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The Love Ride
Sunday,
November 11, 2001
This
is the biggest ride on the West Coast, and I believe it may be the
biggest charity ride in the nation (at least that is what I have
been told). The event is hosted by Jay Leno of the Tonight
Show (you know, the one Johnny Carson used to do), Glendale Harley,
and a host of other sponsors and celebrities. For me, it
turned out to be a ride that would forever change my life.
Read on to find out why.
For
the week preceding the Love Ride, I had listened to my friends Allan
Harrison and Kevin Stenson give conflicting reports of what the
weather would be like for the day of the ride. Kevin insisted
the weather channels were predicting rain, while Allan reported that
there would be no rain. Finally, I decided to go by the
newspaper's five-day forecasts, which for the two last days of the
work week, had shown that there would be no rain on Sunday.
Armed with Friday's report, and Allan's confidence, I felt no more
scrutiny was necessary.
The
day before the Ride, I had bought some new clothes and got them
ready to wear, and I spent four hours that night cleaning and
polishing every inch of my bike. When I got done at 2 a.m., it
was show-bike clean, and I went to bed knowing I had to make the
best of 4 hours of sleep, as I had to be up at 6 a.m., and ready to
ride out at 6:30 a.m.
At
6:40 a.m., I left my garage and I thought I was looking sharp.
My bike was sparkling, I was all dressed up in new duds, and ready
to ride with the predicted 24,000 riders for this great charity ride
benefiting Muscular Dystrophy, reading literacy, and this time, the
World Trade Center victims. Excited, I headed off down the
road toward Lifestyle Cycles, where our friend Junior was hosting a
pancake breakfast. I left my chaps and leather jacket in my
saddlebags, wore jeans, boots, a long sleeve shirt (with t-shirt
underneath), and my leather vest. I was just warm enough.
As
I drove through the canyon on the 91 Freeway toward Lifestyles, I
was suddenly greeted by a heavy rain, creating what seemed like a
wall of water that I ran right smack into. By the time I
reached Lifestyles, my legs were completely soaked from the knees
down, my shirt was very damp, water was dripping down my helmet and
safety glasses, and my formerly beautiful bike was a completely
muddy mess. All that work for nothing, was all I could think
about.
To
my surprise, there were quire a few riders gathering at Lifestyles,
and Allan and his lady-friend, Lisa, were standing right out front,
under the ledge, to keep from getting more wet than they already
were. "You can keep you day job," I shouted to
Allan, as he grinned a guilty and sheepish smile. "Your
skills as a meteorologist really suck," I proclaimed, which got
several chuckles from Allan and Lisa, and the crowd in general.
10th Annual BeachRide
Sunday, July 15th, 2001
This Sunday,
several of my friends and I will be participating in the 10th Annual
BeachRide
www.ecf-la.org/beachride
, a charity ride that benefits the Exceptional Children's
Foundation. The ride begins at 14 locations throughout
Southern California, and ends at San Buenaventura State Beach in
Ventura, California. The Grand Marshall for the event is Larry
Hagman
www.LarryHagman.com
(yup, good old J.R. Ewing of Dallas fame, or Master in I Dream Of
Jeannie for those of you old enough to remember that one), with
entertainment by the Edgar Winter group
www.EdgarWinter.com
, the World Class
Rockers
www.WorldClassicRockers.com
(Nick
St.Nicholas, Randy Meisner, Denny Laine, Spencer Davis, Michael
Monarch, Fergie Frederiksen, Ron Wilkso, Rosilee, Kurt Griffey, and
Steve Stewart),
and the Rettig Band
www.RettigBand.com
.
Also at the event will be a bike show, a tattoo contests, a Mr. and
Mrs. Beachride contest, and lots of vendors showing and selling
their wares.
My group of friends plan
on starting at Hoff's Hut Restaurant in Buena Park at 8 a.m., where
we will have breakfast from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. After that, we
have planned a route that will take us west on the 91 Freeway, north
on the 405 Freeway, west again on the 10 Freeway, and then north on
Coast Highway along the Pacific Ocean. When we reach Oxnard,
we plan on a jaunt west on W. Channel Islands Blvd., which takes us
back out to the coast line, and which then turns north into Harbor
Dr. This will take us along the coast again and all the way to
San Buenaventura State Beach. It should be quite a scenic
ride, and we'll try to get some good shots while riding with the
ocean in the background for next time. Anyone who would like
to join us for this ride is more than welcome to meet us at Hoff's
Hut at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. The more the merrier!
We have also talked
about taking a little side-ride once there, up and around Lake
Casitas, back down to Carpenteria (also on the coast), and then back
down Coast Highway to Ventura. Here's a couple of links to
maps for our proposed routes. Click on the maps to make them
larger so you can print them.
Route We Plan To Take To
BeachRide
Route We May Take
After/During BeachRide
NOTE: We actually did
not have time to make the ride around Lake Casitas after the
Beachride, however we did when we went on the Big Lake Run.
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The
Big Lake Run
Ride To Redondo Beach
(June 2001)
A
few weeks ago, some of my riding friends and I went on a little run
down to the Redondo Beach Marina and the Blue Moon Saloon, which is
the place where I used to play on most Friday and Saturday nights
between February and July in 2001.
Below are some pics from that ride. Click on the pics to
enlarge them.
Allan Harrison, Kevin
Briggs, Kevin Stenson,
Sandy, & Bill McFadden (aka NF-NastyAzz)
(not shown are Mike Garcia & Cheryl)
Sandy, Kevin Stenson, &
Bill McFadden (aka NF-NastyAzz)
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2nd Annual Mickey
Jones Biker Run For Kids
Benefiting CHOC -
Children's Hospital of Orange County
Sunday, June 24th, 2001
Bill McFadden & friends:
Allan Harrison, Kevin Stenson
The "next stop" was CHOC
This ride was a huge
hurdle for me. However, it was a great event put on by some
really great people, and I was very proud to have participated in
it, and at the same time overcome old demons that haunted me.
What am I talking about? Well, to make a long story short, one
of my daughters, Melissa, died after a very short stay in CHOC ten
years ago. She was only 4 months old and had a very large
brain tumor, which doctors had attempted to remove, against
overwhelming odds. Tragically, they were not successful, and I
had not been able to go anywhere near that place since, as the pain
of remembering and loss was far too much to bear.
Some friends of mine had
been telling me about a charity ride they wanted to take, but could
not remember the name or the details. So, for about three
weeks I was planning on making the ride with them, though I did not
know where it was going. Four days before the ride, my friends
Allan produced a ride poster, and as I read it my eyes suddenly
scanned across the page to the letters representing the hospital
where my baby died... CHOC. I froze. Then the tears
began to come, and in a matter of minutes the old memories came
flooding through my brain again, like a horrifying video you cannot
turn off. I couldn't see how I could possibly make this ride.
My bike w/o windshield
in front of CHOC
That night, I went home
and pointed my browser to the site on the poster; Angel's Harley
Events. I was so impressed by the content and purpose of this
site. My eyes seemed like they were glued to the monitor for
hours. I sent an email to woman that created the site, and
told her how wonderful I thought her site and her work was. I
also told her that I had planned on making the ride, and explained
that I wanted to go, but might not be able to, and why, but wished
her well in her endeavor.
Into my life stepped
Sandie, the wonderful lady that helped to organize this very
important event. She called my business line, left her number
and asked me to call her. I called the next day, and we talked
for at least an hour. She told me all about what she does, and
why she does it, and she touched my heart deeply with her sincerity
and her caring. She offered her support if I should choose to
ride, and asked me to ride with her, Mickey Jones, and the other
dignitaries at the front of the procession. I explained that I
would not feel right doing that, that it would probably be more of a
private thing for me, and that my friends would also be there.
I could not leave them behind as they were there for me too.
Sandie was so great,
said she understood my feelings and was behind me however I wanted
to do it. I cannot say enough good things about this lady,
this total stranger who went so far out of her way to help me.
Still, this was only the beginning of her support. She is one
amazing lady. When we arrived at the ride start area, I found
Sandie, introduced myself, and was greeted with some loving hugs and
big smiles. She introduced me to her fiancée SlowEd, who
greeted me with a firm handshake and a compassionate, understanding
gaze.
Throughout the ride
Sandie and SlowEd came to check on me at every stopping point in the
Poker Run. With so much to do, and so many things to worry
about, I was surprised that either of them still had time to be
concerned with my feelings about making the ride, but they did.
I thought this was simply incredible. I did pretty good during
the ride, trying to not really think about where we were going too
much. CHOC was the 4th stop in the run. When we got to
the hospital, I walked inside and saw the children, and then began
looking around the room. I started remembering almost
immediately. Seeing the wallpaper, the furniture, the
admittance desks, etc., started a flood of memories again. I
sat down off in a corner and began to quietly cry.
At some point I
looked up and through the blur of my tears I saw two faces coming
toward me... those of Sandie and SlowEd. They came over, sat
with me, Sandie hugged me and spoke words of support and
encouragement, while SlowEd grabbed my hand and offered his support.
I honestly do not think I would have been able to leave that room
for some time if they had not come to rescue me. How or why
they had time to worry about me is a complete wonder to me, but that
is simply the kind of people they are.
Rarely in our lives are
we so touched by the words, actions or deeds of other human beings
that we are left speechless, but this is how Sandie and SlowEd
affected me on this day. I will think of them with great
admiration, a sense of indebtedness, and most of all fondness, for
what they helped me do that day. Thank you Sandie & Ed!
You guys are the best!
The pics above are a
group shot of some of the poker run riders early in the morning.
Bill & friend Kevin can be seen if you click on the left picture to
enlarge. To see all the pics, check out the links below, and
check out Angel's Harley Events, one of the best sites and causes on
the web!
Check out some of the
great pics from the Mickey Jones CHOC Biker Run For Kids run at the
Angel's Harley Events web site here....
http://www.angelsharleyevents.com/chocrun_2001_pics_1.htm
You can view Angel's
main page here....
http://www.angelsharleyevents.com
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The Love Ride
