Thursday, July 8th - Day 5 - "Iron Butts"

Right away I just want to thank Birdrunner of Sport-Touring.net for suggesting I skip Calgary, and go directly from Edmonton to Jasper.. As stated in the previous blog, it was a great idea. As well, Birdrunner and Gary of RideOnTwo.com said I HAD to see highway 93 "Icefield Parkway" to Banff, and that was gorgeous.


And today's jaunt to Revelstoke, was ALSO by Birdrunner. Tomorrow's legs are also his suggestion and I can't wait to see what's in store!


It's incredible how an invisible line on a map marking a provincial border can have so much influence in the climate, geography, and terrain. Practically as soon as I passed the sign saying "Welcome to Beautiful British Columbia", the temperature jumped from 21 to 33.. Oh man, those guys that warned me about crossing the desert this summer down in the southern states were right to offer the warning. Even travelling fast, the wind going through my vents and in my collar was like that in an unconditioned '89 Ford Taurus, lol! Ah well, still a lovely ride. Hitting the few tunnels along the way was nice as well. A few spots along the way allowed for a bit of leaning, which was lovely (and since I thinned out the gear and dropped the backpack in Edmonton, the handling feels so much better. Who cares if I wear the same clothes every day for 3 months and smell like an A&W Grandpa Burger with extra onions? 


The best part though was where the road splits through this massive rock, that was blasted and drilled through into two vertical spires that sit on either side of the road. It looks ridiculous but awesome at the same time. I wanted to take a picture but the road was sloped down and curving so it was just too nice a ride to pull over and stop.


Had an AMAZING medium-rare steak at a placed called 112 in the Regent Hotel in downtown Revelstoke tonight. Topped with minced shrimp and Alaskan King Crab with a -something starting with a 'B'- sauce.. outstanding.


Last night stayed at the Samesun in Banff which was an awesome idea. Backpackers are great people. Actually a lot of the people there were travelling by cars lol. But anyway, met some Royal Marines from UK who were on leave from CFB Suffield in Alberta. They're doing a predeployment ex before going to Hellman in Afghanistan. Great dudes, great stories, great times. I wish them the best and a safe tour and rewarding.


I also hit up the Fairmont Springs Hotel... the massive castle chateau. Some one in Jasper had said "The Chocolate Cheesecake is to die for!!"... so I HAD to go. The dude at the hostel front desk was in awe that I would go there just for dessert commenting on how expensive it would be and how he'd never afford it. I really dislike this attitude in hostels, the one where the staff assume everyone is on a severe budget and should only drink in the hostel pub and eat in the hostel kitchen, etcetera etcetera. Case in point, I get to the fairmont and it turns out it's $10 all you can eat dessert buffet for 3 hours. He was shocked the next morning when I told him that. He'd never even attempted to find out what was up their for his backpacking guests because he just assumed it was too much or that they couldn't afford it. Now he knows where he can take a date for a nice late evening chat.


I loved watching old people with 'old money' gorging themselves on all these desserts though, lol! Reminded me of the Incredibad song "BOOMBOX"





As well, I went to the Rimrock Hot Springs... $7.48 with tax to lounge around in a natural sulfur spring hot spring pool. Incredible evening for under $20. Can't beat that. I also told him that he was young and in a few more years with some hard work and maybe a touch of luck, he'd feel less limited. I hope I've helped broaden his perspective.

Now to explain today's title, lol! For those non-riders following along, touring can wear on the body, and those that can ride forever are said to have iron-butts.. and there are even tours and competitions and friendly rides called the same. Myself, I don't have an iron-butt.. or steel spine.. or even something that cleverly works well with the word 'knees'... all of these parts are hurting, and it seems after 200 km, the pain begins to become a distracting factor. I'm pretty sure the body will get used to it, but with some of the injuries I've sustained in life due to pretty intensive workouts and a short military career, it's possible i'll just have to suck it up for the remainder of time. So I won't mention it again, hehe.

Sunday, July 4th - Day 1 - Edmonton - "I'm Going Vegan"

Finally, after many months of preparation and planning, I've hit the road. And WHAT a road! lol, No, highway 63 is not that exciting... despite being coined "Death Highway", but it was nice to be out there doing more than a half hour tooting around. Some corners had some fresh pavement on them and I was taking them at about 180 kph occasionally cause, well honestly, it's just funner that way!


Forecast had said 'thunderstorms in the afternoon'... so my original intention was wake up early, watch the Moto GP race, and then pack and hit the road. Of course, the night before I went out with friends to Earl's as a sort of send-off/birthday dinner on account that I'd be gone a while. I got home that night and although I wasn't intoxicated, I felt really tired. Could it have been the nightshift I had finished that morning and not slept after? Yeah, I'd say being up for 31 hours will do that to a person. So rather than start the trip off on the wrong foot, I turned off the alarm clock and let myself sleep as long as possible.


10:30, I was up and at 'em!! lol Got everything packed and organized, realized regretfully that I'd have to bring a backpack for this trip, which puts a MAJOR damper on the riding. You have even MORE weight up high, and it wears on the shoulders, restricts air flow through your jacket, etc. So I'm definitely gonna thin out the kit here in Edmonton.


Even so, the clouds, and the palette of greys and blues were absolutely beautiful on the way down. The farther south I went, the more farm land opened up, and the expanse of rolling hills and changes from green flax to bright yellow canola were a lovely contrast or complimentary to the dark skies. Pictures never capture what the eye sees, but I'll do my best on this trip.

Anyway, being as I still took the estimated 4 hours to get ready that I figured it would, take I was on the road by 2:30. And the weatherman was pretty damn close. Thundershowers in the afternoon were just torrential downpour lol, intermittent though. Nothing like a monsoon to keep you  on your bike, and dirty up your freshly cleaned/waxed/shined bike. Oh well, them's the breaks.


I let my couchsurfing host know that I'd be waaaay off schedule and sadly most likely miss Fort Edmonton. I wanted to see the train that was used for a scene in The Assassination of Jessie James which starred Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.


My host was great, really nice, talkative, and after much deliberation, we decided to skip the whale blubber in her freezer from Inuvik, and find something near Jasper Ave as she lived downtown. End up going to a place called "The Blue Plate Diner", a vegetarian's delight!


Being as I've NEVER had a veggie burger and figured this should be a trip for firsts, and maybe lasts, I ordered one. I knew not to expect a taste replacement for beef, but was pleasantly surprised by the texture of the beats and other things that when mashed and ground together, form a pretty hefty, and delicious paddie! So, after all these long, hurtful, selfish, years of killing cute, innocent, cows.. I now know I can still live a meaningful and enjoyable existence never eating animal products again.. PSYCHE! Yeah right, I've said it before and I'll say it again; anyone who's ever been to a cattle ranch and witness cows doing nothing but eating and shitting on eachother will agree, some animals have no purpose but to be eaten. Even when cows or oxen or whatever were first roaming the wilderness waiting to be used as a food source, they still probably did little more for their ecosystem than provide food. That being said, I'm gonna enjoy some great burgers this trip along the way. Some may however, be 'veggie'


And after that we came back and watched a show called Camille starring James Franco and Sienne Miller. Ya know when a movie isn't that great buy might still have some redeeming qualities and you call it "a renter"? Like "oh that movie in the theaters is a renter"? Well this was like.. not even a PVR'er... horrible movie. Hardly coherent. Might have been based on some ridiculous novel which inspired the writer and director to try and recapture all the imagery from the book on film. Not always possible. Just watch the last twenty minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Weird..


Okay, time to get the bike serviced before this thing begins.. Can't wait for another  horrible example of customer service by Argyll Motorsports.

The Promotional Website is now UP!

So I decided in order to have something tangible to offer my potential clients after I've told them about this amazing opportunity to ride high end sport bikes around Romania (A beautiful, exciting, and fun country may I add), I had to have a website ready.

I'm not coding guru. I don't know HTML, nor flash, nor anything really. Just what looks alright. So I sat down, busted my ass, and put together a primary page, all as a flash movie, which would play and summarize the premise behind this touring company, and hopefully leave customers wanting to know more. Then from all the people contacting me to be updated with info, I will be able to tell how many people are likely to book a spot, and therefore, how economically feasible the venture is. Because it'd be foolish to jump in and have no one show up.

Of course, knowing that the iPhone does not play flash, and also that not everyone wants to sit through a 4 minute movie every time they want to reexamine the content, I put together a simple plain html page.

Both have contact links, links to Romanian Tourism sites

www.romaniatourism.com

www.romania-landofchoice.ro
www.youtube.com/romaniatouristoffice

but here's my fave commercial, it's quirky, but well-produced, and simply.. breath-taking...



And both have my toll free number as well as contact email. I'm fairly proud of how the flash movie site turned out. The html site... lol, i admit it was totally drag-n-drop easy stuff... but oh well.

I had contacted every major manufacturer seeking permission to use photos of their bike but only MV Agusta of Italy replied. All they said was "ensure the site says that we are not affiliated"... So I assumed the same for everyone. We'll see what comes of it. Surely they would understand that I'm promoting their products, as well as endorsing them.

Anyway, take a look, let me know what you think :) www.pinnacletouring.com 

ps: for those of you who like to party.. yeah... the clubs ARE that good. I've been to two. As for the landscapes go, I didn't see the danube but I did see a lot of other gorgeous places.

EMRA Race School!

So I figured rather than develop a bunch of bad habits and compound them over time, I'd do a race school and learn how to handle my bike and be able to push it and myself properly from the get-go, be it for fun, or in case of the need to react. So I enrolled in the Edmonton Motor Racing Association Race School. It was a 3day weekend starting with a Friday night class, a Saturday Beginners track day, and a Sunday Advanced Rider track day. The things I learned were INCREDIBLE! I already knew about techniques such as peg-steering, and tank steering, but it gave me a whole new appreciation for the Moto sport. To bring be on the very threshold of the motorcycles ability, and to make minor adjustments by simply shifting another inch to tighten a turn, etc just blew my mind. If you don't get it right, you're in the rhubarb!

Of course... I'll be the first to admit, I did NOT get to that level, lol! No, I'll swallow my pride... *GULP* (not as hard as I'd imagined)... and admit I was not pushing the bike or myself to such a threshold. BUT I was still taking 50 meter diameter turns at nearly 60 kmh, and dropping my knee into the turns. Like in snowboarding, when you turn your head, your body will follow. Now apply that principle to a 450-650 lb motorcycle (my bike being the latter) and amazingly, you can get that thing doing some amazing maneuvering! Even principles like not just simply leaning a bike into a corner like you see everyone doing, but hanging from the bike with the head dropped down to the body acts as a counterweight for the bike to rotate around... all while on about a 2 inch by 10 inch strip of flexed rubber on the back and front tire. So cool...

However, as I pushed faster and faster, being new (I mean honestly, I'm not ashamed for how things turned out after being on a motorcycle for about 8000 km's of street riding and only no track days), I was starting to make mistakes, inevitably, they lead to me going down. Nothing too serious, I was going slow, so I was barely hurt *see attached pic of my gnarly knee), and thanks to brilliant german engineering, sliders on all the pivotal points on my bike protected it for the most part from body damage and mechanical damage.

So I picked my bike up, got it off the track, checked it over with a trainer, went into the pits, altered the suspension, and got right back out there. What did I learn from my fall? "You're going too slow". I'd slowed down in the corner while leaned too much and there was just no energy to keep the bike standing. Pretty dumb, and a real newb mistake. Ah well. The instructors that saw said it was probably soft pre-load in the back tire, even though I told them right away what I thought happened. As well, I need to trust the bike, and trust the tires, and trust myself... If it felt like the turn was ending to quick for me, I couldn't relax on the throttle, I had to turn my head and look to where I wanted to exit the turn and let the bike follow.

Anyway, got back out there, and tightened things up, started making better transitions, and handling the turns much smoother.

Even so, I knew the advanced day was waaaaay over my head, and I really needed a better foundation to get anything out of it (I mean, I was still learning how to corner and there was no way I was going to be rolling onto and off of my brakes in corners while applying throttle... Can you say "Recipe for disaster"? hahah), and a season of track days to really get things ironed out needs to come first. Things got put on hold due to rain and we started onto some theory. The rain ended up stopping and the track dried up enough to go back out there, but I decided to pull the plug on the advanced day. I'm glad I did. I got to leave at 4pm to ride 493 km's home, instead of 6pm... and I work tomorrow!

So that's what's new in regards to my massive tour. Oh I should mention I got my side/top mounts and my cases while I was in Edmonton, as well as my bluetooth helmet commmunicator so I'll be able to take phone calls while riding now without removing my helmet and talking while riding with one hand like I usually do.... Just kidding...

For those of you who didn't understand much of the moto lingo, and maybe found it 'boring', I promise there'll be more ENTERTAINING entries in the future! BUT, if you watch the documentary on Moto GP racing called "The Doctor, the Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid", I know you'll be as amazed as I am by this sport. Fascinating... Now it's time to watch Moto GP Season 2010 Race 2 in Spain that I stole off the internet cause I was working when it aired on speedtv haha! I don't feel bad, my tickets to the Laguna Seca and Indianapolis races are about 200$ a piece.