Sport-Touring.Net - mid-September Weekend

Well... I'm pretty happy about my last weekend. A couple of friends and I decided on Friday to make a quick scoot out to Kaslo from Calgary. The weather was looking like it was going to cooperate and be mid-twenties for the afternoons.

However, leaving Calgary on Saturday morning was a different thing. It was +4C and as much as you can prepare for the chilly days, the first forage into the cold for the season always catches one off-guard. When we pulled into the Chuckwagon restaurant in Turner Valley for breakfast I was ready to appreciate the hot coffee and valve-slamming breakfasts they serve. The waitress might as well have said,"How many eggs would you like with your beef?" ...but what they serve is delicious.

After breakfast the sun was a bit higher in the sky and we made good time down the Cowboy Trail (highway 22 for non-locals) The motorcycles from this ride were a '82 900f2, a 2003 Ducati ST4s-ABS and a 2007 Aprilia Tuono. Needless to say no one passed us for the whole weekend. The drone down Highway 3 through Crowsnest Pass, Fernie and Cranbrook/Creston was not too bad. The traffic was a little lower than average and we were able to maintain a 130kph as a running average (the Tuono has a couple trip computers.) The police were out, but they seemed to be a visible deterrent rather than being sneaky and catching speeders. My radar detector did its stuff and we always had plenty of warning that the local cops were around.

Going north of Creston was nice. It was mid-afternoon on Saturday so we had to check the speed in the congested areas and generally look out for folks trying to starting their career as insurance claimants. The pavement was clean and warm and I was having good day railing around the corners. The word seems to have hit the locals that they should just pull over when a pack of motorcycles shows up in the rearview mirror and we had 4 or 5 people pull over for the 3 of us. That alone is amazing 'cause it's less stress for all involved.... and we ARE going to pass anyways. We arrived at the Kootenay Bay ferry just in time to roll onto the boat and dismount for the 35 minute ride. That only happens every couple years.... so it just added to the great time we were having.

Once we were in Balfour, we headed north up through Ainsworth and continuing up to Kaslo. Much to our surprise the little wooden bridge at Coffee Creek had been replaced with a large sweeping concrete bridge. We stopped for a few quick pictures, but didn't linger too long. After all, some of the best roads in Canada were a short 30 minutes north of us. We had bookings in Kaslo at the Kaslo Motel. It's located on the right just as you cross the bridge heading into Kaslo. At the motel, we dropped off our gear and immediately headed off to strafe a few roads. The road to Meadow Creek is not very well used and a bit of a dead end unless you like doing gravel. So it's and out-and-back scenario. The pavement was clean, the traffic was light and the ride was fantastic. We had a quick bit of conversation at Meadow Creek about a proposed ski resort (bad idea) in the Purcells, set the 'little bit angry' mood for the ride back to Kaslo.... with the return riding being even better. The local police were waiting for us at the junction in Kaslo, but my radar detector had him pegged a couple km away and we tootled past him at 5km under the speed limit with nodding heads and acknowledgement waves. Half an hour later, the Kaslo pizzeria was serving us delicious pizza and several jugs of the local pale ale ...and the occasional Tequila shooter to toast the fine day we were having.

Sunday we had breakfast at the Treehouse Cafe in Kaslo. Surprisingly, there were several sport bikes parked along the curb and 1 cruiser. Obviously some right thinking people had the same thoughts as us. After breakfast it was off to the 31a. To our surprise, the gov has repaved the crappiest section of the road which is the the last few km into Kaslo. So we hit a smooth, clean bit of pavement devoid of traffic and begging us to test tire limits. Which we were happy to do. Along this stretch, the friend with the new Tuono (just finalizing the break in in this trip) lends me his new bike and immediately go faster that what I was doing on my ST4s. Annoyed, I gave him his bike back with a, "Don't let me ride this again" warning. The 31a was an out and back as well as we then headed south back through Ainsworth and to the Balfour ferry. The ferry is running on it's winter hours and we had an hour to kill while waiting. Luckily the ice cream shop right beside the ferry hadn't closed and we spent our waiting time enjoying ice cream and reveling in the good weather.

We were first off the ferry on the Kootenay bay side around 1:00 PM (Calgary time) and the road to Creston was pretty well empty. We only met 6 cars on the 80km length of road and needless to say, speeds were a little elevated above the recommended limits. Time was running against us now and it was obvious that by the time we would make it back to Calgary, it would be dark. So we passed everyone on the highway #3 in an effort to compress a little time. Traffic was heavy ... or normal for a Sunday evening along that strip of road, but the hp to weight ratio proved it's worth once again and no one held us up for more than a minute or so. Turning onto the Cowboy Trail in Alberta, the speeds picked up even more and we headed north with a rare tailwind to improve the gas mileage. About 20km up the road a minivan was a couple of mountain bikes strapped to the back decided he was going to stay in front of us and we let him. He swept the road for us and we made excellent time up to Black Diamond.

At Black Diamond, the group split up. The 900f2 headed east and the 'Italians' headed west through Millerville and Bragg Creek. This would normally be a nice bit of riding, however the sun set on us at Black Diamond and the weather turned cold once again. So fearing wildlife leaping from the darkness, the speeds came back down to the speed limit and we rolled into Calgary at 9:15 PM. By 9:45 we were changed and at the local pub toasting Caesars... again reveling in a fantastic weekend. woo hooo 1445km in 48 hours!

Attached is a pic of the new Coffee Creek bridge

Topic: mid-September Weekend (Read 543 times)