Hey all. I'd like to say thanks (again) to all those who texted, PM'd, and reached out in the last many months since I stepped away here. Once again I'm flattered anyone cared or noticed I was gone.
I've been busy making up for last years lack of riding due to the whole head injury thing. I still have some lingering symptoms, I'm now a CPAP user (apparently quite a few post concussion syndrome sufferers end up developing obstructive sleep apnea as a result), but whatever, life goes on. I adapted to the CPAP quick and when I am sleeping, I sleep better....but I'm still having sleep issues in other ways. Blah blah, Coles Notes version, I'm way better than I was last year, still not 100%. Gained a bunch of weight through this whole debacle that I can't get off now, so yay, there's that too.
The James Bay trip finally happened. We made a big loop out of it, east to Ottawa and then the Montreal area up through La Mauricie National Park, then NW to the JBR, up, down, and back down to the GTA. La Mauricie National Park was disappointing, the roads in almost all of Quebec were absolutely terrible as expected quality wise (but great scenery in many places), with the exception of mile zero through mile 381 of the JBR ironically which was the best road we rode on in the entirety of the Quebec Portion. The north section was brutal and caused a breakdown at one point about 100km north of the 381 relay (just about the WORST spot possible) when my bike spit it's drive belt because of a rock that got sucked through the rear pulley I assumed. Moments of terror but we were thankfully able to get it back on after a roadside repair, and it was fine for the remainder of the trip, and continues fine to this day despite a bent retainer on the rear pulley that I'll address over the winter. No other issues except for a little rain. Rode over 100km of gravel roughly on the trip including a section of the Trans Tiaga (yep, a Goldwing, a Star Voyager, and a ST1100 all rocked the gravel, we're a tough bunch and not afraid of a little dirt), and got to some awesome places as a result. Photos below.
We camped, we cooked, we had a blast. We only wish we had more time in Chisasibi as that little town was way different than any of us expected in a good way, and we wish we had more time to spend a few days to chat with the locals and such. Radisson was boring with the exception of a most excellent guide during our tour of the hydroelectric dam & facility which was just epic. Sadly, photos not allowed during all the "down inside the mountain" portion.
Last week the three of us took off again and spent a week motocamping in West Virginia. Holy **** is that ever an underappreciated motorcycle area - we base camped just outside of Elkins and did 200-400k day rides every day. Epic roads, and we didn't cover 1/3 of them, so we are planning to go back. Couldn't have ordered better weather honestly except for a few cool starts - last Monday we crawled out of our tents to 2 degrees celsius. But we all have good cold weather gear and were prepared, and honestly, I'll take cool riding days to sweltering hot any day.
A few other shorter trips here and there, went out to the ADK's for a weekend with friends, lots of the usual shorties and such. Hoping to hit 20,000km this year but not sure I'll make it, used up a lot of vacation travelling with the camper as well, on adventures of a different kind with the wifey.
The new bike is absolutely glorious. This bike is seriously something that Yamaha did right, it's a shame they dropped the whole touring segment years ago and abandoned it. I call it a "Goldwing with a soul", an actual V-Twin that has some character vs the Goldwing sewing machine. I love everything about it and have absolutely no desire to buy anything new anytime soon. I have a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty on it and I hope to mile the **** out of it inside those 5 years and collect on a rebuild or something and then keep racking the miles in the multiple hundreds of thousands. My only regret is not being irresponsible years ago and buying it years earlier.
At the entry gate to the JBR.
The last gas station before the beginning of the 381km stretch of the James Bay Road. We all made it without needing our Jerry cans, but our Goldwing friend (towing the trailer with a lot of our camping gear) cruised in with milliliters to spare.
One of our less favourite campsites on the Rupert River - we arrived late and took what we could find, ironically there was a WAY nicer spot just across the bridge. Last years forest fires were evident everywhere, it had clearly come right into this campground area and burned right around this very site.
One of the more memorable things was the insanely long sunsets up there. They lasted hours. Didn't get dark until after 11PM and the sun was coming up (and the birds chirping) shortly after 4AM. Made for challenging sleeping on a few occasions after staying up too late around the campfire. Unfortunately no northern lights during our entire trip.
Another burned area along the JBR.
The Giants Staircase at the Legrande generating station.
At James Bay.
We touched the water of course so we all "officially" rode to Nunavut. Unfortunately it was cold, starting to rain, and not super pleasant in general so our time was cut short. A plan to perhaps take a dip wasn't happening. It had reached more or less 30c earlier in the week, but was only about 5c the day we were there later in the week so that wasn't gonna happen.
One of the photos I wanted (my bike with a cree sign) in Chisasibi.
More photos in next response. Can only do 10 attachments at a time apparently.
I've been busy making up for last years lack of riding due to the whole head injury thing. I still have some lingering symptoms, I'm now a CPAP user (apparently quite a few post concussion syndrome sufferers end up developing obstructive sleep apnea as a result), but whatever, life goes on. I adapted to the CPAP quick and when I am sleeping, I sleep better....but I'm still having sleep issues in other ways. Blah blah, Coles Notes version, I'm way better than I was last year, still not 100%. Gained a bunch of weight through this whole debacle that I can't get off now, so yay, there's that too.
The James Bay trip finally happened. We made a big loop out of it, east to Ottawa and then the Montreal area up through La Mauricie National Park, then NW to the JBR, up, down, and back down to the GTA. La Mauricie National Park was disappointing, the roads in almost all of Quebec were absolutely terrible as expected quality wise (but great scenery in many places), with the exception of mile zero through mile 381 of the JBR ironically which was the best road we rode on in the entirety of the Quebec Portion. The north section was brutal and caused a breakdown at one point about 100km north of the 381 relay (just about the WORST spot possible) when my bike spit it's drive belt because of a rock that got sucked through the rear pulley I assumed. Moments of terror but we were thankfully able to get it back on after a roadside repair, and it was fine for the remainder of the trip, and continues fine to this day despite a bent retainer on the rear pulley that I'll address over the winter. No other issues except for a little rain. Rode over 100km of gravel roughly on the trip including a section of the Trans Tiaga (yep, a Goldwing, a Star Voyager, and a ST1100 all rocked the gravel, we're a tough bunch and not afraid of a little dirt), and got to some awesome places as a result. Photos below.
We camped, we cooked, we had a blast. We only wish we had more time in Chisasibi as that little town was way different than any of us expected in a good way, and we wish we had more time to spend a few days to chat with the locals and such. Radisson was boring with the exception of a most excellent guide during our tour of the hydroelectric dam & facility which was just epic. Sadly, photos not allowed during all the "down inside the mountain" portion.
Last week the three of us took off again and spent a week motocamping in West Virginia. Holy **** is that ever an underappreciated motorcycle area - we base camped just outside of Elkins and did 200-400k day rides every day. Epic roads, and we didn't cover 1/3 of them, so we are planning to go back. Couldn't have ordered better weather honestly except for a few cool starts - last Monday we crawled out of our tents to 2 degrees celsius. But we all have good cold weather gear and were prepared, and honestly, I'll take cool riding days to sweltering hot any day.
A few other shorter trips here and there, went out to the ADK's for a weekend with friends, lots of the usual shorties and such. Hoping to hit 20,000km this year but not sure I'll make it, used up a lot of vacation travelling with the camper as well, on adventures of a different kind with the wifey.
The new bike is absolutely glorious. This bike is seriously something that Yamaha did right, it's a shame they dropped the whole touring segment years ago and abandoned it. I call it a "Goldwing with a soul", an actual V-Twin that has some character vs the Goldwing sewing machine. I love everything about it and have absolutely no desire to buy anything new anytime soon. I have a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty on it and I hope to mile the **** out of it inside those 5 years and collect on a rebuild or something and then keep racking the miles in the multiple hundreds of thousands. My only regret is not being irresponsible years ago and buying it years earlier.
At the entry gate to the JBR.
The last gas station before the beginning of the 381km stretch of the James Bay Road. We all made it without needing our Jerry cans, but our Goldwing friend (towing the trailer with a lot of our camping gear) cruised in with milliliters to spare.
One of our less favourite campsites on the Rupert River - we arrived late and took what we could find, ironically there was a WAY nicer spot just across the bridge. Last years forest fires were evident everywhere, it had clearly come right into this campground area and burned right around this very site.
One of the more memorable things was the insanely long sunsets up there. They lasted hours. Didn't get dark until after 11PM and the sun was coming up (and the birds chirping) shortly after 4AM. Made for challenging sleeping on a few occasions after staying up too late around the campfire. Unfortunately no northern lights during our entire trip.
Another burned area along the JBR.
The Giants Staircase at the Legrande generating station.
At James Bay.
We touched the water of course so we all "officially" rode to Nunavut. Unfortunately it was cold, starting to rain, and not super pleasant in general so our time was cut short. A plan to perhaps take a dip wasn't happening. It had reached more or less 30c earlier in the week, but was only about 5c the day we were there later in the week so that wasn't gonna happen.
One of the photos I wanted (my bike with a cree sign) in Chisasibi.
More photos in next response. Can only do 10 attachments at a time apparently.
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