2021 was another strange year for motorcycling. Lock downs, closed restaurants, and limited access to essential businesses restricted recreational travel for much of the year. That didn’t stop motorcycle enthusiasts from riding entirely. A few friends ventured outside the province and into B.C. and Saskatchewan a few times, all within […]
2020 will go down in history as one of the strangest, most memorable years we’ll likely experience in our lifetime. The COVID pandemic has affected each of our lives, the activities we participate in, and the social interactions we cherish. Misses COVID-19 wreaked havoc with with travel plans for many […]
Thick fog mixed with heavy smoke from forest fires in the U.S. greets us as we load our panniers early in the morning. It’s cold and the ride north towards home is going to be less than pleasant. Our room is in a separate building away from the main motel […]
It’s early morning in Nelson. As usual, the crew have loaded their bikes, , set their GPSes, and are geared up, and ready to roll. We’ve decided to find breakfast ‘on the road’, and ride south on Highway 6 to Salmo and connect with the Crowsnest Highway 3, the major […]
From our “value-priced” motel in Kamloops, it’s now Day 4 of our tour. Our group has fallen into a comfortable, easy going rhythm. Everybody is up early, fettling their motorcycles. There’s a layer of morning dew to wipe off the bikes, GPSes to be mounted, and panniers to be packed. […]
Morning in Grand Forks greets us with another cool, overcast day. It had rained, or more likely, drizzled a few hours earlier. It’s overcast again, and smoke continues to envelop us. The start of Day 3 and the group has fallen into a well practiced rhythm – up early in […]
COVID has changed the world. The worldwide pandemic has altered our everyday lives, and it has changed how we’re motorcycle touring in the Fall of 2020. Normally, our regular lodging in Fernie provides a continental breakfast. “Sorry. Because of COVID, we can’t offer the (normal) continental breakfast.” The front desk […]
Motorcycle touring in September, especially in the Canadian prairies, is a risky proposition. Once Labour Day arrives, temperatures usually nose-dive to the point where riders in southern climes are prepping their bikes for winter storage. But as our motorcyclists on the rainy West Coast say, “If you don’t ride in […]
We’ve been away for a while. There are a lot of reasons for the (long) hiatus. First, I injured myself. On a snowy Saturday morning at the end of February, almost seven long months ago, I slipped on the sidewalk. Hard. I was walking to my neighbour’s house two doors […]
It was a cool-ish 6 degrees Celsius when our intrepid group departed Edmonton Thursday morning just before Canada’s Victoria Day long weekend. We’re used to this ‘cold’ weather. Most of us have heated grips, electric vests, heated saddles – all the modern gear northern motorcycle riders have to extend our […]