It’s the morning of the flight to Canada and everyone’s up early. A new life beckons.

Running out of space. A dash to Maidstone for another case.

The taxi is late, the M25 is stationary, there’s a fire alarm at Gatwick, but we’re on our way.

Forms stamped by immigration, “Welcome to Canada”. A new beginning.

Week 1. Hotels, motels, apartments, bank accounts, Social Insurance Numbers, cell phones, schools and a house sale that fails.

Months go by. Kids in school, a move from Vancouver to Burnaby, networking, letters, doorstepping, discovering that being an Apple Tech is not for me.

3 weeks money left and the UK house sale finally completes. Sigh of relief.

Five former Essex schoolkids share a beach on the Shuswap. Surreal.

Invest in a house. Burnaby to PoCo. No income, but once again mortgaged.

Full time work so close yet passed over for a local despite the verbal assurance. Frustration.

Level 1 insurance agent. Relentless pace, long days. Short lived.

The big break, back in to the green world, someone’s taken a gamble on me.

And suddenly it’s 3 years.

Time to contemplate citizenship.

The scooter commute has changed from Kymco to Vespa GTS 250 and the smiles have increased with the additional cc’s.

Having sold the second car back in May, the plan was always to commute to Richmond during the summer on a scooter. The only thing preventing this from happening was the fact that I didn’t own a scooter. But why on earth go all ‘hairdryer mod’ when already the owner of a cafe cruising/mile munching Ducati? Well, I’d ridden the Ducati to work a couple of times and as enjoyable as it was, the route through New West being really start stop just leads to clutch hand cramps. Not a pleasant experience at the best of times. The obvious answer was to ‘twist ‘n go’ on a scooter. No clutch, no cramps, no decision to make. Just do it.

Anyway, I’d checked out the price of new scooters and as much as I like my Italian motorised transport, I simply couldn’t justify the price of new Vespa. I remembered that I’d looked at Kymco scooters at the Vancouver bike show earlier in the year and thought they’d be worth a look. The price was right, but a trawl of the local craigslist turned up a year old Kymco Frost 200 at a very good price. So, at the start of June the scoot commute began. As reliable and as fun as the Kymco was, the seating position turned out to be a touch uncomfortable and so I hot craigslist again. Why I hadn’t looked for a used Vespa previously I don’t know. The timing was perfect and a couple of GTS 250′s were available. I was hooked on a well kitted out, 4 year old scoot with low mileage. I was now a 2 scooter, 1 motorcycle owner. The 2 wheeled Italian fleet was growing.

A couple of weeks in to my Vespa GTS 250 commute and I’m more than loving it. There were plenty of smiles on the Kymco, but there’s something special about riding the Vespa. The seating position is higher than the Kymco and to be honest it feels a touch unstable because of that, but I’m getting used to it. The big difference is the engine. The extra cc’s really make a difference and the water cooled 4 stroke is silky smooth and silent compared to the Kymco (which is actually a 175cc). Acceleration is effortless and I’m getting the last laugh on the stereotypical mulleted mustachioed  truck drivers as I leave them standing at lights. Let’s face it, a scooter is only supposed to be 50cc and I can almost feel the ridicule pouring over me when a RAM 2500 pulls up beside me. Until it’s green on. Then it’s grin on for me.

So, my scoot commute is proving to be even more high smilage and low stress. I’d previously written about the changing the commute and the ride along the Fraser and I’ve continued to use this route as it’s just such a chill out ride. But now the ride is a Vespa, it’s totally cool and yes, I was forced to sit down and watch Quadrophenia again. Oh, and naturally enough Blur’s Park Life is replaying in the mind far too often.

Now, how many mirrors could I fit on a GTS 250?

Steveston is a quaint village in the south west corner of Richmond that has some great cycling along the sea front; and cycling was the order of the day.

What to do on a searingly hot Sunday morning? Air conditioned mall? Nope. Relax by one of the numerous lakes around here? Nope. A 3 hour round trip on the dykes to the west and south of Steveston? Check!

Steveston as a settlement has been around since the late 1870′s and became renowned in the area for its Salmon canning. There’s still an historic cannery in the village, but it seems that today the big earner is tourism and, in particular, whale watching tours from the likes of Seabreeze Adventures.

However, this trip was more about 2 wheels and sight seeing rather than getting in to the local history. Steveston is around a 45 minute drive from PoCo, so bikes were thrown in to the back of the car as I certainly wouldn’t be riding there, as much as I love cycling. Rather than head downtown Lesley and I decided to park a few Km away near the west dyke recreational route. Which reminds me, these British Columbians adore getting outside whenever the sun shines.  Walk, cycle, skate, board, whatever it takes to get mobile, BC’ers will do it. It makes it virtually impossible to live a couch potato existence here as one is just shamed in to activity.

Our route took us along the west dyke and in to the village proper. The views are, just like most views here, pretty spectacular,.With the mountainous northern vista’s to the beautiful blues of the Gulf of Georgia to the west and south, the scenery is the complete stress buster. Arriving in the village, the relaxed pace changed to serious speed as we’d happened across the inaugural Steveston Sockeye Spin.   A multi-lap 900m circuit around the downtown area provided some additional entertainment before the ice cream stop beckoned – it was after all, very hot work watching the real cyclists.

Our ride continued along the south dyke until we decided to loop back and take a quick wander around the street market. The market is very much a farmers and artisans affair and I’ve never seen so many local organic coffees on offer in one place.

I can thoroughly recommend the ride, it can be as vigorous or as relaxed as one wants to make it as the route is flat, very flat and even though we didn’t tackle the complete dyke circuit, it was smashing morning out. I’m certain that we’ll be back to finish of the missing sections of dyke another day.

All the pics are on my Picasa site. Sorry iPhone/iPad users, the slideshow is Flash based.

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

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……

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

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

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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.

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

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.

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.

I briefly spoke to another biker today and his words ‘Any ride is better than no ride’ really struck a chord.

Part of the preparation for my Short(er) Way Round ride has been to kit the bike out with luggage. I’d mentioned in a previous post that I’d bought some generic saddle bags rather than spend a fortune on Ducati luggage, however, I felt that a tank bag was needed for the additional space and a map holder. Getting the tank bag turned in to more of a search than I was expecting. The Ducati, being a lightweight tourer does not have a metal tank and most tank bags now seem to use large magnets to attach to the bike. My search for a strap on bag ended where I’d bought the bike, Richmond Motor Sports, which I guess should have been obvious as they’re selling bikes with plastic tanks.

The point. I picked up the bag whilst on my scooter. Now I’m pretty sure that back in the UK a biker would probably not acknowledge the existence of a scooter rider – bit of a mods ‘n rockers thing. However, as I was getting back on the scoot, another bike pulled in, and the guy called over “Enjoy the ride”. I said thanks and offered up that the real bike was coming out on Thursday, just to establish a bit of credibility. When the guy then said “Hey, any ride is better than no ride” I suddenly realized that things were a bit different here. The biker camaraderie extended to scoots. Now, maybe it’s because I need a bike license to ride the scoot I have, but I’m not complaining, I’m still accepted as a bona fide biker (which in reality I’m not).

So there you have it, scooter or bike, any ride is better than no ride. Thank you unknown biker, you’ve made my day.

I’m heading off to Oregon on a road trip. It’s the first time I’ve tried something like this and I’ve probably under-prepared. Here’s the story so far.

Inspired by the Long Way Round when I moved to Canada I started to dream about riding down the west coast highway. Plan A was to ride from Vancouver to San Diego, however, only having 15 days of holiday a year meant that I needed to rethink the ride, at least for the moment. Some simple research indicated that just riding down the Oregon coast would be a fantastic experience, with several locals telling me how beautiful that part of the country was. Hence Plan A.2 (there is no Plan B).

My plan was very straight forward, map out a Short(er) Way Round ride that took in the coast and forests. I would take my Ducati GT1000 on a journey that neither bike nor rider had experienced before. It would be a mini adventure in lieu of the full blown coastal ride.

I spent some time brain storming and outlining the route and everything I’d need from kit I’d need to insurances, places to stay and so forth, then I hit Google maps to get a route together. I didn’t want to overstretch myself so decided the maxi,um riding time would be 6 hours a day or a distance of around 400-500 Km. I ended up with the route in the pic that takes me  straight down to Seattle and across to Aberdeen on day 1, then down Highway 101 – Cannon Beach, Newport, Florence down as far as Crescent City at the tip of California.

The return journey would be inland and through the forests via Bend and Yakima. The Short(er) Way Round was coming together.

Over a few weeks I gradually added to my outline as well as addressing tasks on the ‘to do’ list. Bike serviced, better kit bought, luggage bought. Now there’s a story, the luggage. Ducati sell some rather splendid saddle bags in leather at a mere $1400 for the pair. I have to admit that I couldn’t bring myself to shell out so much and so looked around for alternatives. I ended up, on recommendation, at Modern Motorcycling at Commercial and 12th in Vancouver. An old school accessory and bike sale place, I picked up some generic Oxford saddle bags, plus a pillion bag for the princely sum of $200. Far more palatable.

So, the plan came together and on July 8th I head off in to the unknown. Okay, it’s not exactly off the beaten track. but it’ll be my adventure, and that’s what counts.

I’ve recently changed the commute. The second car has gone and in it’s place is transit and a scooter. It’s been a mixed experience, but on the whole a good one.

After a year of driving to and from Richmond I decided that I’d have enough of the line-ups along the Mary Hill Bypass and to get across the Queensborough bridge. A change was needed. It’s amazing how quickly one’s perspective changes. My final UK job involved a two and a half hour each way commute, not getting home until around 8pm. After a year of travelling to Richmond, I’m fed up with travelling for around 1 hour. Actually, another factor in the decision was the cost of running a second car.

Despite the cost of fuel being around 2/3rds of UK prices, when the maintenance and insurance are added in, the whole 2 car thing becomes a financial drain, or maybe more of a dollar diversion as the funds could be spent, saved or donated elsewhere. However, I wasn’t expecting to make the change quite as soon as I did.

My employer is moving from Richmond to Vancouver in November of 2010 and this was always going to be the prompt to review my commute. One weekend in May I decided that I’d sell the 2nd car. As the car was a manual transmission (we were a bifocal family with black and silver Focus’s/Foci?) and let’s face it, manual transmission and North America are 2 terms that don’t sit together comfortably, my thought was that the car could take an age to sell. So, on a warm Saturday morning I took a few snaps, and the Focus was duly put up for sale via Craigslist.  I was not expecting to be car-less by the end of the weekend. First viewer, close to the asking price and that was it, no car.

So began a month of transit which became and still can be a slog. Life from Lesley to Loughheed or Braid Skytrain. Skytrain to 22nd St. Bus to work. The transit journey can be around an hour a a half, longer than by car, but at least I can sleep. During this time I developed a Plan B. Scoot.

I’d actually ridden my Ducati to the office a couple of times and as much fun as it was, the journey home was very heavy on the clutch hand as traffic could be very busy through New West. Wouldn’t life be easier with a scooter, no clutch and very manoeuvrable. Having decided to go for it I found myself torn between a classic Vespa and the modern Kymco Frost. In the end, the Kymco won out as I couldn’t justify the Vespa price tag and I managed to find a year old Kymco for a good price.

So, I now have options. The scoot’s a real hoot and I’m smiling on the ride. Not only that, I’m exploring other routes to work to keep me off the highways. My recent find has been River Road in Richmond. On a sunny morning, or late afternoon, the ride along the bank of the Fraser is wonderful, peaceful, scenic and a word away from the bustle of Highway 91.

I’ve changed the commute and it’s actually for the better as I’m smiling more and I get the chance to stop and take pics like the ones below.

We’ve recently purchased a package of white goods and discovered how inefficient some companies can be.

After a year of holding off we finally bit the bullet and ordered a new fridge, cooker (stove/range) and dish washer. The whole process really highlighted some of the differences between purchasing these types of goods in Canada and in the UK. Boring, I hear you say, but bear with me.

As a corporate eco-warrior part of my brief when looking for white goods concerns energy efficiency and water consumption. The Energy Star label in North America makes it relatively easy to identify more efficient appliances, however, there’s still a need to actually check the probable energy use as similar appliances can be a couple of hundred KWh apart in terms of annual electricity consumption, yet still both have the Energy Star label. Walking down an aisle looking at the A-G ratings in Comet seemed much easier. As for water consumption, don’t even try and identify how much will be used, and the sales staff just give you a blank “Why on earth would you ask that” look if you ask the consumption question.

Back from the digression. Having made the selections it was time to start the horse trading. What reduction could I negotiate. The answer was not paying for delivery, and that was fine as it saved $100. I even agreed to wait for the cooker to come back in stock and have all the appliances delivered in one go. Easy. Or so I thought. I received a call from the Brick delivery folks advising me that my fridge was ready for delivery. “But what about the stove and dish washer?” “They’re not in stock, we’ll call you when they are.” I’d like to take delivery of all 3 appliances at once please.” The response was along the lines of there’s only 2 fridges left, if we don’t deliver it you could lose it. Reluctantly I agreed to have the single item delivered.

On the day of delivery I received a call from the Brick delivery folks. “We have your stove in stock and would like to arrange a delivery.” “That’s good, I have a fridge being delivered today so……” “I’m sorry, we can’t do it today the earliest is…..” “Okay, I have a dishwasher as well, can the stove wait until…..” You know what’s coming!

So, having negotiated away the delivery fee I’m now taking 3 separate deliveries of appliances. I can’t help feeling that that’s somewhat inefficient and probably adds to the running costs of the Brick. Oh, wait, they charge for delivery, so that’s okay then.

I love being in this country, however, it’s these little things that trip me up from time to time. Inefficient, well, yes, I think so.

Despite being a blood donor in the UK for many years, Canada doesn’t want my blood.

In 1999 Canada decided not to accept blood from potential donors that had spent more more than 3 months in the UK since 1980 due to the unproven possibility of  variant CJD being transmitted through donations. This precautionary approach was also applied to France and other Western European countries.

The blanket ban on Western European blood has been reviewed and renewed several times since the original decision was made and in 2004 a statement was made after a second possible transmission of vCJD was reported in the UK. [It seems that there has been at least 4 possible cases of transmission through transfusion up to 2008]

The Canadian Blood Services current information is that no donations are accepted from people meeting the criteria on their indefinite deferrals list.

Since 1997, the Public Health Agency of Canada has reported some 971 referrals for suspected vCJD with the UK reporting 2500 referrals since 1990 (which would include the transmission through transfusion cases). The figures do not seem to me to be significantly higher, especially when one considers the UK population is almost twice that of Canada.

So, I can understand why the precautionary principle has been adopted but it still leaves me feeling annoyed that despite what appears to be a very, very small risk, the blanket ban remains and I cannot give blood. Obviously I would not want anyone to be infected with vCJD, but I wonder what the odds of being infected with vCJD are next to, for example, being involved in a car crash?

After months of trying to crack both the local job market and consulting market I finally resorted to my transferable skills to try and generate some regular income. But not for long.

A difficult decision had to be made after a huge disappointment. A 3-4 month contract that I’d been offered verbally last November was given to someone else as a full time role at the end of January. Regular income was needed and it was time to consider the what else can i do question. Fortunately, the Brit ex-pat network came to my aid and I managed to get an in with a local insurance company. Al I had to do was to pass my Level 1 exam and get licensed. Despite having a course recommended to me I decided to take the least cost option which was buy the notes, read them and take the exam. So, 2 weeks of reading later I sat the Level 1 exam and passed first go, clearing the 70% pass mark bar with relative ease. I was licensed to insure.

So, at the start of March I began working for a local broker in North Vancouver. This was not without its logistical difficulties as it meant a journey that was at worst, bus – Skytrain – Seabus – bus or at best, bus – Skytrain – bus. Come what may I was looking at 90 minutes travel time each way.

The people working in the office were friendly and helpful and in some ways it was good to be back in such an environment. I was getting up to speed quickly, as I should with a $12/hr position, and income was flowing, well, trickling really.

Since coming to Canada I’ve never written off my environmental skills and have kept faith that sooner or later my faith would be rewarded. What I wasn’t reckoning on was the swift change in fortunes.

At the tail end of last year I applied for a job with the BC Lotteries Corporation, bclc. Unfortunately the job went on hold, I was told until Spring/Summer. Around 10 days in to my new career I received notification that the bclc post was off hold and if I was still interested, bclc would like to telephone interview me the following week. A very good friend said to me in the past that one should always be researching one’s next position//project. So, I accepted the interview, was short-listed for round 2 and attended a face-to-face interview the following week. The great thing is that both interviews were out of working hours so that I could continue masquerading as an insurance agent whilst following up the opportunity.

Cutting things short, I was invited to meet one of the VP’s at bclc’s headquarters in Kamloops a few days later. Unless I broke wind at the wrong time, I was in. But, another hurdle needed to be negotiated, I was due to be working the day I was invited to Kamloops (which is around 200 miles from where I live). So, deep breath and I resigned my insurance job before absolutely knowing that the bclc post was mine.

As it turned out, everything was fine. I was offered the job and I take up the role of Environmental Sustainability Specialist with bclc in May.

Oh, and my journey to Kamloops was pretty spectacular as I flew across the coastal mountains with Pacific Coastal Airlines. Four passengers in a 19 seater on the outward journey, three passengers in an 11 seater for the return flight. More pics are on Facebook.

We recently had an issue with a door mirror on the car which led to a perfect example of how “rip off Britain” can be equalled by “rip off Canada”.

Unfortunately, whilst backing out of the garage, a door mirror was snapped from it’s mounting by someone other than myself. The car, a Ford Focus, has exceptionally cheap door mirrors in the North American market. Whereas the Euro models come with a hinged fitting, locally, the door mirrors are just mounted in a single moulded piece of plastic, which of course makes them very vulnerable to any impact.

So, what would be the cost of a replacement fitting? It was time to trawl the web. Surprisingly, most of the on-line sources were from south of the border. However, with a price of $40 US, I wasn’t complaining, even after the exchange rate adjustments.

I then thought that I may as well try a local scrap yard as the prices for used parts must be even better. Imagine the shock of being told that a used door mirror would set me back the princely sum of $125 Canadian. The guy at Ralph’s wasn’t bothered that I could source them on line for around a third of the price – take it or leave it.

Having recovered from the shock I wondered what the price of a new part would be so I phoned my local Ford dealer. A brand new item would be around $175 including taxes. The used fitting from Ralph’s was obviously a bargain!

Time to head back to the virtual world. Things became a little more awkward at this point. A number of suppliers south of the border would not ship international, so no delivery to Canada. I did find a couple of places that had a work around that doubled the price, however, it would still be less than buying used from a scrap yard.

How about Canadian on-line suppliers? Having got fed up being on hold for ages and only getting through to voice mail I finally spoke to a person at one supplier who advised that the mirror would have to come from their US warehouse and would be $111 US. So, that would be $111 for the $40 part then. Great.

Hmm, back to the drawing board. I then thought about checking out UK suppliers as the replacement fitting would be hinged, but I then remembered that the concave/convex issue would mean the mirrors would be the wrong way around. Ah, we have friends in Germany, maybe that would be the way to resolve the problem – right mirrors and hinged. Prices were certainly higher than the US part, but still not as expensive as Canada.

In the end and despite thinking it wouldn’t work the damaged fitting was super-glued back together and amazingly enough it’s holding out. Should I need to replace the part, I’ll probably head south for the day as I can probably still save money even after fuel, food etc.

So, Canadian consumers, why are you letting yourselves be ripped off like this?

My Credit Card has been skimmed and I’m trying to figure out if I feel personally violated. I’m also thinking about what I could have done to prevent the skimming and what I need to do to protect my card from here on in.

Despite me being very careful with my card, a copy has been made and someone has been on a spending spree to the tune of $2-3,000. However my bank noticed the questionable transactions very quickly as they were all on the opposite side of the country, in Ontario. More importantly I’m not financially liable for fraud.

So, do I feel violated? Around 15 years ago I had my wallet stolen from a zipped coat pocket that was on the back of a chair whilst I was at a motorway service area. That was the first and only time I’ve suffered that kind of robbery and it didn’t feel good. When you add in the hassle of cancelling cards, changing bank accounts etc the whole theft thing becomes very time consuming as well as leaving a feeling of having one’s personal space invaded. Something personal had been taken without my knowledge.

This time it’s different. I still had possession of the card, nothing had been taken from me, except in some ways, part of my identity. Someone was using my name to make fraudulent purchases. In some ways that’s the thing that bites, the thought of my name being used for criminal purposes. That’s where I feel violated.

Could it be prevented?

The thing that’s really irritating is that the UK introduced chip and pin to credit cards nearly three years ago and the same system is only just starting to roll out in Canada. Chip and pin would probably have prevented the fraudulent transactions on my duplicated card as the user would not have my PIN. Okay, unrelated, but banks out here routinely apply account charges, do not offer interest on current/chequing accounts and cheques still seem to be widely used. I guess that the cost of fraud has to be recouped from somewhere and that generally means the customer. In other words, I have issues with the Canadian banking system as it seems somewhat lagging the UK standards for security. However, it’s all I’ve got to work with and so it’s one of those culture shock things that immigrants must go through.

Mind you, it even seems that chip and pin security can be compromised as this article in the Telegraph discusses. Having said that, the scam was a highly organised crime.

What can you do about card fraud?

What can be done to minimise the risk of having your card skimmed? Simply keep it in sight during personal transactions. I can only think of 2 instances over the last 6 months where I let my card be taken away to process and that may have been my downfall. Other things such as actually checking statements can help identify issues, but to me the best form of security is keeping the card in sight. Okay, online transactions are another matter and all I can add there is make sure that you’re on a secure site before punching in those valuable card details and of course, keep your PC malware free, especially windoze machines.

If you want more information on how to minimise the risk of card fraud, visit the Canadian Bankers Association.

Learn from my experience, not your own

What have I learnt from the experience? Well, despite being careful, it would seem that I haven’t been careful enough. The new card will not be leaving my view when transactions are made.

Despite me having the Ducati GT1000 for over 6 months I’ve not previously posted a pic of my summer cruise machine. So, here it is.

I’m not a hardened biker by any stretch of the imagination and how I ended up on a bike after many years of being a car only person is a bit of a story.

My only real experience of being on a bike came in my mid-late teens when I was a passenger on a friends bike a few times (a 250cc) and also had a go on another friends 50cc. To be honest I preferred having a car as I enjoyed comfort and music to the elements.

Fast forward to around 2002. As a one car family I was getting fed up walking and cycling around Maidstone where I lived at the time as Lesley used the car for work. Chatting with a friend brought up the idea of investing in a scooter for running around locally. Great idea! I decided to go for it and after some cursory research knew that the Peugeot Speedflight was the scooter for me. What I didn’t do was investigate the restrictions placed upon ‘new’ riders. As an existing car license holder I was able to ride a 50cc scooter around without taking a test, however I’d decided to go for the 100cc version of the scooter and this meant passing my provisional bike license theory test and taking compulsory training before I could even ride the bike and then, horror of horrors I had to run around with an ‘L’ plate.

I dutifully passed my theory and CBT and was able to buzz around Maidstone, and very enjoyable it was too. One nagging thought remained though. I was far too old to have ‘L’ plates. I would have to pass my full bike test to rid myself of the offending big red letter, but how?

I discovered CSN motorcycle training in Rochester and booked on to a short course on geared bikes to avoid being restricted to scooters (just in case). I decided to take the short course which would restrict me to a 33bhp machine for 2 years which wasn’t an issue as I was only riding a scooter. So, after a couple of challenging days on a geared 125cc I passed my bike test – the red L was no more.

It turned out to be a good decision to go for a geared bike test as less than a year later I needed to take the cheap commuting option which meant investing in a bike that would take for over 40 mph. I ended up with a Yamaha Diversion, a classic commuter bike. However, it was a 600cc machine packing somewhat more than the 33bhp restriction. The nice guys where I bought the bike provided me with a certificate of restriction, although the bike was left as was. This wasn’t due to me setting out to flaunt the law, the dealer simply thought that I’d be a careful rider as I wasn’t exactly in my youth. Correct. I am not a big risk taker on a bike. The bike eventually went after I changed jobs and went back to car ownership, but I have to admit that I enjoyed the fresh air freedom (in good weather) that bike ownership offered.

Fast forward to 2007 and I became a bike owner again. Yes, I had to retake my bike license again which meant theory, practical training and a full road test for a second time, just like with the car license. It was worth it as the summer was pretty good which gave me the chance to get out and reacquaint myself with biking. Why? Well, I have an aim to ride the west coast from Vancouver to, probably, San Diego within a couple of years and the Ducati is the bike for me to do it on. Okay, it’ll not be a Long Way Round or Long Way Down adventure, but it’ll be my adventure.

Watch this space.

Yes it’s been a long time. Yes, I said I would be more diligent with my blogging and no, I haven’t been anything like diligent.

However, it’s a new year and rather than make daft resolutions and promises to blog more frequently let’s just say that I’ll try.

Rather than dwell on what’s been I’d rather look forward to what is likely to be a very challenging year. I’ve decided to finish my MSc in Environmental Decision Making by completing a research project and dissertation. It’s something that’s been on hold since my first redundancy, back in 03, so I thought it high time that I kicked the grey matter back in to action. I have to admit to being both excited and rather terrified as I set out on this journey as I’ve not studied to this depth in the past. Having said that, once finished it’ll be the icing on the academic cake, so I’m giving it a real good go.

Back to the lack of blogging. I’m also trying out a neat application, ecto to try and make getting blog entries up easier as there’s no need to log in to my site to prepare posts. Again, we’ll see how it goes.

I’m not going to write anything on the amount of snow that the Lower Mainland has suffered over the last fortnight (at least 3ft) as it’s been well recorded and Lesley has some great pics over on her Picasa site so check out this set and this set.

So, a slightly belated Happy New Year to everyone and keep checking back.