Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Sunday 17 December 2017

Riding the Roman Empire

Across the top of the Mediterranean over two weeks.
This time of year always feels like about as far from a ride as I'll get.  It's in the minus twenties outside and it's been snowing for days straight.  Time for some cost-no-object daydreaming...

If I jumped on a plane late in the evening on Friday, December 22nd at the beginning of our holiday break, it's a long slog because there is no direct flight to Athens, but I would eventually get there on Saturday afternoon. A night in Athens and then I could begin a long ride in a warm climate across the north coast of the Mediterranean on Christmas Eve, passing through the heart of the Roman Empire on my way west to Lisbon for a flight in time to go back to work.

I have to be back at it on Monday, January 8th. There is a direct flight from Lisbon, Portugal back to Toronto on the Saturday before.  Could I get from Athens to Lisbon in thirteen days? 

It's about four thousand kilometers through Greece, Italy, France and Spain to Portugal.  That works out to an average of just over three hundred kilometres per day which means plenty of time to stop and see things or a big day of riding followed by a day off.  Because it's Europe there are always autostradas to make up time if needed.  It appears Athens to Lisbon is a very doable two week ride.  

Here's a possible day by day breakdown with a couple of days off.  All the maps are highway averse, looking for local roads and the time it takes to ride them.  Should things get backed up, big highway miles could happen to make up lost time:


Here's a link to the spreadsheet with working links to maps.
There are a couple of longer days in there, but there are also two days off completely and some short, half days of riding.  There is plenty of time to stop and soak things in en-route to our western return point.

My weapon of choice for this trip would be the new Triumph Tiger Explorer I'm crushing on, in matt cobalt blue.  Tall Tigers fit me well and this one is perhaps the best one ever made.  As a cross countries mover there is little that can beat it, and that new blue is a lovely thing.  I think I'd do a burnt orange on the engine guards and pannier logos.  I'd also redo the badges in matching orange.

The new Tiger Explorer is 24 pounds lighter than the old one, gets better mileage and has a host of advanced features that make an already good long distance bike better.  The big three that powers it would comfortably carry a passenger if I could convince anyone to do this with me.  If we're touring two up I'd luggage it up and make sure we could carry everything with us, but if I was solo I think I could just get by with the panniers and leave the back end looking less luggage-y.

Outfitting it with luggage and a few odds and ends from the extensive options catalogue is always fun.  I only got myself into four thousand dollars of trouble there:


The solo, lighter Tiger looks a treat.
  • Expedition Aluminium Panniers - Waterproof Inner Bags Pair $160.00
  • Engine Bars - Black $364.99
  • High Rider Comfort Seat $340.00
  • Heated Passenger Seat $535.02
  • Quick Release Tank bag $131.57
  • LED Fog Lights $555.00
  • Adventure Tail Bag $295.00
  • Aluminium Radiator Guard $84.99
  • Expedition Pannier Mounting Kit $450.00
  • Expedition Panniers - Black $1,265.00

In a perfect world I'd get my Tiger shipped from my garage in my England house to the Triumph Dealer in Athens where I'd pick it up on December 23rd.  I'd drop it off at the Triumph dealer in Lisbon on January 6th and either convince my cousin to ride it back to the UK or get it shipped back.


I've got the kit needed to do this now, but having a look at the latest European gear, I think I'd spring for a new helmet to do this ride with.  The Roof Carbon is a piece of industrial art that gives me the benefits of a closed face when I need it and an open face when I'm in need of some wind.  The iridium face shield would make this thing look like something out of battle of the planets.

Since it's a daydream, it ain't cheap.  I'd fly business there and back, so flights are north of seven grand.  Getting the bike delivered wouldn't be cheap, assuming it was waiting for me in Europe to begin with.  But hey, if you can't daydream big, why daydream at all?

NOTES:

Sat Dec 23 to Sat Jan 6
13 full days + 1/2 a day on each end

~4000kms - 307kms / day

https://goo.gl/maps/gpAyY4uiTEx
https://goo.gl/maps/GT54qKTDxjv











Tuesday 17 October 2017

Six Wheels Across Canada

Crossing Canada (and we're not even going
coast to coast) isn't a little trip.
Next summer we're aiming for the family cross country trip.  If you live anywhere except one of the largest countries in the world that might not require too much forethought, but it takes over 2000kms and 3 days just to get out of the province we live in, then there are another four provinces to cross before getting to the family reunion in British Columbia.  The thought of doing this on a bike is both invigorating and a bit overwhelming, and besides, I'd like to spend some time in the car with everyone soaking up the views together.

What to do?

Is it possible to get a vehicle that would get us across Canada reasonably comfortably but would also allow me to drop two wheels down when the roads demand it?

I've had the van itch before, but is there a vehicle that could carry the three of us and a bike well?


Guy Martin's Transit Van fascination has long been an influence.  It turns out you can buy a special Guy Martin Proper edition these days in the UK.

Choices for North America aren't that special, but you can still put together a custom enough van that might be the Swiss-Army knife of a vehicle that I'm looking for.  What's interesting is that on the UK site they talk about using a Transit as your 24/7 vehicle like that could be a thing, but North Americans would find Transits impossible to live with (because North Americans are just too precious?)

The long wheelbase, medium roof Transit will handle four seats with room enough to comfortably swallow a Triumph Speed Triple as well.  With a finished interior it'd be a comfortable way of making the epic cross country trip and could handle all the luggage we could throw at it.

In cross country mode it'd have the four seats in and plenty of room to stretch out and cover big miles.  I'd be tempted to swipe some of the "Proper" Transit and sporty it up a bit, but the main idea would be to have a modern, efficient van that is able to do many things.

With the bike out we'd be able to stretch sleeping bags out in the back, and there are some other interesting options I think I'd explore.  The Aluminess Roof Rack turns the whole roof into a patio, which would be handy on trips for photography, as a base for drone filming operations or as a vantage point when the van is taken to events.  It has a cool LED spot light bar on the front too.


There are a number of interior finishing options available.  I'd take the van to a finished interior, but I don't know about a private jet on wheels, I'd want it to keep some of its utilitarian appeal.  Being able to rotate the front seats would have obvious benefits though.  A number of companies finish these vans, from use based needs to full on camper conversions.

The medium roof, long wheelbase version of the Transit will take in about 163 inches long in the cargo area - a Triumph Speed Triple is about half that, so it'd fit behind a second row of seats.  Maximum load width is almost 70 inches, the Speed Triple is less than half that wide at the handle bars and much less elsewhere, so it'd fit comfortably on one side of the rear cargo area.  Maximum load height is 72 inches, the Speed Triple is less than 50 inches tall.  Even a big bike like my Tiger (54 inches tall, 34 inches wide, 89 inches long) would still comfortably fit in the Transit.  Since a Transit will take close to 4000lbs in payload, the thing could easily handle a pair of big bikes without breaking a sweat.  One bike, 3 people and a pile of luggage wouldn't make it break a sweat.



The ten thousand kilometre odyssey across Canada would be a lot more fun with such a comfortable, spacious and capable vehicle... and being about to ride the Rockies and the West Coast west and then back east again would be spectacular.

Almost four thousand kilometres of Rocky Mountains and West Coast?  Magical!  Having a vehicle that can deliver it together AND on two wheels?  Bazinga!

Wednesday 11 October 2017

A Superior Week in the Woods

I always get to this time of year when I'm 50+ hours a week at work and get antsy.  Instead of having my waking hours decided for me days hence, I wonder what I'd do if my time was my own.

It hasn't been a great fall for colours.  A brief cold spell followed by a long period of strangely hot weather means the leaves haven't been shocked into a super colour burst, but if it's autumn I'd still like to see some colours.  


Rounding Lake Superior would certainly surround me with trees.  This time of year it's half empty up there, so the roads would be mine.  It's a long ride around the largest of the great lakes with half of it in Minnesota and Michigan, about 1700kms just to ride around the lake.  


It's pushing my luck to expect the weather to be with me, snow is a distinct possibility in October in Northern Ontario, but it'd be an epic last ride before the doors close on another riding season.

Riding Superior means I could pop in to Aerostich in Deluth, Minnesota and look at Roadcrafters.  They even have a sale on now!  I might be able to get one of these bespoke super-suits and finish the ride looking like a cross between an astronaut and a ghostbuster.



Day 1 (289kms+ferry)
Elora to Tobermory (225kms, 3 hours):  Leave Friday after work (3:30pm), get to Tobermory quickly!
Ferry Friday Night:  6:10pm from Tobermory to South Bend 7:55pm.
South Baymouth to Little Current: (64kms, 1 hour), get in at about 9pm.  289kms on the bike plus a ferry ride across Georgian Bay.
Overnight:  Anchor Inn, a 19th Century hotel in Little Current




Day 2 (512kms)
Little Current to Wawa (512kms, 6 hours):  lunch in Sault Ste Marie. 


Overnight:  Wawa Motor Inn




Day 3 (482kms)
Wawa to Thunder Bay (482kms, 5.5 hours): across the top of Superior

Overnight: Hampton Inn & Suites Thunder Bay.




Day 4 (301kms + border crossing)
Thunder Bay to Deluth, MN. (301kms, 3.5 hours)

Get there early and checkout Aerostich (there's a sale on!) open 8-6 Monday to Friday.

Overnight: Holiday Inn Downtown Deluth.






Day 5 (406kms)
Deluth to Marquette (406kms, 5 hours)


OvernightCedar Motor Inn, Marquette


Day 6 (364kms + border crossing)
Marquette to Sault Ste Marie (364kms, 5 hours)


OvernightHoliday Inn Express Sault Ste Marie.




Day 7 (624kms+ferry)
Sault Ste Marie to South Baymouth (353kms, 4 hours)
Get to South Baymouth for 12:30
Ferry 1:30 to 3:30pm
Tobermory to Elora (225kms, 2.75hrs)

The whole thing (624kms, 9+ hours including ferry)

HOME!  Three thousand kilometres in a week.




Sunday 19 February 2017

Chasing Virginia Waterfalls



My cousin in law shared this and I thought it would make for a nice, twisty ride.  It got to double digits yesterday and my throttle hand is getting itchy event though we're still knee deep in snow.



It's a 271 mile ride through the Virginia Appalachian Mountains connecting nine waterfalls.  It might be a bit much to try and manage in a day, but over a couple of days it'd be a two nearly 300km days of twisty road riding with a lot of waterfall watching in between.  If two days of mountain roads and waterfalls don't cure what ails you, nothing will.




I'd previously thought about doing a ride down the Appalachians to Deal's Gap as the full solar eclipse is passing over there in mid-August this year.  This is about two thirds of the way down from Ontario.  It'd make a nice break from the drive back north to spend a couple of days chasing waterfalls along winding mountain roads.

Tuesday 7 February 2017

Honda Getaway

Asking $5577+GST.
I'd offer six grand all in.
It barely has 1000kms on it.
A comfortable fit on a small bike,
even for a big guy like me.
This lovely little Honda CB500x popped up on Kijiij.  As an icestorm approaches I'm dreaming of being elsewhere, as I often do during the off-season.

Two grand looks like it'll get the bike air freighted from Toronto to Ecuador.  The South American tour would take me south down the Andes and then finally to Ushuaia before working my way up the Atlantic side to Rio de Janeiro.

Just over 16,000 kms - a nice 3 month jaunt.
By the time I worked my way back up to Rio on the little Honda, it would have done tens of thousands of kilometres across some pretty rough terrain on not the greatest gas.  I'm sure I could find a happy rider in Rio to hand it off to.

Averaging 250kms per day, it's a 60 day trek.  With some wiggle room, this would be a nice three month jaunt, mid-February to mid-May.  The MotoGP circus passes through Argentina in April, so that'd be a nice thing to be able to ride to as well.

Sunday 1 January 2017

Scotland and Shetland On Two Wheels

Another piece of fantasy trip planning so I'm ready to go when I become pointlessly rich...  this time Scotland and into the North Sea!

https://goo.gl/maps/Jnmk75iLkJQ2
Two days on the mainland working our way north to the ferry port in Thurso...




TWO WEEKS:  SCOTLAND AND INTO THE NORTH SEA

Day 1:  Ediburgh to Inverbroom Lodge
Day 2: Inverbroom Lodge to Thurso
Day 3: Ferry to Orknies
Day 4: Orkneys day 2
Day 5: Ferry to Shetlands
Day 6-10: Shetlands
Day 11: Ferry back to Aberdeen
Day 12: Aberdeen to Edinburgh
Day 13: Edinburgh


FERRY INFORMATION

http://ca.directferries.com/scrabster_stromness_ferry.htm
Thurso to Orkney Islands: 90 minute crossing: £112

http://ca.directferries.com/kirkwall_lerwick_ferry.htm
Kirkwall, Orkney Islands to Shetlands: 7 hour crossing: £225

http://ca.directferries.com/lerwick_aberdeen_ferry.htm
Shetlands to Aberdeen: 12 hour crossing: £289


ORKNEY ISLANDS

https://goo.gl/maps/MPkfc31sWez


Two nights and two full days on the Orkney Islands... Scara Brae!

SHETLAND ISLANDS


The whole thing on Furkot:
Journey To The End of the Earth

Two weeks beyond John O'Groats...



Things to see:
Scotch!
Haunted Scotland
Beautiful spots

Monday 26 December 2016

Pigeon Forge Motorcycle Base Camp Trip Planning

The Smokey Mountains are a motorcycle Mecca for a reason.
Using a combination of motorcycleroads.com and Furkot.com I've been planning day trips from Pigeon Forge, which seems a sensible place to explore the Smokey Mountains from.  The process can serve as escapism on a foggy, freezing drizzle Boxing Day, or it could be  pre-planning for an inevitable trip.

I've variously daydreamed about driving the Tiger down in a van over the Christmas break to New Orleans and Key West, as well as riding down to The Tail of the Dragon next August for a complete solar eclipse.  There are a lot of good reasons to figure out possible rides for when I'm eventually in the area.

Pigeon Forge is located just south east of Knoxville and offers a great launching point into the Smokey Mountains.  The area around there is covered in desirable roads:



The only trick with a winter trip is changeable weather.  It looks like next week in Pigeon Forge would have been a bit challenging:



It's a roll of the dice going south in the winter but the summer's a sure thing.  Maybe I'll find myself in the Smokey Mountains next summer when the moon hides the sun.


200 KM East Loop

230KM Pigeon Forge low land loop

Pigeon Forge 300km South Smokey Mtn loop

240 KM loopback Dragon's Tail

Wednesday 17 August 2016

Across the Halliburton Highlands

411kms across the Highlands
After a few days of R&R recovering from our ride out to the 1000 Islands and seeing the sights, it was time to pack up and prepare for our return home.  The plan was to travel through the Halliburton Highlands, where it is claimed that Ontario's best roads reside.

The Tiger morphed from light weight, single rider mode to two-up, full luggage touring mode in about ten minutes.  The rear suspension was tightened up for the extra weight and we were ready to go.

The plan was to cut north west from the Thousand Islands and get onto the twisties as soon as possible.  It worked well.  We soon found ourselves leaning into corners more than we were upright (a rarity in Ontario).  When I'm in corners like that i don't stiffen up in the saddle and I can ride for hours without fatigue.

Regional Road 15 got interesting almost immediately, weaving around lakes and pieces of the Canadian Shield peaking through the earth.  As we travelled north those rock outcroppings became the norm rather than the exception and the roads only got better.  38 up to Highway 7 was a lovely ride with constant bends and big elevation changes as we bounced in and out of river valleys that had cut their way through the rock.  If this road was a sign of things to come, then the riding the highlands was going to be special.

We stopped at Fall River Restaurant on  Highway 7 because I figured it would be the last place with a busy enough road to warrant an open business, except it didn't.  This turned into a theme on this ride:  don't depend on the tourist trade to keep a business open, instead look to a stable community to keep a business open.

The lady from the post office came out and told us only the post office is open, the general store, ice cream and restaurant are all closed and only open on the weekend.  There wasn't even a toilet available.  Three vehicles pulled in looking for a stop while we were there, but were turned away.  We drank our own water and stretched in the empty parking lot before hoping on the bike and continuing up the winding country road 38.


In Elphin the plan was to turn with the 38 and continue west, and even though Elphin is a tiny place with only one major turn, we missed it.  This spoke to another thing we learned on this ride; you'll see signs for corners and bumps everywhere even though these things are self evident, but navigational signs are small, missing or incorrect.  I guess most people follow a screen telling them what to do nowadays, but for the rest of us, some accurate navigational signage would be appreciated.

When I saw a second sign for regional road 12 which we weren't supposed to be on, I pulled over at the Mississippi River (when I take a wrong turn, I don't mess around!).  It was a beautiful, shady spot and we had a good stretch and watched the kingfishers getting their breakfast before saddling up again and u-turning back to Elphin.


Back on the 38 again, we wound around lakes before finding the 509 I turned left toward Ompah, but it turns out that should have been a right (turning signs around is fun!).  When we arrived back at Highway 7 I just shook my head and made a right turn, figuring I could angle north again on either Kaladar or Madoc.  By now the heat was back and moving at speed down Highway 7 was a nice way to cool off.  This was the prettiest part of 7, with few towns and no reduced speeds, so everyone was clipping along nicely.  We stopped in Kaladar for gas even though we didn't really need it and got sports drinks.  By the time we got to Madoc it was wicked hot and we sought air conditioning in the only open restaurant we'd seen so far - a McDonalds.  I was beginning to despair for local food in the Highlands.


Coe Hill Cafe - cool ceiling, good
bakery and coffee.
After a much needed cool down and hydration we hopped back on the bike and hiked up highway 62 to Coe Hill, which is where we learned that you'll find local businesses, but only in small towns where people live year round.  The cottage crowd and travellers are too fickle and passing to support a business up here.

The ride up 62 had us stopping at various bridges for up to five minutes at a time due to construction, so we got into Coe Hill ready to get out of the sun for a few minutes again.  Fortunately, the Coe Hill Cafe was open and got us sorted out even though we were looking a bit ragged.  It's amazing what a good cup of coffee in a cool shady place can do to get you back on your feet.

I missed the poor signage for Lower Faraday Road (the reason we'd come this way in the first place), and then missed another turn thirty seconds later.  I cannot over state how random the road signage is up this way.  I really wish the MoT would take the money put into redundant cornering signage and apply it to identifying the roads themselves.


They show a couple of sports bikes riding down Lower Faraday on the website, but the section they're showing is the last mile up to Ontario 28.  While this road is indeed twisty, much of the surface is atrocious with big pot holes and gravel everywhere from the many driveways that feed onto it.  You'd find it frustrating trying to explore any section of this road on a sports bike.

Even with the big shocks on the Tiger it was a rough, perilous ride.  You couldn't push any corners because of the debris, quality of the road and traffic.  Lower Faraday has no centre line for much of it and every vehicle coming the other way was the largest possible pickup truck you've ever seen moving well above the speed limit in the middle of the road, and this was on a Tuesday afternoon.  We road out of our way to see this 'ten best' road, and it wasn't.

We headed in to Bancroft after the disappointing Faraday experience and stopped at the information tourism building.  They have an excellent little mineral exhibit showing the various mining that goes on in the area, as well as being a cooling centre.  Half an hour in the air conditioning with cold water and some cool rocks got us ready to ride again.

Some of the best roads of the day were ahead of us.  We took 62 north out of Bancroft and then cut across toward Highland Grove.  This roller-coaster of a road was well marked, clean and had a consistent surface.  Corners varied from tight switchbacks to long sweepers with big elevation changes, what a joy!  We followed the 648 around to the 118, passing Old Ridge Authentic BBQ (closed) where I'd hoped to have dinner.

The bike looks fine, we were
exhausted!
We quickly discovered that the 118 is no boring connecting road, with beautiful scenery and engaging corners all the way in to Haliburton.  Even though it was heading towards evening the air temperature was still well in the thirties and humidity was high.  We'd done over 400kms entirely on twisty back roads and were wiped.  We limped in to Pinestone Resort just south of Haliburton and parked it up.

The Pinestone offered a quiet room with good beds for a reasonable price.  We went for a swim (salt water indoor and outdoor pools) and then had an excellent dinner at Stone 21, the onsite restaurant.  By the end of the evening we were back on our feet again.

I had us up early the next morning, hoping to beat the heat.  I'd looked up good local breakfasts and found The Millpond Restaurant in Carnarvon, right on our way to Bracebridge.  It was a short hop over there on very windy, but rough backroad for an excellent breakfast.  Great price, great food, great service.  If you're anywhere around Haliburton, give the Millpond a go, you won't be disappointed.

The most perfect 100kms of the trip.
Outside afterwards the hydro line-men who were there for breakfast were curious about the bike.  For the fifth time this trip I explained the resurrection of Triumph and how they are building new bikes.  The general public seems to recognize the brand as historical, but our post-modern/art-deco Tiger raises a lot of questions.

It was only just past 9am at this point, we were well fed, well rested and it was a perfect 20°C under a cloudless sky.  We pulled on to an empty 118 and rode the weaving, smooth pavement in bliss.  No sweat, no traffic, beautiful scenery, this was the moment we'd been searching for.

We passed through Bracebridge and got into Port Carling about 10:30am.  Traffic had picked up once we were into the Muskokas, so we pulled over at the information/tourism place for a stretch and a heads up on where to get a coffee.  Stopping at the info/tourism spots on this trip was never a disappointment.


 Port Carling is a pretty little place.  We were told it was a short walk to the Camp Muskoka Coffeehouse which helps support a camp that teaches leadership to students.  The coffee was excellent and the walk into town offered a good stretch.

Back up at the info-stop we bumped into a fellow from Barbados who was puzzled at our very modern looking Triumph.  He said there are lots of old Triumphs on the island, but they're very expensive.  Once again I told the phoenix like story of Hinckley Triumph and how they are building some of the most modern bikes on the planet.  He had no idea, but thought there would be a huge market for a modern, small Triumph (they have cc limits in Barbados).  Perhaps he'll contact Hinckley and see about the 250cc little Triumph that hasn't happened yet.

We saddled up and left the shade of the info stop.  The sun was blistering now, but we were nearing the end of our Highlands road ride.  We quickly got to Bala, but I missed the poorly marked turn out to the 400 (surprise, surprise).  No worries, we just stayed on the 169 down the Gravenhurst.  A couple of ten minute stops at bridge construction had us both sweating heavily by the time we got into Gravenhurst.  I'd only ever seen the highway side of Gravenhurst, so I was surprised that it took us 15 minutes of traffic lights to get through it.

Ahhh.... air conditioning!
Once clear I hopped on 11 South and made time.  We pushed through the heat and steady but fast moving traffic all the way past Barrie before stopping at an ONroute for gas, lunch and a cool down.  I'd been getting over 49mpg solo without luggage.  The astonishing Tiger was still getting 47.2mpg two up with luggage.  We'd done over 430kms since our last fill up the day before in Madoc.

I used every trick in the book to cool off, soaking my head and arms to let the water evaporate and drinking a lot of fluids.  We took our time before stepping back out into the oven.  It was over 40°C with humidity when we finally left.

We bombed down the 400 and turned toward Orangeville on Highway 9, which was chockablock with traffic on a Wednesday afternoon.  Aggressive drivers on the highway were lane changing without indicating around typically poor Canadian lane discipline (you're supposed to pass on the left).  We got cut off a couple of times, once badly enough to prompt a salute from me.  On Highway 9 with eighteen wheelers spitting hot gravel at us and cars sitting at green lights while staring at their smartphones, I was at the end of my patience.  We finally got around Orangeville only to almost get hit by a car passing a line of traffic coming right at us on the Fergus Road.  This was as far from the 118 on a cool, quiet morning as we could possibly get.

We rolled in to Elora mid-afternoon.  Once parked I pulled out the laser temperature tester from the garage.  The driveway was over 50°C.  A cold shower and feet up on the couch ended our 750+km ride through the Haliburton Highlands.  The last leg back into Southern Ontario was the most dangerous part of the whole trip, and made me wish those sublime Ontario Highland roads weren't so far away on the other side of these overcrowded, frustrating and tedious Southern Ontario roads.

The whole shebang - including the boring straight bits at the end.
Top of the tower in 1000 Islands
Canadian rider...

Riding through the Canadian Shield... literally!


The beginning of the big bake-off to get home