Fall rides

Vacation week, weird summer weather, and no assigned chores! Time to ride.
Goal is to find some fall colours. I'm usually looking for lighthouses, but this time we'll just go for trees.

Actually, I'm just wandering...


Pretty easy to find colour, and of course now, ANY kind of road will do...



Chasing sunbeams for the best leaves...



Slowly getting closer to the highlands (off on the horizon), but I'm not really going there this time...



More blasts of purtee leaves in sunbeams...



One of those 'Why we ride' moments...



Long time since this ferry ran...



It's been replaced a long time ago by the bridge wayyyyy off in the distance...



This one... 'Seal Island Bridge'  No seals, no island  



Just time for a glimpse up the Great Bras d'Or Channel to where the Realm of the Great Celtic Lords live...  



Clouds were starting to get serious, and I'd skipped lunch, so we turned for home. Somewhere around 5 hours or so and 300 km.
If the weather holds, maybe this weekend we'll go look for that pesky hurricane wandering up the coast. Should be some good surf pictures (AND lighthouses!).

Yeah, missing my bikes right now. We don't get the fall colors, but the weather is starting to turn nice. Need some work on the drive before I can easily get the bike out, but may have to give it a try early if the weather stays this nice!

Heading to the big "AIM" bike show in Orlando tomorrow, so at least bike-related.

The ride looks really nice!

OOoOooo! You're going to AIM! I need new boots, and maybe a helmet with visor, and gloves! I need new gloves! And I want to look at the supercharger on the Kawi! And the new Versys would be a good alternate to the KLR. And the Ducati Scrambler is probably stupid, but I want to look anyways! Not enough time! Not enough time!!...

I actually liked the scrambler quite a bit.  Very nicely proportioned and compact.  Last of the air-cooled Ducati's I imagine.

The Kawsaki appears to have a transmission on the supercharger itself (if I am looking at the cut-away engine correctly).  

The show was a lot of fun.  I don't need any gear right now (stocked up before the Canada trip), but there was quite a bit of stuff actually on sale there (a weakness last year).

Came back with a bunch of racing souvenir type stuff, which we find difficult to resist.  TT racer "stuff" manufacturer Red Torpedo was there, so got some Conner Cummins and Guy Martin goodies.

The show was much bigger and the manufacturers are slowly getting on board.  Ducati didn't have a full display, but had the scrambler setup and Kawasaki had a full display.  Both were not there at all last year.

A vintage Japanese bike show and Ace Cafe cafe racer show as well.  As one of the few bennies of being near a tourist mecca, we are getting our own Ace Cafe in downtown Orlando come this spring.

Amazing what a different market you live in compared to where I am! The last show I was at was in Moncton. That's a 6 hour drive for me. It was in a space the size of two hockey rinks more or less. All the main manufacturers were there, but no exotics like Aprilia or Moto Guzzi or the like... I was taking to the salesguy from Arai and he said he was surprised he got permission to go to this show. The last show had been in Montreal (a 15 hour drive!) and there were more potential customers for that show within 50 miles of Montreal than in all 4 Maritime Provinces combined! One DISadvatage of living in the boonies!

However, there are some advantages... This is a 15 minute 'adventure ride' from my back door!

Went out looking for the remains of hurricane Gonzalo...

Had to take depth soundings in some areas...



Beach access is 'Rugged'



A little dicey on the rocks...



And just dangerous on the beach too! Got wet 5 seconds after this shot!



15 miles down the coast, and all is calm (if you're behind a 1/4 mile inlet)



I should post the video parts with sound. Pretty impressive what the ocean can get up to...



If the weather holds, I may get in another few unexplored roads this week. Our season is winding down unless I get the spikes back in the knobbies!

Looks spectacular as always. If a little foreboding for boat travel!

Yeah, this AIM show is trying to be the national US bike show like Earl's Court (or whatever it is called now) in the UK, or the big ones in Italy and Germany.

I think they are slowly getting there.

Smilodon wrote:
Yeah, this AIM show is trying to be the national US bike show like Earl's Court (or whatever it is called now) in the UK, or the big ones in Italy and Germany.

I think they are slowly getting there.

Getting to be big enough to be a tourist destination event all by itself!

Oh... What the hell... More dual-sport stuff...
Weather man says 'cloudy with sunny breaks'...



Anyways... It didn't actually rain and it was fairly warm, so we'll forgive and forget...

The great part was the discovery that the road boys were out and fixed a road that literally chipped one of my teeth a few years ago!



Lord love 'em! They've REALLY fixed it! No dual-sport stuff needed anymore!



You can always get a little more heart-rate seeing a sign like this on a new road!



And they didn't lie! Unlike the %@& weatherman...



Look back and smile...



I was on a quest to see the new million dollar sea-wall built to protect Gabarus...



They needed it because winter storms have threatened to blow it away several times...



Hope it holds... Pretty damn close to high tide!



Some parts of the beach are more 'scenic' than others...



Imagine the stairs will hold in a breeze...



Protects all the boats tucked in for the winter...



Off road needed to visit more remote areas. One of these days that cliff is gonna let go!



Understatement...  :facepalm:



Back lanes on the return trip to give the knobbies something to work on...



Wandering doesn't lead to high speeds though...



You might miss something like this!



Closer view. Nobody home at this time of year.



Back home along the Mira again. Imagine it with sun glinting off all the colours. Stupid weatherman

You should get a kick back from the tourist board (if more people read this board that is!). Have to lose the "less scenic" beach pictures, though.

Is that an Eagle's nest? We have a famous bald eagle nest here on the space center that has it's own cameras and website.

Managed to dig the bike out of the garage (with a flashlight) and was able to take a nice ride up to Daytona beach. The weather and water was beautiful, and I was wishing I had a (decent) camera (versus the crappy one on the phone) to take a shot from the rooftop restaurant we ate lunch at.

Really helped with the stress of recent events. Yay motorcycles!

Some awesome photos there JP , don't you just love the fall the colours and the clear air and the bike for the job what you need every now and then to pick you up and take the cares of life away for a few hrs , I think the main reason we hang on to bikes or it is for me

I have never been to the Bike Shows can't see the point of pushing and shoving ogling at things I can't afford , the bikes you see I have either seen before or are un tested and are full of gremlins to be sorted at service time or recall times , as for the not so cheap gear at our shows most of it is gear that is well past it's sell by date and is only there because it was not as good as the manufacturer thought it was and he has over produced it , so is it really a bargain or are you doing them a favor taking it off their hands

who's a cynical old git

I could feel winter closing in today... Time change just seems to bring on the 'cruel' season. Well.. cruel for us bikers anyways. I dropped in to the local 'pushers' shop to see what evil things he had to tempt me with. He hasn't stocked up on the 2 wheel things yet. We went over the new releases, and this is the only time I have to effect his shopping, so I requested he bring in the new Versys. If anything is going to tempt me back to the street, this is...



No doubt about it. I f I was headed down to visit Smilo, or even a longer trip to visit friends in Victoria BC, I'd be wanting this. The thing is, I'd want it for just riding 1/2 hour to work too! Just seems the almost perfect bike. Of course, there is no such thing. Lots of other temptations too.
He does have all the new Skidoo models on the floor though, speaking of winter, and they are mind boggling! 1000cc turbo twins. Aluminum everything. Huge suspension travel. Monster brakes. Just amazing. AND well out of my expense comfort zone. That will be $16,000 Cdn for the hot one sir! Would you like it gift wrapped?




...and YES! There is a snowmobile in there, and the picture is not warped! Didn't ask the price of this one. It is a limited edition 'mountain' sled for deep snow...

This is what they do on the weekend when they're bored with the summer... 8.8 seconds 161 mph in the 1/4 mile. They just disappear in a puff of rubber smoke!



I wonder what the rpm of those little itty bitty wheels are at 160 mph???

Meanwhile, it is raining sideways tonight, but at least it is still warm(ish) and we're in no danger of snow. Might get another ride in next weekend. Found a new road on Google Earth I haven't seen yet...

That is an eagle's nest Smilo... We have a bigger one on the island just down from our house. We're on a bit of a hill, so they actually fly by BENEATH the windows in the bed room. Noisy damn things at 6 AM!
and Eddy! There are enough new things out this year, I may go to the bike show this spring. First time in a few years. You never know when that big lottery win may come your way!
Oh yeah... communication from Timmy! Emailed this week. Sounds bored being cooped up from surgery on his bum shoulder. Typing with his thumb or something, so his letters look like Eddy's!!

I love looking at all the new stuff.  Bikes are so segmented these days, I'll probably never own some of them, price or not, just because they are in a different category or just to over the top.

But, they are still cool to look at the engineering.  For example, this year they had an amphibious ATV (I believe Clarkston rode one on Top Gear for one of their "race" segments).

The weak world economy is actually producing more interesting stuff for the average rider. Your Kawasaki is a good example, the new (last year) Yamaha triple, new (this year) R3 and the new Ducati scrambler (cheap for a Ducati) are examples of this.

And I'm always a sucker for a new helmet (Arai is making Schwantz replicas this year again!) jacket and the odd racing T-shirt. Passed on the helmet for now.

In other positive news, I got a new motherboard for my relatively new PC that got fried in the lightning/fire and it works again!  No data loss, everything back to normal.  Woo hoo!

Starting to get nice here. Wish I had my old house back, as it is the best time to fiddle about on the property.

Oh yeah... The pro-stock drag snowmobiles... Insane... Bad enough in bike form, but I'll be damned if I'd take those little wheels up to 161! They must be turning a million RPM!

We had a close shave with the weatherman yesterday... It almost did that white crap thing... Time off today, so might as well not put it off...



Mind you, I had lots of volunteers... But turns out they aren't much good. Lots of clucking that I wasn't doing it right...

Leaves aren't too colorful this year, but the WEEDS are great!

Looks like something out of a horror movie... "The chickens are stealing the tires! THE CHICKENS ARE STEALING THE TIRES!!"

Yes, I understand you are getting something CNN is colorfully calling the "Bomb Cyclone"... Sounds like new motorcycle.

Weather here on the banana coast is still suitable for riding! Seems as though it's just Cape Breton that has escaped so far! Just saw postings that New Brunswick got dumped on...

Anyhoo... Ride this week to find the source of the Mira. (not really... any excuse to ride...) Famous local river. Not sure why though, it's not very long and there is nothing important on it... Just pretty...



Revisited some of the roads from last week just to check if they were as much fun as I thought...



Yup! They are!



Off to adventure land...



Breathtaking things you find at the end of a road...



...and sometimes just curious things... 1917 last occupant. Not a house for miles...



Serious blasting road on the way back...



Wait! What's this? Spidey senses tingling... Foe ahead?



YES! Target LOCKED ON!!  



Aww... pfawwww.... False alarm. Friendly...



Time to head for home, nice to have a riding companion!



A few flakes falling as I post... Don't think it's the end quite yet though. I DO have snow tires on the KLR, after all...

I didn't realize the KLR had one of those tracking thingies. Or is that just a CGI special effect?

Went to see the "On Any Sunday The Next Chapter" at the theater this weekend. Not as nice as actually riding, but at least motorcycle fun of some sort.

Hopefully going to get some electricity in the garage this weekend. That will make using the bike a bit easier, as well as charging the batteries for everything, etc.

Tracking device is optional on Canadian KLRs, along with cloaking for group rides with cruisers, and of course the 'mandatory' option of the winter package...

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I got a copy of 'Why we ride', but I wasn't impressed... I'll go look for SundayII... They are threatening the first snow here in a few days. Today was 15 degrees (about 60 American degrees) which is just about perfect for adventuring except that I was stuck in training sessions all day long. I don't WANT to be trained anymore!
At your latitude the nights get a little longer in the winter, don't they? We're dark from 5PM to 7AM now.... blehh... Not as bad as Eddy, mind you...

Sad to see you got all those nasty nails in your tire!

(to be honest we might be needing them down here soon...)

"Why we ride" was kind of neat for us, because we saw the premier and many of the folks in the movie were in the audience. It was "ok".

On any Sunday is more like the original OAS. It is Bruce Brown's son doing it, with Dad as executive producer. It was just fun to see it on the big screen with all the "tiny hi-def cameras everywhere" technology upgrades.

There is also an "On Any Sunday II" which was done in the 70's and is "meh". This one is subtitled "the next chapter", and is in limited theater release around here for a week or so.

Boy! Do web-forums ever go flat after the season! I know this particular forum is miniscule in the extreme , but the other forums are pretty quiet too!
I put the stabilizer in the tanks last week, but might have been too soon. Everybody else within 200 miles got monsoon rains, mountains of snow, hurricane winds, the works...
We got a bit of wind and a few hours of rain.

Temperature today is 10C (60F). Should really have been out riding, but I spent the time 'cleaning up' in case the inevitable gets here early...



All quiet on the lake...



Ocean side was a little rough though... Still high winds out at sea...



You can hear the crashing all night. Think we'll keep the windows closed tonight even if it is warm(ish) out!

Hey Chris! Did you have anything to do with the Mars rocket? How's the house fixing getting along?

Not part of the Orion test, but I have started my shiny new job working on one of the "space taxis" to take astronauts to low earth orbit (IE space station). That's the stuff NASA is going to farm out to commercial interests to allow them to concentrate on "beyond earth orbit".

Haven't done much other than look foolish, though...

As far as the house, progress is good, as long as the money will hold out. Finishing siding and roof and then the outside will be done other than paint. New upper roof is insulated and drywall was underway this week. Need to get flooring sorted out, a new door we weren't expecting to replace, and then paint and finish work.

Still need to do major repairs to the driveway, though and that will be big bucks. I can wrestle the bikes through the drive (and of course the truck), but the low slung cars can't hack it right now.

Hanging in and hanging on. Trying to put together some sort of holiday celebration. The wife's job is very stingy about time off, unfortunately.

Nice dramatic looking beach shot though... Good stuff!

Completely off-topic (Anarchy! Nobody to tell us naught!)... but have you seen this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRDWCLi-Io0

Thanks for that. I have read a number of accounts, but never knew it was added to the "speed" series...

Hy guys it's only me I have not curled my toes up I have just been full of busy trying to catch up on jobs that have been put on the back burner all year while we were busy building the Mk 2 Bugilow and doing the marshaling , but am about there now just some flouring to put down in the new year and then it will be time to get on sorting the bikes out I am going to sell the XL 200r  and then get the Pan back on the road and make my mind up if that is finally going as well or if I am going to keep it to go to the TT on , last time out on it I was finding it a bit heavy for me , so am thinking of selling both bikes and getting a Yamaha Serow xt225 nice little  thumpa with lecy boot and light enough to go on the rack on the back of the Bugilow , so in to the new year and its down with the decorating tools and out with the spanners , looking back the year has been one of highs and lows that has had some really good and some lows I dont want to go in to , enough to say blood coming from places you dont want to see it but all has been checked and is looking ok thank goodness , the boss has a crumbling spine that is getting slowly worse and there is nothing they can do for it just try and manage with painkillers that up to press aren't working but fair does to the old girl she does what she can and gets on with life as best she can , as if she didn't have it bad enough putting up with me ,
am finally going to get the computer crap sorted after crimbo as well have heard that Santa is going to be nice to me and bring me a new laptop yahoooo I have been using a Blackberry playbook for most things and for what they are and what I do on them it is fairly ok apart from on this site , for some strange reason when you scroll the page down as soon as you take your finger off the screen it goes straight back to where you started at the top of the page grrrrr very frustrating as this is the only site it does it on but am on one of the grand kids one tonight , so with a bit of luck should be back on more in the new year so for now I will wish you both all the best for the festives and new year and look forward to a bit of catch up

oh ye got a postcard off Timbs this morning no messages just a Merry Xmas and that was it will send him an Email over the next couple of days and see how it goes