The 27th annual Sportbike Rally was held July 3-5 in Parry Sound, and I had been looking forward to attending since I first learned of it a few months ago. My long time buddy, Sean, from Toronto agreed to meet me there. He arrived a couple of days early to tour the area on his brand new Honda CBF1000.
I left Friday afternoon, and more than 1/2 of my 450 Km solo ride was through pouring rain conditions. Although I had my rain suit, my boots and gloves are not waterproof. The weather for the remainder of the weekend was perfect, though.
The rally itself was a little disapointing: events seemed poorly organized and lacking in quality. It was rumoured that this year's event had some challenges with respect to sponsors: some dropped out completely while others scaled back on spending. I guess it's a reflection of the state of the economy. In any case, we went to the registration immediately after a bacon 'n eggs breakfast at a local diner. We paid our $25 fee and received a t-shirt, an old issue of Cycle Canada, and a poorly photocopied schedule of events. We then went to the "bikini bike wash" to have the road grime cleaned from the bikes. A couple of ditch pigs wearing denim shorts used cruddy sponges with dish detergent to scrub the bikes. They did a horrible job, and they didn't even rinse the soap off. What a big waste of ten bucks.
In the early part of the afternoon we headed to the airport to watch the radar runs -- an event in which anyone take their bike onto the runway to see how fast they can go as a police car clocks their speed with a radar gun. The racing strip measured a little over 1/4 mile and allowed plenty of room to slow down at the end. As expected, the Hayabusas ran the fastest, with the highest hitting 258 Km. It was fun to watch for a few minutes, but it was less entertaining the more we watched.
Around supper hour we took part in the Thunder Run -- a 15 Km parade of all the motorcycles from the outskirts of town, on through the downtown area and ending in a shopping mall parking lot. I would guess upward of 1,500 sportbikes gathered for this group ride. It was followed by some sort of live music (a Rush tribute band) but we instead opted to go out for beer and pub food with friends Andrew and Dave.
Sunday we got up and went for breakfast at the same diner as the previous morning, then we loaded the bikes and checked out of the hotel. Finally, we made a pit stop at Starbucks before hitting the road. Sean rode with me to Ottawa as he and his wife rented a cottage in Gatineau Park for then next 2 weeks. His wife would be meeting hime there with the car and their dogs.
The ride back home was great. Beautiful weather, nice roads, and not too much traffic.
On the ride from Ottawa to Parry Sound: when it wasn't raining really hard, the sky looked like this:
About 2 1/2 hours into the ride, it was actually dry for about 10 minutes so I took advantage of the opportunity to empty the water from my boots, and to empty my bladder... and to call Sean to say that I was running late.
Comfort Inn parking lot scene.
Lining up for the "Thunder Run"
Chatting with some Harley-folk at Starbucks before leaving for home.
Packing up
The ride through Algonquin Park was nice
(except when we got stuck behind camper vans and motorhomes)
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