Lost Coast 2009, Details Part 3

Corrections: My apologies if I get the dates or spellings wrong. The delightful young lady (Solita through Mexico) was Cynthia MacKay, and not so sure her presentation wasn't this evening.

This fourth day of my Lost Coast trip began with yet another delicious breakfast at the Petrolia Grange.

After that it was a classroom/practice session with riding coach Ramey Stroud (http://www.ridecoach.com/) who was very good.








This was coach's tent trailer that he pulled with his sidecar motorcycle. All the comforts of home!

We began with basic riding positions, and then focused on slow-speed turns on dirt with big overland bikes. After some classroom instruction, we all made our way outside and mounted our bikes. Coach Stroud watched one-on-one riding his sidecar motorcycle alongside ours down a line of cones. We had to practice smoothly standing up on the pegs, then sit back down, while riding through the "mole" field. It was terrific stuff.

Those coach sessions took the whole morning, so after yet another sumptious lunch, our next session was How to Change a Flat Tire, Anytime, Anywhere. By then it was really getting warm, and the sweat was flowing trying to get the spoons to pull old stiff rubber over rims of steel. It was a really good session for me, as I'd not seen a real motorbike tire change. Grant led the session and it covered tire choice, wear, maintenance and inspection...I even learned that valve caps are an integral part of the pressure retaining system accounting for upwards of 70% of that important function. The techniques, not stressing or having for work too hard, using your head and thinking through the problem; Grant was a good teacher of those principles that can be applied to any roadside repair or emergency.

We went over patching, tubless and tubed, inflation and CO2 cartridges and air compressors, tube removal and replacement, valve stem removal/replacement, and basically covered the whole gamut. I now know how to use lube, how using 3 spoons is better than two, what type of spoons to use, how to use a kickstand (safely with retaining strap) to break the bead, inspecting spokes and replacing dust tape, using lots of sanding in repairing the tube...must be grey and not shiny. It was really informative and will unfortunately be needed someday in my own travels, I'm sure. But I won't forget and feel confident I can now change them out myself after having been at Grant's session. Can't ask for more, really.

The final evening's dinner was over the top, with huge cut of prime rib or steak, baked potatoe, salad, wine, pasta, and on and on. At my house the portion of meat I was given would have been divided four ways, it was that big. Can't say enough about the fabulous cuisine of the Grange staff. After dinner was brief break, and then on to more presentations.

One of my very favorite talks was by a young Gabriel Bolton (Gabe). He did a "RTW" ride lasting 6 months, and covered 18,000 miles including the infamous Road of Bones in Russia riding his Honda XR650L. Gabe fashioned his own aluminum panniers from scratch, welding and cutting; said it was a lot of work but worth it. He actually did the trip solo, but ended up partering up with another guy along the way for that last bit across the same roads that Ewen and Charlie tried (and ended up on trains part of the way) in their heralded Long Way Round film.

In any case, like many solo and dual riders, Gabe was shown so much kindness and hospitality along the way, it makes Russia a really interesting visit. Several times he ended up staying several days with new found friends who were so proud of their country, city and people and who would not take money in return for their kindness. Gabe is an advanced dirt rider, and relished the challenge of the Road of Bones and rough conditions. And he got what he asked for in the "old" roads when his friend's bike wouldn't start after falling over in the water, and they had no food and only water purifiers for survival. Fascinating adventures, and recommend everyone check out his descripiton of this story on his website:

http://www.gabe-rtw.co.uk/articles/road_of_bones.html

Another very funny and entertaining trip report was the 2006 RTW trip by Doug Wothke on his 1948 Indian Chief. His stories about Russia and making what seemed like a never ending series of biker parties left us all laughing out loud. It's not that common to see a leather clad biker from the US on his vintage Indian motorbike. Take a look at his website and trip report here...under "Around the World 2006", then click the different cities for stories and terrific pictures.

http://www.motosapiens.org/forum/

This year Doug actually just returned from another RTW trip across Russia, only this time on a 1962 Harley "panhead" chopper. It's been heavily customized by Doug, and I took some close-up pictures of it. It's worth checking closely, so I uploaded the large version of his bike, which he'd just returned from Russia on. He hadn't even been home yet. Interesting guy who lives and breathes vintage bikes; he owns like 35 motorcycles.

Here's some pictures of Doug's '62 panhead, as it had just finished going around the world...

That last night there was smalltalk into the late hours of the night, along with some beer and lots of laughs. The stories and tall tales got more embellished as the night grew later. Great fun. Really neat group of guys and ladies.

The next day it was time to return home, so after breakfast everyone took down each other's email addresses and contact information and bid goodbyes. My sincere thanks to Grant and Steve for putting on a really nice gathering, and making it so worthwhile and comfortable. I hope to return again same time next year, and that time I WILL complete that whole Usal road somehow. ;-)