First Ride of 2011

Our first ride of the 2011 season was to Ed Hendrick’s internment. Ed was a member of Waterloo Wings, the group that was responsible for organizing Cyclefest during Labour Day weekends. He passed away on January 27th because of a heart attack.

The meeting place was at a Giant Tiger parking lot in Stratford where we arrived after 10am. Even though it was a clear day, the morning was still cold but the turnout was very good. The event was attended by several members of the Waterloo Wings as well as Canadian Motorcycle Cruisers.

At 10:30 the group, led by Ed’s son riding his Gold Wing, left Stratford for the cemetery in Mitchell where the internment would take place. The turnout was big enough that there a police presence at a couple of Stratford intersections that allowed the group to leave together.

The ceremony in Mitchell was performed by Ed’s partner, Tonia whose tribute was very beautiful and very touching.

At the Schmidtsville Restaurant.

After the ceremony, some of the members of the Waterloo Wings invited us to ride with them for lunch in Wellesley. We had lunch at the Schmidtsville Restaurant which was busy on this sunny, albeit a little cool, day. After lunch, we discussed some plans for the upcoming season and then everybody went their way. As always, it’s good to ride again and it’s even better to have somebody ride beside you.

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