Well, the 2014 Cruise Don’t Bruise ride has officially come and gone. This may very well be one of the last big group rides of the year here in Ottawa, At least for me, as the weather during this ride was quite cold as well as very wet. Unless the weather decides to warm up, I will be using my bike for transportation, to and from work.
So yesterday was September 14, 2014 and I arrived at the event nice and early, Approximately 8 AM, and I am very happy to have been wearing gear designed for cold weather. The night before the ride I even contemplated not going as the weather forecast was showing severe rain and cold weather throughout the day. But, since I missed this event last year, Due to a motorcycle accident, I was determined to make sure that I attended this year. And I’m glad I did.
The day started out nice and dry even though cold, and we had a fairly good turn out to this fantastic event. But as the day went through and we got about halfway through our run, the rain and weather decided to go against us. I do know that many people even in my own group of riders where probably not as prepared as they would have liked to have been when the rain started coming down. Because I encountered severe rain and cold last year during Ottawa’s ride for Autism, I made sure to be prepared for any kind of weather that could strike during the ride. One of the things that I learned from the Autism ride last year was that I needed better gear, and I spent a lot of time and energy finding the proper kind of gear throughout the winter months, so that I didn’t run into this problem again. And luckily for me, all my gear came in handy yesterday.
Well I would say that as the weather started to turn we lost a fair bit of our riders as they may not have been prepared for what was to come. But for those that made it through the ride, which was approximately 200 km, it was a great feeling of accomplishment when we finally pulled into our final destination. We were the last group to arrive, soaking wet and fairly cold, but it was great to be welcomed by smiling faces of fellow bikers that had also made the journey.
I hope you enjoy the video that I took below, it is only about half of the actual ride as my camera and batteries were taking a huge hit once the weather changed. Cold weather is not very nice on batteries and my two action cameras we’re only lasting about 40 to 45 minutes on a charge, plus because of the change in temperature and humidity they were fogging up very quickly. Since my camera was mounted on my helmet I could not see if the lenses were fogging up or not, which they were, but you’ll get the point.
Again I hope you enjoy the video and look forward to talking to you all again soon.
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