Oh... Just stuff.

SUMMER is in full swing. 

Sometimes I am the motor!

It's easy to forget the east coast gets an actual 4 seasons.  We get cold winters, sometimes with lots of snow, a brilliant spring with the odd storm to remind us who's the Boss.  There's golden, blazing colorful fall, most favorite for many and of course there is a 2 and a half month summer, where you can count on mostly sunny days, warm winds and some heat and humidity.  We are in the heat and humidity period at the moment.  Riding with full gear including boots on, can be stifling.  For longer trips I often take along a light jacket.  I'm not one of those people that hesitates wearing lighter gear when the temps get higher. 

Cabot Park beach

If you've ever ridden through a hot summer day be it Baja, Arizona or PEI, once the thermometer approaches 30 C or about 90 F and especially when we hit triple digits down in the desert, I  give up some safety, by wearing less padded gear in order to remain cool enough to ride.  What's the point of having a bunch of body armor if you pass out from heat exhaustion, and you fall off your bike?

When I am down south, and the scale reaches 35 and above, I often will not ride at all.  My last trip to PHX there were temperatures reaching 110 F in the city and could easily exceed that in the outback, I'd rather be lazing in the pool or standing in a cold shower.







EVERY year I take an old filing folder (real one made of paper) and set down some goals for the year.  Nothing earth shattering like reading War and Peace in 3 days, or getting a make over or a sex change, just simple stuff like keeping my weight under 150 lbs or riding all my bikes before the season ends. 


Today, the Pelican 15.5 model (feet btw) was in the water out near French river.  Brenda and I did a short paddle hindered by dropping water levels which meant a long carry back to the launch point in water only a few inches deep.

New Brunswick coastline

Friday I rode my DL 650, known as the V Strom, to Ellerslie PEI to Dennis Motors, the Yamaha dealer at that end of the Island.  I test rode a 2009 Suzuki GS500F.  This is a fairly small, light and compact "sports/touring" kind of bike.  Not a radical sitting crouch just a slight forward lean, a simple one piece seat, about 40 horsepower at the wheel from a claimed 51 at the crank, six gears, a large 20 L fuel tank giving the bike about a 450 k range as compared to the V Strom's 550 and the T Birds 250 km. 

GSF 500 DOHC 487cc 2 valve with air oil cooling and 6 speed trans.

There is a rather full fairing to deflect the worst of the wind, a slightly taller Zero Gravity windshield on it that gives better wind protection and supplies a place to mount the GPS unit.

It is an air-cooled simple 2 valve DOHC engine with dual carbs and shows about 18000 km in total. 

Tyne Valley PEI off route 12

Why, my friends are asking would I give up my versatile DL for what amounts to an older design, dated MC

Just another DL kinda day!

Well it's a numbers game,about 2 1/2 inches lower, narrower through the tank area and comes in around 450 lbs fueled up.  Those numbers mean better control for me, less chance of tipping over and at this stage in my life, do I (or anyone) really need a 200 horsepower engine...? With a right hip that is giving me less stability and more pain year by year, and a left shoulder that has been giving me trouble for 16 years now, I find the DL somewhat hard to handle especially when two up. 


As I have proven the last couple of years, I can ride the Island or the Maritime provinces and even New England quite happily on a smaller, easier to handle bike. 

Anyone that knows me, knows I have done some wild and crazy things on smaller displacement bikes like a fire season in BC on my DT 50, or Baja on the XT 225.  My pleasure kinds in multiple displacements !

New Brunswick coastline

Early in the week I spent three days in Rothesay visiting Lisa and family, rode my V Strom , lots of fun.


So this week has seen me considering a step down if I may say that, but not in fun, that would be a step up being in better control.  I've been up to my ankles in sandy muddy water, and earlier in the week, did 18 km on bicycle over the 400 k plus "Confederation Trail"

Confederation Trail

What more can a guy ask for...