Author Topic: PNW Bandit ride II (Read 34388 times)

06 Greyhound · « **Reply #45 on:** June 26, 2007, 01:34:11 AM »

No news yet

I will call Al tomorrow and see what happened.

I will post my report on the ride here. This is a long story but I send photos of my trips to my adopted Greyhound in Florida. So this is not intended to be a report for riders,
in which case I would ask that you give me a break. My puppy needs to see where he is going.

The trip went well for the most part, with one notable exception, but I will leave that for those who where closer, to the incident to describe.

I started with a short ride to Longview and Ian Tyson’s Navajo Mug with my son, who snapped this photo for me and then I was off on my ride

The first stop was at the town site of Frank This place still gives me the creeps, and as a special note to myself, everything in the Crowsnest Pass shuts up tight at 8 in the evening, Buy gas before 8 !!!! No exception.

I did find some people in the town of Jaffery who opened their station for me, so I was able to make my way on to Cranbrook and finally to Creston the next morning for Breakfast at Granny’s. I was not the only person to think that

Creston is at mile one on DH 1 I noticed that there actually are reasons beyond the road for people to come here

Who knew?

The end of the road is the Balfor Ferry the dock is in a very nice location.

I had something of a wait, and the line up started to grow within minutes

After a while it became tough to find a bandit in the crowd.

Just a few too many bikes on this ferry ride

Next was the town of Kaslo and I found a nice place for lunch.
Note to self $10 is too much for a cheese sandwich and a coffee.

They have an Artist market and some very nicely restored buildings.

From Kaslo I went over DH 5 to New Denver and then south to Crescent Valley the site of some awesome white water

I took the cross road to the Town of Nelson, which I have to get back to and spend some time there. I did find a nice water fall

I made it to Salmo for Saturday evening where I had made a reservation, and met with Bobcat who rode up from Washington for the ride and managed to find a room out the back of the motel. This is what Bobcat describes as the perfect Motorcycle Motel, clean and cheap.

We did look around for the other that were supposed to be meeting us.

But didn’t find each other the next morning at a coffee shop, and then after much chatting and re-fueling we got going

Now the bad part, H2rick, lost it on one of the curves about 20 km south of New Denver.
He will be alright in a few weeks, dislocated shoulder and very hard knock on the head.
His bike will need a little repair and new mirror but was in good enough shape to be ridden to New Denver for him.

After getting H2rick to hospital and sorting out his belongings we continued the ride into a rain storm and a more subdued return trip over DH5 and back to Kaslo.

From there back to the Balfor Ferry

After a night in Creston and a Breakfast at Granny’s (recommended, along with the motel next door) I headed off for home and made my way back through the Crowsnest.

This area is called The Whale Back, There are no roads here and no road signs, and is one of the last unbroken natural areas on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies.

Note the sky in this second photo.
It contains hail, lots of hail, an inch thick on the road for a stretch of a couple of miles.

Yes to end my trip I was treated to a 150 km ride in rain and hail. At one point I had to ride the rumble strip on the shoulder to keep traction.
It sounds like I was not the only one to have a rough ride home.
I hope every one else made it home safe and dry.

06 Greyhound · « **Reply #46 on:** June 26, 2007, 11:06:45 AM »

Just talked to Al and he got H2rick home at around midnight last night. Rick will not be riding for a few weeks but he will be fine.
Al said that Rick really has only two problems at the moment, He can't light his pipe or wipe his butt.

I stated in the strongest terms that Rick will have to deal with those problems on his own.

Red01 · « **Reply #47 on:** June 26, 2007, 02:38:25 PM »

Sorry to hear of Rick's little incident!

Get well soon!

And what's this? Looks like Bobcat working on his bike?
Well, I guess someone had to take my place.

pmackie · « **Reply #48 on:** June 27, 2007, 12:54:28 PM »

Hey guys...

Quote

The Salmo-Creston Pass was snowed in

What, you didn't ride it anyway...

(been there, done that-riding not recommended).

I got home from my day ride no issues on Sunday night. Sorry I couldn't make more of the trip.

Quote

And what's this? Looks like Bobcat working on his bike?

Naa...his little can of chain lube had just given up the ghost, and he need some of the "good" stuff from my big can.

Anyone game for a run down over the Mount St. Helens pass area, SW of Yakima. Maybe July 21/22/23rd?

06 Greyhound · « **Reply #49 on:** June 27, 2007, 11:12:20 PM »

Quote from: "pmackie"

Hey guys...

Quote
The Salmo-Creston Pass was snowed in

What, you didn't ride it anyway... (been there, done that-riding not recommended).

I got home from my day ride no issues on Sunday night. Sorry I couldn't make more of the trip.

Quote
And what's this? Looks like Bobcat working on his bike?

Naa...his little can of chain lube had just given up the ghost, and he need some of the "good" stuff from my big can.

Anyone game for a run down over the Mount St. Helens pass area, SW of Yakima. Maybe July 21/22/23rd?

I'm glad you made it home in one piece and without problems.
I bet that ride would be a lot of fun, but I will be out on Vancouver Island in my truck, with the wife and my dogs in tow.
How about something in late August or early September?
I'm looking forward to getting out on the road again, and the weather is usually pretty good, just shorter days.

Sven · « **Reply #50 on:** June 28, 2007, 06:32:01 PM »

Sorry to hear about H2Rick, but otherwise sounds like a great trip. Wish it were a little more do-able from where I live, but maybe next time. Thanks for the pix and trip report.

H2RICK · « **Reply #51 on:** July 04, 2007, 02:22:59 PM »

What REALLY Happened On The PNW June '07 Bandit Ride......at least from my perspective.....

Yes, it’s true....after ~45 years of street riding, I finally had my first reportable bike accident. No, there was no other vehicle involved. I rode off the road into a shallow ditch because I was trying to adjust my load while underway. Yes, that’s a very dumb thing to do and I have no excuses, except for the famous one: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Oh, and, yes Matt, you WERE right....the road ISN'T straight like I thought....so I feel a little better, having run off a curve rather than having ridden off a straight road.

I survived with a cracked rib, a dislocated left shoulder and had my bell rung. The whole thing happened at low speed (~20-25km/hr) so was almost like dropping the bike in a parking lot.
The fairing on poor, mistreated “#17" is history, along with the front fender, left mirror and turn signal. All other damage is limited to scratches and can be fixed fairly easily by my buddy Nigel who is a fantastic painter, so no probs there. Yes, I’ve learned that you should pull over and stop to make ANY adjustments to ANY part of the bike. Simple stuff, really, but sometimes it takes a wake-up call like this for it to sink in. Please feel free to profit from my dumbness.
Now for the good stuff.
Paul (pmackie) tracked us down Sunday morning in the municipal park in Salmo where the Cowtown guys had camped overnight. We eventually met up with Matt and Tony and we all got together for nice leisurely breakfast in bustling downtown Salmo.
The Bandit guys were: Matt (Bobcat) on his 1200S, Paul (pmackie) on his 600S, Tony (06 Greyhound) on his 1200S and my buddy, Bandit Bruce, on his 1200S, as well as myself, of course, on my 1200S. There were a bunch of my and Bruce’s buddies from Cowtown on various Beemers, so I guess you could call this the “Ride of The Killer B’s”, if you wanted to.
After breakfast we took a few pics (see pics below) and then set off to ride over to Castlegar for a back road ride on the twisties that Paul said we’d really enjoy. This suburban-country style road was a laff-riot and Paul rides that 600 like he stole it. If Bruce and I weren’t riding 1200's we would never have caught and passed him...finally. The rest of the guys followed along and watched the 3 of us playing Joe Racer up front. This part of the day was great and what BC roads are all about.
Then off up #3A towards New Denver for my “rendezvous with destiny” which is NOT what was supposed to happen. We intended to ride the #31A from New Denver over to Kaslo....but instead, I ended up in the New Denver hospital getting poked and prodded by the doc.
Sorry that I messed up the ride guys.....but you DID get to ride the #31A eventually and I would have loved to been there to enjoy it too. Instead, I was asleep in a motel in New Denver because these small rural hospitals in the interior don’t have any beds for overnighters.
My buddy, Big Al, rode back to Cowtown, had a quick sleep at home and then drove his pickup all the way back to New Denver to rescue me and #17 before my motel bill went through the roof.
It’s taken me this long to post my account of the whole affair because my shoulder has finally loosened up to the point where I can actually use more than one or two fingers on one hand to type with.
Again, my apologies to all involved for making such a dumb mistake and wrecking all the plans we had for such a great weekend. Hopefully the NEXT ride will be a lot better and far more “uneventful”.....for everyone. Thanks to everyone for their concerns about my condition. My shoulder needs all the good karma it can get.....so I can start riding again.
This summer's weather looks 'wayyyyy too good to miss just sitting around home. Hopefully we can all get together again for one more ride before the "s" word happens.

Note that the pics with the white borders were taken by my buddy Big Al. For some inexplicable reason he can't seem to get the year set right on his camera so I added the tag with the correct date.

Red01 · « **Reply #52 on:** July 04, 2007, 03:36:30 PM »

Good to hear from you! Get well soon!

So, did the Mounties and to the dent in your wallet?

Bobcat · « **Reply #53 on:** July 04, 2007, 04:02:15 PM »

Quote from: "Red01"

Good to hear from you! Get well soon!

So, did the Mounties and to the dent in your wallet?

Rick can confirm, but my guess is no. Cary, the mountie that showed up, was the absolute coolest cop I've ever had the pleasure to meet. We were on a first name basis within 5 minutes, and he offered to store Rick's gear and bike for as long as needed.

I told the guys afterwards that if Rick had the misfortune to wreck in Washington, the WSP woulda written him a nice ticket and certainly wouldn't have offered to store anything (unless it was in the impound lot).

stormi · « **Reply #54 on:** July 05, 2007, 04:55:35 AM »

Glad to hear you're doing well Rick! It's good to hear that there were no other mishaps.

I'm probably out for any trips this year, unless ya'll hit Alberta. Unless I can find a way for the cat to ride on the back of the bike, but I haven't found a helmet small enough for her yet.

H2RICK · « **Reply #55 on:** July 05, 2007, 08:57:38 PM »

Nope, folks, no tickets, no fines and no impound fees. A low speed single vehicle accident like mine is just that....an accident.....so.....no violation --- no charges. The bike was stored outside the fence of the impound area but still on RCMP property, so no charge for the service. In a place like New Denver NOBODY even THINKS of stealing stuff left on police property. The town is just too small for that kind of thing to happen.
The worrying aspect to the whole thing is if my insurance company were to get hold of the accident report from the RCMP.....but there's no reciprocity between Alberta and BC....yet.
BC is really pushing for this because they have socialist government vehicle insurance and, of course, want to know what their BC licenced drivers are up to in other jurisdictions. Free-enterprise Alberta, quite naturally, says "Fuggedaboudit!!!". If BC drivers violate the law in Alberta, we'll take their money and that's the end of the whole thing.
A small victory in the fight against "big brotherism".
Of course the vehicle insurance industry in Alberta would love to have access to BC's tickets database.....but without reciprocity, that ain't happening either.
Another small victory.....as long as Alberta keeps resisting the whole reciprocity blandishments of BC. Here's hoping...

Again, thanks to all for your concern and wishes for a speedy recovery. It'll be interesting to see what the physio guy has to say next Thursday.
Insult to injury: Big Al and a bunch of the guys are going riding/camping this weekend for an overnighter on Sat/Sun and will probably be able to sleep under the stars sans tents. This is a VERY rare occurence in Alberta.....and I'm missing it. I could probably drive my truck out to the campsite but that, of course, misses the whole point.

Red01 · « **Reply #56 on:** July 05, 2007, 11:06:45 PM »

Quote from: "H2RICK"

I could probably drive my truck out to the campsite but that, of course, misses the whole point.

Not really... you can carry a lot more beer in your truck.

stormi · « **Reply #57 on:** July 06, 2007, 03:55:09 AM »

And you have to think of it a different way. You're the chase vehicle. Ready to render supplies and aid if needed.

H2RICK · « **Reply #58 on:** July 07, 2007, 11:56:20 PM »

Oh, c'mon....you guys are just trying to cheer me up.

I refuse to be happy about being sidelined by my own stupidity
when everyone else is enjoying the best riding weather we've had since 1996.....and I'm just a spectator instead of a grinning participant.

Well, hopefully the physio guy will have some good news for me, come Thursday.

Seriously....thanks for the efforts to buck me up somewhat. Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle for Big Al's Annual BC Ride the second weekend of August. Well, we'll see.....

06 Greyhound · « **Reply #59 on:** July 08, 2007, 12:18:19 AM »

Quote from: "H2RICK"

Oh, c'mon....you guys are just trying to cheer me up.
I refuse to be happy about being sidelined by my own stupidity
when everyone else is enjoying the best riding weather we've had since 1996.....and I'm just a spectator instead of a grinning participant.
Well, hopefully the physio guy will have some good news for me, come Thursday.
Seriously....thanks for the efforts to buck me up somewhat. Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle for Big Al's Annual BC Ride the second weekend of August. Well, we'll see.....

Glad you are feeling better.
Now about Al's ride in August. I would like some details.
I should be able to make that for a few days at least. Maybe we can out number the beemers again.