We had five riders brave the not-so-cold weather for this year’s annual December Lightfest Ride through Hines park to enjoy the light displays and the warm-ish weather!

I’ve been doing this ride for several years now, and we couldn’t have asked for better December riding weather! I’m sitting here at my desk looking at a Christmas Day forecast of 50°F and can’t help but wonder if the warm weather will continue into January for those “year-round” riders in the group.

We assembled at the Shell Gas Station just north of the Merriman Road bridge that goes over Hines Drive. That bridge is still under construction, so everyone had to come in from the North. Hopefully they’ll get that mess cleaned up soon!

This year there were several of us who decorated our motorcycles with some holiday lights of our own. A few more borrowed the battery-powered version and did a little ad-hoc decorating at the gas station, and Sam was there with his helmet-sized Santa hat! We even tried something new to make our headlights a little less blinding to the other event patrons by using tissue paper to cover our lights – which worked really well based on my observations.

We managed to stop a couple of times to get photos next to the displays, but by the time we got to the end of the event, I think everyone was ready for some hot cocoa.

The doors were locked at Tim Horton’s, but the folks at the drive-through window were kind enough to take our order and deliver it to us in the parking lot! We hung out and chatted for a while before riders bundled up and fired up their bikes for the “cold” ride home. Hopefully a belly-full of hot cocoa made the ride a little more comfortable.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make this year a success! Even though this is probably the shortest ride of the year, I always enjoy it!