August 20, 2008
I rode my bike to the 4th Annual Gastown Motorcycle Show and Shine presented by BCCOM. (British Columbia Coalition of Motorcyclists). I was a volunteer.
I followed another rider past the barricade and in turn was followed by a few more. It was sort of a powerful feeling to be allowed to ride where the streets had been blocked off.
I found a place to leave my bike and locked my gear to the bike. I had taken my long cable and threaded it through a leg of the riding pants and an arm of the jacket and then locked it with my disc lock. Works like a charm. A few people stopped by to admire my bike and say some nice words about it.
Anyway...I was assigned to go direct or prevent parking and to keep an eye on the bikes that were parked. We all had radios so if there was a problem I could radio for help. The police were stationed at a few corners to guard the barricades.
The policeman and I had had a rapport going and if I gestured zero he would either not let them in or tell them to go down the alley. He did that for the ones that appeared a bit rough around the edges....
If I had spaces available I would gesture and he would let the bikers through....
I never did have to use the radio.
You have to understand something about the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver. Although it is full of heritage buildings and has a somewhat colourful history and is now the trendy tourist area.....it is next door to the poorest postal code in Canada.
The DTES (Downtown Eastside) while having plenty of regular people in it, also has Vancouver's biggest drug problem; biggest alcohol problems; biggest prostitute problems; HIV, Hep C.....probably the busiest ambulance department around; Chinatown, rooming houses, bars, the cop shop., etc.,
There is a whole sub culture buzzing with activity at any given time of day or night . It's not unusual to see people shooting up in doorways or alleys or seeing the strung out ladies of the night trying to ply their trade to make a few bucks to get their next hit. There are soup kitchens, churches that offer shelter and food, drop in centres where the street people can get a shower or a sandwich......It's a very troublesome neighbourhood. It doesn't mean you can't go there and walk around. I am down there frequently for various reasons (none of which I mentioned above
) and have never had a problem. If you drive down there, you need to use extra caution especially right after welfare day. I also drive down there with my doors locked.
After welfare day the people we call the 3 day millionaires are high and or drunk so they have a tendency to wander across the street without regard for traffic, lights or the rules.
Every government that gets in usually spouts some rhetoric about the DTES, but nothing ever gets done. Personally I don't approve of the safe injection sites where the addicts can go to shoot up....they get given clean needles to use.....in my mind it is condoning the use of illegal drugs....however.....since the conception of the safe injection site, there are less new cases of HIV and Hep C. The clean needles being given to them are helping that cause.
It's quite remarkable that just one street over from the junkies and you can be in Chinatown looking at Chinese lanterns, drinking tea and eating egg tarts....
Anyway.......while I was at he bike show, I only managed to snag a few photos because I was busy working.
Just one of the characters that live nearby. She stopped by my bike when I was leaving and asked how she could be a volunteer....she said she plans to learn to ride.....(sorry about the blurry image)
Another local resident who came out to enjoy the bikes. He is typical of someone who would be living on disability or welfare and lives down there because the rent is cheap.
I didn't bother photographing the junkies because some people might find it disturbing to see it.....however.....it was only a few minutes after the junkies left, that this guy stopped in the same place for some relief.
and then.....these 2 women happened to come right past him.....as you can see, he is now finished...that is him behind them.
Here we have someone who came down to see the show. She was talking on her cell phone as she came by me. Note the man facing her.....is he admiring her or glaring at me?
Check out this gorgeous V-Rod.
Who would you imagine would ride this machine. It has the appearance of being fast and aggressive. Well...don't ponder any longer.....here he is......I suspect he must be an accountant who wears a plaid jacket and a red bow tie to work.
He's just pushing his bike from the show to go load it onto a trailer.
A little blurry.....but...it sure was cute as it rode by.
Leaving the show
Riding his vintage Indian away from the show
For sale (the BMW, that is)...the trolley in the backgound is a tourist bus, the police man in the back gorund rides a HD 1200 Sportser....
Now this guy was window shopping.......note the sale sign in the shop window....very nice custom Honda...
This guy was sitting waiting to leave...
and then put on a little show....
Taking his time....I think he wanted a little attention but wasn't getting any because of Mr. flame-on...but....his bike had a gorgeous paint job. He had to ride around Mr. Flame- on to get by....
Nice sidecar rig leaving the show.
So those were my few pics I got.....if you walk along the main drag of the show, there are so many awesome bikes to look at. There also was a stage with some entertainment.....and the best part......it's free to attend and free to park your bikes.
After I got back to my bike, a young man who was on coffee break from the bistro behind me came over to talk to me. He said, "Miss....I thought you might like to know that a lot of the rough tough looking biker guys were all ogling your bike. They thought it looked really good."
I thanked him for that and told him it was probably because they thought it was a Harley.
Either that or the girly helmet hanging from the helmet lock.
As pre-arranged, I called Doc. We were to meet for supper before he left for his 3 week vacation. I think he was very happy to hear that I had ridden my bike down to Gastown instead of using transit.
I rode east and he road west so we could meet in the middle...Dang.....who knew it would be closed on Sunday?
So.....we then rode to another place...in the rain.....we had a very nice dinner and then we made a stop on the way somewhere else so I could fill up the gas tank. The price had dropped by about 9 cents per litre....Even at that it still cost me $15.00 to fill up the tank. It wasn't empty either.
We rode up to the coffee shop near my place for a drink and more chit chat before I rode home and Doc went his way.
I am starting to feel a bit more confident.....if it hadn't been for the fact that I had to get up early the next morning, I would have enjoyed a bit longer ride....even if it was raining.
)
