Summer Solstice 2007!  Well, I missed Rod's Birthday Ride so there was no way in hell I was going to miss the Solstice ride!  Photo album is here...

Met up at the Roundabout - you know the place, kind of circular, we meet up there every now and then for rides... ;)  Got on site and Justis had the proposed route map for this year.  Ummm... Lion's Gate Bridge?  North Vancouver?  With 120+ people?  Hmmmm... not so sure about that...

Well, there was definitely dissension in the ranks.  I'd heard about the proposed route a week or two before but far too many people show up for the Solstice ride just from seeing it on a calendar at a bike store or something, with not a lot of advanced warning about things like major route changes.  Eventually Rod and Justis got up on a bench together and started trying to see how the crowd felt.  The bridge was pretty much done when Justice asked for hands for who was willing to do it... Tumbleweeds rolled  by and a whole lotta nothing.  At that point Rod said he was going to do the usual Solstice ride, anyone who wanted to come along was welcome.

With that the ride's fate was sealed.  A group of about 10 riders started heading towards the bridge and then had their own internal vote... Results?  Well, they caught up with the rest of us again pretty quick!  Don't you love democracy at work... Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY interested in doing the route Justis had mapped out, just I think it probably needs a group of more regular riders.  Some other day perhaps.

Anyhow, eventually we got rolling... Had a quick stop by English Bay and then got ourselves over to the Burrard Bridge for some J-Skids... 

By my second or third round my hub made a nasty noise so I cut it out for the rest of the day... Nexus 7-speeds are too damn expensive to chew up!  I definitely need to make a purpose-built J-Skid bike.  I've got a beefy hub sitting here waiting actually, just need to get my ass in gear and make it happen...

Well, from there we took off towards Science World.  Had a two rider collision along the way, hopefully nothing too serious but one rider was headed home for the day.  The group kept moving and got ourselves over to Science World for a while.

Took a bit for everyone to get back together again - a crew had stopped with the fallen rider to make sure he was ok, but eventually we were all ready to rock again.  I think we lost a fair number of riders at that point - last year's Solstice ride didn't make it much past Science World if I remember correctly.  Anyhow the direction was Jerimiah's Pub at 4th and Alma, the 'usual' stop for a Solstice ride. 

Got our way out there - had a group of about 10 people who didn't want to hit up the pub scene so we rolled out towards Jericho.  Got to the platform and saw a group of ATV cops sitting there, not to mention a crazy group of really, really drunk guys yelling at us.  Ummm.. .yeah, bad place, let's keep rolling.

Found a willow tree up the path just as the rain really started coming down.  Chilled there till it started to calm itself and then headed back to the pub to pick up Amber.  Found a group headed for home including Michael, Katherine, Don (of Ride Away) and Tara (of Ride On Top) who were headed more or less our direction, always better to ride in a group!  Got ourselves home, ordered in some late night pizza and that was it for the day.

Definitely a good solstice ride, even with the not so good aspects like rider injuries, dissension, you name it but hey, the important thing is we had a good time!

See you out there... Definitely don't miss our Canada Day ride this weekend!!