Ride Reports

Tonight we decided on a spirited trip to Elk Island Natl'l Park. She had to be home by 9:00, so let's just say we didn't poke along. Beautiful evening, 25 deg C when we left the city. A few wind gusts, but nothing crazy. It was about 22 deg C on the way back and calm. ...this might not be our exact route - but close enough. The twisties in the Park are pretty amazing. Speed must be respected here due to all the wildlife, of course. We stopped for a snack and a drink at a picnic table overlooking the lake ...and, what do you know, spotted a friend nearby So, with the evening drawing to a close, we packed up and went home

Planning on Running a IBA In-State Saddlesore 5000 the week after next. Five states leaving from Oregon and riding through California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Nevada then returning back home. Each state 1000 miles inside the state within 24 hours, five times in a row. Total trip with start and finish miles is slightly over 5800 miles in a total of seven days. Already did a In-State SS1000 Oregon a BBG1500 Oregon. A BBG1500 Montana and a SS2000 on my 2016 FJ09 as well as dozens of other IBA and endurance rallies on my old 2001 Concours ZG1000. I'll have my spot tracker on and try to link it to the forum for anyone wanting to see our progress. Longest Ride between gas …

Hello all, Took delivery of my new-leftover 2024 Tracer 9GT+. Went for a quick ride. I went through a roundabout at approximately 25-30mph. I'm sure a more skilled rider could do that roundabout at 50mph. I take this roundabout often and my BMW NineT has no issues but I've been on that bike more. When I went around the rear feels like it momentarily looses traction. I know it did not but just feels strange. Is this the traction control? The road is dry and it is sunny an 80 deg F (27 deg C). It was in rain mode but change to street mode and felt the same on my way back through. Seems like the rider aid triggered but I wanted to get your feedback. CH

So my g/f called me from her mom's house early yesterday afternoon, trying to sort out a sudden plumbing leak and running out of options. It's not hard to see the issue(s) here. So, what's a person to do but heed the call? After loading some tools and gearing up, let's just say not only was I able to use the whole tachometer and bounce off the rev limter at least once, but I made it in far better time than estimated. Thankfully a nearby town had new fittings, so it was an easy fix. Considering it was dark by the time we finished this and a few other chores and such, I took my time on the way home - this highway is known to have wildlife around…

Went for a 4 -ish hour ride with my g/f and a friend of hers from work. Bit of an anti-climactic report as we ALL forgot to take pics - but I did screenshot our route. Beautiful fall colours; oranges, reds, greens. Some great vistas and rolling hills. No wildlife! Temps ranged from 15 deg C to 19 deg C. Very little traffic on the secondary highways - smooth sailing

Booked off 4 days last week and rode north for some cooler air and to explore a bit. The 2400 km loop took me through some familiar areas and some new ones I'd wanted to visit for some time. Day-1 started with light rain through the first couple of hours, but nothing major. I narrowly missed a massive downpour that caused major flooding in the Toronto area. The route took me through Muskoka Lakes area (Southwood Rd., 169, 632, 141, 518) and up to Lake Temiskaming. The motel was just outside Haileybury. It was kinda dilapidated... but quiet, and the area/view were well worth the stay. Day-2 mission was to make my way up to Kapuskasing and then H…

It’s spring 2024 and there’d been a lot of chatter about the upcoming solar eclipse here in the US. With the path of totality passing over the Dallas area, and with personal ties there, my wife and I were planning to fly there to check it out (we had also seen the last one in 2017 in Oregon - path of totality at Smith Rock SP - epic, epic traffic jams!). Then in March, I realized that the US MotoGP at COTA was only a few days later, the light bulb went on in my head: why not ride there? We could check out the eclipse in the Dallas area, visit some folks, attend the MotoGP, spend a few days in Austin (something near and dear to my wife’s heart), then ride around Texas Hill…

I had a 4 day window of opportunity and decided to take a quick trip to California. Planning a route in California has always been 'opening a can of worms' for me, once I start planning a route, I always want to add another section and then another great road and before I know it I'm adding multiple days trying to fit it all in. In this region the essential roads are 3/96/299/36, I wasn't able to fit everything in but still had some phenomenal riding. Route through California and Oregon https://maps.app.goo.gl/yWMc4DH5ahv2k1Jz7 Just under 1700 miles and fuel average was 47mpg -actual calculation at the pump. Bike ran flawlessly but front tire is done. …

Today was my longest ride on my FJ. 160 mile commute with highway and city riding. I learned a lot from the city riding with stop and go for about 40 minutes, good practice for the friction zone. Since coming back to riding after 35 years away, it's taking a while to build the confidence a teenager might take for granted. My day job sees many accidents so I tend to be extremely cautious. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience and seemed to go much quicker than in my truck, which I probably drive faster, and cagers were mostly respectful. Emotions though were all over the place. Excitement to be getting out. Apprehension for such a long journey after which I ha…

We have some very schizophrenic weather here in the PNW and a window of opportunity presented itself, a few days of sunny weather near 80F is all the incentive I needed. Last minute planning and I was off for 2 days to Omak, Wa. This a favorite ride of mine and I try to take it every year, sometimes I will make it a 3-day ride and continue on Highway 20 along the Canadian Border which goes to the Idaho Border. I swap bikes every other ride and it was the VFR's turn this time. Day 1 was over Stevens Pass, through Leavenworth, Lake Chelan and Loup Loup Pass. https://maps.app.goo.gl/7Up1M9AS26Eisx4C6 Day 2 Was over Disautel Pass, Grand Coulee, Blewett Pass,…

How I ended up with a new Tracer: I guess this is a plug for Edelweiss bike tours. Last month I took their tour of the Canary Islands. What an incredible adventure with incredible people and incredible roads. If you're not familiar with Edelweiss, they have been conducting motorcycle tours around the world for the last 40 years and currently run 2300 tours in 180 locations. They provide a tour guide, the bikes, various levels of insurance, routes, hotels, dinners and in most cases, breakfast at what I thought was a reasonable cost. All I had to do was add airfare. (Travel Tip - Don't use Expedia). Turns out the Canaries are a worldwide riding destination for motorc…

Last weekend was spent going around Thunderhill. Ive been working on my body position, being in right gear at right time, spinning the motor more, using more engine braking and so on. The throttle on the R1 has different size reels to adjust how quick the throtte opens up the throttle bodies. The one I have installed is progressive. The more the throttle is opened the quicker it gets in opening the throttle bodies. I rotated it forward more to change where the progression starts. That made a really big change. Because Im on the quicker part of the reel sooner, engine response was quicker. It took a bit to figure out why the R1 was getting out of the corners quicker, …

Booked off three days for a mid-week jaunt into central Ontario, visiting the Muskoka region, Temiskaming Shores to the north, a town of Chapleau to the north-west... and the Manitoulin Island. I have not yet been to Cobalt ON (near Lake Temiskaming), and decided to visit the area after watching a documentary on the mining town. The ride included some of the better riding roads in the province, ON-13, ON-518, ON-560 and ON-129. The first day of the trip took me through the lush green Muskoka and some great roads, including ON-13 (pictured), and ON-518. @Heavy and I had a meetup planned in Burks Falls, but we both decided it was best to pass, on account of the w…

My wife and I finally finish taking the hay off our farm and it meant I was free to put some miles on my Tracer. I have family in Cornwall, ON that I haven't seen in a long time and a friend, in Kingston, ON, who has been quite sick. I put together a fun loop, loaded it onto my GPS, packed my bags and headed out. I left on a Sunday morning and returned the following Friday. Actually rode about 2-1/2 days with the rest of the time spent hanging out. Trip ended up being about 1,500 kms total with the leg between Cornwall and Kingston ridden in downpours. I'm out of practice with the motorcycle travel and found myself getting fixated on my destinations. The end point …

1800 miles in 5 days so far.

There are sometimes you just need a good ride. Yesterday was that day We live in Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco, for over 30 years. In January we lost our Golden Retriever, Sweet Sweet Emmy Lou. In mid-February we had a pipe burst in the wall in the center of the house. They're almost done with the repairs. Hopefully the next 2 weeks. That's a long to have our home and lives turned upside down. Decided to get on the bike and go to the coast. Headed north to River Road and turned left. River Road runs through acres and acres of vineyards. Various wines are made in this area, reds, white, blush and sparkling. Each winery is unique as is each wine…

This was my 1st semi lengthy trip on the new-to-me bike. Had a few nice day trips prior. It wasn't too long, right around 737 miles. I had some family staying just south of the Dells for a week so I decided a last minute trip to meet up with them was due, and the FJ would be the perfect bike to do just that! I had some newly purchased Givi Alaska side cases meant for another bike, but smartly made sure they would fit the FJ too just in case something just like this would ever come up. They worked perfectly. I rode down, spent a day with family and rode back home. I very much enjoyed riding this bike for that duration. I dont have many pics, just a couple stops…

Last week we had an unseasonably hot heat wave, 100 degrees in places in the Western half of the state and noticeably hotter in the Eastern half of the state. I decided to escape the heat and rode down the Oregon coast to escape the heat - Almost. Oregon has some amazing coastal highways zig-zagging inland between HWY 101 and I-5 going down to the California border, most places out on the coast ranged from cold and foggy to comfortable (55-68F) but once I ventured inland even 20-30 miles I saw 104F on my dash reading several times. The original route was 4 days including a quick trip over the California border with an overnight stay in Crescent City but the wil…

https://www.motoquest.com/ Hi, found this the other day, looks good to me. I posted this yesterday and someone reported it as spam. I tried this link several times and it works for me. If there's a problem, please let me know. Thanks, jack

Placeholder thread for my next trip. I've been riding the familiar Ontario roads this Spring, and it's time to venture out. My wife and daughters are flying to Orlando this July for a week... so I am going to ride down and spend a day with them... and check a few places off my go-to list while in the U.S. I will ride the Dragon, visit the Kennedy Space Center, do lunch in Key West, ride through the Everglades... and stop for a day at the Barber Museum on my way back. I am heading out early July... so it's gonna start pretty warm, and get progressively worse I imagine. Nevertheless I am looking forward to this. The trip is almost entirely off major highways (save…

Last month's trip was on the FJ so this month's trip was on the VFR. This trip was originally planned for right after Memorial Day but the forecast showed lots of thunderstorms throughout the route for the entire duration of the trip, so it got postponed until now. The weather was manageable when riding at higher elevations (a lot of the time I was at least 6,000' ASL and as high as 9,000' at Mt Rose Summit) but the lower elevations were HOT, triple digits on many occasions with typical summer traffic and road construction. I will definitely plan earlier in the year next time. Google Maps showing the California and Nevada portion of the route. https://goo.gl…

While the MT-10 has gotten all the road work so far this year, that changed on July 20, when I took Warchild-wife on a 3-day blast around Oregon and Idaho. Geared up, ready to roll Thursday morning, July 20: Picked up a 2023 PNW-GT Location along the way - the Tollgate Store: First night was at the Ponderosa Motel in Enterprise, Oregon: Up and at it the next morning, here she is cheerfully indicating I am Number One as we prepare the ascent to Hell's Canyon Overlook: Wifey at the Hell's Canyon Overlook: Obligatory Hell's Canyon Overlook selfie: Early afternoon arrived in Riggins, Idaho. We are hot. Motor is hot. Everything is hot.…

It was a virtually perfect ride to Artist Point. Temperatures were about perfect. The ride started out in the mid-60s F. When I got to Artist Point, the temperature was in the mid to high-70s. Light breeze. Just enough breeze to make it the perfect temperature, even with a black t-shirt on. Traffic was almost nil. The few times there was someone in front of me, they turned off leaving a wide open road ahead of me. You really couldn't ask for better. There were a few clouds for the "artistic" side of things at Artist Point. Parking lot was almost full...and that on a Friday. No Forest Rangers, so didn't need to buy a Discovery Pass. They still had sand …

Took a ride a few days ago looking for the next good eats. Good eats and riding go hand in hand. Stopped in Mineral to check out the eats at the restaurant and general store. Its got that been here awhile look and feel to it. Its got both indoor and patio seating. Pretty good menu selection. You can get a buffalo or elk burgers. I chose the old fashion cow cheese burger with fries. Pretty damn good. Great sun ice tea. You never know what you will see out riding. When I walked out to leave, there was a custom woodie Power Wagon outside. I mean custom inside and out. Its was a work of art. Have no idea what year. Enjoy the pis…..

I just returned from a 5-day ride with my brother, the map link isn't an exact road listing but is very close to our route. https://goo.gl/maps/YP6goN1sk4tgdGqW7 We were initially concerned with the weather in the mountain passes, each morning forecast for cold and light rain., the first morning was Chinook Pass, the second morning was Sherman Pass, the third morning was Lolo Pass and the 5th morning was White Pass. We still got cold mornings but fortunately they were dry and sunny. In addition to riding through scenic mountains we also rode through Hell's Canyon, central Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge. Great weather the entire time, amazing sc…