Hi:

My name is Sharon Pattinson. I have been riding for a year and am member of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club, Chapter 356 Muskoka.

I rode with a dear friend, Ron Freeburn who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November of last year. He has since had treatment and is doing great.

It was a very emotional day for myself, as I'm sure it was for Ron. It was a wonderful day weather wise as well as getting to know some of our members better. It was amazing seeing all the riders.

Ron and I were on a high for days. What better way to get energized. The ride will definitely be a MUST for next May.

I also have an additional sponsor amount of $20.00 from my nephew. Please give me the address where it can be mailed to.

Thanks

Having just returned home from the Ride For Dad I wanted to say thank you. Everybody involved in organizing the ride should be proud of the job they did. The route was great, lunch was good, the poker tents moved quickly, great job.

To the men and women in uniform who escorted the riders through town, looked after the parking areas allowing us to enter and leave safely, a big thank you.

The work done by all the volunteers does not go unnoticed. Because this ride was so well organized and was a safe ride to participate in; I and my friends will return next year. See you in 2006.

To the Organizers:

On behalf of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club Chapter 328 Barrie Ontario, I would like to extend a sincere thank you for hosting such a great ride.

Although due to prior commitments I could not complete the entire ride, many of our members did and had a fantastic time. I thought that your event was extremely well organized and it was great that so many riders went home with a thank you bag full of great items including pins.

Please keep me posted on next years date so that I can add it to our calendar of events on our web site, as so many of us are looking forward to participating. And just a reminder that the SCRC 328 is hosting the "Cruise for Kids" 2005 on August 6th with more info on our web site..............hope to see you there.

"There's no such thing as a bad ride..............some are just better than others."

Hi,

I had attended your event and was most happy the rain held off as the next day I was on the MADD ride being held by Newmarket and got rained on.

Your event was fantastic....so well organized for a 1st time. I congratulate you all. I am wondering if it is possible to request the ride pin....I did not have one in my goodies bag. I had registered at 8:10 am and since I rode up from Toronto my friends (who were local to the area) had of course registered the night before and were able to get there for breakfast and enjoy the goodies bag the night before. They were part of the Blue Knights and parked behind the golden helmets....and I was put in the other parking lot.....no problem because it was great to see so many out.

I was met by my friend Bob who kept an eye out and of course we were able to ride together after the 1st stop in Barrie at Bayfield Mall. Bob told me the package was great and showed me the pin.....I had not really looked inside until I came home that night. I put the bag in my wing(yes a woman that drives a wing and is not a passenger). That is when I found only the prostate cancer pin.....I am hoping you would have a pin available to throw in the mail to me or could get one from maybe one of the other sister cities that were running the event....you know us motorcycle people...love to put pins all over our vests.

Again thanks for a great event....I will be there again next year.....Jason Mc Coy was just great and the prizes were terrific.

See you next year . . . Rose

Thank you. The pin arrived and my motorcycle group was admiring it.

Next year you will have more riders from our chapter. Also even better since your event is May 27th it's my Dads' birthday that day ....so I will ride for him!

See you next year and thank you again. Rose

Congrats on the hard work everyone did for the Ride For Dad. I participated and must say that this was the best fundraising ride that I have participated in - well organized, very professionally administered.

The results of funds raised are clearly reflected by the quality of administration.

It was truly a great day! Thanks for the hard work.

I was so glad to hear our area was having this Ride. I was very pleased to go on this Ride for Dad and meet with so many giving people. I rode with the chairman and ride captain Tony Lamothe for this Ride and watched him glow at his achievement, and so he should. He and his team put together a first-time, first-rate Ride that we all should be proud of. My helmet is off to all the people in the back of this event that we all passed some time throughout our day, passing out cards for the poker run, selling T's and things, getting coffee and food ready on time and having a smile for anyone who looked their way. I thank all of you hard workers who looked like you were enjoying this event as much as the Riders were. Once again I would like to thank Tony and his team for a wonderful event, and I sure look forward to doing the same next year!

In 2003, a friend and I trailered our bikes from Pickering to Ottawa, for what was going to be our first official fundraising Motorcycle Ride. It was a nerve wracking trip as I had just purchased my 2001 Shadow Aero the week before, and seeing it bouncing around on an open trailer with 1" straps holding it down surely worked up my ulcers. Regardless, we arrived safely on the Friday in beautiful warm weather, however, the day of the ride it poured the entire trip. Nonetheless it was a great experience, one we will never forget, and together we were proud to have raised over $2,000.00 for the Prostate Ride for Ottawa.

During our stay in Ottawa for the 2003 Ride for Dad, we stayed at a friends house. Interestingly, but unfortunate for my friend, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November, 2003 and in January 2004 he was operated on. The good news is the operation was successful and he is cancer free and this gave me a purpose to ride again in the Ride for Dad. Not wanting to trailer my bike again, I was glad to hear of the Kitchener Ride for Dad which is much closer to my home in Pickering.

For 2004 I planned to ride in Kitchener with some of my other riding buddies, but at the last minute they all dropped out. In addition, my wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer so this ride was just not meant to be. I had already collected some donations which I could have just sent via mail, but undeterred to feel like I did something on behalf of my friend, I rode to Kitchener on the morning of June 5th.2004 and dropped off my donation and rode back home. It was difficult not joining the other bikers for the day long drive, but I felt I contributed something to the ride and more importantly to Prostate Cancer Research.

Good Luck in your 2005 Ride.........

I was a participant in the "Ride For Dad" in Ottawa on May 29th. This was my first ride but it will not be my last. My father is a Prostrate Cancer survivor who was treated four years ago and has been cancer free since. I have been a charitable contributor to the Cancer Society in support of prostate cancer since my father's diagnosis. This ride just increases our opportunity to contribute to the cause.

I would like to congratulate the organizers, the sponsors, and the hundreds of volunteers who made this ride the success that it was. I am sure it will be an even bigger event next year.

As I understand it (from media reports) the total number of motorcycles registered for the event was 1,200 and that over $200,000.00 was raised. This is an incredible amount, considering that on the same weekend 26,000 marathon runners raised $410,000.00 for their charity. I think the organizers of the Ride for Dad, and the participants, should be very proud of their efforts and take the opportunity to "blow their horns" on the amount of contributions that were raised.

Looking forward to next years ride! Keep up the good work!

Robert C. Tremblay Orleans, Ontario

My best friend's name is Rick & we've been best buddies for 18 years.

I've been riding since I was 16, but Rick caught the riding bug early; riding on the back with me on our crazy weekend adventures, I knew in my heart he'd get his own motorcycle someday.

Well it took him a while, but he got his first one four years ago, and we've been doing the Ride For Dad for two years in a row now; this year will mark our third ride.

The Ride has always been fun for us, but had extra special meaning for both of us last year as Rick lost his father, Reuben, after a long battle with Prostate Cancer at the end of 2002. It was not pretty; he did not die fast - he died long and painfully - this is a dreadful disease.

Despite the fun Rick & I always share, it was hard not to ride without getting choked up and overwhelmed at times last year, yet at the same time feeling proud knowing we were honouring Rueben's memory by participating in this great event.

As long as we're both around, you can expect to see us at the Ride for Dad - and we're bringing at least 2 more riders this year. Together, the 4 of us have raised almost $1000 - so far.

Keep up the great work & rest assured we'll be back every year - we ride for Reuben - we have seen first hand what this dreaded disease can do.

Pete Dorril

Dad called me 3 weeks before the event and asked me if I would be his chauffeur for your event, it surprised me because at 76, he had never been on a motorcycle. He is a recent survivor of prostate cancer and it was his way of acknowledging the efforts of those fighting the deadly cancer.

We almost dropped out of the run like most at Buffalo Charlies but I could tell that dad was going to be disapointed if we did, so we managed to splash through the whole course and dad is quite proud of himself now for being up for the challenge.

Although he was pretty excited about my drawing 4 aces in the poker run, nothing would of wiped the smile of him meeting Wayne Rostad at the final fuel stop and following him to end of the course.

We thank you for the privilidge of riding with so many angels on wheels, but the defining moment was not the prizes we won but dad finding out two days later that he had reached a 3 month benchmark cancer free. Gordon Larin on behalf of DAD.

Carson Larin, Orleans Ontario