Ride Report - Season Openner 2011 - Ride to the Mountains

[madjak30]

Sunday, May 29th, 2011...What a great day for a ride!!

We started the day meeting in Rocky Mountain House, AB at 11am...Faz, uber_poutine (both from another site) and myself...





We headed out of town, but instead of going straight on Hwy 11 (the planned route), the lead bike turned onto Hwy 11a...what's a suday ride without some adventure, and I figured he must know a more scenic route to the destination for that leg of the ride...we followed...20kms later Hwy 11a turns into "Old Hwy 11a" and becomes gravel...no biggie, just slow down and take her easy...well, 20kms down the road it finally meets up with the planned route on Hwy 11...



WOO HOO back on tarmac...and off we go...we stop at Abraham Lake for a butt break and to take some pics...





I make a quick call to let Tuscondog know that we are running late and we will be about 30-40 more mins...he is meeting us inside the National Park Gates...we finally get there about an hour late, and Tuscondog is sittin in the parking lot patiently waiting...





After a meet & greet, we head inside to have a bite to eat (don't ask about the pricing...kind of a sore spot  ), we also notice that Faz has developed a bare spot on his tire (threads are showing), but he decides to finish the ride and replace the tire tomorrow...



We say goodbye to uber_poutine & wifey (riding pillion), and the three of us head south toward Canmore, AB...but along the way we stop and take a few more pics...









Then it was time to start making some miles, so we made our way out of the park and stopped for a butt break again, and some more pics...



Then we headed back to Calgary, AB where Tuscondog lives...Faz and I continued on north to Airdrie, AB and stopped for gas...Faz's tire was getting worse, but he had decided to go all the way back to Edmonton, AB...must have been about an 850km day for Faz, my day was 670kms by the time I was done...overall, it was a great day for a ride, and good to see a couple of familliar faces along with meeting Tuscondog...

Faz did make it home on that tire...and he said that he was good to let the bike sit for a while...Yamaha R1 isn't the best touring bike available...

Anyway, great day, great ride, great people and beautiful scenery...it just doesn't get much better...

Later.

[mister]

He has developed a bare spot?

You just don't suddenly Develop that kind of wear.

600+kms. Well done son. Well done indeed.  If you still feel like riding the day after, all is good. But it is understandable if you haven't done a long ride before, to be like the other guy and not Feel like riding for a while, while your body regenerates from the ride.

Thanks for sharing your day.

Michael

[Anaconda]

Wow, that is some beautiful scenery.  THat looked like a great ride.

[madjak30]

He has developed a bare spot?

You just don't suddenly Develop that kind of wear.

Yeah, he's getting the gears from the other site I am part of...wear bars, what are those??

600+kms. Well done son. Well done indeed.  If you still feel like riding the day after, all is good. But it is understandable if you haven't done a long ride before, to be like the other guy and not Feel like riding for a while, while your body regenerates from the ride.

Thanks for sharing your day.

Michael

Thanks, I had a great day...that was the most distance that I have put in on one day...but I rode to work this morning, no sore spots...this MT-01 is way more comfortable than it looks...and it's consumption is really getting good...I averaged 5.3L/100kms on this ride (53mpg imp...44mpg US), and the last 3 hrs of the ride was at a higher rate of travel than legally suggested... 

Wow, that is some beautiful scenery.  THat looked like a great ride.

Yup, we have some nice scenery in Western Canada...lots of "post card" type of scenery...gotta luv the mountains...



Later.

[yamahonkawazuki]

me thinks that wear started before the ride lol. the gravel didnt help . but anyhoo looked like fun. ive taken my gs on gravel roads before. i went to a church that was 2.5 miles down a gravel road. with mud etc and on stock shocks lol

[madjak30]

I'm not sure how he managed to get home on that thing...here's a pic of the tire in the morning after he got back...



How that tire didn't blow out, I have no idea...at least he made it home safe...

It was a great ride...but I forgot to turn off my VholdR camera when we stopped for lunch...so I have about 45mins of the bottom of the table...then the battery died... ...oh well, I have about 15-20mins of the ride upto lunch anyway...including the rivvetting subject of me filling the fuel tank...  ...I'm AWESOME!!

At least I remembered to take out the camera...

Later.

[tykho]

Looks like a nice ride. I ride my tires till they look about like that, I wouldn't let them go anymore, but I wouldn't really worry about it. Just wouldnt be riding hard showing steel.

[yamahonkawazuki]

he wasnt far from A DELAM. or a blowout. if he chilled on way home and took it easy id say thats how he made it. aka not heating tires up too much

[yamahonkawazuki]

who was on teh gs?

[tucsondog]

The gs is my little buddy. I came from Calgary (southern Alberta) to meet everyone else; then we all took the same route home after lunch.
So far this season, between little jonts with friends, commuting, and this 500km trip, i've put on ~3000km (~1900 miles) since April 01, 2011.

[tykho]

I didn't even realize how much tread was left on the sides, he needs to get on some corners!