Sturgis
If your lifestyle revolves around motorcycles, that is, if you breathe, eat, sleep, and dream two wheeled machines covered in beautiful paint and chrome, then you must attend the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally at least once in your lifetime. Then and only then you can say you’ve reached the apotheosis, the motorcyclist’s Mecca, the mother of all bike runs. Attending this world-renowned biker event is a pilgrimage of sort for us, lovers of the iron horse. I’ve wanted to attend this rally for more than twenty years but like a lot of you out there life had different plans for me. So not long ago when Pascal Richard asked me if I was interested in riding out to South
Dakota with him to attend the 70th edition, my immediate answer was “I’m in”. When turning off Interstate 90 at exit 30 on August 7th, 2010 I felt like I had reached the gates of the Promised Land.
Thy will be done
I went to an art show. Now, I know what you’re thinking.
An art show? Like probably the majority of you, I would rather be skewered on a spit and roasted like a large dead animal than to spend time at an art show. I rather have all my teeth pulled out without the use of anaesthetic by a hefty Russian woman who doesn’t believe in shaving nor the use of deodorant
than to look at a batch of distorted objects that
reflect something my young five year old nephew could have conjured up. I’d rather be stripped naked and doused in maple syrup only to be thrown to a
herd of sexually deprived uncontrollable female
nymphomaniacs who have been quarantined on a tropical island in the South Pacific for several years than to have to stare at a bunch of “so called” abstract paintings! “Ahh”… “Um”… scratch that last one… I really like maple syrup! But anyway you get my point. So then why did I attend an art show? Well this wasn’t the artsy-fartsy kind of thing. No wine or cheese here. No high faloot’in people sticking their little finger in the air as they casually sip their cocktails, no sir not this kind of art show! This was “our” kind of art show put on by a group of remarkable people who take pride in their stained and blistered hands.
The Annual Ride to Port Dover
It has been a debate in my mind as to where I should start with this story, but as with any good book that one would find in the
drawers of a roadside motel room after a long day of hard drinking,
riding and wrenching, and of course, wenching, that place would be “In the beginning….”. And so in 1971 when George Simons gave his son a Rupp mini-bike, he never dreamed he would be instilling a life long passion in his son Chris. Chris Simons has since owned several dozen bikes and also had a well known bike shop in a tiny, and I mean tiny, port side in southwestern Ontario called Port Dover. His shop was called “Biker’s Delight” which oddly enough are the words that many would use to
describe this event. The Friday the 13th tradition started in 1981.
That same year a group of head banging teenagers had come together in Los Angeles
to form Metallica. Despite a recent assassination attempt, the president of the United States was still Ronald Reagan. The Rolling
Stones were singing “Start Me Up” and
“An American Werewolf in London” was playing in theaters. And for those that give a fuck, I was riding a 1969 BSA. Against this backdrop, Chris Simons and approximately 25 friends came together through word of
mouth in Port Dover at the Commercial
Hotel, now known as Angelo’s of Dover.
THE 15TH CANADIAN
The 15th annual Canadian National HOG Rally (Harley Owners Group) took place on August 5, 6 and 7 in the beautiful City of Sherbrooke in Quebec.
Many HOG members and Harley-Davidson enthusiasts attended this annual weekend gathering of fun and activities. This is the reason why I dropped in at the Harley-Davidson Sherbrooke dealership. They were hosting some of the festivities and I was fortunate enough to share some good times with the array of motorcycle buffs.
Deeley Canada, the exclusive
Harley-Davidson distributor in this country, was pleased to host this event to thank its customers and HOG members who are among the brand’s most faithful followers.
Most activities are restricted to...
