The Lonely Rider

My Response to Bill 117 (banning children from being passengers on motorcycles)

2008-11-06T09:42:00.005-05:00

This is a letter that I sent to Dr. Helena Jaczek, MPP, who recently introduced a Private Members Bill to ban children under the age of 14 from being allowed to ride as passengers on motorcycles.

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Greetings Dr. Helena Jaczek,
I am writing to you to express my disappointment at the Bill 117, Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Child Passengers on Motorcycles).

I am a father of a 9yr old boy. I am 33 years old, and I am a passionate about motorcycling, and I very much look forward to passing on that passion to my son. I also run various websites that cater to the motorcycle enthusiast that promotes safe riding.

My son and I both look forward to spending time on the bike, taking him places and letting him experience the world in a way that cannot be replicated in a car. We look forward to exploring the open road, open skies, and generally speaking the road less traveled.

To me, you see, motorcycling is more than just an economical and environmentally responsible mode of transportation. It's freedom. Freedom to unglue my mind from life in an office, from life in front of a television, and yes - from life behind the glass windscreen of a car, which isolates me from the world around me.

I'm not a leather-clad "biker" that rides solely on sunny weekends to a coffee shop to hang out and rev my engine. Nor will you ever find me blasting through residential communities or riding at excessive speeds on backcountry roads. My passion is for touring and exploring the beauty of riding roads that take me through the countryside, forests and small towns along the way. In short...exploring our world and communities and I love sharing those with my son. Teaching him along the way that there is more to life than TV and video games.

This bill assumes a couple things; firstly, that motorcycles are so dangerous that children must be protected from them and secondly that because of this, parents should not be able to make the choice to ride with their children.

I would like to say, before I go any further, that any child hurt or killed is clearly a tragedy. And with any child hurt or killed on the back of a motorcycle, it's very easy to say, "If they had only not been on the motorcycle, they would have been fine." However, this is absolutely and without question a logical fallacy. Any child killed in a car accident would have been fine had they not been in the car. Any child killed in a skiing accident would have been fine if they had not gone skiing.

You provide statistics to support your Bill, but you don't mention the number of actual child fatalities over the last 10 years...only injuries.

Life is not without risk and nearly every recreational or sporting activity comes with some. It is a parent's responsibility to calculate those risks. Even our day-to-day routines can be dangerous, including taking our children to school could result in them being killed along the way.

The heavy-handed, reactionary legislation of Bill 117 takes away my right as a parent to make decisions about exposing my child to the world I want them to see, in a manner that is unfair, prejudicial and to be frank, discriminatory. It assumes that I am not capable to make decisions about the risks I'm prepared to expose my children to and the rewards associated with those risks.

And it's a slippery slope to saying I can't take my kids skiing or snowboarding, both of which also pose a safety risk to children; or that I can't allow my son to ride a bicycle because that too poses a safety risk. In fact, more people are killed riding bicycles each year than passengers are killed on motorcycles (regardless of age).

Many children regrettably drown in backyard pools, are we to go further with your train of thought and ban backyard pools also? Once we start enacting laws that restrict recreation and sporting activities for kids, where does it end? No more hockey, bicycles, ice-skating, skiing or snow boarding? No more camping trips because a child may trip and break an ankle? No more swimming for fear that they may drown?

Motorcycling seems to be an easy target for those that don't ride and don't care to understand our passion. They see idiots on cruisers wearing leather chaps with their loud pipes pretending to be gang members (who are actually more likely to be lawyers or doctors) or alternately the reckless sportbike riders who slalom in and out of traffic, and assume that these are the images represent all riders in general.

This legislation is inappropriate, sensationalist, one-sided and opportunistic. As a voter, I can promise that it will affect my behaviour at the polling station. This "save the children at any price" nonsense has gone on quite far enough. If you really want to save the children, ban backyard pools in any household where the children don't know how to swim. Ban children from ski slopes or from riding bicycles. Ban them from playing organized sports like hockey. All of which cause many injuries to children each year, even deaths.

Province of Ontario Introduces Cell Phone And Device Ban For Drivers

2008-10-30T09:50:00.002-04:00

Ontario will now join Newfoundland-Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec in banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving - although our ban may go farther than most. The new bill will also target Hand-held electronic entertainment devices such as iPods, or other portable MP3 players, or portable games as well as Texting and emailing.

However, Hands-free wireless communications devices with an earpiece or Bluetooth device or the use of dash mounted GPS devices will be allowed (many GPS units have Bluetooth and can be used as a speaker phone with a Bluetooth enabled phone).

Under the proposed legislation, drivers who break the new rules could face fines of up to $500. And those who place others at risk as a result of using a hands-free device can be charged with Careless Driving and fines of up to $1,000, six demerit points, a driver's licence suspension and possible jail time.

So once again, the government is attempting to make our roads safer, but they are going about it the wrong way...again. If the government is going to start banning in-car distractions, where is the line going to be drawn? Technically, there are many things in our cars that can distract us - are we going to eventually have then all banned? Phones, MP3, players, GPS, eatting/drinking, car radios....kids??

I have witnessed many times a car swerving on the road only to realize that the driver was trying to attend to their child in the back seat. Are we going to ban children from our cars too? Of course not. But many beleive that banning hand-held phones will help improve road safety. They seem to be ignorant to the many studies that have shown that hands-free systems are simply no better. Talking on the phone while driving impairs your judgement, reflexes and situational awareness as much as having the maximum, legal amount of alchohol in your blood. Yes, you are actually as dangerous simply talking on the phone as you are if you have been drinking, even if you are using a hands-free phone.

Carrying on a phone is as dangeous as drinking and driving - this has been proven many times, however, texting and emailing on your phone is far worse. There are longer periods of time that your eyes and attention are off the road. But will banning the use of phones actually stop people from using them? I seriously doubt it. If drivers didn't already think it was dangerous and refrain from the practice, they won't stop now...until they are caught. Once again, a law that is reactive and not proactive.

The law is also going to be very hard to enforce. Drivers will simply try and hide their phone below the wheel while using it to avoid the watchfull eyes of law enforcement. So now a driver is looking into their lap to use thier phone, thus taking their eyes and attention away from the road even longer each time.

Ok, so using anything in your car is dangerous...that is clear but do we really need a law banning devices in our cars? As I said earlier...where does it end? Most charges that will be applied will be when a collision occurs, so why can't we use the laws that are already on the books? Laws currently exhist that cover Dangerous Driving. If a driver is not giving enough attention to their driving, they are driving dangerously and can be charge accordingly as a result of a collision.

This new law once again misses the mark on improving road safety. The only way is to improve driver skill and awareness. Removing hand-held distractions will simply not improve a drivers skill behind the wheel and will not make our roads any safer. We will still have people eatting & drinking, reading and doing their nails, hair, makeup and shaving and talking on hands-free phones.

If you want safer roads...you need safer drivers with more skill and situational awareness. Drivers who possess these skills already are the ones who don't do any of the previously mentioned activites because they know better.

Fall Colours Ride

2008-10-15T09:23:00.002-04:00

With the trees changing colours, comes the changing seasons. Soon the riding season will be over, or at least as we know it. For those of us who ride year round as much as we can, riding conditions will soon be far less comfortable as the temps begin to drop.

With that in mind, it was time to hop on the bike and do some riding and enjoy the fall scenery. A friend of mine John thought it would be nice to organize a group ride to take in the Fall colours on Saturday (Oct. 11th). As the date came closer, more and more riders decided that they wanted to join in. At the main meeting location, we ended up with about 100 riders! Wow...This had to be one of the largest group rides any of us had even been a part of (with the exception of Ride for Sight). For safety reasons, we broke into smaller groups ranging from 10-20 riders, each one had a leader and a sweeper (to keep an eye on the riders and respond to any incidents). I was to lead the third group with a 14 other bikes.

We began rolling out around 11:30am with a couple minutes between groups so that we didn't likely bunch up except at designated stops along the way, either for photo opportunities or lunch.

Our ride took us along some great roads that John had layed out. Most of the group leaders had maps that John had provided although some, including myself, had the route loaded into our GPS units.

The route took us from Orangeville, up along Hockley Road, up Airport road to Mansfield. From there many zigzags lead us through towns like Horning Mills and Honeywood, finally stopping in Creemore for lunch. The look on the faces of the local towns folk was of shock as nearly 100 motorcycles converged on their sleepy little 1800's town. Many riders departed after lunch and headed back to the city but for the rest of us, we continued onward to Blue Mountain to take in the sights overlooking Georgian Bay.

At this point most riders headed home, but some of us headed off for further good times to Johns place for a BBQ. I ended up crashing there for the night.

The next day, it was time for more riding but not part of a group this time. I headed up to Wasaga to spend a couple nights there. Monday was another great day of riding taking in roads like Upper Big Chute and Southwood Rd. I also made sure to stop in Bala for lunch in a neat little place called the "Hook and Ladder", which is chalk full of firefighter decor.

Once done it was another night in Wasaga watching a really beautiful sunset.

All in all, I had a great few days touring around on the bike. I'm glad I took the time to do it, since nice weekends will be a bit scarse from now until spring.

Time's up on `street racing' law

2008-10-07T20:26:00.006-04:00

After one year, it's clear that the punitive new rule is not working
Jim Kenzie
Special to the Star
Oct 04, 2008

Anniversaries are often a time for taking stock. They are usually happy occasions. Candles are lit. Cakes are baked. Presents are handed out.

On such occasions, one can be forgiven for perhaps taking too rosy a view of the past.

Perhaps that's what's behind the shiny, happy faces of those celebrating the first anniversary of Section 172 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, which gives the police the power to seize vehicles going 50 km/h over the speed limit. This law, passed one year ago last Tuesday, also allows police to impose fines of up to $10,000 before the accused even gets a day in court.

They are still averaging 23 scofflaws a day. Now that is down from 40 a day when the crackdown began, but we don't know how many cops they have on patrol now versus then.

Regardless, with the amount of publicity this has received, you'd have thought that if the law had any deterrent effect whatsoever, nobody would dare take a chance.

Not so's you'd notice.

The reason people aren't paying much attention, of course, is that 150 km/h on a 400-series highway is, under the right circumstances, perfectly safe. It must be, because thousands of people - not just 23 - drive at this speed every day without incident. Only if they are unlucky enough to catch the eye of a police officer do they become heinous criminals.

Traffic engineers recommend that for optimal (i.e., safest) traffic flow, a speed limit should be set around the 85th percentile - the speed at or below which 85 per cent of traffic is moving. On any 400-series highway, that's somewhere between 120 and 130 km/h, depending on time of day, traffic, road and weather conditions, etc.

A hundred kilometres per hour? Get serious. It has been proven that no amount of enforcement will ever get people to drive at less than a road's design speed. As I always say, if we weren't in a hurry we'd all take Hwy. 2 east and west, or Hwy. 11 north. And we'd be in greater peril the entire time. As I keep saying, our fastest roads are our safest roads. You can look it up.

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino and his predecessors have spent billions of our tax dollars trying to maintain this fiction of a 100 km/h speed limit, the lowest in the otherwise civilized world, to absolutely no effect.

Do we drive any more slowly than we did 30 years ago? No.

Are our highways safer than they were 30 years ago? Unquestionably, yes.

Does the speed we drive at or the limit the police try to impose have any effect on our safety? Not a bit.

As pointed out here a few weeks ago, the Ministry of Transportation's own statistics indicate that excessive speed is a factor in only 13 per cent of fatal collisions. Yet about 70 per cent of all traffic tickets written by the OPP and their local counterparts are for speeding.

We are not dying on the 400-series highways where the vast majority of section 172 enforcement is taking place. Kids are getting drunk and driving into lakes. Young women are making U-turns on regional roads and getting T-boned by transport trucks.

Is section 172 going to save any of them? Not a chance.

And where are our police officers? Out on the 400, turning respectable citizens into criminals.

Oh, and the real street racers? They love it, because the cops aren't even looking for them. Fantino has been quoted saying he is "satisfied" with the 41 per cent conviction rate under the new law. I'm glad he's not running a brain surgery school.

From what I'm hearing, many prosecutors are simply not taking these charges to court because they fear a challenge on one of at least two constitutional questions the law raises, the most obvious being its complete disregard for the most basic tenet of British common law: you get your day in court before being convicted and punished.

Speed is not at all like drunk driving, for which an immediate suspension is justified. The way this law is written and enforced, the police officer assumes the role of judge, jury and executioner.

Fantino also claims that the public is behind him on this law. Surely not the 8,459 people who have been charged under it, according to the latest statistics. Nor the masses, whom Fantino is sworn to serve and protect. They're voting with their right feet, every single day.

I wonder when Fantino last drove on a 400-series highway. In an unmarked car. I wonder if he saw anybody going 100 km/h - without their four-ways on, that is.

Not likely. Since this is supposed to be a democracy, you'd think that evidence alone would be enough. Ha, ha again.

Also taking issue with the law are the dozens of people who email me every week. Like the young woman who, by all accounts, is the most law-abiding, police-respecting person in the GTA. She waved at another driver at a stoplight and was charged with "street racing." Her parents' car impounded, huge fine, insurance rates inflated for all time.

Because she waved at someone?

Then there's the chap who had to hustle a little to squeeze into a gap in traffic and may have squealed a tire in doing so - it was a hot day. Same punishment.

There's a reason we have due process. Or did have.

Doing 90 in a 40 km/h school zone? Throw the book at 'em.

Doing 150 in a 130 km/h zone, which, like it or not, is what the 400-series highways are? It may be a lot of things, but street racing or stunt driving it is not.

Fantino claims the law is working, by which I assume he means it's saving lives. If he had some numbers to support this claim, you'd think he'd let us know. The OPP did trot out some spurious stats for the Civic Holiday weekend, but once they were challenged they never resurfaced, because they were totally bogus. And the police knew it.

The fact is that this law is costing lives because it takes scarce police resources away from real traffic issues and allocates them where there can be no hope of a positive result. (I define "positive result" as proof of reduced crashes and deaths, not meaningless numbers about charges or conviction rates.)

Enforcing section 172, or any speed limit, in fact, has absolutely nothing to do with what's causing us to die on our highways. Worldwide, the only things that correlate with traffic deaths are impaired driving, failure to use seat belts and highway design. Nothing else. End of story.

We've done reasonable work in the last 30 years on seat-belt use, but more must be accomplished. Likewise, impaired driving is down, but nowhere near enough.

If Fantino wants to do something positive for traffic safety, the lowest-hanging fruit would be to apply his considerable political skill to fight for real improvements to our highway system.

More roundabouts, for example - they produce 40 to 60 per cent fewer collisions, overnight. And no more disappearing right lanes. The most impressive thing about traffic in Germany or England isn't its speed or the safety (both of which are considerably higher than here, despite generally smaller, less crash-resistant cars) but lane discipline. Why is it better? Because their driving lane never disappears.

Oh, and would somebody please tell Jim Bradley, the transportation minister, to lay off this nonsense that the law is supported by "the people who are in a position of having to go to a funeral when it's someone in their family [who dies]." At least until he has lost a sister to a traffic collision, as I did.

Maudlin appeals may work in politics. But to improve traffic safety, we need to deal in facts. And the facts are not on his side.

Wheels' chief auto correspondent Jim Kenzie can be reached at jim@jimkenzie.com
Toronto Star

Ride for Sight 2009

2008-10-04T10:43:00.004-04:00

Once again, I'm participating in the annual Ride for Sight, which is the longest running motorcycle charity in Canada. In 2008, our team raised over $35,000, which added to over $300,000 raise in Ontario alone.

By sponsoring me in the Ride, you will be contributing to finding a cure for blindness! One hundred percent of funds raised by riders go directly to The Foundation Fighting Blindness, which continues to fund significant research breakthroughs.

You can help support me by making a secure online donation using your credit card. Click on the link below:
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1986527

Surviving the Cold

2008-10-02T08:24:00.002-04:00

Well, it's coming up on that time of year again. Colder temps and less favourable riding conditions. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Riding below 10C without proper gear can be unpleasant at best; at worst it can lead to hypothermia, which is extremely dangerous and once temperatures hit the freezing mark there are even further dangers. Not only do you need to worry about body heat, but must also consider the fact that when the road and your tires are cold, there is a significant drop in available grip.

The only way to survive cold weather riding is to plan for it and ensure that you have the right gear; some of which include the following:

1) Electric heated vest and gloves.
2) Fleece sweater
3) Fleece-lined jeans (or heavy rain pants with at least one additional layer like long-johns underneath).
4) Windproof & waterproof textile jacket & pants
5) Waterproof boots over wool socks
6) FLEECE NECK LINER

Adding handguards to your bike will help keep the worst of the wind and weather off your hands. They're great in the cold but in rain they really don't do anything to keep you dry.

#6 is important because your brain gets it blood from the carotid artery which is near the surface of the skin, right on the front of your neck where it can be in the direct wind blast. The last thing you want is to be chilling your brain, so ensure that your neck is completely covered one way or another.

Unless you REALLY enjoy the idea of crashing and dumping your bike, you should avoid riding on snow or ice. It's amazing how fast a bike can get away from you on those slippery surfaces. Even if there's no apparent snow or ice on the ground, take careful note of stuff like frost on streetcar tracks. Avoid areas in the shade when you can, and be extra careful on bridges. You should also avoid conditions that may ideal for black ice.

Oh ya...never forget that your tires will be very cold. As such, you will have far less grip and should avoid spirited cornering.

If you do ride in cold and/or wet weather and end up really chilled where you can't stop shivering, your hands and knees are numb or in pain, your lips are bluish, then you are in fact becoming hypothermic. This can be extremly dangerous as your body begins to shut down; your reflexes are deminushed and your ability for rational thought is greatly reduced. If this begins during your ride, you should take a break and try and warm up. Here are a couple of tips for recovery when you get home:

1) You need to get heat into your body. Start with a hot drink or some soup. Keep your warm clothes on, maybe some of your gear too until you feel warm.

2) The best thing is to take a hot BATH. Fill the tub with water as hot as you can stand it, and get in there. You will notice that it feels very hot at first, but in a short time it won't feel very hot anymore. This is for two reasons: The first is because as you warm up your perception of heat will change. The second is because you just basically tossed 100-200 pounds of chilled meat into that tub, and your cold body will bring down the temperature of the bathwater as the heat is tranferred to you. As soon as the water doesn't feel hot, either top it up or replace it with hotter water.

3) If you don't have access to a tub, a shower can be OK, but BE CAREFUL. The shower will heat the surface of your skin very quickly but it's not that effective at transferring a lot of heat to your body. You have to understand that to protect your core's temperature when you were very cold, your body decreased circulation to your arms and legs. When your skin is warmed, your body starts sending more blood out to your arms and legs, which feels great at first. However, the muscles in your arms and legs are still chilled, and the blood travelling through them gets cooled and that cooled blood goes back to your core and can make your core temp actually DROP shortly after starting this hot shower. This isn't the end of the world, but you should be expecting it. If you're using a shower to warm up, then start with the water not quite so hot and warm it up gradually. If you start shivering even though the water is hot, then you know what's going on. Turn up the heat and stay in there until you are thoroughly warmed up!

Whether you're using a bath, shower, hot soup, blankets, or gettin' it on as your way of warming up, keep doing it until you're actually sweating. That's the only way to know that you're properly warmed up, and your body will thank you for it.

BE AWARE of the symptoms of hypothermia when you're riding in cold and especially in wet weather. The initial signs (before you're in real danger) include:

1) Bouts of shivering
2) Grogginess and muddled thinking
3) Breathing and pulse are normal

#2 is the killer there when you're piloting a motorcycle. You'll feel tired and lethargic, have trouble keeping your eyes open. So the thing to remember is that if you're shivering persistently on your bike, you can't trust your judgement! Stop and get a bowl of chilli or soup, and a hot coffee or tea. If you are riding through the night, think seriously about just stopping and getting a room in a motel somewhere. $60 and a night of inconvenience is a lot less hassle than crashing.

You know that you MUST stop if you're having any of the following symptoms:

1) Violent shivering or shivering stops
2) Inability to think and pay attention
3) Slow, shallow breathing
4) Slow, weak pulse

Again, #2 is a big complicating factor. If you're having trouble keeping your eyes open or staying in your lane, if it seems like you've been riding forever but you've only done 2 km since the last time you checked the odometer, then you're experiencing impairment from the cold. STOP at your earliest opportunity and get warmed up!

Lets consider once agian your tires and road conditions. At lower temps, your tires are rock hard and grip is drastically reduced. Also if temps are within a couple of degrees of freezing, you might want to consider alternative transportation. Frost / Ice / Snow = CRASH. Usually so fast you don't even get a chance to know you are going down before you are on your butt or worse...

Mt. Washington Trip - The Journey Home

2008-08-20T18:54:00.001-04:00

Our trip Mascot, Gomer was always ready to ride!

After three days of great weather, my rain curse made itself known and Monday night a massive storm rolled in. The sky lit up with lightening and everything shook from the thunder that followed, while strong winds tried to pull the tent pegs from the ground. The worst of the storm only lasted a few hours but the rain continued throughout the night.

In the morning, we woke to a soaked tent and damp sleeping bags. I wasn't looking forward to packing everything up in the rain to say the least. Susie brought all our riding gear up to the registration office and waited for me to pack up all the gear and strap it to the bike. Just before I finished, the rain finally stopped but left us with some very cold, damp riding conditions. I wondered at this point if Chris went through the same thing or if he opted for a motel room somewhere.

Back on the bike, we left the campground around 10am in New Hampshire and headed back towards the Lake Placid area. I wanted to do some more touring through the Adirondack Park again, even if it was on many of the same roads. Our first stop was in Plainfield, Vermont where I had, what turned out to be, the worst breakfast in history! I swear it tried to slowly kill me for the next two days. If you ever happen to roll through there...don't stop!

Once we rolled through Montpelier with their suspension killing potholes again, we jumped on the I-89 and headed towards Lake Champlain and crossing into New York State once again. After some insane crosswinds, our necks began to get fatigued from all the wind buffeting. I decided that it was time to get off the main roads and needed a bit of a break, so I decided that taking the ferry across the lake was a good idea.

This ferry crossing was the first I actually used my tie-down straps. The chop on the water would have been too much for the kickstand to support the bike and it would have surely fallen over. Even though I was sitting on it, it would have been too much to hold on too. If you look carefully, you can make out the red strap around the green plate part along the side of the ferry.

After crossing Lake Champlain, it was a reasonably short ride back to Wilmington, NY area. Considering all our gear was wet, we looked for a local motel and ended up at a great Bed & Breakfast (www.theinnatwhiteface.com). In hind sight it was a good idea. The temps dropped to 3 degrees celcius and considering all our gear was wet, it would have made camping rather miserable. Instead we had a nice warm bed and a terrific view of White Face Mountain from our bedroom window.

Wednesday morning we started our final push home through the Dacks, along some great country roads, across the ferry and finally the least entertaining section across the 401 home. Once again, my tie-down strap came in handy on the Ferry across to Kingston and once all was said and done, we had travelled 1800km over 5 days.

Props must go to my travelling partner Susie. Prior to this trip, she hadn't spent more then 1.5hrs on the back of a bike. Nor had she ever been camping! This trip was full of "first time" experiences for her and she did great.

Mt. Washington Trip - Mountains Galore!

2008-08-18T23:33:00.011-04:00

We started off by meeting Chris at a gas station not far from where I live. He was coming in from Oakville and needed to fill up anyway. From there we headed east and had our first break at a service station just west of Bellville.

From there we continued to Kingston and waited for the ferry crossings to Wolfe Island and then a second to the US border crossing. Once we crossed the border (which was the fastest chat with US Customs and Immigration that I have ever had), we started making our way towards the Adirondack Park. Our butts became numb, our necks sore and we loved it as the miles clicked away on the odometer.

Once we stopped for dinner in Gouvernour, we entered the park and we were treated to some simply awesome riding roads and spectacular views of the forest, rivers and lakes that we passed through. It's no wonder this is such a popular place for camping. The miles climbed and the sun began to set as we made our way through Lake Placid, finally arriving at our KOA campsite just north of there near Wilmington, NY. The next morning we decided that since we were so close to White Face Mountain, that it would be a shame to not ride to the summit. So we packed up our site, had a hardy breakfast in Lake Placid and headed for White Face.

When we arrived at the bottom, we were advised that visibilty was zero and that it was chilly at the top. Whatever...upward we rode and stopped to take some great pictures along the way.

The view was simply breathtaking once the clouds moved off a little but the best view was just below the clouds, where we were able to overlook the mountain ranges, lakes and valleys off in the distance.

Chris originally was just planning on camping and riding around Adirondack Park for four days, but decided that he would join us to see Mt. Washington. So with that, the three of us headed off towards our second campground in New Hampshire. We crossed Lake Champlain via the ferry into Charlotte, Vermont and headed south to Bristol for another break. From there we headed up RT17 through Buel's Gore, which is an extremely twisty and technical section of road. I'll admit that I was nervous in some spots considering how heavy the bike was and how poorly it handled.

Onward we rode through Montpelier, which is the capital of Vermont and I must say that it was here that we encountered by FAR the worst roads on our entire trip! Although, the road climbing White Face was rough...the roads in Montpelier were way worse and our bikes took a serious beating. After a short stop to put on some warmer clothes and rest our pothole-beaten butts, we pushed hard into New Hampshire towards our next campsite, which is not far from Mt. Washington. Once again though, we arrived after sunset and had to setup our site using flashlights to see. This was becoming a pattern that needed to be broken.

Another hardy morning breakfast to start our day before riding to Mt. Washington. This was to be the shortest riding day of the trip. Well at least for Susie and me anyway.

Now for the purpose of the trip: Mt.Washington!
I stripped the bike of all the cases and un-needed gear with the exception of rain gear in case we needed it and some warmer clothes that we certainly would. We reached the base and began our ascent up the mountain with Susie on the back and Chris following behind. The road was actually pretty easy to ride since most of it was paved but what makes it nerve-racking is that it's only a lane and a half wide and there are no guardrails. This made passing cars coming down the mountain more interesting since there was very little space to get by and in some spots it would have been impossible for two cars to pass by each other.

Part way up the climb, the asphalt gives way to dirt and gravel, then back to asphalt again, making that rougher section just a little more interesting and soon we face a new challenge as we climb into the clouds with strong gusting winds. Visability is now only 20ft in front of us and we crawl up the hill trying to ensure that we don't over-shoot a tight turn and fall off the mountain or get blown off by a wind gust!

Finally we reach the top and although we feel a sense of satisfaction from the climb, it is quickly replaced with some disappointment from the complete lack of visability through the clouds. We stayed at the summit for a while checking out the gift shop and the cog train that climbs the mountian.

The train is for those who want to travel to the summit but either can't hike up or don't have the intestinal fortitude to drive up themselves. This is obviously a common choice for seniors or for those who have a fear of heights and may panic behind the wheel. The train is steam driven and fueled by a coal burning fire. You can see the coal cart from where the engineers have to shovel the coal by hand into the fire.

Finally the clouds passed and we were treated with a breathtaking view of the Appalachian mountains as far as the eye could see.

Now for the decent. Personally going back down was far less intimidating since I already had an idea what to expect for road conditions and with the clouds gone, I could actually see where I was going. Many people get more nervous going down simply because of the visual effect of looking down the mountain and out over the ranges. You get an idea in this image of how steep sections of the road are.

Our only issue was at one point nearly being run off the side by a small SUV that was taking up too much of the road and not watching for oncoming traffic. I had to swerve towards the edge to avoid being hit head-on and my tires came about 1.5ft from the edge! Talk about a pucker moment. My sphincter didn't relax again until I reached the bottom.

Here is a video of fragments of our Mt. Washington run. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I was unable to capture riding through the clouds of Mt. Washington or the incident of nearly being run off the road.
NOTE: Click the "Play" button on the first Object...ignore the second one. I don't know why Google put it there. If you can't see the video, go to the original post at http://www.thelonelyrider.com/2008/08/mt-washington-trip-mountains-galore.html

Without a doubt, our tour of the mountains was a great experience. After successfully negotiating the Mt. Washington Auto Road, we headed back to our campsite for a relaxing remainder of the day...for Susie and me at least.

Chris wanted to head back to Adirondack Park to check out Lake George. So after packing up his tent and gear, we said our fairwells and Chris continued his adventure on his own. As for us...we lazed around the campsite late into the night until the rain rolled in.

Mt. Washington Trip - Preamble

2008-08-16T08:30:00.005-04:00

After talking to a good friend of mine about her experiences at Mt. Washingon, while on her way to the east coast, I became more and more intrigued by the idea of riding to the summit myself. It's the highest peek in North Eastern United States (6288ft or 1917m) and has the most volatile weather.

I started playing with the idea more and started picking up bits of equipment along the way that I was sure to need. I didn't really commit to the idea until about the beginning of July and had fully intended on making the trip alone. It wasn't until my return from camping in Algonquin Park, I realized that having some company would be nice but if they were to ride with me, they needed to be experienced riders as well as own all their own camping gear.

Well it wasn't long before it was decided that I would take a friend of mine, Susie, as a passenger (this gets interesting later during the prep when packing for two people). I talked to other friends of mine from the riding community to see if others were interested. Some were too new as riders, others couldn't get the time off work and some friends had mechanical issues with their bikes, making them unreliable.

In the end, two days before departure, I was contacted by a fellow named Chris. He was planning on camping in the Adirondack Park for four days. Since we were leaving on the same day and he was also planning on camping for his first night near Lake Placid, we decided to head down together. He stated that he has all his own gear, is used to camping trips with his bike (Yamaha V-Star) and is an experienced rider. Perfect!

Now lets go back to the prep...I needed new cases since a small low-side a few months earlier resulted in one of my BMW cases getting snapped off and broken beyond repair. Not wanting to replace it due it's obvious fragility, I opted to go with a stronger design by Caribou Cases (www.cariboucases.com) which have developed custom racks for my style of bike and use Pelican 1550 cases. Talk about tough!

I had to start thinking about how to not only pack everything that I needed personally but also for Susie as well as tools for the bike. Tent, sleeping bags, ground pads, camp stove & fuel, food, axe, first aid kit, rain gear, and much, much more...

Once mounted, the bike was heavy and sluggish. The cases (including the mounting racks) weigh 35pds empty, I packed each case with about 30pds of gear. Then I added more on the tail rack (another 15-20pds or so), which when added to the weight of my passenger, made my bike top heavy by about an extra 250pds.

With the final touches added and packed Saturday morning, we set off to meet Chris at a local gas station.

Algonquin Tour

2008-08-05T15:31:00.000-04:00

Well it was a late start getting on the road. I loaded up my bike for two nights of camping and finally hit the road Saturday around noon. I brought everything I would need (or so I thought) and headed north up HWY404 into Newmarket, eastward along HWY48, north on HWY's 12 & 11 and finally reaching my destination on HWY60.

All in all, the ride was pretty relaxed with the occasional shower along the way...until I neared Bracebridge anyway. Once again my rain curse presented itself and the heavens cracked wide open with a downpour of nearly biblical proportions. Every bridge was crammed with riders seeking shelter from the storm but since I was already in my rain gear, I pressed onward into Bracebridge. I decided it was time to stop when I had extreme difficulties seeing through my visor. Actually, it was raining so hard at one point I was unable to see even my handlebars. I stopped for a late lunch and as soon as I pulled into town the rain stopped too.

Well, at least it's over...or so I thought at the time. Little did I know that another storm cell was about to roll over just as I started on my way again. Fortunately it didn't last long and I was spared another deluge. My rain gear (Frogg Toggs 2piece suit) stood up to the task once again and not a single drop got through. My boots on the other hand, not being waterproof at all, let in water like a floodgate and my feet were soaked.

At least by the time I reached my campsite (15min outside Algonquin Park) the rain had ceased and I was able to pitch my tent with ease and get changed out of my riding gear.

My hosts at the Algonquin Trails Camping Resort (http://www.algonquintrails.on.ca) are extremely friendly and very accommodating (one of whom is also a rider). Not only was there a reasonably well-equipped store, which I needed within 15min of getting there (who forgets to bring bug repellent camping? Sheesh), but they also deliver wood to the campsites each night for a small fee. As it turned out I also needed to buy a new folding camp chair since my 4yr old one broke an hour after I set up.

The second day was spent hiking in the park in the morning with only 170km of actual riding. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the campsite and staying up late into the evening around a campfire.

As always, the weekend comes to an end but the fun was far from over. After packing up all my gear, I headed down hwy35 towards home. This was by far the most fun stretch of my trip so far. The nice sweeping corners of 35 from Algonquin to Minden were just amazing and so was the view of all the little lakes along the way. While taking a coffee break in Minden, a fellow rider tipped me off to a nice stretch called Deep Bay Road, which was a lot of fun to say the least and brought me right back onto hwy35 so that I could continue southward.

Along the way, I decided that it would be nice to detour to Fenlon Falls and check out the locks. It made for a nice break from riding and allowed some time to admire all the boats making their way up and down the river.

From there, it was time to push onward home. All in all, it was a nice laid back weekend away from the city and allowed some time to admire a starlit sky that can only be seen in the country.

Now I need to prepare for my next trip, which will be to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.

Ride for Sight 2008 - Event Review

2008-06-29T21:02:00.016-04:00

This year marked the 30th Anniversary of the Ride for Sight, which raises money for blindness research across Canada. So far the Ride has been able to raise over $16 million dollars for the cause.

This was my first year participating in the annual ride, and I was pleased to have reached the High Miler status by exceeding my personal goal of $1000. It was an experience that I will never forget and one that I was proud to be a part of.

I joined the team of GTAMotorcycles.com (an online community or which I am a member) and although our team goal was originally $25,000, we totaled over $37,000 in online pledges alone.

I decided to ride up to Centennial Park in Trenton (bike loaded with all my camping gear) on the Friday night and set up my tent at the team campsite. As a promise to those who helped me reach my goal, and being a man of my word, it wasn't long before I changed into a kilt, which I had to wear for the entire weekend (except for while I was riding). More team members arrived throughout the evening and joined the party around the campfire. Similar scenes were going on all around the park into the wee hours of the morning while the band jammed at the concert off in the background.

The next morning we had to wake early, despite retiring to our tents only a couple hours earlier, to prepare for the ride into Whitby for the start of the official "Ride for Sight". After our morning coffees and perhaps a few Advil, we set off to converge on the AMC parking lot in Whitby along with literally thousands of our closest motorcycling buddies. The parade across the country side started promptly at 10am and was led by the OPP Golden Helmets Precision Motorcycle Squad.

Our team was the second team to roll out lead by our team captain "CuteKill" and beside her was "Aminal" who had a special guest as a passenger...our co-captian Meghan, a 13yr old girl who touched the hearts of our team and is also diagnosed with Retinal Disease. She personally raised over $5000 for the ride. She was our inspiration to raise more every day.

The ride itself was a leisurely pace and took about 2.5 hours to reach Trenton again. The ride was extremely well organized with the OPP leading the way and police cruisers controlling all the intersections for us allowing the parade to stay together and which stretched out over several kilometers long.

The emotional part for this rider (as well as for several others) was seeing people parked along the route, in the middle of nowhere, holding up signs thanking us for our support and supporting the Ride itself. This became more and more common as we rolled through smaller towns. The closer we got to Trenton spectators sat in lawn chairs on the edge of the road to watch the parade slowly roll by. This phenomenon was nearly overwhelming when we rolled into Trenton as hundreds of people applauded our arrival, with the final touch being the sound of bag pipes as we entered the park.

It wasn't long before the party began. Members of our team (including myself again) changed into our kilts and thousands of people around the park began cutting loose and having a good time.

The vendors were kept busy all day and well into the night selling food and all types of riding gear. As well, there were several demo rides from manufactures, stunt shows by the Suzuki FMX Team and precision riding demonstrations by the OPP Golden Helmets. There were also several "bike games" that pitted average riders against each other and provided lots of entertainment for the crowds. Some of which included a sled pull, the slow ride competition, the ring toss, musical bikes, and of course...the wiener bite (all using your own bike and most required a passenger).

Once again, the band played late into the evening and everyone partied pretty hard...until the storm hit around midnight. The torrential rain fall sent most people scrambling for cover while the animals started lining up 2-by-2 looking for Noah and his Arc. Although the rain didn't last long, most people retired to their tents for the night. Despite the clearing sky and my efforts to "encourage" people to emerge from their tents, most stayed wrapped in their sleeping bags and we ended up with only a few of our team around the campfire that Saturday night.

Sunday morning a few people figured that since I kept them up the previous night, they should reciprocate accordingly and provide me with a special "wakeup call". Although despite their best efforts to "spider" my tent (popping the poles allowing the tent to fall on me), they couldn't and resorted to shaking the hell out of it and yelling. Hey...fair is fair and it was all good fun.

All in all, the weekend was a great success! Bikers from all walks of life came together for a common cause and raised nearly $250k in online pledges alone. Everyone had a great time and it was a huge party hampered only by a bit of rain Saturday night.

As for the ride home though on Sunday...well that is another story.

Ride for Sight rapidly approaches

2008-06-11T23:02:00.010-04:00

The Ride for Sight is just over a week away and we are still far from our team goal of $25,000. My personal goal is $1,000 and I have agreed that if I meet my goal...I will wear a kilt for the celebration part of the day (after the ride of course). Only $250 more to go and the world gets to see me wear a kilt for the first time. If you want to see it, I need your help...please sponsor me by clicking on this link: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1830014

For those who are curious about where the money goes...here is a break down from last year:

Investment in a Miracle (last updated October 30th, 2007)1974-2007 $15,199,060

Case Western Reserve University $29,167

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Mere-Enfant $17,500

Columbia University $47,664

Cross Cancer Institute $110,500

Dalhousie University $177,094

Eye Institute of Canada $102,000

Harvard Medical School $52,500

Hopital Sainte-Justine $63,000

Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemont $37,750

Massachusetts Eye & Ear $29,950

McGill University $914,299

McMaster University $339,021

Memorial University $168,533

Montreal Children's Hospital $202,184

Montreal General Hospital $283,516

Montreal Research Institute $145,000

Scientific Symposia $204,947

Stem Cell Network $203,400

The Hospital for Sick Children $2,944,406

Université Laval $156,664

University of Alberta $399,453

University of British Columbia $1,323,008

University of Calgary $2,488,299

University of Iowa $28,650

University of Lethbridge $58,250

University of Manitoba $247,500

University of Miami $35,250

University of Michigan $87, 500

University of Montréal $55,325

University of Ottawa $683,182

University of Toronto $3,391,228

University of Victoria $107,500

University of Western Ontario $64,820

Cures are in Sight! The group of eye diseases that cause degeneration of the retina affect more than six million North Americans. Macular degeneration, which leads to loss of central vision, is the leading cause of legal blindness in people over the age of 55. The RP (retinitis Policementosa) family of diseases is the leading cause of inherited blindness, and affects 1.5 million people worldwide. The Foundation Fighting Blindness has a mission to support and promote research directed to finding the causes, treatments and ultimately the cures for retinitis Policementosa, macular degeneration and related diseases of the retina.

Ride for Sight - We need your help

2008-05-20T19:40:00.017-04:00

I am participating in Ride for Sight, which is the longest running motorcycle charity in Canada. By sponsoring us in the Ride, you will be contributing to finding a cure for blindness! One hundred percent of funds raised by riders go directly to The Foundation Fighting Blindness, which continues to fund significant research breakthroughs.

I will be heading up the night before and riding with hundreds of others on June 20th, who are supporting research to fight blindness.

You can help support us by making a secure online donation. Click on the link below:

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1830014

For more information on how YOU can participate in Ride for Sight, please visit us at www.rideforsight.com.

Thanks for your support

Bill 203 (HTA section 172) Unjust to all Ontario motorists

2008-05-20T07:55:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Some of you may be aware, some not so aware, but last September the Ontario Government passed Bill 203 into law now called Ontario regulation 455/07, or better known as the Anti-Street racing legislation.

The premise was to crack down on street racing by posing harsher penalties. Although the intention is pure, the premise it was lobbied on was not. The true fact is, this legislation was lobbied under false pretense under the guise of safety for all. The public was lead to believe that "street racers" ( at the time profiled as any car enthusiast according to Attorney General Bryant) are a gross danger to the motoring public and must be cracked down on or eliminated all together.

Road safety is always a good thing, but existing rules under the existing highway traffic act can effectively deter speeders and aggressive drivers if properly enforced and issued, the new law effectively was not needed.

The new law not only targets speeders traveling 50 kph over the posted limit under one portion of the law, but can target any and all motorists for various other infractions that are for lack of a better terms left to the judgment of an officer, under the rest of the law.

Based on what an officer claims he sees you do, he can effectively at the side of the road seize your vehicle and suspend your drivers license for 7 days. The vehicle is sent to impound and all towing and impound fees paid out at the owners expense (this includes vehicles loaned to a friend).

This law does not just target speeders, it has a very wide blanket, with a great deal of gray area. If you think it can't happen to you, think again. A simple failing to yield the right of way could land your car in the impound, you sitting on your butt for the week at home, and in court trying to defend a $2,000 - $10,000 fine! Even if proven innocent later in a court of law, there is no recourse for compensation to reimburse for towing or impound, you are stuck with those costs!! Basically an automatic $1000 fine before being proven guilty, is this not too much power for a police officer at the side of the road?

It is the Car Enthusiasts who immediately saw this law for what it could become (years of being profiled and unjustly pulled over), the general public was and still is under the impression that the law will not effect them. Considering over 4500 people have been charged under the new street racing law, with a fraction of a percentage being charged actual car enthusiasts, its pretty clear this law has become more of a cash grab with a gross violation of our civil rights, then it is a law to make us safe. Many times I have witnessed minivans being loaded onto a flatbed truck, leaving some poor soccer mom stranded for a week without her vehicle.

The attached petition asks for support to ask the Ontario Government to remove the seizure and license suspension portions of the new Street racing legislation, but keep the fine amounts and infractions the same. It is something that effects all of us, not just the so called street racers. The streets Must be safe....but they must also be fair!

Petition Link >>>>
http://www.petitiononline.com/civil013/petition.html

Details of Regulation 455/07
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/index.html

Please pass this on to anyone who you feel would be interested in regaining their civil rights back. It starts with a small law like this one to set a precedent...what will our government do next?

HOV lanes OK in Toronto!

2008-05-04T18:32:00.003-04:00

Toronto's municipal government has agreed to let motorcyclists use High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes controlled by the city, even with only one rider aboard. The change is effective May 1st, 2008.

City councillor Case Ootes announced on Wednesday that a motion to let motorcycles and scooters into HOV lanes passed in council. City staff now will amend bylaws to formalize the matter.

This is not something that came easily, with municipal government staff recommending that single-rider motorcycles be kept out of HOV lanes when the HOV lanes were originally announced.

However, pressure from motorcycle lobby groups convinced councillors that allowing motorcycles into the lanes makes environmental and economical sense, and would improve, or at least not worsen, safety.

HOV lane signs will be changed over time, but for now, motorcycle stickers will be put on them. Toronto will also advise other Ontario jurisdictions with HOV lanes that this change has taken place.

This news comes as a huge relief to riders in Toronto and is a great step forward for motorcycle safety. Hopefully other municipalities will also ammend their local bylaws and finally a change to the Provincial HTA would be nice allowing motorcycles on highway HOV lanes.

First Country Tour of 2008

2008-04-30T22:13:00.004-04:00

Even though I've been riding nearly all winter (depending if there was snow or ice on the road), I've been itching to get out and tour through some nice country roads. So with that in mind I planned out a route spanning just over 350km. The plan was to start in Markham and ride to Port Perry, Bobcaygeon, take hwy 507 up to Gooderham and circle back via Kinmount, Fenlon Falls and Sutton. Having done a very similar route before, I knew that this would certainly make for a nice day.

However, I decided it might be nice to have some company for this little trip, so I decided to post an open invitation for other riders to join me. I announced my intentions and my proposed route on some of the online forums that I'm involved with and see what happens. My comfort level usually hits its limit with groups around 10 riders. Much more then that and the rides turn into a logistical nightmare. Everyone needs fuel at some point and refuelling several bikes takes a long time. Also rest stops, turn into social gatherings and take far longer then needed because everyone just gets to yammering about whatever. Also with larger groups, you end up with a wider range of experience and attitudes, which can both play a factor to the overall safety of the group.

Well you can imagine the look on my face when 30 riders showed up at the starting point! I think I still have a bruise on my chin from where it hit the ground. An hour before the ride was supposed to start, bikes began pulling into the parking lot. I tried to introduce myself to them and find out their experience level but eventually I couldn't keep up with all the faces and bikes pulling in. One fellow named Steve did stand out, as it was only his second day riding ever! Well I made a point to Steve that he just became my shadow for the day so that I could keep an eye on him.

At 10am, we finally hit the road and headed off to Port Perry, which was to be our first stop. I was expecting to find a few more riders waiting there for us. However, once again I'm sure the look on my face was priceless when our numbers grew much more and we picked up another 12 or so riders. Hell, we were already stretching our parade of bikes over 1km long and now we exceeded 40 bikes in this "little tour" I had planned. This was too much and we had to split the group for safety sake.

From there our next stop was in Bobcaygeon so that we could regroup and stop for lunch. I was glad to hear that those who knew the way from here and wanted a faster pace continued ahead of us and those who were already getting tired, turned around and headed home. This left us with about 30 riders to worry about. Once we got to the bottom of our run up the 507, I stopped the group again for one last fuel stop and to hold a little meeting.

The 507 is one of the best sport bike roads in Ontario but it's still not a race track and this group had some very new riders. I explained to everyone that riding your own pace and not trying to keep up with faster, more experienced riders was an important concept that needed to be understood before they began. I also explained to the group that I had gotten reports from other riders who had just come from the northern end, that there was already a rider down just a few corners up the road.

I was pleased to find that at the end of the run, everyone was accounted for and we began our journey homeward to the starting point. After nearly seven hours, I returned to the start with only 10 riders remaining. The others had left at various points along the way home to take routes that made more sense for them depending on where they lived.

All in all, it was a great day without incident and many of the riders are looking forward to my next group ride.

Sping has finally arrived!

2008-04-05T10:45:00.010-04:00

Spring has arrived...finally. It has been a long winter in Ontario, thanks in no small part to Global climate changes, but finally warmer weather has arrived. Only now that we are into April, are we getting temperatures that are consistently warm enough to ride in. Although some riders like myself, have been riding on and off throughout the winter (road conditions permitting) most riders and certainly most bikes don't fair well in the winter. The cold air and ground temperatures don't leave for much traction nor do they allow for a comfortable ride, unless the proper gear is worn. Special attention must be given to staying warm, especially when riding at highway speeds when the wind-chill may be cold enough for a rider to get frostbite in just a couple of minutes.

Okay, so enough of the cold talk...it's Spring now! More and more riders are being spotted on the road as the riding season comes into full swing but what about you? Are you on the road yet? Are you even ready? Well if not, check out your local bike shops so that you can pickup whatever parts, gear, accessories or other goodies that you may still need or want. Most major cities have a Spring motorcycle show of some sort, so that may provide a good chance to pick up what you need at a slightly reduced price.

What about others on the road? Are they ready for us? Many times this winter, I saw the wide-eyed and shocked look on peoples faces as they stared at me in bewilderment when I pulled up along side them at a stop, while the temps were well below freezing. Well, despite the warmer weathers, most cagers are still not used to seeing us on the roads yet. They certainly won't be thinking about if there is a bike in their blind spot at this point so ensure that you consider that while passing cars on the road.

What about your bike? If your bike has been in storage all winter, you really need to take the time to do a full inspection. Battery, chain, sprockets, fork seals, etc. all need to be checked out before that first ride. Make sure nothing is kinked or leaking and that everything that is supposed to be snug is nice and tight and all the moving bits are well lubricated (dont forget to check your fluid levels).

Personally, this new year of riding will be done on a new bike (in fact I've already done over 1200kms so far this year). I will be doing some nice long rides on my (new to me) 2006 BMW F650GS including trips to Mt. Washington, Thunder Bay, Mont Tremblant, and the Adirondack Mountains, not to mention many one and two day trips in and around Southern Ontario. Also, since my bike is a dual sport style, I will also be trying out a little dirt and trail riding.

Whatever you're riding preference or bike of choice...just get out and ride!

Weather Turns Nasty for Scary Ride

2008-02-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

Man what a scary ride last night!

I got caught off guard by last night's snowstorm. The forecast called for snow "overnight" and I wasn't going to be more then a couple hours so what the hell right? When I got on the bike, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Not quite the case when I was coming home though. I was on the highway when it first started and the road was getting wet and the snow was falling fast but really it wasn't as bad as some of the rain that I've ridden through.

When I needed to leave the highway, I came to the off ramp...all I thought was "OH CRAP!" as I looked at the road ahead and I couldn't see the ground...it was completely white with that really slippery kind of snow.

I remembered to ignore the front brake (using it is bad) and I tried only the rear and it started locking up. It was so slippery that no matter how lightly I pressed...it locked up anyway.

I double downshifted and used a combination of clutch and throttle to slow the rear wheel without stopping it from turning all together...but from the time I entered the ramp...all the way to the stop light...the back end was drifting out. Not exactly a fun experience. Especially when I can see cars in my mirrors waiting to turn me into a speed bump.

Then the snow really started coming down hard! Eventually I had to leave the main roads and get on the side streets to get home...and those side streets where 10x worse then the ramp was. I had another saucer-eyed moment, when I'm going down a slight hill with a curve and I see a car sideways blocking the road. I damn near wet myself. LOL
I didn't hit him though...I was lucky and was able to skid around him.

Moral of the story...check the weather every hour if you are thinking of riding and if you get caught off guard...park it.

Shaun

North American Intl Motorcycle Supershow

2008-01-11T20:19:00.000-05:00

Well usually this time of year, opportunities to ride are few and far between but thankfully we have a couple motorcycle shows to occupy our thoughts and provide a chance to pickup any needed or desired goodies at a reduced cost.

The North American International Motorcycle Supershow was held at the Toronto International Centre near the airport and was absolutely huge. Over 500 hundred vendors were present selling everything possibly related to motorcycles and even some things that weren't. In fact it was so large that I would suspect that it would take both days to see everything. Anything you need could be found here.

Personally, I was able to pick up a new GPS unit designed for motorcycles, which will be a huge improvement over the handheld unit I was previously using (not to mention far safer), some new riding pants that actually fit properly and will be more versatile for various weather conditions and lastly some proper rain gear that can be worn over top of my riding gear (for half price due to a subtle mismatch in colours). I also bought a communications kit that will allow me to talk to my passengers (I no longer have to guess why they are tapping my shoulder) as well as other riders who may also have a radio kit set up on their bike.

All in all, I'm looking pretty set for some serious touring this summer, once the warmer weather returns.

2007 Toronto Motorcycle Show

2007-12-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

Hosted at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the show featured most major manufacturers and most of their available bikes ranging from off-road dirt bikes and super sports to cruisers and urban warriors like motards and scooters. There was also a nice collection of vintage race bikes, sidecars, cross-country touring bikes, and everything in between. Obviously not all bikes are suitable for newer riders but there were certainly a lot of bikes to choose from.

For anyone new to riding, this would have made a great opportunity to check out lots of bikes that may be suitable depending on your needs and riding style, be it short hops in and around the city, to longer country tours. Some of the more notable bikes that would be ideal for new riders included the Honda CBR125R, Kawasaki Ninja 250R, BMW's G650 & F650, Yamaha's V-Star 250, Hyosungs GT 250R and of course you cant exclude Kymco's line up of scooters that come with enough storage space to make a full-blown touring bike with all their "add-on" saddle bags blush.

Not only were the range of available bikes well represented, but so were the various bike and accessory shops, which provided an opportunity to pick up some gear or check out some products that you may not have seen or heard of before.

Considering the current Canadian climate, I was very interested in some of the heated gear that was represented by Gerbings, which included socks, pants, various gloves, jackets & jacket liners. However, when considering the use of heated gear, you must do some research as to the total power output of your alternator, how much power is already being used for the electrical system (running and brake lights, horn, etc) and how much is remaining to power your heated gear. Most bikes should be able to power a jacket (or jacket liner) as well as the gloves, but there may not be enough left over to also power the heated pants and socks.

I also had a great conversation with the fellows from Impact Jackets out of Maryland, USA. I recently posted some information about their jackets but I never had a chance to check out their gear first hand. Impact Jackets now has an increased selection of inflatable gear including vests, mesh & textile jackets and some rather nice leathers. I had the pleasure of trying on one of their jackets and experienced what it was like to have the "air bags" deployed while wearing it. Without a doubt these jackets will revolutionize rider safety (they have already saved many lives) and considering the costs when compared to CE armoured jackets on the market (prices starting as low as $400), it just seems like a no-brainer, especially since they are re-usable. Several Police motorcycle divisions are now using Impact Jackets across the United States; they are also being used in several military applications. Look forward to these jackets coming to a shop near you in the future.

Caught on Camera!

2007-11-19T15:29:00.000-05:00

So if a picture speaks a thousand words, what about video? Well that can speak volumes. More and more people are now recording their lives and publishing them on popular video sharing sites like YouTube and Google and you can find everything from the mundane to the spectacular.

"Wearable" video cameras are now used to record pretty much everything. I use one myself to record my rides and do so for various reasons. Sometimes it's nice to be able to show others that nice section of road that I found, or perhaps make a video collection of some of the more scenic memories but they also come in really handy as evidence.

Police officers know that as a rule people make terrible witnesses and usually have no idea what actually happened despite their "I saw the whole thing!" claims. Generally speaking, bystanders notice the affects of an incident but not what led up to it...not the cause. As such there is always a lot of finger pointing resulting with police and insurance companies having to piece together various clues, evidence and statements to get an idea what happened. Not a very efficient system really and if I'm going to be blamed for something I would like there to be more then just someone saying so just to avoid being blamed themselves. What if I'm not able to defend myself due to short-term memory loss?

Sure it's scary to think about such things but chance favors the prepared mind.

Another good reason to record your ride is for those "Where is a cop when you need one" moments; for when someone runs a red light or when that soccer mom makes an illegal left turn in front of you. Okay okay...people disobey the rules of the road all the time; I've broken more than I can remember. Let's face it; nobody knows them all anyway and for some people, concepts like Right-of-Way are simply beyond them. Well now if somebody makes a violation that actually endangers my life, I can do something about it without committing acts of civil disobedience also (assuming I can resist the urge to lash out irrationally and break their window for having nearly killed me).

Speaking of cops...have you ever been pulled over and thought that you were mistreated in some way? Well now you have some video to look back on or perhaps even use in court. Remember that you are taping yourself too though! If you break the law or cause a situation, you need expect your video to be used as evidence against you.

Like a road, life is also a two-way street, so have fun in the corners but remember that bad things can happen when you cross the line. If it does...you caught it on video!

Launching Another Website

2007-11-09T21:09:00.001-05:00

It is with great pleasure to launch the new NewbieRiders.com website.

The objective is to create a user friendly source of information for new and experienced riders alike.
We will be featuring all the latest news and updates from the motorcycling community as well as reviews on gear, parts, bikes and other products and services.

Stay tuned and welcome to the community. www.newbieriders.com

Getting Around with a GPS

2007-10-19T03:02:00.001-04:00

Long gone are the days of navigating by the stars with the use of a Sextant. The skill is now foreign to all but the oldest of sailors. Even today, basic knowledge of how to use a map and a compass is also falling by the wayside and seems to only be taught to school children. With the introduction of Global Positioning Systems aka the GPS, basic navigation is no longer deemed as an essential skill. The GPS, which uses satellites to triangulate your position around the globe, is the most revolutionary navigation tool since the map itself, which has been around since cave drawings.

I've used a GPS for many years now and they are without a doubt very handy to have with you when you travel. Not only can they help you get to where you want to go but also they can track where you've been, which can be especially handy when you get disoriented in the woods.

The features of modern day GPS devices are long and vast so I won't get into the details since they can all be found on the websites of their respective manufacturers. Instead, I want to touch on some of the lesser-known drawbacks and limitations of relying on a GPS as a sole means of navigation.

Accuracy
Commercial GPS units are now accurate to within as little as 1sqr metre (which is good enough for most military applications) however, they are not consistent. This depends on how many geo-synchronos satellites the unit is locked on to and how strong those signals are, which by the way are ever changing as your position changes. Herein lays the problem. If the signal weakens, you could find yourself positioned on the wrong side of a river or past the road that you wanted to turn on.

On a recent ride along the Seaway Trail, which skirts the southern shores of Lake Ontario, my GPS signal weakened and suddenly placed me 5km offshore in the lake. Yes, thoughts of Moses on a Motorcycle came to my mind also. At the same time though my GPS was unable to accurately calculate my speed and showed me travelling across the water at 225km/hr. (GPS units also record top speed and at one point logged my max speed at 555km/hr).

Reliability
One of the other shortfalls of relying on a GPS is that they require power. You would think that this would be obvious, but time and time again, people have been caught off guard with drained batteries leaving them without a clue as to where they are and up the proverbial creek without a paddle, so to speak. The simple rule of thumb here is to always ensure that you have a fresh set of batteries on hand.

Safety
Although using a GPS is convenient, they do present a safety risk as a visual distraction while riding. Some people simply view them through the map window of their tank bags, whereas others use proper ram mounts affixed to their handle bars, placing the unit higher up making it easier to view while riding. No matter how you choose to use it, it still presents a visual distraction. Each time you look at the screen, you are effectively NOT looking at the road ahead.

In summery, the modern GPS has a long list of advantages when used properly but never make the mistake of relying on them as "fact". In the end it's still a good idea to carry an old fashioned road map.

A map never "crashes" and a compass always points north.

Talk about an over-haul!

2007-10-18T19:29:00.000-04:00

After 5hrs of effort, 4 spark plugs, a litre of oil, one chain, 2 sprockets, valve adjustments, and a few other essentials...it was NOT priceless. It was however necessary and could still make for a good MasterCard commercial.

Motorcycles are expensive, not only to insure but also to maintain. It is a fact of life for every rider and needs to be done at regular intervals. Having a bike in a poor state of repair has far greater safety implications when compared to a car. Drive-train failure on a car simply means rolling to a stop. Whereas on a bike, a broken chain could snag in the rear wheel causing it to lock up followed by a nasty fall.

I'm not here to preach, just offering up a little advice. I would personally hate to be a speed bump because something on my bike broke as a result of poor maintenance.

Lake Ontario Loop - Day 2

2007-10-08T15:17:00.001-04:00

What a difference a day makes. I awoke to a very warm and muggy morning and hit the road around 9am. I still had a lot of ground to cover and considering the holidiays (Thanksgiving in Canada and Columbus Day in the US), I was concerned about long wait times at the border.

I continued my trek across the 104 into Rochester then north again so that I could continue following the Seaway Trail, which was the route I had been following since entering the United States. This took me all the way to Lewiston then on to Niagra. I was hoping to cross at the Whirlpool bridge, however, that is now only accessable by Nexus Pass holders (of which I am not). So not wanting to double back to Lewiston, which is mostly commercial traffic, I crossed over the Rainbow Bridge back into Canada. I waited a whopping 5min to cross the border.

Okay...what the hell...I might as well drive past the falls since I was there anyway. Here I had bit of a rest (parked illegally) and took the chance to check over the bike.
Simply put...it's in rough shape. The chain and sprockets are completely ruined and the chain is about to fall off or break. It wasn't long before a cop passed by to check me out. I told him I had to check over the bike and that it wasn't doing well but I would be on my way soon at which point he left me alone.

Not wanting to waste any more time or do a lot of extra shifting, I took to the highway and headed straight home.

All in all, the trip around the lake was a total of 849km long and when you add that to the riding from Friday and Saturday, I put on a total of 1547km over four days.