Ride Across Canada – final prep

My trans-Canada motorcycle adventure begins this week!

I’m excited to get on the road again. The start date chosen back in July for planning purposes, September 11th, still works well weather-wise. I’m currently expecting no precipitation for at least the first five days.

With good weather, I will get to ride both the Bow Valley Parkway and Highwood Pass (part of the Kananaskis Trail), described in my July 19th blog post, on Day 2 and Day 3, respectively. I am stoked to visit the Canadian Rockies once again.

The motorcycle received its 78,000 mile level-I service. Beyond the normal service, the cylinder head gaskets were replaced and I had a new alternator belt installed. I will stop by the shop before leaving to pick up a spare liter of oil to carry with me.

As is common on my longer trips, I will need to get another service on my way home from Nova Scotia, approximately 6,000 miles from now. I will also need to replace the tires at that time.

Between now and Wednesday, when I leave, I have some final lodging reservations to make for the ride out to Nova Scotia and I’ll need to pack up the bike.

I have decided not to take camping gear with me on this trip. It feels a little late in the year to camp as I expect to encounter both cold weather and rain, especially in early October on my way home.

As a result, I won’t need to take my top case, which is where I keep my sleeping bag, tent and mattress pad. The motorcycle will feel a bit more agile and cross winds, expected all across the midwest, won’t blow me around as much as I present a lower overall profile to the wind.

My “daily breakdown” has been revised a bit since July. I shortened my days around the Great Lakes region planning for the possibility of some fog and potential late starts as a result. My day off was also delayed by one day, allowing me to enjoy a full day in Thunder Bay, versus Winnipeg. That said, I still have four days where the ride will be longer than 400 miles. That is part of the design of this trip.

I want to travel with some haste to see how I hold up. I will likely experiment with some longer days on my return trip as well. To date, my longest-ever day is 540 miles. I may push that a bit on my travel homeward.

As always, once the trip has begun, I will try to post daily updates to the blog.

Stay tuned and enjoy the ride with me!