Hello Troy!! September 14th 2012 AM

Woke up to what looked like another Glorious day in Banff as seen from my rooms window.

I've got a pot of coffee brewing.  I have about 2 hours to kill.  Plenty of time to SS&S and to pack up the Glide as this was my last night here at the Banff Centre.  I was expecting to meet Troy for 9am.

Not long after I finished loading up the bike and checking out of my room I could hear the distinct rumble of CalgaryGlide's Harley coming up the road.  Let me just say how great that sound was!  It had been already sometime now that I had been riding solo ever since Hotrodad (Ken) and I parted ways back in Michigan State.  Although I really appreciated the time I had alone with myself and my ride, it was a great feeling to know I would soon be exploring the sites again with a ridding buddy.

Now to me this image pretty much says it all!  Hello Troy!!

That smile just radiated out from behind that Full Face.  I got the feeling that he knew what was in store for me and was itching just as much as me to show off the beauty of Banff.  Let's ride Troy!

So the day pretty much went like this -  Follow the leader and enjoy the views!  I don't think anyone could ask for a better way to end a visit to the Canadian Rockies, as you will witness from these next images.

Our 1st stop was not far away from the Banff Centre.  Nice little climb and we pulled off to snap a few shots.

Somewhere below off to the left was where I was staying.

  
I might have to warn you here...this will be a photo intense blog entry.  So skip ahead if your bored! lol

As we hoped on our rides for the next destination.  I took a picture of Troy ahead of me.  We had just been passed be two other motorcycles but not just any kind, they were both on RoadGlides!  Fully packed and heading West.  That little glint in the road ahead of Troy is the tail fin of the Shark Nose that just passed us.  Wish I could have gotten that pic quicker but I was kind of still in AWE of my surroundings - Which by the way NEVER subsided!

Next stop - Spiral Tunnels:  A feet in Railway engineering:

Follows is an excerpt from Wiki LINK: 

The Big Hill "temporary" line was to remain the main line for twenty-five years, until the famous Spiral Tunnels were opened on September 1, 1909.

The essential challenge was that the railway had to ascend 1,070 feet (330 m) in the space of 10 miles (16 km) from Field at 4,267 feet (1,301 m) climbing to the top of the Continental Divide at 5,340 feet (1,630 m).^[2] The narrow valleys and high mountains limited the space where the railway could stretch out and limit the grade (hence the later decisions to bore extra mileage under the mountains and lower the grades)

We hoped to see a train passing through as did everyone else waiting around; none came.  You can see the tunnel entrance/exit behind us.  Naturally on our way home a train was now doing its initial approach of the Spiral Tunnels heading Eastbound.  But we had ground to cover and so it will have to be for another time.

Back on the bikes and off to the next tourist attraction: Natural Bridge

For some really cool views of this part (and others) I suggested clicking on the following 360 Cities link and play around with the 360 degree settings in High Definition: LINK HERE for more amazing views - Hint:  Use the "Full Screen" feature.  It's the best way to take it ALL in.  Be sure to check out PEYTO lake also.

Had to share this Picture of Peyto Lake - Which is located 12 KM away as the eagle flies from our current spot - Troy this has got to be on the list for next time I pass threw the rockies to visit.

So this guy was grand enough to stay with us the whole day.  Hello Mr. Sunshine!  Is it already time for lunch?  High Noon - Let's go eat!

Banff - September 13th 2012

The whole day was mine to do what I pleased.  I decided to take advantage of the great sunny and warm weather to check out the local area and see what I might do to pass the day.
So a little cruising mode was in order.  No full riding gear, no packing, just hop on the bike and go.
This shot was taken from the parking lot of a fur trader outlet.  Poor chap who owns that shop has got to look at this view every single day.  A European couple from France were nice enough to snap this picture of me when they left the Fur Store.

It was quiet when I passed through but still early in the day.  I passed it a few times later on and it was always full of cars.
Here's the view from the Front of the Parking lot:

So having a full day to hang out in Banff there is something that I needed to do I realized - SHOP!  No no not for shoes and clothes kind of tourist shopping, but trying to see if any Sport Outlets or Camping stores might be found so I could buy a New Sleeping bag - Some of you might recall my critical DEFCON count down experience one night somewhere camping in the the Dakota's?  Well lets just say that nights events were still very fresh in my mind and I did not want to have to deal with that again on the return trip home.
Ok, so shopping in Banff should be an expensive venture one might think.  But I actually found some good prices and sales.  And as luck would have it, one place did have 20% discounts on sleeping bags.  After very close inspection of this bag which also happens to be the same model as mine but just a tad warmer.  I decided this might fit the bill.  This model seemed to have a better finish of the material to avoid zipper snags.  I made the purchase and headed back to my hotel to call www.campsavers.com for their return policy.  I've got to give a positive shout out for the great customer service from campsaver.com  They made it easy to return the product and followed up with a timely and full refund of my original sleeping bag.  All I had to do was go back to the post office in Banff and mail them my old sleeping bag.  Job done and I'm fully satisfied with my new sleeping bag.

Close-up of the good rounded off stitching on my new bag which avoids potential snagging.  Wish I thought to take a picture of the old bag to show the comparison and the manufacturing defect it had.  But this did the job.  No more Mr. Wiener Super Glued into his buns for this guy! 

With the coming and goings it was soon time for super again.  I walked into a spot I had spied earlier and thought it would be nice place to sit down at the bar and mingle with the locals.  The name screamed locals dare only enter this place and I was definitely right.  I would be somewhat disappointed however of my short visit to the "Magpie & Stump Est.1977".

As I waited to be served my 1st and only round I picked up the local paper and here is where I found out about the Speed Traps in the area from the previous weekend.  Not sure you can make out the text below but it states that a total of 434 motorists were charged with speeding over the Labour Day weekend alone!  And a total of 2096 were charged in August which was up from 770 only in July!  Guess they needed to meet some quota's me thinketh for those lackluster showings from July?  Even the BVITU are aloud vacations in July eh!

I still seemed invisible to the bar man and his close customers who were rehashing some party they got bombed at the previous night and who did the stupidest things and so on...made for some interesting eaves dropping though.  My glass had been empty for some time now and I slowly started to realize that I might not want to eat here anymore.  I still had one little bit of reading to do...This next cartoon caught my attention and got a solitary laugh from me whilst twirling that empty drink of mine:

Well I was done reading the menu, the paper and the comics and I was hungry and thirsty and it took long enough to get my 1st round that I simply left a few bills with a small token tip and left that spot.
At least I had a bit of quality reading time done.

My next stop proved to be the winning spot.  Friendly, fast and excellent service along with great patrons and good food.  What else would you expect from a good Olde-Irish-Pub?  Well for one thing a little bit of history - This might interest some of you guys so read on if you feel up to it.
I forgot to take a picture for TracyB of the houses specialty "The Hunter Pie" which came highly recommended by my waiter - So here is how this dish is described in their menu:
The Gate's Irish Fare favourite "Hunter's Pie" is a an excellent braised beef, pearl onions, mushrooms, red peppers & smoked bacon in a rich Irish whiskey sauce, enclosed with mash potoato & puff pastry.  Served with with emerald greens.
Now that was simply a delight to eat from this hungry "meat and potato" loving Irish man from Montreal.

So after finishing off that plate and giving a hearty farewell to all the patrons I was ready for some bed and maybe a bit of TV.  Something I had not done in over 13 nights now.  So back to my room and I must have watched all of 20 minutes when I awoke sometime around 03:00 am in the morning to some loud - "Bang-Bang" WWII war packed scene emanating from the tube.  I never realized it stayed on while I dozed off to never never land dreaming of Hunter's Pie and rides to come.

I still had some time to sleep and managed so slide-off to to sleep again surprisingly quickly even though I was full of excitement about the days ride to come only hours away..  

Direction ---> East - September 12th 2012

So after a short goodbye and many offers of staying on longer and being so very tempted to accept but not wanting to over stay my welcome, I graciously thanked my hosts Nathalie, Craig and the kids.  It was time to think about the next big leg of my Trip - Turning it around and pointing the Glide in an Eastern route.  The left side of my face was happy for the break and my right side had some trepidations however do not to fear...I did have some new improved non expired sunblock for the return trip somewhere in my saddle bags.

Wanting to make some good time I avoided taking the scenic route out of Vancouver and opted for the most direct route possible.  I had a nice forecast ahead of me.  Heated gear will prove to come in handy at times as elevations climbed and dropped and climbed again.  The adjustable thermostat got some tweaks every few 100 clicks or so, which proved to be another must have feature with the heated accoutrements.

Here's what the planned ride looked like from Google Map:  532 miles and over 9 hours.

Now this seems doable right?  Right!  So off I go.  Early 7am start to beat the rush hour traffic.  Now all started out well for the first 5 minutes.  Then I hit some pretty heavy traffic.  Now I had the radio on the local rock station and wouldn't you know it - warning us of a major 3 car and 1 truck accident on BC-1 East bound!  I only have like 99 miles to do on this road!  So what to do?  Do I get off or Wait it out.  Arrive late in Banff at night in the middle of nowhere or find another route.  Well has fate would have it...I cheated a bit.  Some guy on a BWM Motorcycle seemed to think it was ok for him to be on the reserved car pool lane.  He had local plates so I figured it must be ok for bikes to use the lane.  BOY was that a good time saver.  I followed him right up till the end. Now I saw maybe 5 other cars on this lane.  So I guess the residents of Vancouver are very patient drivers.  No one took this lane, besides the cars with passengers and I probably counted 3 other motorcycles on this lane.  So maybe it was legal to be there?  I would have pleaded TOURIST if ever I got pulled over, but that never happened and we passed the major accident and clean-up crews that were busily picking up car parts spread over the 2 lanes of the highway and towing trucks were doing their very best to clear the car carcasses off the road.  The BMW bike gave me a wave has he came up to his exit and I finally got to put the bike in cruise control after about 30 minutes from leaving West Van.  From the reports I heard over the radio, some folks were doomed to be stuck back there for hours has the flow of morning work commuters grew -  Phew!  Sorry for them, but happy for me.  Guess I got off ok and made some excellent time on the rest of the ride to Banff without any hitches.  Couple of gas stops and some minor adjustments to the vest  both upping the heat, then lowering it, then cranking it up to a nice warm setting.  It was a great ride. Sunny but Cool, in the low to mid 50F.  I could have stopped so many times to take pictures, but I didn't.  I still had a fair amount of riding to do and Troy warmed me that it got dark earlier in the rockies and suggested to avoid if possible night ridding.  All kind of critters big and small like to come out.  Warning understood and so I tried to keep the speed just under radar trap limits.  I later found out how aggressive the local law is about speeding (photo to follow).  One thought that goes runs through my mind as I take in all the majestic scenery that keeps rolling by me is how unbelievable this ride continues to be.  As far back as Washington and Montana States into Vancouver and onward to Banff must be ridden again and then again.  I can't imagine how locals could ever get bored with the choices of rides out here.  What lucky riders they are.  A move out here sometime in the future will be highly considered if I decide to continue living in Canada.  But I know I'm still a young rider and who knows what sites I will see down the roads?


Made it in less than 10 and a half hours.  Gained and hour with the time zone change.  I got to say that this little (huge) centre was NOT easily found.  Can anyone say welcome to heaven!
My window view from The Banff Centre - Gracious accommodations provided by Troy!  No camping for this biker tonight or two :)

Decided to go out and find some dinning - This seemed like a good spot!  Free parking.  See that red light back there?

Well when you turn right at this light.  This was my view!  Still amazes me now!

Oh let me get my fat head out of that view for you all.. Ah now that's much better!

I think I know where I'm going next for supper.  Pasta sounds good:

Noticed that little sign above the steps leading upstairs to the Pizza place, the round sign next to Athena Pizza's?  Well that's were I ended up!  Great Choice - It was a little placed called Banff Ave Pub or something.  Seemed like a nice crowd and I was happy with my order!  What do you think TracyB?

That pretty much sums up this day's ride.  It's getting late.  I need to get back to that great room for some much needed rest.  I have 2 more full days to discover the Banff area to come.  Tomorrow will be solo and Troy will be meeting up with me here on the 14th.  I'm looking forward to it.

September 11th 2012

So I have a few days to myself.  Not much planned.  I'm pretty beat up from the pace I've had up till this point.  Meeting my brother was a Huge relief.  Handing off the precious package I had for him was also completed.  Promises to keep in touch were made (and Kept).
My host have work and the kids are at school.  So I managed to spot one of the 2 rare cats.  Proof Below.  Guess he thought it was safe to come out!  Never saw him again though!  Fool him once..

So after an early breakfast and some clothe washing.    I decided to head out at a leisurely pace.  No real plans on where.  But not far.  Just want to stop off for a nice quiet lunch.  Now, imagine my surprise when I land  here...15 minutes out.  Is there anyplace around that is not simply awe striking?
I'm greeted by the hostess:  Would you like to sit on the terrace Sir?  I mean REALLY do you need to ask?

To be honest Craig's wife did recommend this spot for lunch.  Just wasn't sure I'd find it.  Sketchy directions...lol  But its only a few exits away from their home.  She did not steer me wrong (thank my lucky GPS) ;).  So here I am, sitting on this lovely restaurant terrace looking out over the Deep Cove Yacht Club and thinking to myself - I could get used to this.  I mean REALLY get used to this.  REALLY!

This gentlemen seemed to appreciate the bike.  Had a nice chat with him, his wife and son.  They all ride or used to.  Also, I was keeping a close eye on my bike.  I might have been a little askew of the paying parking area. Moments after I packed my camera away a V-Rod parked right next to me so I guess I was keeping the Motorcycle Free Parking motion alive and well in Vancouver.

Here's where my memory fails me.  This following picture seems to have been taken after I left the Marina and was heading back to my West Vancouver Base.  I can't for the sake of me remember who this couple are or why I stopped (besides the obvious Shark Nose).  I must have said hello...nice bike or something like that.  So I'm sorry for not adding any witty comment about this chance meeting...but I must have taken it...I mean its in my camera's memory card just not in my memory banks.  So if you guys know who you are and find yourself here...pleased to re-make your acquaintance.  Feel free to refresh my memory.  I'm sure you guys are great!  Oh and by the way nice bike eh! ;)

  
Laurie was the first to show up that evening at the house after school.  I must have tried to snap over 10 pictures of us out the balcony.  She looks great in EVERY single shot.  Me however, well lets just say..I needed to take 10 shots to post a passable pic.

Well that pretty much is it for Vancouver.. Already!  I had a couple of exchanges with Troy (aka: CalgaryGlide).  Going to set out East bound and meet up with him in Banff Alberta.  Time to start heading towards home.  Still have some tales to tell you all.  But I do want to end this blog entry by telling you all how utterly unbelievable this trip has been up to here.  I know we can't all get up and go and circumstances don't always allow it.  But there are a lot of feelings you discover, meanings to thing that you finally come to understand.  Time on the open road on a Motorcycle does the soul good.  I've accomplished only half of this crusade so far and I just want to thank everyone who followed and supported me near or far on this adventure..I'm truly blessed.

So on with the adventure - Monday September 10th 2012

The day after my short but albeit much anticipated meeting with my brother I did a bit of site seeing of Vancouver.  On Monday morning my buddy Craig suggested I come and visit his office at EA games before heading out to meet up with my nephew who would give me a tour of Whistler.

The EA headquarters is located on the Corner of Sanderson Way and you guessed it..Kincaid!

All I can say about the EA building complex is WOW!  Sorry no pictures aloud inside.  Top Secret stuff happening in there at the time of my visit.  But I can say that they sit on a very nice spot and have views of the rockies that blow my mind.  Had a great visit.  Great coffee.  Lots and lots of stairs and I was glad to back on the saddle of my bike after a 30 minute private tour of the facility.  Thanks again Craig for that wonderful visit.

So the plan was for me to meet up after my visit of EA Games with my nephew at the nearby HD dealer in Vancouver around 10am and head out to Whistler.  This is where I also met with Cecil (aka: Connector - roadglide.org member).  Cecil was nice enough to give me plenty of advice and routes to travel entering and leaving the great province of BC.  Now if only I knew then what I know now...you can bet I would:  A:  Stay Longer and B: Discover more of the beauty of this place.  I Will return.  Nat needs to discover this with me.
But I did have a pressing feeling that I had to move on.  I'm almost half way through my trip at this point and I know that Life is expecting me back home.  It's a great feeling to know you have something to head back too, but for now Let's enjoy the moment and the awesome views!

Here's a pic with me and Cecil out back of HD Trev Deeley Motorcycles in Vancouver.  I'm sporting my new Heated vest in this shot.  Got to say...worth every penny and it got more use than I expected.  It made some of the worse weather riding conditions much more bearable.  A 6 hour rain ride with high winds in the mid 40F comes to mind.  Probably would have only done 2 or 3 hours at best without the warmth and comfort that the vest provided.

Also noted here is that when I do return to this neck of the woods.  Cecil is the guy to shepherd us around.  I look forward to that future time with great anticipation!  Thanks again Connector for all your guidance and generosity.  We came so close to connecting for that Ride in Washington State.  Next time I won't dare miss it.


Once the visit of the Deeley's was over and our goodbye's with Cecil were done.  My nephew and I headed out to Whistler.
If memory serves me it was about an hour and a half ride from Downtown Vancouver through some of the most amazing views this Country has to offer.  I only wish my camera could do it justice (note to self: Buy a GoPro Video Cam for bike!).  I can only imagine also from what others have said how far off you can see when their are no clouds to obstruct the full range of the views..but I still got the feeling of the SPLENDOUR of this area.

After grabbing lunch in Whistler Village with Michael at a place called Mike's:

I highly recommend getting a ticket to visit the Peak 2 Peak (P2P) alpine experience.  A 4.4 kilometer journey too really get the best views of what Whistler is all about.  Now this is a little spendy at 50$/each for a day pass.  But it's worth every penny.  If you plan on staying longer or visiting back within a year, they do sell a Year pass for 75$ or so for unlimited access.  If I lived there...I would SO get one of those!

   We met one guy in one of the 3 part gondola climbs up the mountain face that was there to promote his invention "The Wheel Pack".  Some kind of uni-wheel for trekkers.  2 wheels bikes are not  aloud on the hiking passes but this little gizmo is not considered a bike...so he spent 3 days trekking through the mountain ranges.  Must have been a blast!
Here's a YouTube video of the model I believe to be the same model he was using and a link to the web site of the company: www.packwheel.com  I hope he made a lot of sales on this trip. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiE-vu6hyT0

Here's another picture I found of a competing model called a MonoWalker.

Ok enough of promoting hiking gear.  On to the pictures...

This is the plan for the Peak 2 Peak ride:

1st leg of the gondola ride:
My nephew...all smiles all the time!  He will be making good use of that camera too!

1st floor - Exit;  Woman's Lingerie and Canadian Flags ;)  Oh...its cold on this floor...and windy!

As we get into the next Gondola...we met our Trekking uni cycler and he pointed out that He had just come down from over that peak and down this passage in this next photo:  No bears...Yet!

On the next Gondola ride up I got a bit of time to call Natoue and tell her of my days plans.  My nephew was like a monkey in the gondola snapping what must have been over 3 dozen pictures or so.  Here's some of his photography.  He happens to be a paid part-time photographer to help pay for his education.  He's quite talented if ever anyone is looking for a good photographer out West I can hook you up with him.  He's got LOT's of great ideas and impresses me continuously with his range of talents.  He will work for Food/Beer and lodging :)

 I might add that two of the Gondola's have a see through glass bottom.. Imagine the feeling of emptiness under your feet!  Must be an amazing feeling/view.

Only partly paying attention to the photographer.

1st Peak view:

I'm getting a bit impressed here has hinted by the brow action and WOO sound escaping my lips :)

Next time I pass here.  I'd recommend packing a small lunch and having some decent hiking/walking shoes.  Biker Boots were OK but not the best as the terrain became very rocky (Oh! so THAT's how it gets it's name).  You will find a small food court on the other peak but it won't be cheap.

So if it was not for the Big Yellow Marker I would never have guessed we were still on a Marked Path:

Ok, these next pictures were taken moments later...remember that earlier mention of bears...well, here's a cub and within moments...MOMMY!

Now thankfully I had my fastest knife in the world buckle belt on and I was quick to make mince pie out of mama bear.  Oh yeah, another good reason for those good hiking shoes I mentioned earlier is for RUNNING!

Now also VERY important is the DIRECTION you RUN in...I choose poorly..The other Peak.

Now safely on the other side.  You can use the amenities to clean out your shorts and have a moment to think about buying a bigger knife or maybe a bazooka!
Here's a look at the inside of the chalet on this side of the peak:

And here I am feeling safe and sound from that big bad bear on the other side:

And here is my nephew showing me his skills with PhotoShop:

But I still recommend good hiking shoes even though the terrain does not seem so Tough anymore! lol

I had a great day in Whistler.  Drove my nephew back to downtown Vancouver for his night courses and rode back to West Vancouver for the night.

At this time, I could not even imagine that any days to come could top this day.  I simply did not completely understand the beauty yet to come of this great country.  Great rides to come!