So the wife, as my passenger, and I went on a benefit ride today. It was held by the Nimbus Motorcycle Club USA in support of the families of the victims of the Salon Meritage shooting on October 12, 2011 in Seal Beach California. Since the wife and I spend a lot of time in Seal Beach we felt compelled to join in with these good people to try and help the families who suffered the loss of loved ones in this tragic event.

When we left the house it was 46F degrees but the sun was shining bright, no rain this AM, unlike the day before where it caught me off guard, but that's another story. We hoped that today would be a nice day for this event and we were right, it didn’t take long for the sun to start warming things up a bit. The ride was to start at 9AM and was going to begin at the salon and head south down Pacific Coast Highway and head into Laguna Beach and then into Trabuco Canyon stopping at Cook’s Corner for lunch. It was then going to head back up the coast with stops along the way and end back at the salon.

Before we began, the leader of the ride said a few words thanking everybody for showing up and for helping the cause. He thought that there would only be a handful of riders, including the 4 Nimbus riders, not the 40 plus that ended up showing their support. To say they were surprised at the turn out would be an understatement, which is probably why it took a bit of last minute planning on their part getting the final route laid out and getting everyone organized.

Having never been a participant in a benefit ride before, at least not as a driver, I hung back at the rear of the pack until I got familiar with the speed and flow of the group. We kept a decent pace and were able to make most of the green lights down PCH. A few times the leaders had to stop and wait for the few of us caught on the other side of the light when that did occur. The weather was really nice, albeit a brisk temperature @60F degrees, but sunny and clear. There was a bit of a haze on the Ocean side were you could barely make out the outline of Catalina Island but the water seemed very blue today. A couple of riders must have been surfers as they kept looking and pointing at the waves, probably a bit torn being on two wheels instead of on a surf board.

Everyone seemed to be having a good ride, but there were two who dropped out early, maybe they had decided the waves were better than had thought they would be and left to go surfing. Another rider on a Harley started seeing smoke come out of the tail pipe and was concerned. He pulled over and allowed the rest of the group to get in front of him. As he rejoined the group, he rode along side and asked if I could take a look and see if the smoke was coming out one or both pipes. It turned out that it was only the right one that was emitting the smoke. He didn’t seem too bothered by this and hung out at the end of the line continuing on with the group.

Our original intention was to go along until we were in Newport Beach, then leave the group and meet up with a few VFRD members, but considering the time it was when we reached Newport, we figured the others would have been long gone. Regardless of that, by this time the wife was getting a little saddle sore and wanted to head home. We decided to head up Laguna Canyon road with the group, but then continue on towards the freeway and head back home that way. Although it wasn’t one of my typical “sporting” rides, it was enjoyable to be amongst fellow motorcyclist supporting a good cause and with the wife cruising down PCH on a gorgeous day.

I threw in a few pictures of the Nimbus bikes. This was the first time I had ever seen one.