Paul's Ride Guide

Thursday, 10 July 2014

Fred's New Ride

Fred got a new bike and it's pretty sweet. An older Kawi but in great shape and well maintained. The ZR7 is what you'd call a 'do it all' type of bike, a 'sporty standard' you might say. And since Fred has been, we can also say it's an everyday bike, great for a commute or a long ride out to a favourite Burger spot. Looking forward to doing just that with Fred one day soon.

Stampede Breakfast

Nowadays, there seems to be a fair share of Stampede breakfasts that are 'private' or 'invitation only' but we were invited to a really good one with Lundgren and Young, and Southland Registries, that was also free to the public, so that was also refreshing. Lots of people there, and quite a few from the wide world of insurance, including representatives of many brokerages and insurers, the IBAA and other insurance related organizations. Many competitors in the field, but also good people who are interested in providing a solid platform of insurance in Alberta.
We also had a great opportunity to talk to special guest Kurt Bensmiller, leader in the Stampede Chuckwagon aggregate at the time. Kurt is a great guy, and stopped by with his chuckwagon to say hello and sign posters he was giving away. We talked a lot about his horses and their competitive nature and desire to race.

Just starting to get warmed up.

Flapjacks only cook so fast, so there's usually a bit of a line-up. A chance to meet some new people while you wait!

Robyn Young was queen of the flapjack flippin'

Face painting for the kids

Blue Circle's Stampede Queen, Kelly, enjoys a delicious breakfast

A bit of line dancing to work off the pancakes and sausage :)

Jennie, from Intact Insurance, Gerry and Kelly from Blue Circle, and John from Rigby Insurance

Swing yer partner....

A great live band

This cute little cowgirl, Julie, from Gold Key Insurance and also the V.P of the IBAA

Gerry and I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to chuckwagon driver Kurt Bensmiller.

Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Shiny Happy People

Or should I say, shiny happy motorcycle! Put on a few K in the last couple of weeks and collected my fair share of road grime and dust. Time for a wash down. Using "Plexus", a spray cleaner that does a pretty amazing job of cleaning everything on the bike. Apparently won't show water spots after a rain or hose down, so we'll see how that goes.

Monday, 7 July 2014

Too Cool BBQ

Our good friends at Too Cool Motorcycle School had their annual BBQ on the training grounds on Friday and we were honoured to get an invite. There were lots of people in attendance and all have a love for two wheels, so it was a lot of fun to meet now friends and catch up with old ones too. Many thanks to Trevor, Rene, Jordan, Mike and Lanchi for being such gracious hosts. The burgers were delicious (great buns too) and I must admit to chomping down on two double cheeseburgers!! haha!

The Too Cool wave from the cooks, Lanchi and Trevor!

Rob, from HardnoX Racing, was there and gave away an entry to Track Dayz. The lucky winner will get to take his bike on the race track and have some high speed fun in a controlled environment!

Yeehaw!

All Season Motorsports brought up a bunch of bikes, including the Zero electric bikes that Sanjay and I had the pleasure of test riding the other day.

Jordan is a natural on the bullhorn!! haha!

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation had a set up.

The parking lot is starting to fill up with bikes

Say 'cheese'

And the winner is....

'Lady Di' liked our 'Burger Ride Map'

'Misbehavin' Corey, and Kyla, were also there from Blue Circle

Thursday, 3 July 2014

1967 BSA

I was on the road and came across this fellow biker, fueling up in the same small town in rural Alberta. A very cool, mostly original 1967 BSA Thunderbolt, still running well and apparently great to ride.

Met at the pump

This bike is in great shape

I'm not sure this logo is original! haha!

1967

Thursday, 26 June 2014

An Electric Experience With All Season Motorsports

Sanjay and I had a real treat yesterday, after getting a special invite from Steven down at All Season Motorsports on 10 Ave.,S.W. in Calgary. Aside from a great selection of entry level motorcycles and lots of different styles of rental bikes, All Season sells the Zero electric motorcycle and let us take two of their models out for a spin around town. We had the DS and FX models, with the former being a sport bike and the latter being a dual purpose bike, with the higher stance that you expect on an all terrain bike. Still, the FX, which weighs in at a mere 130kg and produces 70 ft-lbs of torque with the equivalence of 44 hp, was so much fun to ride and has so much zip you can't help but smile when you twist the throttle.
There were several things that took some getting used to, that's for sure. There's some fun with clutches and gear changing, second nature for Sanjay and me, but we both did admire the seamless acceleration on the Zero bikes, with no hesitation in the throttle response no matter what the speed. Setting up for curves and twists in the road took some adjustments but, overall, the straight up throttle power was pretty cool. I also had a bit of an adjustment to make for the sound, which is so minimal that you start to wonder if the bike is running. At the first stop sign after leaving All Season Motorsports, Sanjay actually thought he had stalled the bike, which of course had us laughing!
Check out Blue Circle's Facebook page for the little video of me on the RS model, cruising around McMahon Stadium parking lot in what I referred to as 'stealth mode'. Silent as a ninja (the warrior, not the Kawasaki bike! haha)
Many thanks to Steven and the great crew at All Season for welcoming us and taking us out for a really fun and interesting test ride. Sanjay enjoyed the experience so much he is seriously thinking about getting an FX, a huge testimonial in itself!

Sanjay on the Zero DS

I started out on the Zero FX

No clutch and no gear changer

No exhaust pipes either!

Getting ready for stealth mode

Steven, from All Season Motorsports, and Blue Circle's Sanjay, pose with the Zero DS and Fx

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Pike's Peak June 29th 2014

Pike's Peak is an annual time trial race that takes place in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, within Pike National Forest. The track measures 12.42 miles (19.99 km) and has 156 turns, climbs 4,720 ft (1,440 m) on grades averaging 7% from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway, and finishes at 14,110 ft (4,300 m) above sea level. It once consisted of both gravel and paved sections, but the highway is fully paved as of 2011.
It has taken place since 1916, making it the second oldest motorsport event in the United States of America. It is currently contested by a variety of classes of cars, trucks, motorcycles and quads. There are often numerous new classes tested each year, and often discarded. Lately, there have been several categories of electric vehicles, including motorcycles, as displayed in some of my previous posts on the latter. On average there are 150 competitors in multiple categories, but in the case of motorcycles we have.....