Some background on our bikes here:
www.gtamotorcycle.com
Ride Report: Apocalypse Ride to the Rocky Mountains
I'm not superstitious, but I believe that how you start the morning dictates what the rest of the day is going to be like.
We're prepping for our first overnight trip with the new bike. It'll be our mini shakedown test for long-distance touring. On the morning of our departure, I perform a last minute inspection of our motorcycles.
There's a small pool of green liquid underneath my 500 EXC-F.
NOOOO!!!!
I swipe a little off the garage floor with my finger and sniff it. Doesn't smell like coolant? Plus it's very thick. I trace the leak up to the frame. It doesn't seem to have come from the coolant reservoir tank or the rad? Seems to be from under the seat. I remove the airbox cover and find a goopy mess below the air filter.
Seems I was a bit too exuberant oiling up the filter...
*phew* not a coolant leak. A quick wipe and we're ready to go.
Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that this wouldn't be the only hiccup on our trip.
This is our route for the next couple of days. Not mega-mileage by any stretch, but more of a test of the long-distance capabilities of my dirt-bike. After a couple of months of dirt-riding in the trails around Kelowna, we'll just be pounding out pavement miles for this run. Fun, twisty pavement miles!
I already know the 8.5L fuel tank will need constant feeding during the day. The Seat Concepts seat I installed turned out not to be Iron-Butt capable, so I'm going to try a belt-and-suspenders approach by strapping an Air Hawk cushion on top of it.
As for luggage, I'm not carrying any. Neda is bringing her trusty, old F650GS as a support vehicle. She'll be carrying an extra gas can, plus three cases full of camping gear, clothing and tools. She's already opted out of doing the trip with her Husqvarna dirt bike. Instead she'll let me conduct the endurance assessment first and then retrofit her bike according.
The goal is to see if a dirt bike can mimic the features of a long-distance endurance machine, enough to fool the casual motorcyclist.
Call it a Touring Test...
Kalamalka Lake
We've had a bit of a heat wave in the Okanagan the last couple of weeks, with temperatures soaring into the high 30s. Not unusual for this part of BC. This is the first week it's drifted back down into the mid 20s, so we're capitalizing on this window of "cooler" weather to conduct our test.
Highway 97 is a quick ride out of Kelowna. Although it's a commuter road to Vernon, it still has amazing views of the lakes on the eastern side.
Cracking open the throttle on the highway, the vibrations on the single-cylinder 500 magnify in intensity between 60-80 km/h. But once the speedo hits triple digits the shaking smooths out a bit and the feeling returns in my numbed hands and feet.
Note to self: need some kind of heavier bar ends or some kind of rubber-insert between the triple clamp and handlebars.
Watersports on the lake
We stop on 97, on a highway pullout just south of Vernon to catch a nice view of Kalamalka Lake and Cougar Canyon Reserve across the waters.
Even though the South Okanagan is technically a desert due to its low annual precipitation, there are quite a few lakes in the area. #LakeLife is a popular activity in the summer. Seems like one out of every four license plates we see on the road are Alberta plates, as the Okanagan is the playground for rich Calgarians to vacation and spend their oilfield money, trailering their expensive speedboats and skidoos across the provincial border.
This COVID crisis has created a bit of friction between the BC locals and the Alberta tourists, as their case count is considerably higher. This has led to a spate of "Red Plate Hate", as cars with the red-lettered Alberta license plates have been vandalized with notes left on windshields to "Go home!" US-plated vehicles have also been targeted as well.
Neda still has her Ontario license plates mounted, but we haven't experienced any Blue Plate Hate yet. Not enough of us here to cause a stir, I imagine.
Blue Plates on her bike, Blue Skies in her eyes
We chatter idly over the intercom, more to take my mind off how uncomfortable my seat is, even with the Air Hawk cushion on. I miss my old R1200GS!
The conversation turns to what we're going to have for dinner. Neda says she's going to cook us up some Jamaican rice and beans. Mmm!
And then, I remembered... we don't have any propane gas for the stove!
Oh no, hiccup #2.
We had to ride to a few places around Vernon before we found a place that has stove gas in stock
During COVID, anything recreational doesn't stay on store shelves very long. Including propane gas, it seems!
It's been kind of mad scramble the last couple of days. We have most of our touring gear that we shipped from Africa, with only a couple of exceptions. We weren't too impressed with the 7C synthetic sleeping bags that we bought abroad, as they didn't keep us warm enough at night. So we donated them to our friends in Cape Town before we left. Glad I remembered this, because we had to make an emergency run to MEC last night to pick up a couple of down-filled 0C sleeping bags. These should fare better in the cooler Canadian evenings.
Another item that we couldn't bring back on the plane: our half-empty propane camping gas for our stove. Something about hazardous materials... or as the label on this bottle reads, "EXTREME DANGER"... so that had to donated as well. Which is why we're scrambling all over Vernon to find a replacement, so we can have a nice cooked dinner tonight.
How to Enduro the Apocalypse: KTM 500 EXC-F & Husqvarna FE 501
How to Enduro the Apocalypse: KTM 500 EXC-F & Husqvarna FE 501 Come Armageddon, Come! Everyday is like Sunday -- Morrissey The global pandemic has put a pause on our travels, and we find ourselves temporarily stalled in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. So what to do now...
www.gtamotorcycle.com
Ride Report: Apocalypse Ride to the Rocky Mountains
I'm not superstitious, but I believe that how you start the morning dictates what the rest of the day is going to be like.
We're prepping for our first overnight trip with the new bike. It'll be our mini shakedown test for long-distance touring. On the morning of our departure, I perform a last minute inspection of our motorcycles.
There's a small pool of green liquid underneath my 500 EXC-F.
NOOOO!!!!
I swipe a little off the garage floor with my finger and sniff it. Doesn't smell like coolant? Plus it's very thick. I trace the leak up to the frame. It doesn't seem to have come from the coolant reservoir tank or the rad? Seems to be from under the seat. I remove the airbox cover and find a goopy mess below the air filter.
Seems I was a bit too exuberant oiling up the filter...
*phew* not a coolant leak. A quick wipe and we're ready to go.
Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that this wouldn't be the only hiccup on our trip.
This is our route for the next couple of days. Not mega-mileage by any stretch, but more of a test of the long-distance capabilities of my dirt-bike. After a couple of months of dirt-riding in the trails around Kelowna, we'll just be pounding out pavement miles for this run. Fun, twisty pavement miles!
I already know the 8.5L fuel tank will need constant feeding during the day. The Seat Concepts seat I installed turned out not to be Iron-Butt capable, so I'm going to try a belt-and-suspenders approach by strapping an Air Hawk cushion on top of it.
As for luggage, I'm not carrying any. Neda is bringing her trusty, old F650GS as a support vehicle. She'll be carrying an extra gas can, plus three cases full of camping gear, clothing and tools. She's already opted out of doing the trip with her Husqvarna dirt bike. Instead she'll let me conduct the endurance assessment first and then retrofit her bike according.
The goal is to see if a dirt bike can mimic the features of a long-distance endurance machine, enough to fool the casual motorcyclist.
Call it a Touring Test...
Kalamalka Lake
We've had a bit of a heat wave in the Okanagan the last couple of weeks, with temperatures soaring into the high 30s. Not unusual for this part of BC. This is the first week it's drifted back down into the mid 20s, so we're capitalizing on this window of "cooler" weather to conduct our test.
Highway 97 is a quick ride out of Kelowna. Although it's a commuter road to Vernon, it still has amazing views of the lakes on the eastern side.
Cracking open the throttle on the highway, the vibrations on the single-cylinder 500 magnify in intensity between 60-80 km/h. But once the speedo hits triple digits the shaking smooths out a bit and the feeling returns in my numbed hands and feet.
Note to self: need some kind of heavier bar ends or some kind of rubber-insert between the triple clamp and handlebars.
Watersports on the lake
We stop on 97, on a highway pullout just south of Vernon to catch a nice view of Kalamalka Lake and Cougar Canyon Reserve across the waters.
Even though the South Okanagan is technically a desert due to its low annual precipitation, there are quite a few lakes in the area. #LakeLife is a popular activity in the summer. Seems like one out of every four license plates we see on the road are Alberta plates, as the Okanagan is the playground for rich Calgarians to vacation and spend their oilfield money, trailering their expensive speedboats and skidoos across the provincial border.
This COVID crisis has created a bit of friction between the BC locals and the Alberta tourists, as their case count is considerably higher. This has led to a spate of "Red Plate Hate", as cars with the red-lettered Alberta license plates have been vandalized with notes left on windshields to "Go home!" US-plated vehicles have also been targeted as well.
Neda still has her Ontario license plates mounted, but we haven't experienced any Blue Plate Hate yet. Not enough of us here to cause a stir, I imagine.
Blue Plates on her bike, Blue Skies in her eyes
We chatter idly over the intercom, more to take my mind off how uncomfortable my seat is, even with the Air Hawk cushion on. I miss my old R1200GS!
The conversation turns to what we're going to have for dinner. Neda says she's going to cook us up some Jamaican rice and beans. Mmm!
And then, I remembered... we don't have any propane gas for the stove!
Oh no, hiccup #2.
We had to ride to a few places around Vernon before we found a place that has stove gas in stock
During COVID, anything recreational doesn't stay on store shelves very long. Including propane gas, it seems!
It's been kind of mad scramble the last couple of days. We have most of our touring gear that we shipped from Africa, with only a couple of exceptions. We weren't too impressed with the 7C synthetic sleeping bags that we bought abroad, as they didn't keep us warm enough at night. So we donated them to our friends in Cape Town before we left. Glad I remembered this, because we had to make an emergency run to MEC last night to pick up a couple of down-filled 0C sleeping bags. These should fare better in the cooler Canadian evenings.
Another item that we couldn't bring back on the plane: our half-empty propane camping gas for our stove. Something about hazardous materials... or as the label on this bottle reads, "EXTREME DANGER"... so that had to donated as well. Which is why we're scrambling all over Vernon to find a replacement, so we can have a nice cooked dinner tonight.
