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Trophy Wives, Velocoraptors and Riding North of the Wall

Every once in a while events conspire to drop you out of the world’s daily routine.  As everyone else is scurrying to work with worry lines on their faces I was disappearing into the countryside on two wheels, unfortunately the Weathernetwork had gotten the forecast wrong and my day of George was going to be more like Scott to the antarctic.
 
I knew it was going to be cold in the morning, but it was supposed to warm up to double digits later in the day.  Anything over 5°C and I can go all day, but under that core temperature eventually gets to me.  I got over to the Forks of the Credit before 9:30am and it was still only just above freezing.  Higher Ground on a weekday morning is a magical place full of millionaire retirees and trophy wives; I like to soak up the vibe.
 
“I’m sorry, we’re running out of change.  Everyone keeps paying with hundreds,” the girl at the counter apologized as an elven woman with a lovely Mandarin accent who had just gotten out of her Range Rover tried to pay for a coffee.
 
As I warmed my hands on a coffee (the heated gloves were warding off frostbite but not keeping them warm), a group of conservative retirees sitting on fat piles of cash (they all arrived in German SUVs or touring sedans) were lamenting the lack of gumption in their millennial children, all of whom were described as directionless and unwilling to make the kind of money their parents did.  “By the time I was that age I already had kids and owned my own house!” one outspoken gentleman declared, “and we worked hard for every penny!”  Of course, back then the pennies weren’t all being held by a generation that proceeded them.  The other favourite topic was ‘those damned liberals’.  Man, do those people ever hate Justin Trudeau.  If you ever have a chance to spend an hour on a weekday morning in Belfountain, you’ll enjoy the 1% watching, just try not to gag on their sense of entitlement.
 
Warmed up on excellent coffee and with sensation in my extremities again, I headed back out into a one degree warmer day.  At this point we’d already missed the forecast by a couple of degrees, and it wasn’t going to get better.  I rode up and down a completely empty Forks of the Credit, enjoying the curves without worrying about any four wheeled chicanes.  On my way back I pulled off on the side road to Brimstone.  The Credit River was spring runoff swollen and looked spectacular.  A kingfisher was working the river further up but never came close enough to catch on the camera.
 

I eventually wound my way up the single track road to where it ends. As I sat there with the engine off a dozen wild turkeys crossed the path a couple of hundred yards ahead of me up the closed trail; I dropped the kick stand and grabbed the camera.These things were enormous! They picked their way through the forest looking very prehistoric.  After ten minutes of turkey watching I walked back to the Tiger and packed up the camera.  Before I got on the road again I needed let that coffee go, so I stepped off the trail into the woods.  Have you ever had that feeling that you’re being watched?  

Standing there rather exposed, I felt that prickle and looked around to see the massive lead turkey not five feet away watching me intently – I almost jumped out of my skin.  He looked at me.  I looked at him.  I finished up and he just stood there watching me climb out of the ditch.  He then turned around majestically and walked back up the path were his crew where waiting for him before leading them away up the hill.  My advice is do not mess with that turkey.

After my close encounter of the turkey kind I headed north, following the escarpment’s winding roads. Spring runoff was a theme of this trip with all of the streams and rivers swollen with melted snow. Up in Hockley Valley I fought the urge to keep riding the roller coaster and stopped to grab some images of the exposed red clay.When I got back on the road it was behind a pile of traffic backed up behind a pensioner on their daily Tim Horton’s run. Rather than fight the demographics I took at right hand turn up Hurontario Street.  I was expecting apartment buildings and strip malls, but Hockley Valley don’t play like that.

Down where I grew up Hurontario is the main drag through a city of half a million people.  Up in Hockley it’s a single lane, twisty dirt road that winds its way up the escarpment.  The three older guys who were ahead of me on massive Harleys got to keep enjoying the parade, but I was able to turn onto that dirt trail on my Swiss Army knife-like multi-purpose bike and enjoy some more solitude.
 

I rounded a corner to find a Dufferin road works van on the side of the road. He waved me through as he was just removing the road closed sign from the winter. The road coming out of the river crossing is very steep and untended. Getting up it in the winter would be a challenge for anything on wheels. He told me I was the first one on the road this year, which felt a lot more special than the parade I’d left behind.I’d originally intended to bomb up Highway 10 for a stop and then ride back down through Mono Centre where I still wish we’d bought a house; this back route up Hurontario was better in every way.  The Tiger is such a capable road bike that I keep thinking about going with purely road biased tires next time around, but unexpected turnoffs like this are why you keep a multipurpose tire on the thing; the Metzelers handled the soft gravel and mud with ease, even on the unpassable hill.  Lightness is the goal off road, but these big adventure bikes are surprisingly capable if you’re conscious of their size and don’t try and ride them like a mountain bike.

Winding my way north through the Hockley Highlands put further lie to the weather forecast.  Rather than warming up to ten degrees it instead dropped back down to three degrees, and the wind was picking up.  Up and down the roller coaster that is Airport Road, I eventually found my way to Side Road 20 and the backdoor to River Road.

With blue, icicle fingers I unbuckled my helmet and cracked my frozen knees as I ungracefully dismounted in the Terra Nova Public House parking lot. The sky had gotten darker and what had been sporadic, light rain on my visor early now looked distinctly white and blowy. I staggered inside with my nose running and a wild look in my eye.  They quickly got me sorted out with soup and what may be the best roast beef sandwich I’ve ever had. The TNPH is one of those places that are common where I’m from but rare in Ontario – a pub with character that looks like it grew out of the ground and has always been there. As the heat worked its way back into me and my blood started pumping again, I could feel the zombification receding.

My vague plan was to work my way up the escarpment, perhaps all the way to the southern shore of Georgian Bay, but my photo/warm-up stops and the general misery of the weather made me aware of the fact that I’d reached the apex of my journey in Terra Nova. As I was looking over Google Maps the day before I’d worked out twenty one of the least boring kilometres you could ride in Southern Ontario, so the new plan after lunch was to do the loop both ways and then head back home.
 
Using TNPH as the start/end point, the idea was to hit the windiest parts of River Road and then come back around on the most interesting roads available.  It takes about fifteen leisurely minutes to make the loop, but when you’re not in a corner you’re enjoying elevation changes and some beautiful scenery.
Reinvigorated from my roast beef sandwich I did the loop backwards to scope it out and then forwards before following River Road one last time back out of the valley and onto a long and windy ride home.
 
 

You seldom spend much time on the crown of your tire.  Riding a motorcycle feels like flying most of the time, but bending one into a corner has a multiplying effect on that goodness.  When you aren’t leaning into corners you’re enjoying some whoopdeedoo elevation changes and the scenery is about as good as it gets, even on a winter-like early spring day.  You’d do a lot worse than making the ride up to Terra Nova for this bit of pavement.

After a couple of loops all the warmth from lunch was long blown away and I was dreading coming back out of the sheltered valley I’d been enjoying.  A last ride down River Road to Horning’s Mills (another place I wish we’d bought a house) had me ignoring the swollen streams because I didn’t want to stop the roller coaster ride.  What did finally bring me to a stop was the overflowing waterfall out of the pond in Horning’s Mills.

After this last stop I made my way through the quiet village and up onto the Shelburne Highlands where fields of wind turbines do their business.  Up on the heights forty kilometre an hour gusts were knocking me around in addition to the plunging temperature.  The partially sunny high of ten had turned into a cloudy and windy high of three.  The windmills were spinning fiercely as I passed through them, and that’s when the flurries started.  A few flakes of snow suddenly turned into reduced viability as snow snakes eddied across the pavement.  I clung to the heated grips but the blasting northern winds hitting me in the side meant double the wind chill.  I couldn’t go much further like this.

I ducked behind the windshield when I could, grimly soldering on as the sky darkened and the wind gusts increased to over sixty kilometres per hour.  I usually make the sixty-six kilometre push back home from Horning’s Mills to Elora in about an hour, but not this time.  Riding into Grand Valley I knew there was a coffee shop on the main street and for the second time that day I staggered into a warm shop with a running nose and a wild look in my eye, this time with snow on me.

Half an hour later, and while snow swirled around the trusty Tiger outside, I’d restored feeling to my fingers and caffeinated myself for the final leg of what had turned into a much shorter and more difficult ride than I’d planned.  As I walked outside an old guy coming in looked me up and down and said, “nice day to be out on a bike…”
“All I can say is that The Weather Network lied to me!” I replied.  He laughed.

South of Grand Valley I was following the Grand River and being off the Shelburne Highlands meant a break from the chronic winds and snow.  Heading south also meant the wind was at my back instead of trying to dismount me.  I finally got my frozen carcas home and stood in front of the fire forever, trying to get heat back in me.

After feeling returned I discovered my wedding ring had fallen off my senseless fingers at some point when I pulled my gloves off.  We’re nineteen years married this summer and I’ve never lost the ring before.  I couldn’t find it in the obvious places so emailed my various stops hoping it had showed up.  It took a second search the next morning when my brain had warmed up to find the ring in the bottom of my bag where it had obviously fallen out of my gloves at some point; good save there.

As painful as it was, I still feel like this trip cleared away the cobwebs and let me look upon the world in a way that any car trip wouldn’t.  I didn’t just go for a drive, I did something genuine and difficult and have a tale of trophy wives, dinosaurs and snow snakes to tell from it.

If it was easy everyone would do it.

Some other pictures from the trip:

Over the Credit River watching kingfishers

 

Hockley Valley Road.
 
At The Terra Nova Public House ready for another lap.
 
Great on the road, but that’s the only place you’ll ever use one.

 

Winter runoff in Hockley River.

 

Horning’s Mills Run Off.

 

If you like the twisties, the loop out of Terra Nova is a keeper.

 

 

 

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Athletic Intent

Coming to terms with the Fireblade…

 The first couple of times I rode the Honda I found the riding position hanging over the gas tank somewhat extreme.  The bike was astonishingly light compared to others I’ve ridden (dirt bikes excepted), and changes directions like it’s telepathic, though the clip on handlebars mean you don’t get a lot of leverage when turning.

 While the riding position is pretty extreme compared to the adventure and sports touring bikes I’ve ridden recently, it’s the bike’s geometry that really surprises.  The rake on the front wheel is nearly vertical, and feels like it’s right under your hands rather than stretched out in front of you.  This results in those telepathic direction changes.

I’ve actually jumped on the Fireblade and had my groin seize and had to stop to stretch.  I’ve taken to doing some limbering up, Zombieland style, before I get moving on the Honda.  It’s nothing that a bit of yoga doesn’t address in my 50 year old self, but the ‘Blade is an extreme thing that demands physical interaction; it reminds you that it’s a SPORTS bike.

So, why be uncomfortable?  It might be argued that the CBR900RR is an appearance bike; something you put on to get attention, but that isn’t why it’s the way it is.  The ‘Blade is built to explore the physical limits of what a motorcycle can do – it’s the opposite of a cruiser, it’s about the sport of motorcycling, not the appearance.  Every choice on the bike, including the riding position, is designed to maximize speed and agility.  The ‘Blade is more of a boxing boot than a high heel.





One of the most shocking things about riding the Fireblade is its acceleration.  I’ve yet to own a bike where I can’t turn the throttle to the stop opening it up… until the ‘Blade.  It’s so light it pulls strong through the first sixty-five hundred RPMs, but then it lunges to the redline in a startling manner.  Even in higher gears I haven’t turned the throttle to the stop yet.


The CBR900RR is described as a bike that is engineered to exceed your abilities but is accessible enough to show you how to improve them, and that’s just how it feels.  As someone who has gone out of his way to explore motorcycling, it checks a box for yet another aspect of the sport to discover.  I won’t be putting big miles on the CBR, but they’ll be highly intentional and informative ones.

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Finding a State of Flow in Motorcycling

I just finished Guy Martin’s autobiography.  Towards the end of the book he talks about taking a non-rider around a road racing track in Ireland.  The show had a psychologist on hand who talked about the seeming insanity of motorcycle road racing.  Rather than just seeing it as adrenaline junkie speed thrills, the psychologist talks about the state of flow and how an athlete in it isn’t in a risk mind-set.  The state of flow is an expanded awareness that most people have insufficient training and skill to be familiar with.  The extreme athlete isn’t riding a wave of thrill, they wouldn’t be able to perform if they did.

 Stressed but prepared athletes enter a state of flow where they are so engaged with what they are doing that they disappear into their actions.  This isn’t an act of imagination where they are thinking about what they look like from the outside, it’s self awareness through the act itself.  This is a truer mirror of the self than any imaginative act.  

 Many people consider self awareness to be this moment of recognition where you’re constructing how you think you fit into the world around you, but this is ultimately fictional and prone to psychological abstraction.  A doubting person won’t see themselves as they are any more than an arrogant person would.  It might provide you with a vague sense of your place in the world, but it isn’t trustworthy.

Bull Durham is one of my favourite sports films.  The moment when Crash Davis catches himself thinking when he should only be a quick bat is a great example of an athlete being aware of a break in their state of flow.

Awareness in the state of flow has much more in common with the long tradition of Zen and other Eastern philosophies where the practitioner’s sense of self is lost in the act.  But being lost in that act allows you to live in the moment more completely.  Instead of thinking about what might happen next or self-criticizing while performing, someone in the state of flow isn’t conscious in the typical manner.  The wasted energy spent on consciously being self aware is instead spent in the activity itself; the activity becomes who you are.

 When a talking head asks an athlete what they were thinking about when they were performing, the athlete always seems confused by the question.  When they ask if the audience was a factor in their performance they are baffled.  If you’re rolling ideas around in your head while you’re trying to perform you know you’re not at peak performance, you’re not the moment itself.

One of the reasons I enjoy riding motorcycles is because I’ve been doing it long enough that I can get into the process and become a part of the ride.  Zen monks use physical tasks like sweeping the floor to put themselves into the present.  I find riding a motorcycle does the same thing for me.  The complexity of using all of my limbs and my whole body to operate the machine allows me to let go of my conscious self and become something more.  


In a more extreme case like Guy Martin’s, he is able to get into a flow state while doing almost two hundred miles an hour on a motorbike on a public road.  This can seem like breath taking daredevilry, but it isn’t, it’s a master in the state of flow.  The mind is clear, you’re aware of more than you ever can be when you’re looking through the pinched viewpoint of your conscious mind.


That expansive state of awareness is what happens when you’re in flow, and it feels wonderful.  You can see out of the back of your head and your body seems capable of reflexes that would confound you if you tried them consciously.  If you’ve ever experienced that moment of bliss,  you know it’s worth finding again.

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High School Motorcycle Club

I’m thinking about starting a motorcycle club at the high school I work at.  This should be an interesting as it will highlight the general fear around motorbiking.  Our school runs downhill ski racing, mountain biking, rugby, and ice hockey teams, but I suspect that motorcycling may be an uphill struggle to establish as a club.

A number of our teachers and students ride.  We even have a student who is a competitive motorcross rider.  I bumped into a graduate last year when I was writing my motorcycling learner’s test, she was taking the motorcycling technician course at Conestoga College in Guelph.  There is expertise, interest and activity around motorcycling in our school and our community, I only hope that the panicky liability-thinking that dictates a lot of decision making in schools calms down and takes a rational look at this.  Offering students access to the experience and opportunity a club provides would lead to a safer and more well rounded introduction to motorcycling.  From that point of view, every high school should have a club!

We could pull off field trips to motorcycle shows (along with the auto-tech department) and offer training opportunities both off road and on road.  We have several local motorcycle retailers nearby who we could work with doing seminars or information sessions on various bikes and gear.  The club would let the more experienced staff and students express their skill while offering the bike-curious a more thorough introduction to motorcycling.

I’m going to pitch this when I get back and see what the response is, I’m hoping reason trumps fear.

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We’re All Just So Busy

If I hear this one more time I might pop.  We’re no busier than we ever were.  If we were all so busy we’d have solved world hunger, the impending energy crisis, unemployment, racism, our broken democracies and poverty.  If we’re all so terribly busy, what is it that we’re busy with, because it doesn’t appear to be anything important.

Most recently I heard it on CBC radio when someone was talking about an online dating site that allows you to quickly, with little more than a photo and a couple of bio points, select a date and meet them.  Not surprisingly, the CBC piece was on the disasters that have come from this.  When asked why people do it, the interviewee trotted out, “well, we’re all just so busy now-a-days.”  I would suggest that if you are too busy to develop a considered relationship with a possible life partner, then you’re getting what you deserve.

These people aren’t busy, they are distracted.

I see students who spend more than half their walking hours engaged in the (mostly) viewing and (seldom) producing of social media.  Much of this is so utterly banal that it defies belief, yet people get so wrapped up in it that they feel trapped.  For those who feel the urge to publish their every thought for the world to see, the results are often less than complimentary.

There are those who are leveraging social media in interesting ways, but for the vast majority it is a passive time sink that has conditioned them to do many things poorly and barely ever finish a thought.

This myopia feeds data bankers who make a lot of money from the freely given marketing information.  It also feeds the industry that creates a treadmill of devices to cater to the process.  Lastly, our digital myopia also feeds the egos of all the ‘very busy’ people who see themselves as a vital part of this wonderful new democracy.

At yoga the other week our instructor gave us this:  pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.  There are things we need to do in life in order to survive and thrive:  look after our bodies, look after our minds, look after our dependants, seek and expand our limitations, find a good life.  This can be very challenging, but it is dictated by choice.  When we make good choices we tend to see a reward.  Eat well and feel better, expand your mind and learn something new, look after your family and enjoy a loving, safe environment.  Poor choices lead to poor circumstances.  In a world where we have more dependable machines and efficient communication, we should enjoy a sense of ease greater than previous generations who had to tune carburetors and ring through telephone exchanges.

Make some good choices.  How busy are you really?

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October 15th? Try a Long Distance Rally!

Many bikes of all shapes and sizes.  If you ride, a long distance
rally is a great way to meet new riders and challenge yourself.

Can you make your way to Woodstock, Ontario on October 15th?  The second ever Lobo Loco long distance motorcycle rally runs on that day.  I had a blast at the first one and want another go.

The rally is on the verge of getting enough people to run.  If you’re in the North Eastern US, Quebec or Ontario or Michigan/Ohio, and can make it out to Woodstock, Ontario on October 15th, you won’t be disappointed.

Give it a go, it’s a blast!

 

 

You will find yourself in strange places you wouldn’t otherwise stop in!
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Chain and no Agony

Follow up to Chain & Agony and How to Size and Replace a Motorcycle Chain…


The whole process of breaking the chain and installing it took about half an hour this time around.  The o-ring chain I got was easy to break using the tool I picked up, and installing the new master link on the chain took only moments.  The three in one DRC Chain Tool I got (chain breaker, outer plate presser, rivet presser) was easy to use and looks good doing it.  It might be my favourite tool at the moment.

The chain-breaking tool comes with two sizes of /privet pushing bit.  The blue bit was for 500 sized chains (the Ninja’s is
a 520).  You back off the big bolt and install the push pin, then use the smaller outer bolt to push the pin into the rivet on the chain. The tool automatically centres the rivet, so you’re true all the way through.
The new chain was a 120 link chain, the Ninja takes 114 links, so that’s 6 links off the end.  The hole in the
top is where the chain pin falls out once you’ve pushed it through.
Close-up of the blue chain bit .  There is a pin inside it that the outer bolt pushes through, pushing the rivet
right out of the chain.  Once the pin falls out the chain falls apart.  You end up with a clean break and two
inner chain links ready to be re-attached on the bike with a master link.
Six links of the 120 link chain removed.  One pin is pushed right out, the other was pushed
out far enough to dismantle the chain.
I installed the master link on the sprocket – it keeps everything lined up and made installation easy.  After
pressing on the side plate (gently, checking that it’s in line with the other links and the chain has play in it),
the only tricky bit was installing the retaining clip, it took a few tries.  When you get it though you know for
sure because it makes a very satisfying click.
With the chain back on and lubricated, everything is tight.  The change to how the bike feels is subtle
but very satisfying.  The engine feels much more firmly connected to the back wheel now.  No sags and tight
spots like on the old chain.
I got this mighty DRC Pro chain
tool at Royal Distributing in
Guelph.




Now that I’ve got a handle on this and the right tools for the job, chains don’t worry me any more.  This process also emphasized how surgical bike mechanics are.  I started off doing heavy equipment repair as a millwright and then did a couple of years in automotive.  Compared to that kind of work, motorcycle mechanics feel more like surgery than butchery.  Patience and a careful hand are more important than brute force.

Now more than ever I’m looking for an old bike to dismantle and rebuild to get an inside feel for how motorbikes go together.