja with Denham atop it. Here's a pic of Denham on the left near the (pretend, wannabe, red) Ninja, and Hop-Scotch on the right:

After formally introducing ourselves and a bit of chit-chat (including a monologue from an interesting 60+ year old guy with the most classic Acadian accent I've ever heard), we mounted our steeds and headed East out of the city, keeping a slow pace so that the slower red Ninja 650 could keep up. At one point we stopped for a quick mid-journey check:

And about 30 seconds after this picture was taken, a group of motorcycles passed by, including a blue Ninja 650r! We all made noises and waved, but the rider didn't notice us at all (blue Ninja ... what else would you expect? At least it wasn't grey—er, silver ...)

After this little side-of-the-road stop we continued on to Harrison Lake, arriving to discover it crawling with artists (sorry, artisans) and art aficionados. We picked some arts festival weekend to go up to Harrison. So parking (even for three motorcycles) was a little difficult to find. But eventually we did, and it was time for lunch:

Then Denham and I decided to try out a Bicycle Built for Two, taking it hard through the twisties. Here is an action shot of us in a particularly tight corner:

And we also had a sit down—I mean, we hung out—at the beach for a few minutes and chatted:

And looked at the view of the lake:

Lake:

Oh, and here's the obligatory pics of our bikes parked together:

Some great-looking Ninja 650Rs (and a red one):

And then, thanks to Denham who knew about this road, we rode around the East side of the lake for about 5 or 10 minutes until we found a pull-out where we could get pictures in front of the lake:

And we didn't yet have a pic of Denham and me together, so we posed for one:

From there back to the road to return home, but we took some back roads, guided by Denham's knowledge, that let us do a bit of twists, turns, ups and downs, and some downright aggressive accelerations from stop signs and corners (sorry, no pics ... we had our hands full).

We also went across the old dam, which is a one-laner. Very pretty little area through there:

This is where we discovered what chemical inducements Hop-Scotch keeps in his camel bag to keep himself juiced and ready for more road: Gatorade and (formerly carbonated) Energy Drink.

After all, you can't fly without fuel, eh Hop-Scotch?

And at the end of the ride just before we broke up and went our separate ways, we had a cup of coffee and some farewell palaver:

I had a great day, you guys; thanks for the ride!

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