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For all you Canucks out there, check out the Feb 14 issue of Cycle Canada. There's an article titled "The Third Option" which is a write-up on the sidecar rally I attended this past summer. There's a pic of Sir George in his sidecar, a small bit about yours truly and the story of Pat Sarsfield (one of the many Ural customers at my shop) who rolled his Ural that weekend. Well worth the read!

Scanned the article from Cycle Canada, here's the page with Sir George's photo:
We've had a few people stop by the shop recently and immediately recognise him from the magazine. I may have to hire him a talent agent.

Wow, has it really been three years since I last posted in here?

Much has changed. The bike no longer has a sidecar and I am no longer working at Old Vintage Cranks, but I do still have my loyal sidekick Sir George with me. 2014 turned out to be a real dodo year; in March my wife of 13yrs informed me she no longer wanted to be married, then two weeks later my Dad passed away. The next five months were a blur, but at the end of it I was living in a new place in Orangeville, Ontario, Mom was somewhat settled in her new apartment in downtown Kingston and life was sort of returning to normal. Then a beloved Aunt passed away and another was diagnosed with brain cancer and Mom started to have some serious medical issues. Christmas that year really sucked.

2015 was a bit better in that Mom got sorted out with some major surgery, but I had to give up my dream job at the bike shop in order to move back to the Kingston area to help take care of her while she recovered. But I found myself a nice little place out in the country about 1/2hr North of the city and made the decision to go into semi-retirement for an indefinite period while I took some much needed time to recover and rebuild my life. Ended up taking a part time job to supplement the Army pension and became a certified and licenced Education Transportation Specialist. You know, a school bus driver. Believe it or not, it has turned out to be one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had. I just wish it paid a bit more.

At the start of 2016 I decided to remove and sell the sidecar, a decision that was not appreciated by Sir George, but I countered it with more rides in the Jeep to visit friends and go walkies down forest trails and he seems to be okay with it now. For the rest of the year I wrestled with giving up riding altogether and hardly put any mileage on the bike at all. I guess I'd gone into a bit of a depression and was looking for a radical change to snap me out of it; I began looking at Corvettes, Camaros and other muscle cars as a possible replacement for the Harley and a tentative cure for my state of mind. However, I managed to "dog" slap myself back into shape and found a new organisation to devote my free time towards. I said goodbye to the fine people of the CMC (Canadian Motorcycle Cruisers) who I had ridden with for the past 10yrs and joined the UN/NATO Veterans Of Canada, where I reconnected with other former soldiers. I still maintained close ties with the CMC and went riding with them on occasion, though. Things were finally looking positive.

This year promises to be even better. Through the UN/NATO Vets an opportunity landed in my lap that was too good to pass up. In two weeks I will be turning in the school bus keys and starting my new job as a Service Tech at the local Harley/Honda dealer, Motosport Plus. I'm going back into the motorcycle industry and am really looking forward to it. Plus I'll have a 40km route over some of the nicest country roads with lots of curves to keep me smiling to and from work. All I need now is to find me a lovely lady with her own bike and I'll be set for the second half of my life.

Wow a lot of water has passed under that bridge Gummy. Glad to hear that things are looking up. Sorry for your loss.

Thanks. Yeah, at times I thought the bridge was gonna be washed away.

Wow...you had a tough few years. Glad to hear you pulled through.

Thank you, Ma'am.

As they say mate, dodo Happens, and all you can do when it hits is wade through it until you get to the other side, glad to hear you got through all or most of it bro. Also if you are interested, there is also Canadian Army Veterans aka CAV riding groups scattered around Canada. I've been on a couple of the local chapters runs and they seem a pretty good bunch...

Yes, the CAV is a pretty good bunch, as are most of the Veteran groups that have sprung up in recent years. I remember back when the only military riding group was the Defenders, nowdays there's an almost endless selection to choose from. I went with the UN/NATO Vets because it closely matched my service history and is loosely structured and non-political.

I am glad you have made your way past troubled times and are looking forward to the future. Thanks for sharing.

Safe Travels,
Richard