OK, so mother nature pissed all over us yesterday on International Female Ride Day, spearheaded in Canada last year by Vicki Gray, a motorcycle racer, instructor and coach who has been riding since 1983. She also founded the RaceGirl MotorSport and Motoress websites to promote motorcycling among women.
Vicki's the blonde on the far right in the first photo, with Chic Riders Gina (far left) and Brandi (middle). She kicked off the day in Toronto Friday morning at Princes' Gate at Exhibition Place next to the Lakeshore. The pissy weather had an impact on how many women turned out for the kickoff, but it was followed by a short ride along the Lakeshore.
Ontario Chic Riders came into town to a dinner to celebrate the day from as far south as Hamilton, as far west as London, and as far west as Ajax. That's us in the group photo in Shopsy's at Yonge and Front -- which, incidentally, is where Chic Rider Bike Nights are gonna be every Wednesday all summer. Left to right, bottom row, are: Lori, Sarah, and Gina. Left to right, top row: Me, Karen, Melissa, Camille, Nina, Vicky, Sarah and Alexandra.
I'd promised Ontario Chic Rider prez Lori (far left, first seated row) that I'd swing by our meeting spot at the Goose & Firkin on Leslie north of York Mills to see if any of our members showed up to ride down together to our IFRD dinner.
But most of the gals would have to ride in from the outskirts. Just getting to the Firkin would have been a long, soggy ride for most of 'em, so I had a lonely wait. Everybody else ended up taking their cages (cars) downtown. And were glad they did, cuz when we left after dinner there was a major downpour going on.
The ride home? Damn. I climbed into my raingear and soldiered on home. I just LOOOOVE riding in the rain, especially in city traffic (NOT)!
My raingear kept me dry but the steam from the engine kept fogging my visor cuz traffic wasn't moving fast enough for the air to clear it. I had to lift the visor just to see where I was going, so the rain was stinging my face. Annoying, but the worst part of riding in the rain with an open visor is that I wear glasses. When glasses get wet, you get halos around all the lights. Which, as all of us who wear corrective lenses know, improves visibility (all sarcasm intended) SOOO much. Ack.
I coulda sworn I ordered that rainstorm for AFTER I got home. There musta been a mixup.
2 comments:
you are a real trooper!
i was out there on 2 wheels yesterday, with raingear (and foggy visor!)
luckily i didn't have to deal with glasses tho... lol
thanks for your coverage of ifrd.
Heh. If anybody has a solution for that foggy visor issue, please contact me and explain it. I'll happily post the info here on my blog. I've been pointed at sprays ... but they all say apply them to a clean visor. Clean visor? I can clean 'em before I leave the driveway and a block later they're filthy again. I'm constantly swabbing bugs and road filth off 'em, and I don't understand how any anti-fog spray could survive that...
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