Bikers rumble through Aylmer for the 13th

Motorcycle enthusiasts Jean-Paul (JP) Roy, left, and his brother-in-law KC Clarke stopped in downtown Aylmer for breakfast on Friday, July 13 on their way to Port Dover. Mr. Roy’s wife and Mr. Clarke’s twin sister Kirsten was just out of the camera’s view. The three Londoners, along with thousands of other bikers, rode through Aylmer on their way to Port Dover for what was expected to be a record breaking gathering of motorcycles and riders for an unusual middle of summer Friday the 13th.  An estimated 200,000 motorcycle riders were expected in the lakeside village of 6,000 people that day. The motorcycle rumbling through Aylmer started the day before. Mr. Roy grew up in Port Burwell and is a graduate of Assumption Catholic Elementary School and East Elgin Secondary School in Aylmer. He and his wife are frequent visitors to the Aylmer area on their 2013 Victory Boardwalk motorcycle and Mr. Roy’s father, Paul, lives in Vienna. Mr. Clarke rides a 2015 Triumph America. It was the second Friday the 13th ride to Port Dover for the Roys and the first for Mr. Clarke. The motorcyclist gathering in Port Dover on Friday the 13th started in November 1981 when 25 friends got together at the Commercial Hotel (nicknamed The Zoo), now known as Angelos of Dover. They had so much fun they decided they should continue the ride every Friday the 13th and the tradition was born and grew from there.  (AE/Craig Bradford)