Gear shopping and such - 3772km - 3883km

Due to the World Urban Forum and chronic staff shortages at work, I haven't had the time to do a lot of the rides I was planning to this week. We did manange to get out to Langley to pick up some new gear (a safety vest from Molly, and a sun visor from moi), but I didn't bring my camera to take any pics. Saw lots of other good stuff (including this: Joe Rocket Rapid Transit Combat Tail Bag) but it'll have to wait for now.

The ride to Langley was amazing. Huge black clouds started to loom up ahead, and the air turned cold on the highway. But they didn't seem interested in us, and we never felt a drop of anything but blasting summer sunshine. Followed a huge Honda Cruiser that looked just like a cop, with the rider with the appropriate helmet and all. Very cool.

Other than that, we've only had a few short rides around town. Hoping to join up with Newbie ride #9 next Tuesday, but we'll see how it goes.

Wish I had some pictures of that Thunderstorm! Man, sometimes I really wish I had one of those helmet-mounted cameras.

Kino meets some new friends: 3572km - 3772km

So tonight Kino and I went on our first big group ride with BC Sportsbikes' newbie ride #7 to Squamish. I was in the tailing group, with Martina as Captain and Scott as Lieutenant covering the rear. Monica and I took positions 2 & 3 respectively, and up the coast we went. I must admit, I've never rode that hard before. But Kino handled the windy road really well, and we kept up with our group without too much difficulty. Everyone was really cool, and there was no pressure to ride beyond our comfort level. (Groups 1 & 2 were reserved for the riders that were intent on breaking the sound barrier.) No shortage of wisdom to be learned from the ride and the other riders. Again, I just can't get over how cool every motorcycle rider I've met or passed is. If you want to make a lot of good friends really fast, get a bike!

Ugh, too tired to write cleverly. Just look at the pics dammit!

Saturday Night Downtown: 3543km - 3572km

So I'm sitting at home on Saturday Night reading Intercom manuals for the TV Mobile truck I'm working on the next day. (UN's in town at the Pan Pacific. I'd advise not coming unless you're interested in the subject matter...the free swag's not that hot.) Bah, the system I was prepping for looked close enough to the one I'm used to, so screw the manual, it's time for a ride. Martina was online so I msg'd her, and by ten o'clock we had met up in Stanley Park for a night ride around the seawall. The next stop was Starbucks at Robson & Thurlow, but not before some crazy alley riding.

At Starbucks we met up with some other riders, one of which was one of Martina's old family friends. We all stood around talkin' about everything from biking to Archeology until well past 12:30am. I think this is the coolest part of riding...the socializing. I've yet to pass a bike that didn't wave to me. Why don't cars do that? It's like instantly making friends with anyone with a bike, everyone's looking out for eachother and everyone wants to know about your bike and tell you about theirs. So far, everyone I've met starts off the conversation with riding, but more often than not that's just an icebreaker. Man, I wish I had started riding YEARS ago.

So I didn't memorize the Intercom manual. And y'know what, it was totally worth it. Kids, ride your life away - today!

Any excuse: 3515km - 3543km

Okay, so I meant to spend the evening cleaning, just in case some people pop by after the Martini party tomorrow night, but the upcoming storm seemed to be in suspended animation, and I couldn't help thinking how nice an evening ride would be. Also, I didn't seem to have the cream and tomatoes I needed to make the pasta I was planning, so I really had NO CHOICE but to go out to eat. ;) And what better place to chow down than my favourite Mongolian Grill at 3rd and Commercial?

So into the evening we rode. The restaurant was open and delicious as usual. I had my tried and true combo of lamb, beef, noodle, and veggies with the "House Sauce" (a mix of most of the available sixteen sauces, which takes me FOREVER to create). I sat outside so I could keep one eye on Kino, and watched the sky grow darker with both night and cloud. It's amazing how many heads turn to take a peek at Kino as they pass by, not the least of which was three seperate groups of riders out on a motorcycle lesson. I can't help but smile at all the attention Kino gets. (Just the other day someone actually videotaped Kino and I riding by them as we cruised the seawall. Kino's going to be a celebrity somewhere!)

The storm still seemed to be holding off when we started out again, so a quick tour of Stanley Park was in order, if for no other reason than to practice my slow speed manuevers.

The only major riding event was witnessing an accident on Victoria in front of us. We stopped to make sure that everyone was okay, but everyone seemed cool and there was no argument as to who was at fault. Just glad no one was hurt. They didn't see each other's signals, so crunch they went. Be obvious when you drive kids!

First group rides: 3392km - 3515km

Tuesday afternoon was our first group ride since I got my license. First impressions? I love it. There's something unabashedly cool about riding into town in a group like a bunch of bad-asses, and gliding to our parking spots like some sort of jet fighter maneuver. However, I think my poor parking skills along with my bright red schoolbag might be cramping our intimidation factor.

So Tuesday afternoon I met up with Martina at her joint in Richmond. She has a brand spankin' new CBR600, and gawd is it FAST. She goes into second gear about the time I'm thinking about fourth. But it was a great ride. Martina lead us to Horseshoe Bay, where we stopped for pizza and pop. The weather was perfect, with patchy grey storm clouds keeping things cool but stopping short of raining on us.

This morning I met up with Raymond for a short jaunt around town, including Crab Park and a stop at The Plant! for some coffee and a snack. Raymond rides yet another CBR, and it's one cool lookin' bike. I always feel like I'm some sort of human ordanance when I'm sitting on one of those crotch-rockets though. Still, I'd love to try one again some day.



I admit, I'm an addict. I can't stop thinking about when Kino and I can go for another uncharted adventure. Life's getting pretty busy right now, but there always seems to be a way to sneak Kino into the itinerary somehow. If it wasn't for the helmet head and the fact that I need the walk, I'd be riding it to work everyday. Hmm...maybe I should just get a bandana and join a gym. ;)

Cruisin': 3322km - 3392km

This morning I cleaned off all the bugs that had smashed into Kino during last night's adventures in the dark countryside. The cleaning cloths I bought from Rubber World (Canadian Tire) are crud, and are anything but the polishing clothes they advertise themselves to be. I guess I should bit the bullet and bought one of those $25 chamoises....it just seemed like a lot of money for a cloth.

It turned out to be a hot summer's afternoon, so we escaped to the cool shady spots of Stanley Park. What was always a beautiful drive is even more so on a motorbike. I really appreciated being small and agile on that road, especially compared to all the lumbering tour buses and mess of cars that were falling over each other in the parking lots. Leaving all that behind us, we drove down to 3rd beach and parked next to a Honda Shadow. Then I came to my first parking dilemma: the ticket says place face up on dash, but I have no dash. Perhaps that's why no other bike in the parking lot had purchases a ticket. Oh well. Anywho, I grabbed a hot dog and a drink and found a nice patch under a tree that overlooked the beach. Had a bit of a waking nap whilst watching the clouds whip by through my sunglasses. I couldn't help but think to myself "if there's more to life than this, I don't want to know what it is."

But there was more to life, and it came in the form of larger, more threatening clouds. So we moved on to our next rest stop, which was admittedly about five minutes down the road when we parked by the seawall and watched some freighters, joggers, and of course, other motorbikes.

Next stop, Sarah & Andrea's where I visited a rather cantakerous Molly. Molly has a bit of a cold right now, and is frustrated by the fact that she can't suck on her thumb and breath simaltaneously. Can't blame her really. After a little visit, we cruised back downtown and then down Denman, Davie, and finally Burrard. I couldn't get home along Cordova, as it appears the something at Codova & Richards caught fire tonight, and was billowing blacker than night smoke high into the air. I hope it wasn't the Smiling Cafe.

After skirting around the five alarm blaze, it became apparent that it was just too freakin' nice out to turn in, so we potatoed-potatoed across the Second Narrows and headed for Coal Harbour. I'm beginning to realize how much more you can feel on a motorrand than inside a car. The winding road that leads to Coal Harbour is full of places where the temperature and the smell will change dramatically from one area to the next. It's an incredible feeling. Eventually we hit the end of the road, so we parked and I went for a little stroll through the seaside park, and watched some people play something that looked like a cross between Water Polo and Kayaking. If I didn't have so many hobbies on the go, I would've signed up then and there.


The dark clouds started to close in again, so we made our way back home. Tomorrow the plan is to go to Langley to pick up some accessories, and hopefully go for a ride with a BCSC classmate in the afternoon. Hope we don't get rained out (again).

Endless fuel: 3133km - 3322km

Kino has a 16L tank, which apparently has a cruising range of well in excess of 300km. How do I know this? Well...

Apparently, one of the standard things you do with a new motorcycle is fill up the tank, reset the tripmeter, and then ride until you run out of gas. As ludicrous as that sounds, motorcycles are equipped with a reserve valve that is designed to take you to the next gas station when you were stupid enough to let your tank run so low that the main valve sucked air.

So since Thursday Kino and I have been happily riding on the same tank of gas. Having passed the 100km mark, I thought it was time to test the range theory. After all, with no fuel gauge an accuarate fuel estimation is critical. (Fuel gauges do exist on some motorrands, but such gauges are notoriously unreliable.)

So we rode to Boundary Bay, where I must've burned a sod of a lot of gas just practicing my slow speed manuevers. Kino's not a fan of tight U-turns, and neither am I quite frankly. I tried to emulate some of the excercises of my skills training course, and found that tight circles, U-turns, and shaloms could use some serious work. We also practiced some emergency braking, with the top speed being 60km/h. Yep, gotta lay off that back break. Left some rubber out on the road back there.

After that, a very delicious dinner of shrimp and pork kabobs and chow mein at my parent's. I must admit, I was STARVING. Funny though, Kino worked a lot harder than I did.

After dinner we headed East on the farm roads towards Langley, intent on running the tank dry and making scientific notes of the tripmeter. However, it was not to be. We kept on riding and riding, eventually getting ourselves genuinely lost on some very unfamiliar roads. (Bradner Rd. anyone?) Did see some beautiful fields and old fashion looking general stores, sponsored by Pepsi signs. It felt like being in a different part of the world, and it might as well have been considering how turned around we were. Eventually, I couldn't stand the thought of running out of gas and not having enough reserve to make it to the next open station, so we pulled into a refueling depot and charted a course to the main highway and home. I swore the tank was feeling light, and that there wasn't much sloshing around in there. However, with 245.6km on the tripometer, Kino still had almost five litres left in her tank. Therefore, I'm thinking a conservative estimate of Kino's crusing range is 300km, especially considering how much stop and go city driving and slow speed practicing (read: revving) we've been doing over the past four days. Having said that, in the future I'll probably just pull into the next station when I reach 250km, just because apparently I can't handle the pressure.

Travelling East: 3088km - 3133km

Went for a early ride around 6:30 this morning. We tried highway 1 East for the first time, and rode through Burnaby and the fringes of Coquitlam. It looked as though it had rained the night before, and the smell of late spring was heavy as we potatoed-potatoed alongside the trees.

Didn't bring my camera...sorry!

The odometer reads well over 100km now. I'm getting nervous...but determined to run it until I have to flip the petcock to reserve. I just hope I'm not TOO far from a gas station when that moment comes!

Kino at Rob's Palazzo: 3060km - 3088km

A friend at work is housesitting. Nothing special really, except he is housesitting a 3.5M home in West Vancouver. So naturally we had a big bbq and pool party tonight.

The house is insane. The views from every room are gorgeous, the bbq is massive, and there are more bathrooms than you could ever hope to use in a day. It felt a lot like those lotto houses, except two or three of them put together. No complaints. We grilled veggies, steaks, and chicken on a grill the size of my coffee table, and sat around the hottub and outdoor gas fireplace watching the orange moon rise up over the treetops. Great place...gotta go back with my bathing suit. (Wait...do I even HAVE a bathing suit?)


As for the ride in, the only incident was a poorly judged U-turn in a fancy neighbourhood. To save retelling the details, let's just say that Kino and I burst from a rosebush with petals and leaves flying off of us for the next 100m or so. The moral of this story: look through your turns, and not at the object you are trying to avoid.

We left the party around eleven o'clock, with the blue just starting to leave the sky. Nightriding is a little scary, but also so very cool. It's incredible how much that one little headlight can light up an unlit forest road, and how much you can control it. The reflections off my visor (and Kino's chrome) weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be, and the ride over the Lion's Gate Bridge was just as cool at night as it was during the day. I swear, if it wasn't for the crazy Southbound merge lanes, I could go back and forth on that bridge all day long.

First trip over the Lion's Gate Bridge: 3029km - 3060km

So it turns out I took Kino to work on the one day of the week that it rained, as today was beautiful. Not wanting to miss out on it, we setout for the far away land of West Vancouver as soon as I got home from work.

It was a great ride, with a Quizno's sandwich and lemonade on the beach. Kino and I experimented with some steep hills, and the only one I think I stalled on was the one coming out of my driveway. (Much to the amusement of the passing postal worker.) The front brakes have started squeaking again, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm riding them too much or something. Lot of carbon on the disc, but I don't think that's unusual. Anyone have any ideas?

Stupid Rain: 3020km - 3029km

The clouds didn't look too promising this morning, depending on your point of view of course. After all the sunny weather and warm nights, we were overdue for a good Westcoast pour. And here it is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the rain. Gastown especially is beautiful when the cobblestones are reflecting light like pebbles in a creek. However, I was hoping to go to Horseshoe Bay tonight with some of my Motorcycle school 'mates. However, by two o'clock the skies had opened and we decided to wait for another night. I did take Kino in for fuel this morning, and spend the day at work escorting tours up to the parking lot (I wonder what Kino thought of all the attention). Then a quick ride home in the rain, at which point my front breaks stopped squeaking (just as Airin said they would).

So what can I do but look out the window and chat with my friends about what a great trip it would've been ;) Fortunately, we have alll summer long. Patience Kino!

The journey home: 2972km - 3020km

Kino finally came home this morning. \(^o^)/ Last night I walked my ass down to Home Despot and found an appropriate security chain. Unfortunetly, this particular Home Despot was short one chain-cutting device. Lucky for me, my father was kind enough to drive into Richmond to another Chain-Provider, which had the necessary hydraulic slicer. (Apparently the machine took 10 mins to chew through the chain. I'm guessing it's the same gauge they use to connect container ships to their anchors.) Then again, it WAS a good excuse for Dad to see his granddaughter, who I happened to be hanging out with when he came out to deliver the chain. ;)

Anywho, we left Whiterock around nine-thirty on a hot Summer's morning. Highway 99 was single lane due to some, well, lawn trimming. So I got to practice my low speed riding for about fifteen minutes. I'm starting to think that Cruisers don't like to ride dead slow!

After dealing with the stop and go of 99, I decided to avoid the skytrain construction on Cambie to get downtown. So I took Oak Street. Y'know, you don't notice all those intersections that happen to be on hills when you're in a car.

All in all it was a good ride. It felt like drivers around me somehow knew I was a novice, and they gave me extra space and most importantly, seemed to recognize that I was there. I was rather late for work after all was said and done, but as usual no one seemed to notice. Here's to being inconspicous!