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Jul
24
A chance to get out on the Ducati in the brilliant sunshine led us to Stave Lake near Mission.
Lesley hasn’t been on the back of the Ducati since last summer when we took a couple of trip to Fort Langley on the old Albion Ferry. As the sun was shining we decided to head out to Stave Lake, just to check it out.
The journey was well worthwhile as we ended up at yet another stunning lake location within 40 minutes of home.
The site is part of the Stave River hydro-electric project and is essentially a reservoir that has a dam for generation, leading in to Hayward Lake reservoir and Ruskin Dam. The whole area seems littered with these hydro created recreation areas and people take full advantage of easy access to the water towing mainly speedboats to launches and simply chilling out on the lake. With the mountain backdrop it’s easy to see why messing about on boats is so popular here.
Bike wise, the Ducati performed flawlessly and there’s power to spare even with 2 up. 
The only downer about these rides is ending up at the destination in jeans rather than shorts. Having said that, it never ceases to amaze me to see so many bikers out in T-shirts and shorts. Maybe I’m just too risk averse (wimpy) to do it, or maybe I just know my limits.
Having chilled whilst others launched and landed their boats we headed back for a delicious Gelato at Matteo’s. The Dine Here reviews say it all. Great Gelato, great people.
Life in BC – brilliant.
Sorry iPhone and iPad users, the slide show is Flash, but you can view the full set of pics on Picasa
Jul
14
Decision mad. After 5 days on the road on day 6 I’d make the home run.
I could still do the final loop through the forests on my road trip or I could hit the freeway home. The weather appeared better than the previous day but was still windy. When the guy on the front desk at the motel mentioned that the wind had caused fires to double in size in the Wenatchee National Forest (my original route home) it was decision made. After 5 days on the road, on day 6 I’d make the home run. My route back would be freeway all the way to the US-Canada border. First stop Seattle, then straight up I5 to BC.
I’d spoken to another biker the previous evening who’d travelled from Seattle over the Snoqualmie Pass. He’d mentioned that it was chilly, so it was definitely inners in the riding gear before setting off. Although not as bad as the previous day, the winds were still high and gusting so I braced myself for another endurance ride. Within the first few miles I made my first big call of the day. I was not going to be overtaken by a house.
Glancing in my mirrors I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A large tractor trailer was gaining on me doing around 65-70 mph (110-120kph), not so unusual as these rigs really travel over here. What made me take a second look was that it wasn’t a 53′ container being lugged along, it was half a mobile home. Even though the wind was blowing hard and I was riding cautiously, I was not about to be overtaken by a house. I eased the Ducati away from the gaining residence and it would not get near me again.
The ride to Seattle wasn’t as challenging as the previous day’s experience but did add very chilly temperatures over the pass. Another biker hassle that had to be negotiated was grooved paving. The road surface was just concrete finished in what I can only describe as raked line along the length of the carriageway. In a car you’d probably not notice any change in driving conditions. On a large cruiser bike with fat tyres there may be minimal impact, but on my bike that has relatively thin tyres I was running along tram lines that varied in width. Throw in the gusts of wind and the experience interesting to say the least as the bike would suddenly wobble as tram lines were changed. Another learning for me.
After a final pit stop I was on the I5 heading north and by late afternoon had arrived home.
Final reflections from a road trip noob.
I’d covered around 1350 miles (2130 Km) over the 6 days. My previous longest ride over a day was a total of 120 miles (200Km). I’d ridden about twice that distance for each of 6 days on the road. Physically and mentally I felt fine. No saddle sores or bandy legs and most importantly, no back ache. In fact the only stiffness was in the shoulders and that subsided fairly quickly after taking a break. The day after the ride I feel totally okay. I’ve impressed myself. Maybe as not as couch potato as I thought I was.
Did I enjoy the experience? Absolutely. An 8 out of 10 that given better weather would have been a higher score.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. Riding is such an all senses experience and is probably the best way to do a road trip for that reason alone (I’m sure the guy I met at Crater Lake that was on his his back from Alaska would agree).
What could be better? More planing, more defined places to visit would have added some structure, having said that, the freedom to just replan and do whatever I wanted really has it’s attractions. I’d also like to share the experience with someone. There comes a point when having someone to talk through the day with would be the best end of day.
So, am I a changed person? Probably not. No tattoos, piercings or other questionable mid-life ‘choices’ made or indeed desired. There is a sense of satisfaction, of rising to a challenge. Okay, motels are not a challenge, but the bits in between were.
Now, about that cruiser……
Jul
12
Road trip day 5 – Endurance
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When the guy at the gas station in Biggs said that he didn’t know how the heck I could ride a motorcycle in that wind I realised that I’d just done something pretty amazing/foolhardy.
The day started easily enough with a browse around Best Buy in Bend considering the merits of a tax free 64Gb 3G iPad. Another of those road trip moments occurred when some guy asked where I was from. When I said SE England he mentioned that he’d visited Tunbridge Wells on a couple of occasions. Tunbridge Wells is no more than 30 miles from where I used to live in Maidstone. Small world moment. Oh, and no iPad as I could be sure that I’d get it back in one piece.
I was following the 97 with my target for the day being Yakima. The route took me across what get’s referred to as desert but to me was more prairie/scrub as there’s a fair amount of vegetation. What was a bit of a shock was to get delayed by roadworks – resurfacing no less. By the time I hit the roadworks the wind had got up and was making riding a touch unpredictable. The wind was constant with occasional gusts. The Ducati is a light bike and was thus being blown around. Little did I know that this was only the start of a very windy journey (and not a can of beans in sight, well, it is sort of Blazing Saddles country).
The ride became more interesting after the roadworks as I had collected fresh tar and gravel on the tyres. So, now it was 2 wheels with a ring of gravel and wind. Great. I needed a break and Shaniko came along at the right time. 
Shaniko was, well, strange. It appeared to be a small collection of buildings aimed at tourists, but who on earth would visit, and why? Anyway, another road trip moment saw me chatting with another biker, he was riding a BMW and was on his way back from a rally in Seattle. He said that the wind was pretty bad. Surely it couldn’t be as bad as what I’d already ridden through? I was about to find out.
Biggs is the last stop in Oregon before crossing the Columbia river back in to Washington. It was 58 miles from Shaniko and I don’t know how I made it. I could feel the back end starting to slide away on more than one occasion as cross winds hit me hard. Add in the huge wall of pressure created by tractor units lugging 53 foot trailers passing in the other direction and one has the recipe for some real yeehaw moments. I soon learned that laying down on the tank can sometimes be an act of genuine streamlining to aid self-preservation rather than it being for crotch rocket riders trying to get an extra few mph out of their screaming 650cc.
During this testing period I’d realised how much ‘in helmet’ self talk and singing goes on at times. I’m now trying to remember the internal soundtrack of my road trip. “I will survive’ would have worked well on day 5, but for some reason that particular track passed me by.
On an aside for a moment. I forgot to mention the day 4 somethings down my T-shirt moment. A few miles out of Bend on day 4 I suddenly started to get slight stabbing sensation around my navel. Sure enough when dismounting in Bend I shook out a hornet thing that had managed to get sucked down my T-shirt. Fortunately my protective spare tyre had saved the day – no harm suffered.
Back to day 5. When the guy at the gas station in Biggs said that he didn’t know how the heck I could ride a motorcycle in that wind I realised that I’d just done something pretty amazing/foolhardy. I still had to push on, Yakima was another 70 miles away. The wind dropped slightly during that section of the trip, or maybe I was now just used to the conditions. Yakima was reached, all I had to do was grab a motel for the night. |For some strange reason I started to look for bargain basement, not even budget. Why I decided to check in to a $35 a night place is still beyond me. The place was truly the pits, a dive, a hovel or worse. Decision made, replan, I could not spend the night in Yakima and Seattle was only 1.5 hours away. I’d head to Seattle.
Only Seattle was out of reach as the wind now seemed even stronger as I crossed a high range outside of Yakima. The target was now Ellensburg. The 30 miles was covered very gingerly, sometimes at a mere 40 mph, trying to hide in the wind dead spot behind a tractor trailer going up a hill. A real motel was spotted and booked in to. Time to east and rest.
Today was about endurance. I’m still an inexperienced rider, but learning all the time. Wind is definitely the sworn enemy of road trip bikers. Day 6 could be the last leg of this intro to road trips.
The slideshow is Flash based so sorry to iPhone and iPad users. The full set of pics are on Picasa
Jul
11
Road trip Day 4 – I only use awesome sparingly
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The word awesome seems to be well overused in Canada. I’m not a great user of awesome, but Crater Lake fully deserved the superlative. It was indeed awesome.
Time to hit the road again. I followed the 138 to my next port of call Crater Lake. En-route I pulled over several times to take in the gorgeous scenery along the Umpqua river. With numerous curvy bits and enough straights to check out the views, the ride was pretty special. I even had time to think about all the stuff that’s not had a mention yet as well as “why on earth was this road built in the first place?” 
Anyway, on to the collected thoughts and musings of a chilled biker.
Large birds. I’ve been seeing plenty of eagles and probably other varieties of raptor, mostly just gliding over fields ready to drop on some unsuspecting meal.
Slapping Salmon. At one of my stops today I heard a slapping noise in the water. I waited long enough to catch a view of a Salmon leaping and slapping back in to the river. Wondrous.
Bikers wave. I can’t remember the official gesticulation for UK bikers, but the Canadian bikers acknowledgment travels across the border well. There’s probably a 95%+ success rate in greeting other bikers as we pass each other. Great camaraderie.
Bungees are a bikers friend – wind is a bikers sworn enemy.
Similar but not the same. The Pacific coastline that I’ve travelled reminded me (when I got to see it) of Devon and Brittany. My ride through the Umpqua river valley reminded me at times of Kamloops, with more rolling hills and probably a touch greener.
What ‘make/brand’ are those enormous yellow butterfly’s?
Peace. Despite the engine and wind noise, riding is peaceful. Someone mentioned to me that you’ll never meet a stressed biker. I’m starting to understand why.
Road trip. Is the whole purpose of a road trip to be a transient being? Surely that’s what a road trip is – being on the road just taking ion the sights, sounds and smells around you and feeling the trip through the road surface. Sure I haven’t stopped at all the places I could have, but it doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced anything. I’ve dipped in to other people’s stories as paths intertwine with both parties moving on knowing just a tiny bit about a stranger that crossed their path.
Ducati GT 1000. Until today I’d never seen another bike like mine on the road. Today I stopped to refuel in a small town called Crescent on the 97 towards bend. To my amazement another GT1000 owner had just finished refueling. He was from California, had had the bike for a couple of weeks and was heading back to San Francisco from Seattle. A rare moment of GT1000 togetherness.
I’m not a real biker. Even in the UK I was not a hardened biker. My longest ride in the 2 years of riding in Canada was to Harrison and back. Over the last 4 days I’ve covered some 1350Km (840 miles) and I think I’ve coped pretty well. Today I ached, the shoulders and feet in particular, but I’m not saddle sore or feeling stiff. I soon recover after a short break. Am I a real biker now? Probably not, but I’ve certainly improved.
Today’s highlight was without a doubt Crater Lake. I don’t tend to use the word awesome, it’s far too liberally spread about over here. However, today I am happy to use awesome as that’s exactly what Crater Lake is. So awesome that it needs video to start to get a sense of the splendour. It’s around 5 x 6 miles across, some 7-8000 feet above sea level and was formed after a volcano exploded around 7500 years ago. The ride up to the rim was fantastic. Snow still on the ground but not the road, the air tasted pure and fresh and the sunshine kept temperatures respectably warm. I was mightily impressed with just the appetizer, the main course was mouthwatering.
The video is Flash based so sorry to iPad and iPhone users.
Suitably awesomed out and chilled I left Crater Lake and head north. My overnight stop was to be Bend.
The full set of the days pics are on Picasa
a
Jul
11
Road trip Day 3 – Sometimes good things just happen
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Road trip day 3 was a day of contrasts. From the spectacular Pacific coast to gorgeous rivers and finishing with a major cruise of the car variety. The day had it all. Sometimes good things just happen.
Having dipped in to road tip USA I decided to look in on a couple of places en-route to Florence. My early morning planning was thrown when I managed to miss both intended stops. On to Florence it was. At one of my road side photo stops another couple on a Victory pulled up, complete with trailer. It turned out they’d travelled from Edmonton, Alberta. Having made the trip before they’d decided to head inland as the coast was likely to remain misty with low temperatures. The seed had been sown.
The 101 stayed close to the ocean from Newport to Florence and the views, even allowing for the mist were simply stunning. It makes me wonder how much more impressed I’d be if I could have seen the full picture, not just the close up.
Lunch and a coffee in Florence led to my replan. California would now have to wait. The temperatures were too low to make for enjoyable riding and the mist was rolling in once more. I’d learned my lesson and the jacket and pants inners had been fitted, no more chilly riding for me. However, I wanted to chase the warmth and so I was going to head inland, my target for the day was Roseburg as it was within striking distance of Crater Lake.
I turned inland at Reedsport and within a few short miles the rugged Pacific coastline was a thing of the past, replaced by the beautiful Umpqua river. The other major change was the temperature. Things were looking up. My route, Highway 38 on to the 138 took me to Sutherlin. From there, a short sprint down I5 and I was at Roseburg.
I booked in at a Super 8 and the guy on the desk asked if I was interested in cars as there was an event going on downtown that evening. An hour or so later I headed in to town and boy, what a shock. 
This was Grafitti weekend. I was totally taken aback. Here I was in the middle of Oregon on the day that a massive cruise around town for 1965 and earlier cars was on. Sometimes good things just happen. Even though I’m a corporate treehugger, it doesn’t stop me from enjoying a real petrolheads night out.
So, the day really did have it all. Temperatures up to the 90′s F, more stunning scenery and metal mayhem to round the day off.
The full album of the day is on Picasa.
Jul
9
Road trip Day 2 – Searching for sun on highway 101
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Day 2 of the road trip took in fog, searching for sun on Highway 101, some spectacular scenery and a long time in the saddle.
I wanted to give Aberdeen a second chance. I really did want to. However, when I was fueling up, a guy at the gas station remarked that I should get out of Aberdeen quickly as it was always foggy there. So, unfortunately Aberdeen didn’t get it’s second chance and I hit the road, heading for Newport.
My first detour of the road trip came very early on day 2. Through some dubious map reading I ended up on highway 105 rather than 101. It took me on a long dogleg to Raymond. Having said that I got to see Grays Harbour and Grayland Beach. Litt;le wonder I referred to Aberdeen as, well, grey. Having said that, the detour did throw up some great photo ops and I took full advantage. Everybody loves Raymond, and I was no exception as Raymond was bathed in warm sunshine, I hoped that the fog was a thing of the past.
Unfortunately the fog would haunt me all day and all the way to Newport. The bridge crossing the Columbia river should have been spectacular. It wasn’t. It was fog bound. The Astoria-Megler bridge is some 6.5Km in length and is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. The one ‘wow’ moment was when through the fog I could see the bridge suddenly rising high above the water allowing for shipping traffic to pass underneath.
I’d penciled in stops at Seaside and Cannon Beach, both meant to be smashing resorts. Once again the fog ensured that these coastal jewels were only granted drive through status.
With only a brief refueling stop for bike and self, I ploughed on. The tone of the day was definitely fog with pockets of brilliant sunshine. Around the Garibaldi area (I wish I knew exactly where) I pulled over at a vantage point and the view was truly stunning. I was above the cloud line and the beach below was partially hidden in that pesky fog.
My first real break of the day was at Tillamook. Rather than visit the cheese factory (well recommended by others) I had already decided to check out the Aircraft Museum. Having spent a number of years in the RAF, although never based at a flying station, 
I do have an interest in old aircraft. My Airfix days are long gone, but I’m still impressed by the design and invention of 1940′s planes like the Lightning and Mustang.
After a satisfying stroll around the collection, many of which still fly, it was time to complete day 2 of the road trip and head for Newport.
I have to admit that the weather put a dampener on the ride today. Temperature only hovered around 59-60F (15-16C) and the same is forecast for day 3. Time to plan on the go. I have no specific end destination for day 3, so I’ll just see what happens.
One thing that will happen for day 3 is that the liners will go back in to my bike gear. My learning for the day has been err on caution. Every time I thought about stopping to put liners in, I hit a patch of sun so continued, only to disappear back in to mist within a few miles. Although I didn’t freeze, I was certainly chilly at times and that’s not a good thing to be when riding.
So, road trip day 2 was spent chasing the sun and never really finding it. Tomorrow is another day. The adventure continues.
All the pics are on Picasa - take a look
Jul
8
Road trip day 1
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Today was day 1 of my road trip taking me from PoCo to Aberdeen Washington. A day of Freeway riding, aching shoulders and searing temperatures.
Finally the day had arrived. The Short(er) Way Round was no longer a dream, the bike was packed, fueled and ready to roll and just past 9am I set off for the US border.
I’d managed to pick what must have been the hottest day of the year to start my adventure and there I was, clad in black bike gear. Actually, the gear I’d invested in was perfect. The Firstgear jacket has plenty of vents and the pants were a mesh fabric so I remained as cool as I could given the temperatures were around the mid 90′s.
Apprehension turned in to enthusiasm turned in to boredom as I gradually pushed the bike towards the US border. The line up was taking an hour to get through and the bike would have overheated so it made sense to switch off and push. If I haven’t lost weight today I’d like to know why.
Once through the border it was I5/405 all the way to Olympia. After Bellingham the scenery shifted from stunning to monotonous the closer I got to Seattle. However, the purpose of the freeway ride was to get as close to Oregon on day 1 as possible.
This was to be the furthest I’d ridden in 1 day and for the the longest time. I really didn’t know how I’d fare, but apart from achy shoulders I think I’ve come through with flying colours. Not sure what I’ll be like by day 7 or 8 though!
Over the course of the day the whole big North American cruiser bike gradually made more and more sense. The Ducati I’m riding can certainly cover the miles effortlessly, however, watching the big Harley’s and other cruisers fly past, riders with feet up made it so clear that these machines are meant to be real mile munchers, made for travelling long distances and affording the rider real comfort. Having been very anti these enormous beasts, I’m coming around to the idea that that have their place in the whole bike food chain.
So, after a refueling stop and a couple of stretch and take on liquid breaks I arrived in Aberdeen, the birth place of one Kurt Cobain. I was where grunge was born. Now, I’m probably being unfair to Aberdeen as if one stays at a budget motel, it’s likely not to be in an upscale area of town, but I feel that I’ll leave Aberdeen with an understanding of where Cobain’s angst and anger came from. Aberdeen was grey.
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Over the course of the day I’d ridden around 340 Km (240 miles) in temperatures ranging from the mid 90′s to mid 70′s F (35 – 24 C). The shoulder ache quickly subsided and hopefully after a good night’s sleep I will be moving on to the real deal of the Oregon coast. Road trip day 1 complete.
