Road Tripping from a small community north of Terrace B.C. Canada across the big pond to Australia. Ralleys, deserts and Adventures await. Big kilometers, low budgets and fun await. I cant get the posts to order correcly so have numbered them for everyones ease.
So how did this gong show start? how did I get in to this. Surfing the net on a rainy wet coastal day I came across an advert, "KTM Adventure Rally BC" to occur at Silverstar Ski resort BC. A measly 1500km away from my little northern home. I put a post out to my local adventure group to see if anyone else was interested. A friend Davinder and a couple others said ya so I made arrangements and paid for my entry fee. Over the couple of months leading up to the rally I logged some pretty decent kilometers.
I awoke in the morning a bit groggy, cold and wet.
Butterflies and high nerves were dancing and tingling as we approached the starting gate. What the hell are we thinking! Im 37 and Davinder is 50. This is the first rally I have ever entered. What if I don’t navigate correctly, what if I get stuck, What if……Go! and we were off. We barely made it a km to the first turn off and we didn’t know which way to go. the road forked in 5 directions.
Forget everything you know about riding and bike set up. Thats what I had to do! I have been riding a long time, bought the trinkets to make my bike faster, better, more comfortable. What I found out is that in general, all I did was add crap to my bike which made me lazy, have poor posture and have less control. Bar risers, brake set up and bigger pegs, seats, suspension etc.
the next few days were a blur! Riding and exploring places we were not meant to be and having a hoot in the evening by ourselves and friends. Davinder had a Day with Chris Birch, we did a demo ride day where we rode the new 690, 1090 and powerful 1290! even davinder started to like the KTMs.
The fall morning at Silverstar Mountain was cold as we emerged from our lovely accommodation into the frosty air. In our haste the night before we did not test the key cards to let us into the lavatories. We had already had our morning coffee's and things were getting desperate!. The campsite had cleared out last night as the last of the Rev-Limiter Racers headed home, we were basically the only keeners that had arrived almost a week early to get a feel for the area, the conditions and get into mischief. Unfortunately this meant no one was around to borrow the bathroom key from.
Holy shit! We awoke in the morning to big wet heavy snow blowing in sideways. we quickly packed up and helped Beau get the trailer hooked up. Not that he needed our help. He is a pro at hooking that thing up. The poor trailer stunk like dirty riding gear and man farts so bad that we were sure he would have to get it professionally cleaned. A week of poor food choices and beers had caught up with our digestion. The Guys convinced me to change my tires in town and not on the mountain. we got the hell out of there before we got snowed in. We said our goodbyes to our new friends and he
A few days at home turned into a couple weeks and the snow stacked up hard this winter. it wasn’t even Christmas and I was missing my bike. Considering a snow bike kit or something similar, just so I could get out year round. I had to go to Victoria for work where the weather was still ridable and as I sat in my hotel looking out the window at people riding i just got more and more frustrated. I surfed facebook and some of my favourite motorcycle web sites where I came across a week long KTM rally across the outback! Holy crap! IM IN! well I better call my wife first.
So it was a new day! I had 2 new riding partners Kieth and Michael. Since we were not in contention for any bragging rights and we started waaaayyyyy back in the pack, we decided that our biggest mission of the day was to have fun and not get hurt. We had some GPS technical difficulties as Michael had only just bought his 2 days before and Keith was using an App on his phone. After a little while and a bit of group communications, we had it licked!
May 15th 5 days in to Aussie trip only 100km on the odometer at 51,315
What a long shitty week. Well let me rephrase that. It was a long and frustrating week that as always turned out alright in the end. I don’t know why I get so worked up when I know it always finds a way to be ok. SO....here is the story.