Announcing the 2013 Ride to Remeber.
Snippet from the home page...
I don't really know where to begin, so I guess I'll start at the beginning. I left Atlanta a weel ago, Friday, headed to the 2012 R2R in Toronto, by way of Washington, DC, where I participated in the 25th annual Rolling Thunder ride (my first). I won't go into all of that because this is supposed to be about R2R, but I did post about it on my Facebook page.
From DC, I headed north toward Stroudsburg, PA where I met up with some of our fellow Sabra Riders, Les & Ann, Neal Z, and Rob Z, along with a number of other JMA members, and the M25. You probably know by now who M25 is, so I won't go into detail, but they were some of the nicest people I have ever met. I would ride with them any time. From there we went on to Kingston, ON, where we met up with more folks headed to Toronto for R2R by way of Ottawa.
Those who opted not to attend the event on Parlaiment Hill in Ottawa have no idea what they missed. Jewish and Christian bikers and others from Israel, Australia, England, the US, and Canada, gathered to proclaim "Never Again!" We were addressed by several dignitaries, members of Parlaiment, and foreign counsuls. This was not an official R2R event, but the JMA was specifically invited and encouraged to attend since we were "in the neighborhood." I wish we could have made this part of the R2R, but that was outside of the scope of the event.
Other Sabras who joine us were Joel and Jay, with their wives, Jeff Merry, and Stewart Posner. I apologize if I left anyone out or omitted certain details, but I am writing this quickly and off the top of my head, which is not my typical style. It's definately a "Reader's Digest" condensed version.
So, what is an R2R witout rain? Friday was just plain nasty, but most of us rode anyway. The route had to be modified because the weather had traffic backed up, and high winds made it unsafe for motorcycles on elevated roadways. We staged at Shaar Shalom Synagogue, had breakfast, and rode through the rain to Holy Blossom Synagogue for lunch and and guest speakers. We then made it back to the hotel on our own, again through the rain, for Shabbat services and dinner. The guest speaker for the evening would be the subject for another entire essay, but he was very though provoking, politically charged, and no doubt rubbed some people (mostly those who lean politically left) the wrong way. A number of folks actually got up and left the room. You'll hear about it later, I'm sure.
There were two JMA scheduled rides for Saturday, but the weather was still not conducive to sight seeing. Another event in which the JMA was invited to participate, but not part of R2R, was the Heroes Highway Ride, an annual event to honor Canada's fallen soldiers from the war in Afghanastan. We were invited participate in this ride in a position of honor, in the lead group of 200 motorcycles, along with Members of M25. This was arranged and made possible by Howard Galganov of the Montreal Maccabees. Several of us Sabras opted to participate in this ride, about 100 miles from CFB Trenton to Toronto. Les & Ann, Stewart, David Halperin from YOW in Melbourne, Australia, and I rode together to Trenton to join the procession back to Toronto.
The HHR was somewhat reminiscent of Rolling Thunder, but much smaller. There were about 4,000 bikes, escorted in groups, the entire way. EVERY overpass between Trenton and Toronto was lined with people waving Canadian and other military unit flags, taking pictures and videos, waving and cheering as 4,000 bikers passed by. It was truly an honor and a priveledge to ride with our Canadian friends and M25 in honor of the memory of Canada's fallen heroes. I wonder what the Canadians thought, watching this year's HHR. I wonder if they ever saw so many US and Israeli flags in this procession, riding in honor of Canada's fallen soldiers. This ride, as well as the ride on Thrusday from Ottawa to Trenton, was filmed from the air. I look forward to seeing some of that footage when it is posted. There are pictures and much more info on my Facebook page. Just search for Wayne Markman. I'm sure I'm the only one there.