Day 11 - I think I'm okay driving my car for a while...

I'm finally back home, and I don't think I've ever been quite this happy to see Winnipeg. The trip was great, don't get me wrong, but the last leg was 8 hours of cold prairies. And nothing can quite compare to sleeping in your own bed. I do have tons of pictures, but I'm pretty tired so I'll upload them tomorrow. I figured instead I will leave you with some fun statistics about the trip.

Days of the trip: 11

Days it rained: 10

Different beds slept in: 8

Average cost of motel: $70

Average cost of gas: $1/L

Average speed on highway: 120-130 km/h

Average hours spent riding per day: 6

Quarts of oil burned: 1 1/2

Parts replaced: Both tires

Items ditched: Extra litre of water

Items forgotten at home: Mp3 charging cable (!@#$)

Items lost on the road: Rain cover, luggage tie down

Items acquired: Quart of oil, small socket set

Most wished for item: Waterproof gloves

Best improvised fix: Plastic bags in shoes

Friends made: 3

Pissed of locals: 1

Kilometers traveled: 4800

Experience points gained: 10,000 (Motorcycle went up a level!)

Day 10 - When hell freezes over

This morning I said my goodbyes to my good friend Janine and headed to the motorcycle repair shop. After getting lost for a while I managed to make it there, sopping wet from the rain. Apparently this is the most rain they've seen in Calgary all summer. Awesome.

While I was waiting for my bike, one of the service guys informed me that my front tire was also very close to the wear indicator and should be replaced as well. I had a hard time believing that my front tire would be worn out after only 10K, but I figured "better safe than sorry" and got it changed as well. I'm hoping he was being honest and not just screwing me out of more money. Grand total? $400. I'm so broke it's not even funny.

With my bike's new rubber I set off on my way, glad to leave the traffic of Calgary behind me. Today is honestly the coldest day I have had on this entire trip. It was even colder than the mountain pass between Banff and Jasper. To make matters worse, it was not only raining, but the wind was very strong and in the complete opposite direction. What happened to the pervailing westerlies?! Once I reached Swift Current I was going numb and decided I had enough and got a motel room. I'll have more distance to cover tomorrow, but I'm hoping it won't be as cold.

I had quite a bit of time on my hands this evening, and wound up talking to the girl working the counter at the motel for several hours. She was pretty entertaining to talk to and it was a good way to spend the evening. Oddly enough this isn't the first time this has happened on my trip. You meet a lot of interesting people while traveling. I always find it a shame that I'll likely never see these people again, but it's fun nonetheless.

Tomorrow is my last day of riding for the trip. My bike was burning oil like a fiend today, but then again I literally had the throttle pinned and the RPMs at 7000 all day to fight the wind. Oh 1980's tech engine...

Day 9 - Good food, good friends, good times

The last few days have been pretty relaxing. On Friday I made my way to Banff. Only a couple hundred kilometers, but that gave me time to sight see around the town. Stayed at a bed and breakfast which I have to say was nicer than any other place I stayed at during the trip, and not too expensive either. And going to the hot springs is always a plus.

The past couple days I've been staying at my friend Janine's place in Calgary. No riding, but that's fine since I need some time to let my shoulder recover since the pain has become a bit constant. Once again, Calgary's freeways require that you know where you're going ahead of time so you don't end up cutting across 3 lanes of traffic so that you don't miss your turn off. Not that I would do that...

Today I went with Janine to heritage park in Calgary. They were having some sort of fair going on, and it was a lot of fun. Rode a steam train, steam paddlewheeler, checked out some old timey things, and once again, took lots of pictures. Tomorrow I'm headed to a motorcycle shop first thing in the morning to get my rear tire swapped out. I'm really hoping they work on my bike right away so that I can cover some distance on Monday. Then it's the long trek back to Winnipeg.

Not too much else to post about at this point. The bulk of the trip is over and it's been a lot of fun. Now that I've made this trip I'll be much more eager to go on another one like it in the future, especially considering that I won't have anything I need to buy in order to go....except for maybe a bigger bike...

*starts eyeing Triumphs*

Day 6 - Givin' 'er hell!

Well, lots to write about today, especially since I didn't update yesterday when I meant to (ended up passing out in my motel room fully dressed).

Even though this trip is about the riding, the day off I spent in Jasper was nice. Slept in, check out the shops, rode a tram to the top of a mountain, the usual tourist stuff. Yesterday I left Jasper and headed into BC towards Kamloops. BC is every bit as gorgeous (you hear me use that word alot) as the icefield highway. Rolling hills as far as the eye can see and forest all around you. No real twisties yet, but interesting scenery, especially when I got to an area where the was a forest fire in the past. It just looked strange, yet picturesque in it's own way. I'll be uploading tons of pictures once I get back.

I also seemed to have developed a sharp pain in my right shoulder, which I'm assuming is from holding a throttle all day for several days. It's a shame because it took away from what otherwise would've been a nice ride.

I stopped in Kelowna for the night, tired and sore. This morning I decided that I wasn't very fond of the highway around there. Too busy and not challenging. Overall the major highways are no fun, and you should look for the much less traveled ones. With that in mind, I backtracked to Vernon and took highway 6 headed east. Here's where the fun begins...

Highway 6 is the epitome of the entire trip. Non-stop twisties. You know those winding roads with tons of turns and amazing views that you may have only seen videos or pictures of? Well, this is it, only better. I can't even describe how much fun it s riding down this highway. Every few seconds you're carving around a turn and lining yourself up for the next one. It was awesome. I was tempted to turn around and do the whole thing again. And when you get to the end, there's a free ferry which crosses a river. Call me a kid, but that was pretty cool too.

I'm not an expert at riding, but I kept a good pace without getting ridiculous. I lucked out too and had almost nobody in front of me. Almost the entire road is double yellow and for a good reason, and following a minivan doing 10 under the limit is no fun. At first I had an RCMP truck follow me for a good 15 minutes before I decided to pull over and let him get some distance so I could actually have some "fun" on my ride.

But, it's not all good news. After a good section of twisties, I noticed something felt "off" about my bike's handling. I pulled over and looked at my back tire. Low and behold, my rear tire has barely any tread left. It had plenty of tread when I started my trip, but I guess 3000kms of highway speeds can eat a tire fast. What's more, there was an inch long gash in one spot. Fuuuuuck. I checked the tire pressure and did the soap test and no air bubbles, so it doesn't appear to be leaking. Either way though, it makes me feel uneasy riding on it. I called around the nearby towns and no one has a tire in the size I need. Called up a place in Calgary and they have the exact same tire on hand, so I made an appointment to have it swapped out. Now I just need to pray that it holds out till then.

Right now I'm in Cranbrook for the night. Probably going to Banff tomorrow, then back to Calgary to visit a good friend of mine. C'mon rear tire, don't fail me now!

Day 3 - I'm pretty sure 90km/h an hour is only a suggestion

Yesterday I didn't have the time to post, so here's the gist of it. Leaving Swift Current and heading to Regina I had about 4 hours of riding into the rainy wind across prairies that stretched forever. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't fun. Sure, I kept a positive mindset, but I would've rather had a positive mindset and dry feet. Once I got to Calgary I promptly got lost and wound up on the Deerfoot Trail, which makes you A) appreciate a good freeway system, and B) scare the crap out of you a little bit.

While in Calgary I stayed with a couple friends of the family, Bridget and Chris and their daughter Nora. They were extremely generous and accommodating and it was a good time overall. Chris has a new Triumph Bonneville, which is a gorgeous bike. I'm pretty certain my next bike will now be a Triumph :). That evening we figure it would be appropriate to watch a motorcycle movie, so we watched "The World's Fastest Indian". Today Chris rode with me out to Canmore (which is good because I never would've found my way out of Calgary otherwise), and I got to experience my first taste of fun twisty roads on highway 1A. Pretty good start to the day.

From there we parted ways and I headed up to Lake Lousie. The trans-canada highway is pretty boring and busy, and should be avoided whenever possible. Once I got onto highway 93 headed to Jasper, it was smooth sailing. The ride up to Jasper is great. Long sweeping curves, mountains as far as the eye could see, and not much traffic. This is where I wish the GS had more power. It can go pretty fast, but once you up to around 130 it doesn't have much power left on tap to pass. But it still did very well and kept a good pace. Oh, and I'm going to say that doing this ride in September, heated grips are a must. Not "nice to have", but actually required. I had the heated grips cranked. My hands would've been frost bitten and numb otherwise.

Now that I'm in the mountains I can easily say this trip is every bit worth it, and anyone in Canada with a motorcycle should make the trip at least once. For once it actually feels like I'm getting the most enjoyment possible out of riding a motorcycle, and riding it the way it was meant to be. Nothing, and I mean nothing in Manitoba comes close to the riding here in the mountains.

Right now I'm staying in Jasper for a couple nights. I figured it'll be nice to do the tourist thing for a bit and some hiking as well. Then it's off to BC for a few days. Chris helped point out some twisty road that I'll be looking forward to. :)

Day 1 - Westward bound

I loaded up and set off today around 8:00am. I only went one block before I came across another guy with a touring setup headed in the same direction, so I rode alongside him for a couple hours. Good start to the trip I figured. I was actually more comfortable that I would've predicted. The windshield, Shoei helmet, and in-ear headphones make a huge difference for noise and buffeting. In the morning it was pretty cold, so I had all the liners in my gear, my cold weather gloves, and the heated grips on. Then by late afternoon it was ridiculously hot out and I had to change. I discovered early that layering is crucial.

The day was uneventful for the most part. Gassed up every 200kms or so (the bike has a range of about 275 before reserve). Most people at gas stations like to stare at the wannabe power ranger, but whatever. There was a crazy cross wind throughout Saskatchewan which made riding a bit interesting. I'm now in Swift Current for the night, which is motel city. I also discovered that my bike is apparently burning oil. Not much, but enough that I'll have to check it every day and possibly top it off. Figures. At least it's manageable though, and the GS500 is sort of known for that problem.

Tomorrow I'm off to Calgary. I'll be glad once I can see the mountains. :)

T Minus 1 Day - Music to my ears

Finally, tomorrow is the big trip. I'm pretty pumped. I haven't posted in a few days since I was pretty busy running a million little errands and tying up loose ends. There's a seemingly never ending list of things to do and get when you're preparing for a trip like this. On the plus side, the next trip should be much easier, especially since I'll already have everything I need. Today I got all my bags put by the door and the clothes set aside that I'm going to be wearing for the trip, so all I need to do tomorrow is wake up on time, which is a challenge in itself.

A couple people were wondering how I'm going to be documenting the trip. For pictures I've got an old Sony Cybershot digital camera. I don't even know what model it is since it was discontinued about 4 years ago. Still takes decent pictures though, so it will do just fine (besides, I'm mostly broke at this point anyways). As for posting updates, I have a Blackberry that I'll be using, providing I have reception in whatever motel I happen to be in. The Shoei gets in on the glamor shot just because it's an awesome helmet.

One thing that will probably prove to be a lifesaver on this trip will be good music. I have 13 hours of prairies to cross before I reach the mountains, which is nothing but flat, boring, straight highway. I tried for a while to find a set of headphones that fit comfortably under a full face helmet. Eventually I ended up taking some old Sony earbuds, tearing off half the plastic with some pliers, and then using a hot glue gun to close up the wires. End result? Pretty good actually. I figured I'd give my Franken-buds a test run to make sure they were comfortable.

I think it's too easy to get a little carried away when it comes to tech gadgets. I watched a youtube video of a guy showing what he brings for a touring trip, and the main message I got from it was "My job pays me in futureshop gift cards". If you need more than 2 power cords, you are bringing too many electronics. Isn't this supposed to be to get away from it all? Pretty much every site I came across listed a GPS as a must. I have one, but I'm not bringing it (here's hoping I'm out of the province before my parents read that). GPS units can be a great tool, but they only became popular for average consumers in the last decade, and people have been making road trips successfully for a hell of alot longer than that. So I'll do without. In a pinch, my Blackberry has a built in GPS anyways. Besides, I have a pretty useful tool that will take its place:

I'm not quite sure what to expect of this trip, but I'm sure it'll be quite an experience either way. If anyone would like, send a kind word to the motorcycle gods!

T Minus 5 Days - Over the hills and far away

Some people have asked me why I chose the rockies over anywhere else. A few things came to mind. First off, what I'm really looking forward to the most on this trip is amazing scenery, and fun roads. I think that the mountains would be a great place for both of those. Also, for my first big trip like this I would like to stay in Canada. If I were to get stopped and searched at the border, it would probably hours for them to go through all of my stuff and repack it again. Also this way I don't have to worry about getting health insurance in case anything happens.

But really, I think the reason for heading to the rockies should be self evident:

The only problem is that I'm heading from Winnipeg, and although Winnipeg is a great city, it happens to be in the middle of the prairies. Flat land, straight roads, and 13 hours of torture lay between me and the mountains. Unfortunately there really is no good way around this, so I'm going to do my best to cover the prairies as quickly as possible and get it over and done with. That first day will probably have me sore, tired, and hating life, but I need to push through it to get to the fun stuff.

Speaking of which, I really don't have a specific destination or a plan. I always shake my head when people come back from a trip and claim that they're tired and need a vacation to recover from their vacation. Clearly, they're doing it wrong. I want to make sure I enjoy this trip as much as possible, and for me that means being able to go wherever I want on a whim. I'm not going to force myself to be in a certain city at a certain time. If I want to explore a highway, stop at a random town, or take a day off, then I will. The small caveat to all this is I have a few different friends in Calgary, so I'm going to be stopping there along the way to visit for a day or two.

This whole freedom thing could go horribly wrong as I have very little direction besides "West", but that's fine by me. I'll probably spend each evening in the motel looking over my road maps and picking out which highways look the most interesting for the next day. To me, that sounds like a pretty good vacation.

T Minus 6 Days - Skills acquired in Clown Car College

Today I finished packing for the trip. Yeah, almost a week in advance. But really, packing for a motorcycle trip is like a horrible game of Tetris, where you end up throwing out that straight piece that would give you a billion points because the damn thing just won't fit right.

Yeah, it's a crap load of stuff. And that doesn't include clothes. I tend to err on the side of caution though. Ideally there won't be any problems on the trip, but I don't want to be stranded on the side of the road because my headlight went out at night, or I pick up a flat, etc. I read up on tips online for touring and what to bring, and the lists ranged from "Credit card and keys" to "Everything under the sun, including a fire extinguisher." Seriously, one list recommended a fire extinguisher. If my bike sets on fire, I'm going to take it as a sign from the gods and walk home.

With alot of planning and some creativity, everything fits nicely into my motorcycle luggage. I have two saddlebags, a tail bag, and a tank bag. I REALLY tried to see if I could just take the tank bag and the tail bag, but there's just no way I could swing it.

On a side note, I really need to pimp this luggage. It's all by Cortech, which I think is a sub-brand of Tourmaster. It's not overly expensive, and works very well. I used this stuff last year on a camping trip out to Whiteshell. That trip was even harder to pack for since I was camping. In the next picture, the bags are fully expanded, and I had to add a bag on top for a foam pad, tent, and sleeping bag. It was a little much but I made it there alright.

This trip I won't have any crap strapped on top, and the saddle bags won't be expanded, so the load will be much easier to manage. I'm hoping that handling isn't hurt too much, since really what I'm looking forward to the most for this trip is hitting the twisties.

Tomorrow will be going over the projected plan for the trip. Or rather, the lack of plan. :)

T minus 7 Days - Bike preparation

For those not in the know, I'm going on a trip next week for 11 days on my motorcycle. I'm going to use this blog to post about the planning for my upcoming trip, as well as my experiences during the trip itself.

Destination? Rockies!

T Minus 7 Days - Bike Preparation


The bike I'm taking on the trip is a 2008 GS500. Touring bike it is not, but I read up on a guy who does touring on a CBR125R, so I'm not about to be beat by a machine with 13HP. The GS has good power, is stupid easy to maintain, and a a whopping 20 litre tank. I once had a gas station attendant wondering if I was pouring gas on the ground because the meter kept on going up.

I usually keep pretty up to date on my maintenance, but since I'm going to be covering over 4000km in 11 days I figure it would be best to do a complete service to the bike and make sure it's running top notch. Since I've owned this bike I've learned to do every piece of maintenance myself. I am no mechanic by any means, but I pick it up as I go. My moto is that it isn't a day wrenching with me until something goes wrong.

On the list for the full once over is an oil change, chain cleaning and oiling, air filter change, suspension adjustment, throttle and clutch adjustment, and a few miscellaneous items. I would have liked to do a valve job but that's one feat I haven't quite attempted yet, and I don't really have time to wait around for shims. Unfortunately I have no garage, so I do all my maintenance in the driveway at my parents' place.

As luck would have it, it was raining all day today, but hell if rain is going to stop me now then I'm not going to make it very far on the trip. Realizing I have lost my windbreaker though, I borrowed the easiest jacket I could find in the house. Donning a snazzy pink jacket which promptly removed all manliness in wrenching on a motorcycle, I went to work. Over the past two years I've added a bunch of mods to the bike to make it better suited for touring. The windscreen I only keep on when I know I'll be going on the highway. It may be ugly as hell, but it's a comfortable kind of ugly.

I managed to get almost all my maintenance done today. I also now reek of kerosene, but holy crap that stuff makes quick work of all the gunk that builds up on a chain. Stay tuned tomorrow when I practice my clown car skills by trying to pack a week and a half worth of supplies into the smallest luggage ever.

Rock on.