Captain’s Blog

I just got back from Christmas with my family. I spent most of the time eating and puttering around, but I did also get to go for a couple of quad rides again. Here’s after pushing through from Trout Lake to Little Pickrel Lake (and the dog “Ruger” that followed me in my travels):

…and here’s after breaking trail along a power line from the Pickrel Lake road. You can see the main section of Trout Lake in the distance, and Blueberry Island and Trappers Bay in the foreground. It’s hard to tell, but for me to go about 50 feet further forward on the quad would take me about 100 feet down a steep rock face. This is as far as I could get:

I broke a lot of trail in the hills behind my grandparents camp. Low gearing and a slow pace allows you to go almost anywhere (but you can still get into some tight spaces):

Today it did hit about 13 degrees, so I was out on the road by 10am. Made it to Mussleman Lake:

…then hit Sibbald Point Provincial Park…

…then hit the top end of Woodbine Ave (where it turns into Lake Simcoe ) and looped back home:

It was a beautiful day, nice and warm, and I got to travel on quite a few twisty bits of pavement. Though I’m exhausted now. Tomorrow I have to blast all the salty road grit off the bike again and store it for the winter.

It’s been a warm December, so even though I stored my bike 6 weeks ago, I decided to put it back on the road this weekend since it was supposed to hit 12-14 degrees C.

Got suited up and thought I’d loop from my place (Yonge + Eglinton) up to Musselman Lake and back:

I pulled off in a little lot somewhere on 9th Line to rearrange my jacket and pants and took this pic (not too good: from a cell phone)

A few minutes later I came to a stop at the intersection where 9th Line makes a quick right-left turn through Stouffville (which you can see on the map link). There was a fair bit of traffic on Main St, and I was making a right-on-red, but I saw a gap in traffic and made the right turn…

…and the back end of bike swung around to my left before I even had the clutch let all the way out and it pointed in the right direction!…

…one second later I’ve completed the turn and I’m slowly driving towards my next left turn with the clutch half-engaged and the engine revving. Yikes!

Dry flat pavement, no manhole cover, no road paint… just a bit too much gas, but it was about 3 degrees out. 100% my fault, and I can’t claim things sorted themselves out because of anything I did. Just enough time for my brain to register “Something Isn’t Right!!”… and my hands stopped where they were giving it gas and the clutch most of the way out.

I really really wasn’t giving it that much throttle (I don’t think) … but I learned my lesson.

Tomorrow, if my clutch arm isn’t still sore from the stop-and-go getting home on the DVP.. I’ll go out again… and be very very very careful