Tweaking........

As it says above I am busy tweaking at the moment. This means I am attempting to fine tune the plan and double check all those lists I started months ago. Mostly little things like buying mosquito face nets, a first aid kit , basically crossing the "I's" and dotting the "T's".....yeah, but there's one tweak I like better than all the rest, we are leaving one day earlier.
Friday May 31st will see us boarding the "Queen of Somewhere" to Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver at 5.20pm, a snack on board while crossing the Salish Sea followed by an hour or so ride to Pemberton B.C.
Best part: Day two starts with rolling out the hotel and straight onto one of my all-time favorite roads, The Duffey Lake Rd.. AKA highway 99 - this is a fantastic road.
Videos and ride reports on my website www.motorcyclingbc.com display my enthusiasm for this stretch of highway as it climbs through the mountains, past glaciers and into the high desert, all in the space of a couple of hours. If you haven't seen them please go take a look, comment, let me know what you think and if you haven't "done the Duffey", go do it.
As I write this, the sun is setting, its been shining all day, April 24th, really nice day and the view from here offers me an ocean glimpse along with snow capped mountains of the Coastal Mountain chain, all drawing my thoughts together into a palpable sense of excitement. I will be riding behind those same mountains in just 37 days time and I am getting impatient. Each evening as the peaks get bathed in the golden glow from the west takes us a day closer to setting off. Wifey comments on a daily basis now that its getting close and seems genuinely fired up for adventure.
In the 21st century its probably not a lot of peoples idea of adventure, a little tame, a little too easy, but I don't really give a damn what other people think, the Alaska Highway is part of my bucket list, I am going to tick that particular box.

The hotel we booked in Pemberton for our first night features this aptly named eating house so watch out in a few weeks for my revue of their food and beer.


I am going to make it a mission to ask in every bar "what do you think is the best local beer?" and try every one of their recommendations, shouldn't be too difficult a task, I may even extend it to trying their food specials also. Food Blog? Maybe get Wifey to takes pics on her IPhone featuring all the drinks and meals.

We will be taking lots of pics and video's along the way and will share what we have when we can find an interweb connection and obviously will update here on a daily basis so friends &  family (yeah that's you) can follow along and laugh when it rains, snows or we get lost. Pretty hard to get lost on one road eh.................

Thursday morning now and the forecast is for more sunshine and I can't see a hint of even the palest blue just a blanket of fog that hasn't kissed the ground yet. First day off in a while and I have promised myself to have a rest day, only item on the "Honey Do List" is cut the grass, even that can wait till tomorrow....so what's to do with the day? My Givi bellypan is in the mail and wont arrive till Monday so I will wait till then and do an oil change and quick service on the bike before bolting that on, so no mechanical maintenance today.

***note to self - don't forget your Jeep***   ***reply to self - it can wait till after the bike season***

So it was just a leisurely bimble through the back roads north to Parksville and up to a local viewpoint "Little Mountain". Only out for an hour or so but managing to get a good mix of roads in, before cruising back down the Inland Island Highway in time for lunch.

When I snapped this pic it just made me think about technology and what electronics we will use on the trip.

I have probably listed this before earlier but for the record:

1. Sony point and shoot cam
2. Samsung Galaxy S3 - Smart phone / music player
3. Apple I-phone 4S - Smart phone / music player
4. Scala Teamset Pro - Bluetooth helmet communications
5. Sony HandyCam - HD video / still / voice recording
6. Contour Roam - HD helmet cams x 2
7. Oxford heated grips
8. Garmin Nuvi - GPS / SatNav
9. Toshiba Tablet or Sony Laptop - to be decided
10. Everything else that I cant remember at the time of typing.

A little lightweight reading from the coffee  table which is taking on the appearance of a planning office in recent days, books, magazines & notebooks are scattered all around.

Maps of every size and scale you could imagine litter every flat surface in our actual office and that just makes me laugh....it's only one road!

Wifey goes on 1st test ride

So the trip to the Pacific Rim Whale festival was a washout...ended up being a trip in the Jeep due to adverse weather conditions but last weekend we managed to get the Strom all luggaged up with wifey onboard and took a trip around Southern Vancouver Island.
Nanaimo to Port Renfrew on to Sooke, Langford, Victoria and back...a total of 7.5 hours riding punctuated by a few smoke breaks (for me....) and stop at the 17 mile pub for lunch.
The little 650 remained an enjoyable tool for the job and apart from lacking a bit of "pulling away" power did not disappoint. Handling remained neutral and with the rear shock cranked up it soaked up all the rough road surfaces with aplomb, this is one comfortable motorcycle.
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The adjustable Givi screen does a great job of keeping the wind and weather from your face and upper body and the OEM handguards made the heated grips redundant for the day.
Adjusting the height of the screen on the fly is easy so if it rains, up it goes, if its hot, then lower for better airflow.
I am a Givi fan as their products are really well designed and practical.





It was also the first time to try out the new Arai XD4 along with the Scala Pro Teamset bluetooth headsets.
In all my years of riding I have never had communication with my passenger before and what a difference it makes, crystal clear conversation and battery life that lasted all day with no issues.

Online reviews state that music/audio quality is not so good but we didn't experiment with music or using our cell phones, simply enjoyed being able to converse easily even at highway speeds. It will come in very handy spotting wildlife etc on our big trip.

Continuing on the Givi theme I have fitted their engine / crash bars and am very happy with them. Interweb forums have hundreds of posts relating to bad vibrations with bars fitted but I have only noticed a very slight buzz in the 4000rpm range. A starge addition to my steed as I hope I never need them but they appear very sturdy and will definately help in a low speed gravel / parking lot spill.

The Kappa cases mounted on the Givi racks make the bike a little wide to be doing any lane splitting / filtering, but are super easy to mount and remove, and large enough for Wifey and I to keep our basic roadtrip essentials protected and dry. EuroRoadTrip 2012 convinced me that hard side cases are the way to go when touring and also provide a cool place to put your stickers........

The new Kappa Mantra top case fits easily using the generic plastic mounting plate it came with, no need for an expensive 3rd party adapter, just 4 simple bolts and its good to go. Wifey likes the added security of not falling off the back when I get a little throttle happy. I am not a fan of top cases as they always seem to have the weight too far back and too high, but we will only have our waterproofs and lightweight stuff in here along with snacks etc.

After owning this bike for over a year now I am convinced it is a fantastic choice for all-round verstility and continues to amaze me with its fuss free operation, great engine, fine chassis and ABS brakes. Now it has a second fan....Wifey, she really enjoyed the ride, the headset and the comfort, all in all a successful first long pillion ride.

We cannot wait for the Alaska trip......bring it on :)