The
Squamidian Report – June 25 / 11
Issue #474
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I know, you’d think I’d be done with going on and on and on about the never ending winter on the west coast. But there is just one more little tidbit of information I need to share. Its both incredible and fascinating. You all know where Grouse Mountain is, its right there on the North Shore overlooking Vancouver. It’s a year-round tourist destination. In the winter they are open for skiing which makes sense because part of the mountain is a ski hill. Now I’ve already told you that when the ski season was supposed to be ending, they were still getting huge dumps of snow, adding to the snow base. So, they were able to stay open for skiing longer than normal. Get this, they stayed open for skiing TWO MONTHS longer than normal. That’s not “oh gee, we had a cold spring”, that’s “holly crap, winter won’t go away”. The only reason the ski season has or will be coming to an end on many of the west coast hills is that people have simply lost interest in skiing into summer. Their attention is on other things. There is still lots of snow to ski on, but no one wants it anymore. There will however still be skiing on over the July Canada Day long weekend on some hills.
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We had an interesting event to deal with involving some members of the Calgary chapter of the motorcycle club I am involved with. They rode out to the west coast as a start location for an Iron Butt ride to the east coast. They must do the ride in under 96 hours, total time, not riding time. They arrived in Vancouver on Saturday and then come out to our meet on Sunday morning. Weather was not very good but then it would be pretty crappy all the way across the country for them anyway so they might as well get used to it. We showed them around a bit and took them to Horseshoe Bay where they booked a motel. We then took pictures of them with their back wheels in Pacific Ocean water. The thing with using Horseshoe Bay as a start point is that they are only about 2 minutes from the terminus of Highway 1, the TransCanada. Plan was for them to hit the road at 4am Monday but they were actually a few minutes late with departure. That didn’t matter because official start time would be their first fuel fill-up with the signed and dated receipt. That was done just up the highway at the next intersection.
Thanks to modern GPS and upload technology, we’ve were able to watch their progress right across the country on the Internet. They must have been flying because they made incredible time on the first day as they rode east. They didn’t run out of daylight until they were well into eastern Alberta. Now, what you need to keep in mind is that to qualify for the Canadian coast to coast Iron Butt certificate, they must document every fuel stop as well as sign in at certain locations along the way. And, in order to reach the east coast in under 96 hours, they must ride for very long periods of time with almost no food or rest stops.
They were at the mercy of this miserable wet cold weather plaguing the whole country. As they passed through Saskatchewan during the night they were forced to detour off the TC because it is washed out east of Regina. That meant dropping down to highway 13 which we rode a few years ago and I can tell you it is one horrible piece of roadway. Due to no maintenance and continual use by heavy farm equipment and trucks it is in very bad condition. They re-joined the TC in western Manitoba. Their next problem was east of Thunderbay at Nipigon where they started up #11 but turned back to #17 after an hour. Don’t know why, probably construction mess or perhaps no fuel available in the middle of the night, but it cost them a couple of hours. And, from Saskatchewan on east they were battling rain and thunder storms. They did not make very good time through northern Ontario but once past Ottawa they were flying again, making very good time.
By Thursday afternoon they had made it through Quebec and had crossed most of New Brunswick before running out of daylight. They crossed into Nova Scotia before 10pm local time, and were in Halifax by midnight. Incredible. They had until almost 9am Friday morning to make it to Halifax. They made it with several hours to spare. In fact, their official time was 87.5 hours. I can’t even imagine what they put themselves through. Have to admire their determination and stamina. I do know that I couldn’t do it, even when I was younger, and I wouldn’t want to do it. Not for me, not for most people. But it is what the members of the Iron Butt society thrive on. Wow.
One last thing, if guys my age were even to pretend to try a ride like that, we would first have to invent some kind of drainage hose that would be routed down our left leg to somewhere behind our boot heel. Either that or waist a lot of time stopping to visit friendly trees and roadside shrubby. J
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
First off, I’m sorry for not submitting an Ontarion to Doug before leaving on my motorcycle ride last week with Adam. I had intended to do so but just plain forgot!
Anyway, I see you all survived without me quite well! In fact, if I hadn’t mentioned it, you might not have even realized I missed writing last weekend! Oh well, just in case one or two of you (Carol and Al) did notice I was absent, I’ll be happy to tell you all about our first long ride on the bikes! We’ve got a long way to go to catch up to Doug and Sue but we’ve managed a good start with a round trip ride of 2,442 km from Kitchener to Province Town Massachusetts at the very northern tip of Cape Cod and back again! In fact, we managed to reach a point 15 nautical miles north of the tip of Cape Cod with the help of a 30m 26 ton whale watching boat we booked a tour on to see the whales. So we’re laying claim to being the first guys to take a motorcycle trip 15 miles out into the North Atlantic and back again without getting the bikes wet! LOL!
I guess I should start at the beginning if I’m going to tell you about our week on the road! Carole and I had taken a trip to Cape Cod three years ago as some of you may remember. Since then we’ve thought about and talked about the amazing trip we had and how we experienced the very best “Fish and Chips” meal on earth at a restaurant called “ROOKIES” about ¾ of the way up the Cape from the mainland! In fact, we’ve mentioned this meal to Adam so many times that it became the reason he and I decided to take a ride on the bikes to the Cape.
About three weeks ago Adam said to me, “Hey dad, I’ve got some time off in a couple of weeks, why don’t you and I take a motorcycle ride to Cape Cod and you can treat me to a meal of those famous fish and chips you guys have been telling me about for three years?” I responded with a grin and half jokingly said, “OK, why not!” So, a week ago last Sunday we packed our saddlebags and headed for the east coast. We decided not to take any main highways such as the QEW or any of the US I-90 style Interstate roadways. We wanted to stick to smaller slower two lane roads. We planned to take the back roads from here to Niagara Falls and then follow old Highway 20 that runs from Buffalo to Boston. We figured we’d turn south east once we crossed into Massachusetts and go directly to Cape Cod without hitting Boston.
Well, our ride started with a bang and I do mean a bang! We left Kitchener at 11am Sunday and headed down Hwy 8 from Cambridge. When we got to “Peters Corners” I made a wrong turn and took a road toward Hamilton that was one concession to the east of the one we should have been on. I realized this about 2 km down the road and figured if we took the next road to the right, it would take us over to the one we missed. Well, that road was very scenic but about one kilometer down that road we passed under a huge and very impressive stone railroad bridge and then the road suddenly dropped down into a deep valley. As we rounded a curve at the bottom to the left the pavement ended and the road took a sudden angle up and the wet packed gravel road got steeper and steeper. I foolishly continued to climb the road with Adam close behind. Of course with street tires on our bikes we soon lost grip on the mucky slope! We had ridden about 100 feet up the road when I realized my back tire was beginning to spin in the muck. We were confronted with deep ruts that crossed the road in front of us and had to stop. We realized then that the road was too steep and unstable for us to continue. I was on the right side of the road and Adam was in the middle. He managed to stop without sliding backwards. I however could not lift my right foot off the roadway to place it on my rear brake pedal to stop my bike from sliding backwards because I needed it for balance. I had my front brake on but began sliding backward. Adam had managed to back to his left and be crossways on the road and was stable. He saw that I was sliding back out of control and figured he could make it down to the paved part of the road, leave his bike and run up to help me. Well, by the time another 2 seconds had passed I could no longer hold my bike upright. There was a two-foot deep, three-foot wide ditch to my right caused by the flood the night before that washed out the road. Suddenly I lost it and was slammed bike and all flat down on my right side in the ditch! OUCH! My right leg was under the bike and the right side of my head was whiplashed into the far side of the ditch with one helluva thud!
It actually knocked me out for a few seconds! Adam called to me to see if I was ok and I was able to answer him to say that I was! I was dazed but the hard saddle bag on the bike and the forward “highway” foot peg had held the motorcycle up off the ground enough that I was not crushed under the weight of the bike. Of course the depth of the ditch helped as well! Adam managed to get his bike to the paved road below and he made his way back up on foot to help me. I was on my feet by the time he got up to me and the two of us lifted my motorcycle back onto its wheels. It was all we could do to lift the weight of the bike and all it’s contents upright and hold it steady! We slowly backed the motorcycle down the slope to the bottom, paved portion of the road. We just parked it off to the side when three cars came sliding down the unstable gravel the bike and I had just been laying on moments earlier, man what luck! Other than a bruised ego and a ringing headache I was all in one piece! The bike suffered a few scratches on the saddlebag and a loose and mud-covered mirror but was otherwise unscathed! With a few moments of recuperation we mounted back up and backtracked to the road we should have been on a half hour earlier and were on our way once again!
I’ll call this the end of “Chapter One” and continue the saga next week! With all this suspense you will probably need a break as much as I do for now! LOL!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to continuing the story of our ride for you all next time in The Ontarion Report!
By for now… GREG
PS: Who was it that said they liked to hear about people’s trips in the Squamidian/Ontarion? Whoever it was, I hope this one makes you happy!
PPS: Something To Think About>
IF you’re ever faced with a 45-degree wet, muddy, washed out gravel incline of a road, make sure you have your “Knobbies” on!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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