RawHyde Rally in Colorado Springs

In August I rode to Colorado Springs to participate in the RawHyde "Beat the Heat" Pikes Peak motorcycle rally. We tackled a few mountain passes and had a great time.

This is the video. It's 5 minutes long.

<http://gallery.me.com/matt.the.ogre#100115>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DprrnaGtbGI>
<http://www.vimeo.com/6660916>

[Same video on each site. Pick your favorite.]

Not a Motorcycle

Okay, not a motorcycle. But very cool nonetheless. I've wanted a Subaru WRX since I first learned about them. Now I still want one. Watch this short video:

Ever ridden in a snowstorm?

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I've ridden before with a few flakes falling -- more like dandruff than real snowfall. But never a real snowstorm.

Until today, that is.

We had a plan: go to a new-to-us pizzeria after work and pick up a few pizzas for dinner tonight. No problem, I'm found of detours when I'm riding anyway. (More saddle time!)

As I started to pack up in my office it was still dry outside. Overcast, but dry. As I pulled out of the underground parking garage and went the first block downtown it started to hail. No kidding, honest-to-goodness hail. And not a little bit, but rather the type of hail that makes visibility a bit of a problem at medium distances. They weren't particularly big hailstones, so they didn't hurt any. Recall I'm an advocate of ATGATT(*). But it was still warm enough that they were melting on my right away. I hadn't put my rain gear on, nor chosen to don my winter / waterproof gloves.

Oh well, I thought. It's not very far. Besides, if I stop now I'll just be putting waterproof gear over my already wet regular gear. It wasn't like the wetness was getting through my layers anyway.

After an eternity (actually, about 10 minutes) getting out of downtown the weather actually cleared. When I made it to Granville and King Edward (25th) the roads were still dry. There was even a bit of sunshine while riding West along Kind Edward towards Dunbar. I took advantage of the clear, clean, dry air and stood up for a bit, the better to get dried off.

Barring the extremely late pizza order, nothing ontoward happened at the pizza place. Still dry.

But on the way home, lookout. Heading east on King Edward it started to look pretty dark in the sky ahead -- and this was still only 7 PM. Sure enough, I entered a local weather system. Rain, hail, sleet, snow AND thunder with lightning.

CBC reports on it here.

Now, for many people thunderstorms are not that big a deal... heck, growing up in Ontario ("Onterrible") there were several hum-dingers every summer. But here in BC they're rare. Like only about three I've witnessed in over ten years living here. But the thunder was pretty much the least of my worries. To give you a sense of the rapidity of change: the temperature went from 7C to 2C in under an hour.

Getting onto Kingsway it started getting interesting. Actual accumulation -- even to the point where there was a good inch (2.54 cm) of 'stuff' on the roads. Stuff being a combination of wet snow, hail and water. I think it was coming down so quickly that the storm drains were a little backed up.

Me and my Adventure, having an adventure right here in urban Vancouver, riding in a snowstorm. Turns out the big beast is really stable in uncertain conditions. The Continental TKC-80s keep their grip, the low center of gravity of the bike really helped. The larger windscreen keep much of the wet stuff off my body. I was passing cars on the way home!

Safe-n-sound, back at home, it was a great feeling. I wasn't worried during the journey, but it was an interesting new experience. A little stressful, perhaps. Looking at my bike through my snow-clogged visor I was reminded yet again why I choose to ride, why I choose to ride this bike and how riding is just plain DIFFERENT that driving a car.

ATGATT = All The Gear, All The Time. Riding with full protective gear regardless of weather or circumstances.

First ride of the year up Cypress

One of the local favourite motorcycle roads in Vancouver is the road up to the Cypress Bowl ski area. It's very close to town and relatively long (10+ km) with a few really good corners.

As a rite of passage into spring I make it my habit to ride up to the ski area parking lot when the weather is warm in the city. Interestingly, this means there can still be snow at the top, which is very cool.


I left work around 7:00 PM and it was 11C downtown. At the top of the road it was down to 1C and you can see from the picture above there was still a lot of snow on the sides of the road -- over a meter, I would say.

Excellent ride... nice photos (too bad they were shot on my Blackberry)... and a great way to officially welcome spring.

First ride report of 2008 BMW F800GS

Here's an interesting article: First Ride report of the new F800GS.

This bike has been rumoured and anticipated pretty much since the new F800-series (F800S, F800ST) has been around. Many people, including the author of the article, believe it could be the ideal compromise between the power of the 1200 cc R1200GS and the weight of the G650X Challenge.

From the article:

"One thing that I am absolutely convinced of now is that the F 800 GS is a much better offroad motorcycle than the big 1200 Boxer. On well maintained gravelled roads the F 800 GS is the best travel enduro I have ridden since the KTM 990 Adventure. The handling is sublime, the suspension action predictable and the big 800cc engine doubles as a touring machine of some class. The F 800 GS really works better as an all-rounder than the big 1200cc Boxer . . . mainly because it is narrower and lighter."

My favourite picture from the article:

KTM 990 Adventure vs. Buell Ulysses

Here's an excellent article from Paochow.com with an in-depth comparison of the KTM 990 Adventure and the Buell Ulysses XB12X. He's owned both and gives very balanced feedback.

From the conclusion, but not a spoiler:

"Both of these motorcycles are excellent machines and truth be told you couldn’t go wrong with either, however selecting the best one depends on analyzing what you want from the bike."

There are some excellent pictures to accompany the article. This is my favourite:

Fun! Unboxing an R1200GS Adventure.

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