It’s the middle of February, and hence just past the
official middle of winter, but from where I sit winter doesn’t start with the
winter solstice and end with the spring equinox. I measure it by when I
winterize the motorcycle, to when I have my first ride in the spring, probably
about mid April depending on the weather. With the climate in a state of flux
who knows when I’ll do that first ride. Actually, it’s almost warm enough to
ride today, a whole 3 degrees C, and tomorrow is forecast to hit 13, albeit
with rain. I am sure there will be a few daring characters riding today, not
for me, the roads are way too dangerous. Ice patches persist and the gravel
that lurks on corners and bends makes for scary riding. Nonetheless it’s nice
to have a bit of a thaw and get that spring feeling even though I know that all
too soon the temperature will fall, and the snow will be back on the ground, at
least my thoughts have turned to the coming riding season and that has cheered
me up.
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| Winter 2018 |
Maybe the thaw isn’t the only thing to blame, I made the
effort to attend the Toronto Motor Cycle show at the Exhibition Centre on
Saturday. This is the same annual show where I lost my mind a few years back
and impulse bought a Suzuki Boulevard (the one I killed barely a year and a
half later http://not-so-easy-rider.blogspot.ca/2015/08/death-of-boulevard.html).
No such foolishness this year, although my mouth watered for some of the
machines I got to sit on. That’s the fun part, walking around and sitting on
all the bikes you want to. Sure, I’d love to get a new bike, maybe a Triumph
Tiger, or a Ducati Scrambler, Suzuki V-Strom, BMW GS, Kawasaki Versys or even Honda’s
Africa Twin, but then do I want to be paying off a bike right now? I know the
answer to that. I also know that I’m still in love with my old ugly KLR – the
simplicity of the engineering and total absence of electronics somehow makes me
happy. It may happen, but so far, the KLR has not let me down despite it’s venerable
age of 18 years... do motorbikes age in dog years, I wonder?
Last year was not a great riding year for me, my accident
put somewhat of a dent in the whole thing and too much rain marred the part of
the season that I wasn’t hobbling around on crutches. Last year I had an
ambitious plan to ride to Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, which did not happen
thanks to the aforementioned accident, so I am now making some initial plans
for the coming summer. One of the problems that such a trip involves is that
you need to devote at least three weeks, because the round trip is close to
9000 km. On a trip like that 500 km a day is about the most you want to be
doing, after all it’s about the journey and not just reaching a point on the
map. I had made some inquiries about shipping the bike home from the west coast
of the USA but came up with blanks. At the bike show I discovered that Air
Canada are in the business of flying motor cycles across Canada and even to
Europe. A bit of research with Google has indicated that I could probably rail
or send the bike home by truck from inside Canada at a cheaper rate than flying
it, which makes the trip a bit more viable. From home to Grand Canyon and to
Vancouver via Yellowstone is about 6 300 km – a tough two-week ride, but doable.
Some other options that are under consideration are a round trip to St. Johns
coming back through the States or Trans-Canada Highway to Vancouver Island or a
ride around the Great Lakes. I’ll decide in the next few months.
I hope I can pull it off this year, last year I had done my
planning and even got the KLR really sorted to deal with the trip, new brake
shoes and disks, front and back, new chain and sprockets, replaced the doohickey
and installed a 26-litre fuel tank. All of this just gathered dust in the
garage while I convalesced with a busted ankle.
It wasn’t all bad as I got to discover my home town from a
very different angle, admittedly Newmarket isn’t Grand Canyon, its sidewalks
aren’t the Interstate and the mobility scooter isn’t the KLR, but it had its
moments. I am certain that if a mobility scooter becomes a permanent feature in
my life the fun aspect would disappear fast, but it was just going to be a few
weeks. Initially I rented the thing so that I could still ‘walk’ the dogs, but
that didn’t work as well as hoped, one of the dogs was freaked out by it and spent
all the walks that we did whining and barking. In the early stages I was not supposed
to put any pressure on my left foot so getting in and out of our van was a
little challenging, as was doing any shopping on crutches. For a short time,
the mobility scooter became my principle mode of transport.
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| Riding the Scooter, wounded ankle, wounded knee |
I had not realized it until then how important it is to make
things mobility scooter friendly. It was great that the sidewalks are paved
nearly everywhere so I could get just about everywhere I wanted to go and soon
figured out the best routes to take. The scooter did not have suspension so
although the sidewalks are paved they are very uneven, a lot of jarring went
on, especially when I was going at ‘hare’ speed down an incline. Most shops and
some restaurants were geared for these vehicles with ramps and enough space to
maneuver, but not all and the absence of a ramp to get inside a shop,
especially in the old downtown main street cost a few establishments my custom. No biggy I am
sure, but $30 worth of concrete may get them some customers they are now
missing out on. Note to motorists: - at traffic lights look out for mobility
scooters especially when doing a left turn, I had a few close calls. Funny that until you are sitting on a mobility
scooter you don’t notice quite how many people are using these things, I’m sure
some are just fat and don’t like to walk, but there are plenty of folks that can’t
otherwise get about.
The other thing I discovered is the power of the disabled.
People are nicer than you think, strangers helped me to get items from shelves,
insisted on allowing me to be served ahead of them and made no complaints when
I blocked an aisle. I could even be rude and use the horn to clear a path and
nobody said a damn word. I certainly would not choose to be disabled, and when
I finally could walk without crutches it was a massive relief, but there are
some compensations.
Of course, getting back on the KLR was the best feeling ever,
and still having a little left of the riding season was a small mercy for which
I gave thanks and made the most of. Here’s hoping for better luck this year.
Pre-posting Update
Time has moved on since I penned the first draft for this
post. It’s now the first Sunday in March. It’s a gorgeous sunny day, but 4
degrees C below zero, feels like -10. (I wonder how they measure ‘feels like’,
maybe someone pops outside, naked, and reports how cold it feels like). Last
Sunday it warmed up to a balmy 9 degrees above and was also sunny, so I pulled
the cover off the bike, togged up warmly and got my first 2018 ride in. Despite
a 35 km/h wind with gusts up to 40, it was a good ride, albeit a mere 120 km. The
KLR does struggle a bit when the wind blows strong, being light and tall. On a
stretch going north on Highway 27 it felt like the wind was
going to blow me right off the road. So, I ended up sticking to side roads and
dirt roads where the traffic was light to non-existent and I could ride slower
without pissing off too many motorists.
The roads were not really in a condition that riding at a
reasonable speed was safe anyway, thankfully there was no ice as the
temperature had been north of zero for a few days, but plenty of gravel and
lots of wet patches from melting snow. Dirt roads were wet and slippery, but
that’s OK, made for some extra fun with not much real danger. The scenery was
interesting, very drab, all dark olive green, grey and brown. Not enough snow
on the ground to give it that winter wonderland look, but still beautiful in a
somewhat stark and harsh way. All the pools and ponds in the forests were
frozen solid, even the small lakes were still frozen with just a few patches of
water here and there. It’s not spring yet, but spring is definitely in the air,
even the Canada geese are back. Nice to see them arrogantly waddling around, I
guess they got tired of the gun toting rednecks down south taking pot-shots at
them.
I don’t know when I’ll get another chance of a ride, but so
far it looks like spring may well be arriving early this year, unless I’ve just
gone and jinxed it. Can’t wait to fritter away all my free time riding the KLR.
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