Uraling to the 2014 Colorado Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Ride for the Kids

Starting back with the 2010 event, I've been attending the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's annual Ride for the Kids with my sidecar rigs.  During the first year, 2010, I was fortunate to have James Briggs, a polite young man as my monkey while riding Natasha, my '96 Ural Sportsman.

12 year old James Briggs and Natasha, 2010

Today, James (now 16 years old) would be riding with his dad, Terry on their new sidecar rig, an Enfield Motorcycle with sidecar:

James and his Dad Terry

Pretty good turnout for the event this year, even with an iffy weather forecast which would come back to haunt us later on during the ride.

 From the smallest sidecar above to 

the big rigs pulled by Goldwings below

Above is Marc L's GearUP in Battleship Blue, he'd recently added the

windshield and Harley Davidson solo seat to his rig.

 Here's Paul's rig, the one that got tipped on its side in Moab, fully repaired.

Members of the 501st Imperial Legion were on hand to help the PBTF

We left sharply at 10:00 AM, the weather closing in on us.  We were being escorted by motor officers from Jefferson County's Sheriff's department along with members of the Western Motorcycle Escort.service; so we didn't have to stop for lights or traffic signs.  Riding with me was Keith, a family member related in some way to the PBTF's efforts.

The route took us north of Golden, turning west onto Golden Gate Canyon Road to ascend into the foothills, it would bring us back after a transit of part of the Peak to Peak Highway and return us back to Golden via the Coal Creek Canyon Road.

Heading north on CO93 north of Golden

We made it to the junction with CO72, still dry and with temperatures in the 50s.  So far so good.  We transited past familiar sights, at least to me,  The skies got darker as we rode further up and it started raining and then hailing on us for about 20-30 minutes!  Yep, hail in June, you got to love Colorado and its weather sometimes.

There was also lightning and thunder of course.  A couple of the lightning strikes were so close that the interval between the lightning's flash and the bang of the thunder was almost non-existent.  It had all the riders looking about, wondering where the next bolt would land.  Good times.  We of course got soaked as we became coated with icy slush from the hail.

Things got a little better once we got neared the metro area once more along Coal Creek Canyon Road.  It almost felt balmy to me, as we left temperatures which had reached a low of 41°F and once again rode in temperatures in the low to mid 50s!

Everyone made it back OK, though I felt a bit sorry for the myriad of two-wheeled motorcycles which comprised the majority of the motorcycles that showed up for the event.  It must have been quite interesting for them to ride through the hail and rain.

Here's Keith, my passenger today, all smiles.

He sat through the hail and rain and cold like a trooper!

The folks of the PBTF then help closing ceremonies, speeches and talks by guest speakers along with the kids who are cancer survivors.  The highlight of the show was when the large ceremonial check was displayed by the kids, today's event garnered $50,200 in donations!  Not too shabby I would say.

In case you're wondering about the storm trooper, he and his companion

were helping with the raffle tickets.

Prizes were drawn, gift certificates and such, and the top prize of a Honda Rebel motorcycle was given away as the event came to a close.  It was time for lunch, provided by Nick's BBQ, but I elected to forgo it and started on home.

Made it home by 2:30 PM, almost dry and ready for a hot shower.  A good day's worth of riding for a very worth cause.