When you Fall off the Horse....

Last year, on the July long weekend, my Son Ian and I rode the Routledge run put on by the Vancouver Motorcycle Club.  That  weekend ended up being a disaster in terms of my riding plans. Two surgeries later, I just began to ride my bike again in late October for a week or two before Winter hit.  I purposively booked the Routledge Ride again, because I need to have the confidence that both my foot and my bike can recover and ride without incident.

I have been camping in Princeton for the past few days, riding around the area on my own, and visiting sites which I would not normally do on a straight run from the Okanagan through to Vancouver.  The A&W seems to be the local hangout for boomers and their rides, and I have met some interesting characters.

I can readily see myself becoming a car Eddy.  I am really good at taking things apart, and not nearly as good at putting them together.  I would love to have a rebuilt 1949 Ford to tool around in.  I need to remember to keep buying Lotto tickets if that is to happen.

We started the run today along the Kettle Valley Railroad bed for a little bit, and then headed up into the backcountry, circling through Forest Service Roads and eventually ending up in Sumerland at lunch.  Ironies of Ironies, I fueled up Blondie at the same Esso station that I rolled into last summer, complete with broken foot and completely dazed and bewildered.  I ended up making it to Penticton where I recognized that neither bike nor I were going any further.   Another year, and better results.

After Summerland, we travelled by more back roads back to Princeton.  It is amazing to me how much timber is being taken off the hills of BC.  It only becomes apparent when you get beyond the visual corridors.  Unfortunately, it is the mining and the lumber industry which are keeping BC  going, as the rest of the province is not doing that well, in my view.

The number of people attending was down a bit, but everybody had a good time and there were not any huge foulups, other than one guy drowning his KTM.

It is clear that the dualsport boys had a good time and certainly got dirty riding the single-track runs.