For those of you who are wondering what the BAD ride is, I'll tell you. BAD - Bikers against Despair is an annual motorcycle ride to raise money and awareness for the Distress Centres of Toronto. Just one of the groups that they help are kids who have been mentally, physically and sexually abused. This year the bikers raised over $300,000 (thanks again to everyone that sponsored me) and there were over 1500 bikes in the ride. It was crazy.
The route is different every year (with some similarities). This year the route took us through Terra Cotta. Up until Terra Cotta it was a beautiful ride. It is the most amazing feeling when all you can see in front of you are motorcycles and all you can see behind you is motorcycles. Then came the crazy curve before Terra Cotta.
Tim was in front then me, then I see in my mirror a motorcycle and motorcyclist go sliding along the ground hitting the guard rail. I was so freaked out. But, I couldn't get Tim's attention. I yelled at a guy on the road that a rider was down and went to get Tim. Finally caught up with Tim and we waited to see if the rest of our group came along. They didn't so we turned around and found Craig and Steve helping our friend Tom along the side of the road. Tom had hit some gravel on the curve when trying to correct for the turn, lost control of the bike and went sliding into the guard rail. He is so lucky. He's in a lot of pain, but nothing is broken.
He had just installed engine guards to his bike and they saved his leg and probably the bike. We left the bike on the side of the road and Tom got on the back of Tim's bike and we got him home to Mississauga. Tim went back last night and got the bike. It is ridable and had some scrapes and dents. So lucky. I was freaked out for the rest of the day. It could just has easily have been me. I probably took that corner a little fast as well. I was so slow for the rest of the day.
We picked up the ride after dropping Tom off and headed into Toronto to the CNE grounds. We have never gotten there so late and with so many bikes already there (the above picture is just one of the parking lots). It was crazy! The lineup for the barbeque was back to the parking lot. What a beautiful day, though. We watched the police precision riders. They are amazing. They come so close to each other in such a small space. It's hard to see it in this picture, but they are swerving in between each other at pretty high speeds.
Yesterday (Tuesday May 30th) was my second lacrosse game of the season. I took a little bit of a different route to the game and appeared to be more prepared for the craziness of the traffic. I didn't feel like I was going to die this time. The game was great as well. We won 8-3. I did get to set up one shot, but we were denied on that one. I'm glad I signed up again this year.
I finished 'Neither Here Nor There' and I'm now reading 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'. I didn't realize I was picking up a somewhat depressing book, but the other choice was 'Anne Frank's Diary', so I guess I was going to get depressing either way. The book is very different and I'm intrigued.
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