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Ride From Hell
This is not a trip done by me, or even on a GS. It was done by a women acquaintance of mine on her CBR600. It's a little long, but an unbelievable read. :shock:
Kevin
OK... I am back!
To all the girls who've emailed me from the group asking where I've been the last few weeks, pull up a chair and get comfy, do I have a "motorcycle trip from hell" a story to share...
I was in Nelson for wildfires. Then went straight to Kamloops to buy a 1966 Corvair convertible. Arrived home only to turn around and leave a few days later on a motorcycle trip to the Alberta Women's motorcycle rally. Problem is, the Alberta rally was in Saskatoon... A bit longer of a drive than originally anticipated.
Day one I stayed in a tent outside Jasper Prov. Park during a monsoon electrical storm. I was beneath a canopy of trees in a tent with metal poles awaiting death by lightning strike. I survived, but the constant fright of rumbling thunder that rocked the tent and lightning that lit up the tent like a spotlight meant very little sleep.
About 4 a.m. the storm subsided and I thought I might get a few hours of sleep before needing to pack-up and ride on. Just as I was drifting off to sleep the motorcycle alarm woke me up. Annoyed that someone would touch my bike, I hastily unzipped the tent and poked my head out to assault whoever had such nerve and instead watched a big, black, smelly bear run past me - apparently scared off by the alarm. The experience scared me, I never did sleep after that!
Day 2 on the road I ran out of gas. See, in the prairies the towns are often 200+ km apart without road signs advising that there's no gas stations in between. Or if there are signs - I didn't see them!!
I ran out of gas and coasted to a farm on some dirt side road. A toothless, long grey bearded farmer siphoned "purple" gas from his tractor and sent me back on my way. About 2 hours east of Saskatoon I encountered hail. My body still has purple dots on it- bruises from the hail! Then I drove into what locals call the worst prairie storm they've seen in several years. The flash flooding caused the police to barricade roads. I drove through 3 HUGE puddles, the last was over 2 feet deep and was like running head-on into a wall. I found out the consequences several days later...
I decided that I was not going to tent in this so I showed-up at the hotel where the rally was being held hoping for a room. But the city was without electricity and therefore, they couldn't book me a room. I ended up bunking with a stranger, nice gal, chain smoker though. EVERYTHING in my waterproof luggage (tank and tail bags and side bags) were soaked. I ended up drying clothes using the in-room hairdryer - this too 4 hours just to dry the essentials and unmentionables.
Day 3 was the rally. It was good, but I was still reeling from the night prior.
Day 4 I was headed for home. They were forecasting severe weather so I started out early. 5 km down the highway (speed limit 110 km/hr) I was coasting nicely at 120 km when the tail bag latches severed, pulling the tail bag under the bike and into the rear tire well where it forced and wedged tightly between the shock spring and tire. It also pulled in with it's force the side luggage. All of my belongings (clothes, tent, etc) was jammed in between the wheel and workings of the bike forcing the back wheel to stop dead from 120 km. The bike screeched to a sudden halt from 120 to zero in a heartbeat. The vehicles behind me saw no brake light but did see the bike fishtail violently and spewing white smoke as the back rubber dragged to a sudden stop.
The bike did not flip. Both biker and rider were unharmed. However, it took 3 of us to muscle it off to the side of the highway where I wrenched on it for many hours. With the debris cut away from my back tire (sleeping bag, tent and clothes all burned up in there) and the chain lubed with WD40 (the only store open on Sun in Saskatoon was a Walmart - no reg. chain lube available), and the burned-up and torn Joe Rocket luggage discarded and rubberized bags held-on with duck tape and bungee cords, I pushed on... Shaken but now desperate for home and feeling lucky to be alive!
That's when fairing bolts and bar ends and clutch rivets began shooting out of the bike for no reason at all. I managed to find the clutch handle one - thank God - or I'd have had to ride the whole way back in 2nd gear!
When I approached Medicine Hat I learned about a weather alert that was forcing people off the highway. I decided to stay the night rather than suffer more storms and the side winds were already battering me bad at 60-70 km/hr.
The next morning I loaded-up to set off but noticed an oil leak. I popped by the Honda dealer and learned I had burned up the oil plug in the highway ordeal. They said I wouldn't make it through the Rockies without running dry and ruining my engine. I overnighted again in Medicine Hat. By this time I was distraught because I had 16 hours to make it home for work for Tuesday. The mechanics got the part in overnight (ironically from Vancouver) but realized they'd have to dismantle the entire engine to fix it, so the patched it with my old plug, sent me with oil and told me to keep topping her up while praying that it would get me home. I think the poor guys were afraid I'd start to cry again if they suggested another day or two in Medicine Hat for them to fix it properly, so hats off to them for being creative with a temporary fix!
(FYI Ladies: discounts can be had when you cry in front of unsuspecting motorcycle mechanics!! Their eyes grow big like deer in headlights and they start to sweat when your voice begins to tremble!!)
Day 6 I rode to Calgary without a leak of oil. Made it through Banff National Park without a hitch. Well, nearly... When I entered the park I asked the attendant if there were gas stations on route. He said yes, there were 2. Turns out that both were closed by the time I passed through. So, I arrived on fumes into Golden BC just outside the park as night began to settle around me. I asked the gas bar attendant how much she thought a hotel room costs in Golden and she replied $72 was the cheapest. The Motel 6 in Medicine Hat was $69... Remember I was on a budget... I had planned to camp the entire time until I burned up all my sleeping gear on the highway.
I wondered out loud if hotels would be cheaper further from the gateway of the Park. The guy pumping gas beside me in his SUV said he'd traveled from Golden to Revelstoke a hundred times. He assured me... (despite my explicit concerns about riding in the desperate blackness of mountain regions, my unbashfull fear of lurking wildlife waiting to dodge in front of unsuspecting motorcyclists, and my well-voiced concern of the tight turns and severe terrain of riding through mountain passes at night....) that the 100 or so km trek between the two towns was a breeze and that, in fact, the hotels would be more plentiful and cheaper in Revelstoke.
Stupidly, I believed him.
Half way through what I learned was Glacier National Park and Roger's Pass, the dark of a starless night crowded in around me. People kept flashing their lights at me, which I thought was odd because around every bend there was never a cop waiting with radar. What I later learned was that they were telling me my headlights were not on. It was too late for me to turn back. Seems that when I drove through the flash flood in Saskatoon, I shorted my running lights. I was now in the mountains, in the dark of night passing 10 ft. tall signs warning about elk crossings and wildlife threats, with no headlight!! I sandwiched myself between 18-wheelers and followed the rear view lights for 2 hours through the mountain. I prayed a lot, for surely if I hadn't died on the highway escapade, I was about to die now from these impatient truckers breathing down my neck doing the twists and turns at 90 miles an hour without the ability to stop on a dime and only a few meters between their front grill and my back tire.
ANYWAY, I arrived in Revelstoke and of all their hotels, only a couple had vacancies and the rates started at $120+ - I did find a flea bitten motel just on the outskirts for $79 and I slept soundly - exhausted - my hands still have blisters on the pads of my palms from squeezing the handlebars so tightly during that 2 hour trek.
The next day was the first without rain, gale force winds, hail, etc. I mounted my GPS unit in Chilliwack to help guide me through Vancouver to the ferry, which caused me to be diverted through the U.S. along the I-5. Even when 2 nice Sikh gentlemen had me follow them to the Hwy 10 where signs ahead clearly said the ferry terminal was in sight, the GPS unit told me to do a U-turn at my soonest availability!!??
I got on the 6 pm ferry. I arrived home about 8:30 pm and had 2 stiff drinks before bed.
I've never been so glad to see home, my own bed and my family... Not to mention, so glad to park my bike!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, be careful out there!
Jules
Just a note. By "burning up the oil plug," she meant the counter shaft seal.
Kevin
Kevin
OK... I am back!
To all the girls who've emailed me from the group asking where I've been the last few weeks, pull up a chair and get comfy, do I have a "motorcycle trip from hell" a story to share...
I was in Nelson for wildfires. Then went straight to Kamloops to buy a 1966 Corvair convertible. Arrived home only to turn around and leave a few days later on a motorcycle trip to the Alberta Women's motorcycle rally. Problem is, the Alberta rally was in Saskatoon... A bit longer of a drive than originally anticipated.
Day one I stayed in a tent outside Jasper Prov. Park during a monsoon electrical storm. I was beneath a canopy of trees in a tent with metal poles awaiting death by lightning strike. I survived, but the constant fright of rumbling thunder that rocked the tent and lightning that lit up the tent like a spotlight meant very little sleep.
About 4 a.m. the storm subsided and I thought I might get a few hours of sleep before needing to pack-up and ride on. Just as I was drifting off to sleep the motorcycle alarm woke me up. Annoyed that someone would touch my bike, I hastily unzipped the tent and poked my head out to assault whoever had such nerve and instead watched a big, black, smelly bear run past me - apparently scared off by the alarm. The experience scared me, I never did sleep after that!
Day 2 on the road I ran out of gas. See, in the prairies the towns are often 200+ km apart without road signs advising that there's no gas stations in between. Or if there are signs - I didn't see them!!
I ran out of gas and coasted to a farm on some dirt side road. A toothless, long grey bearded farmer siphoned "purple" gas from his tractor and sent me back on my way. About 2 hours east of Saskatoon I encountered hail. My body still has purple dots on it- bruises from the hail! Then I drove into what locals call the worst prairie storm they've seen in several years. The flash flooding caused the police to barricade roads. I drove through 3 HUGE puddles, the last was over 2 feet deep and was like running head-on into a wall. I found out the consequences several days later...
I decided that I was not going to tent in this so I showed-up at the hotel where the rally was being held hoping for a room. But the city was without electricity and therefore, they couldn't book me a room. I ended up bunking with a stranger, nice gal, chain smoker though. EVERYTHING in my waterproof luggage (tank and tail bags and side bags) were soaked. I ended up drying clothes using the in-room hairdryer - this too 4 hours just to dry the essentials and unmentionables.
Day 3 was the rally. It was good, but I was still reeling from the night prior.
Day 4 I was headed for home. They were forecasting severe weather so I started out early. 5 km down the highway (speed limit 110 km/hr) I was coasting nicely at 120 km when the tail bag latches severed, pulling the tail bag under the bike and into the rear tire well where it forced and wedged tightly between the shock spring and tire. It also pulled in with it's force the side luggage. All of my belongings (clothes, tent, etc) was jammed in between the wheel and workings of the bike forcing the back wheel to stop dead from 120 km. The bike screeched to a sudden halt from 120 to zero in a heartbeat. The vehicles behind me saw no brake light but did see the bike fishtail violently and spewing white smoke as the back rubber dragged to a sudden stop.
The bike did not flip. Both biker and rider were unharmed. However, it took 3 of us to muscle it off to the side of the highway where I wrenched on it for many hours. With the debris cut away from my back tire (sleeping bag, tent and clothes all burned up in there) and the chain lubed with WD40 (the only store open on Sun in Saskatoon was a Walmart - no reg. chain lube available), and the burned-up and torn Joe Rocket luggage discarded and rubberized bags held-on with duck tape and bungee cords, I pushed on... Shaken but now desperate for home and feeling lucky to be alive!
That's when fairing bolts and bar ends and clutch rivets began shooting out of the bike for no reason at all. I managed to find the clutch handle one - thank God - or I'd have had to ride the whole way back in 2nd gear!
When I approached Medicine Hat I learned about a weather alert that was forcing people off the highway. I decided to stay the night rather than suffer more storms and the side winds were already battering me bad at 60-70 km/hr.
The next morning I loaded-up to set off but noticed an oil leak. I popped by the Honda dealer and learned I had burned up the oil plug in the highway ordeal. They said I wouldn't make it through the Rockies without running dry and ruining my engine. I overnighted again in Medicine Hat. By this time I was distraught because I had 16 hours to make it home for work for Tuesday. The mechanics got the part in overnight (ironically from Vancouver) but realized they'd have to dismantle the entire engine to fix it, so the patched it with my old plug, sent me with oil and told me to keep topping her up while praying that it would get me home. I think the poor guys were afraid I'd start to cry again if they suggested another day or two in Medicine Hat for them to fix it properly, so hats off to them for being creative with a temporary fix!
(FYI Ladies: discounts can be had when you cry in front of unsuspecting motorcycle mechanics!! Their eyes grow big like deer in headlights and they start to sweat when your voice begins to tremble!!)
Day 6 I rode to Calgary without a leak of oil. Made it through Banff National Park without a hitch. Well, nearly... When I entered the park I asked the attendant if there were gas stations on route. He said yes, there were 2. Turns out that both were closed by the time I passed through. So, I arrived on fumes into Golden BC just outside the park as night began to settle around me. I asked the gas bar attendant how much she thought a hotel room costs in Golden and she replied $72 was the cheapest. The Motel 6 in Medicine Hat was $69... Remember I was on a budget... I had planned to camp the entire time until I burned up all my sleeping gear on the highway.
I wondered out loud if hotels would be cheaper further from the gateway of the Park. The guy pumping gas beside me in his SUV said he'd traveled from Golden to Revelstoke a hundred times. He assured me... (despite my explicit concerns about riding in the desperate blackness of mountain regions, my unbashfull fear of lurking wildlife waiting to dodge in front of unsuspecting motorcyclists, and my well-voiced concern of the tight turns and severe terrain of riding through mountain passes at night....) that the 100 or so km trek between the two towns was a breeze and that, in fact, the hotels would be more plentiful and cheaper in Revelstoke.
Stupidly, I believed him.
Half way through what I learned was Glacier National Park and Roger's Pass, the dark of a starless night crowded in around me. People kept flashing their lights at me, which I thought was odd because around every bend there was never a cop waiting with radar. What I later learned was that they were telling me my headlights were not on. It was too late for me to turn back. Seems that when I drove through the flash flood in Saskatoon, I shorted my running lights. I was now in the mountains, in the dark of night passing 10 ft. tall signs warning about elk crossings and wildlife threats, with no headlight!! I sandwiched myself between 18-wheelers and followed the rear view lights for 2 hours through the mountain. I prayed a lot, for surely if I hadn't died on the highway escapade, I was about to die now from these impatient truckers breathing down my neck doing the twists and turns at 90 miles an hour without the ability to stop on a dime and only a few meters between their front grill and my back tire.
ANYWAY, I arrived in Revelstoke and of all their hotels, only a couple had vacancies and the rates started at $120+ - I did find a flea bitten motel just on the outskirts for $79 and I slept soundly - exhausted - my hands still have blisters on the pads of my palms from squeezing the handlebars so tightly during that 2 hour trek.
The next day was the first without rain, gale force winds, hail, etc. I mounted my GPS unit in Chilliwack to help guide me through Vancouver to the ferry, which caused me to be diverted through the U.S. along the I-5. Even when 2 nice Sikh gentlemen had me follow them to the Hwy 10 where signs ahead clearly said the ferry terminal was in sight, the GPS unit told me to do a U-turn at my soonest availability!!??
I got on the 6 pm ferry. I arrived home about 8:30 pm and had 2 stiff drinks before bed.
I've never been so glad to see home, my own bed and my family... Not to mention, so glad to park my bike!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, be careful out there!
Jules
Just a note. By "burning up the oil plug," she meant the counter shaft seal.
Kevin
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