It takes almost an hour to pack all the bags and fasten them to the bike. That’s not good. I need to reduce weight and stuff for the second leg. The bike is top heavy and that will make the dirt roads more dangerous. Fill the tank and the bike becomes wobbly. Today, the computer says it will only take me 430km. I suspected that the wind may have reduced the mileage but would never have expected by that much. Today will tell since the wind is gone.
I stop at the Medicine Hat TeePee and take a photo for Colin, who hails from Medicine Hat and tongue in cheek reminds us how important the worlds large tee pee is as a tourist beacon. You can see from the photo that today was not one of the more busy days.
The highways run through the middle of small towns so I get behind a pickup truck that know where the speed traps are and a able to make up some time. We get to a town, slow down, hit the one stop light and then back up to speed. On one of these stops, I can see a motorcycle off in the distance and after a few towns, catch up to him … It’s Steve. He’s an early riser, got on the road early and got ahead of me. There is a lesson there. He has one back to pack and off he goes. More hours on the road = more distance.
We stop for gas and a smoke (Steve) in Coalhurst and pull over to take pics of the bikes. A brief get to know you conversation extends into 45 minutes, 2 coffees and 5 cigarettes. This pattern would follow until we part ways in Grand Forks BC.
Off in the distance we can see the foot hills and storm cells to the left and right. I’m getting excited because we were hitting the mountains (did I tell you I love riding in mountains). I should stop to take pics, but now we are two riders and no communicators. Traffic is heavy with tourists in Crows Nest Pass. I was thinking mountain pass like one of the Colorado passes. Those came later, but this was a very busy mountain town with buildings everywhere and not much of a mountain top. We drove through this amazing jumble of rocks and boulders in a suburb of Crows Nest called Frank. Looking up the mountain to the left, it was obvious that all that debris came of the mountain recently. Some of the boulders were as big as cars and trucks and the debris field was cleared to build the highway. Later, I research the famous Frank rock slide and realized I had seen a documentary about the event. The pictures do not compare to real life.
Traffic started to die down a bit after Crows Nest and the roads had ample passing zones to get around the campers, dawdlers and heavily laden trucks. After days of straight line riding, I had to get used to sweepers. The top heavy luggage printed spirited riding. For uphill passing, Dynamic mode helps deliver extra power quickly.
We get some proper mountain passes and all of the terrain associated with a region like this up the hill, down the hill, through the valley, over the river, up the hill …. After Colorado, this is no longer new and I find myself comparing BC to Colorado. I wish I had done this first, then I could compare Colorado to BC. The reality is, Colorado is more spectacular. Canadians are a practical bunch. Roads are built efficiently and cheaply so they follow rail road tracks and cross the lowest passes. In Colorado, roads are built over the steepest passes - just because. Gold built the road, government pork belly funded a road. Look at the million dollar highway - a lot of money for marginal economic value. BC travel is Canadian travel. Colorado is for the best roads in the mountains.
We end up for a rest stop in Cranbook. There is a group of Harley riders off to a bike party up the road, riding custom bikes suitable for a ride to Starbucks but not mountain roads. One bike was a hard tail with a metal bike seat. The only rear suspension was the two little springs on the seat. The tank was so small, it could ride 75km, so a plastic gas can ruined the lines on the welded chain “luggage rack”. The handle bars were a 2 foot pipe at shoulder level and the foot pegs put the rider in the same position as a gynecologist’s chair.
It’s been hot, we could go for a few more hours but Steve wants to change the oil on his bike so we stay since there is a Canadian tire in just down the street. Steve replaced his Metzler tires in Brandon - the BMW dealer ignored him and the Kawasaki dealer made a spot for him. The oil is changed in the parking lot with an aluminum turkey pan and rubber hose. He’s an iron butt rider so this is a regular event on a ride. He offers me an honorable out for using the BMW dealer for an oil change since the bike is still in warranty, and he did use a dealer to change the tire.
Dinner is at Frank's, an excellent Ukrainian restaurant that serves monster portions of schnitzel. Food is good but we can’t finish it.
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