good morning from Vancouver!

[ceemes]

If they're close enough to almost hit me, I make sure the knuckle protectors on my gloves get a good workout. Then I make sure to follow them to their destination.

Granted I'm a pretty big guy so the fact that I'm following them tends to unnerve them...

Been there, done that. good for a giggle ain't it?

[ceemes]

rode in at -2C

Did you get caught in the little snow blow we had last week or the week before? Now that was a fun ride to work.

[Islesfan91]

No snow sir . On the day we had the snow warning I was on the bike and came home at lunch to switch to the car. Got the bike all locked up and covered, my gear off and put away then got into the car to find out it wouldn't start. Cranked it about 8 times til it finally started and had to take it to the dealer. Faulty fuel pressure regulator. Still under the new car warranty so it didn't cost me anything but was about the 8th issue in 2 years now so meeting with Nissan on the weekend to see what my options are to flip it.

[sunshine229]

Other than speeding up even more than I did, what the hell do I do to avoid that in future? At the time she passed me it was at impound speeds and if I slowed down to pull over and let her by she would have run me over.

...and now a response from a woman's perspective...

If someone is tailgating me I slow down to the exact speed limit, then if they pull up closer on my bum I slow to 10 under. Usually none of this works so the next best thing for me is to let them go by. If there's an opportunity for the car to pass on my left (North America) then I put my right signal on, brake and pull over to the right to give the guy the okay to fly past. If there isn't a passing opportunity then I'd ride straight down the middle of the lane so there wasn't an easy chance for them to try to push me out of the lane.

No matter what option you take it's very important that you relax. And no I don't mean relax like in a Lazy-boy but relax as in don't get all uptight. If you spend all your time watching him in your mirror and huffing then you aren't paying enough attention to the rest of the road around you.

Hope that helps! And sorry you had to have that experience...

[Islesfan91]

I would have loved to have slowed down, but when I tapped the brakes she got closer. 3 feet was very close and I didn't feel like I could slow down and get her to do the same, when she didn't react to the brakes I was sure shed run me over

[ceemes]

No snow sir . On the day we had the snow warning I was on the bike and came home at lunch to switch to the car. Got the bike all locked up and covered, my gear off and put away then got into the car to find out it wouldn't start. Cranked it about 8 times til it finally started and had to take it to the dealer. Faulty fuel pressure regulator. Still under the new car warranty so it didn't cost me anything but was about the 8th issue in 2 years now so meeting with Nissan on the weekend to see what my options are to flip it.

I rode it.

Left home on wet roads and rain, then five minutes road right into the heavy falling snow, thankfully it wasn't sticking. Half an hour after I got to work it really started coming down and stuck to the roads, looks like I timed it perfectly. Luckily it turned back to rain by the time it was time to go home, but still a lot of slush to deal with. But its good to be riding again, even tho it can still be a bit dodgy traction wise at 4:30 in the morning.

[ceemes]

I would have loved to have slowed down, but when I tapped the brakes she got closer. 3 feet was very close and I didn't feel like I could slow down and get her to do the same, when she didn't react to the brakes I was sure shed run me over

Hate to say it, but Lower Mainland drivers have no respect for motorcycles or riders. You know the bend off of Knight Street onto the Connector heading into Richmond or on to Highway 99 South? Twice in the last three weeks I have had cars either try to overtake me on that bend or share my lane with me, all for the point of getting one car length ahead. I must have the fastest horn button finger/middle finger salute combo going now. But back in the day when I wore steel toed boots, I would of kicked in their door panels....too old and feeble for that kind of stunting now.

[madjak30]

It's not just riders that they don't respect...it's anyone else on the road! They tend to just do what ever they want until someone honks at them...then they jerk back to their lane...not that the lower mainland has a monopoly on crappy drivers, they are in every city...the bigger the city, the worse the drivers (but that could just be a concentration of drivers thing...in small towns there's just less cars on the road)

I'll stick to small towns from now on...lived in Burnaby, New West, North Van...waaayy too many people for me...then Edmonton & Calgary...same, not quite as busy but not that different...Sylvan Lake has just over 10,000 now & that works for me...now Hwy 2, or as we call it "The Alberta Autobahn", that is a scary piece of road (at least 300kms of it)...crappy drivers commuting between Calgary & Edmonton...I avoid it...there's cars in the ditch on good days...

Later.

[Islesfan91]

last weekend was a GREAT weekend. I finally rode the sea to sky highway. Went out saturday from Richmond and went through Vancouver, down granville street and through downtown Vancouver. Lot of traffic going past stanley park and over the lions gate bridge (great view!) and then headed through north vancouver to the highway and on to squamish!

Absolutely loved it. I found that the sweeping corners gave me an experience I hadn't really had much of, cornering at speed. Initially I had a couple of moments where I felt like I was going too fast and had to resist the urge to get on the brakes and tell myself to push the bike over more, and throttle through the turn, but I did and the feeling...gosh!

I stopped in squamish and had a coffee at the starbucks (which was packed with sport bikes, riders in full leathers and a few cruisers) then turned around and headed back. The way back was smoother, I was more confident and stopped in Lion's Bay for a bite to eat.

Overall a great day! So much fun that I did it the next day with a friend who put his bike back on the road a couple of days earlier. Our pace was a bit faster the second day and I was a LOT more confident and a lot smoother in corners and enjoyed it even more. Stopped again in squamish at I believe the shady tree pub, then headed back again.

Two of my best days riding so far, and now looking ahead this weekend and thinking of riding out to Harrison Hot Springs or Hope

day 1 - along the sea to sky




day 1, on the return trip, stopped in Lion's Bay for a snack





day 2, the ducati back on the road (not mine lol)

[Islesfan91]

and for amusement, what's been keeping us busy for the last couple of weeks

we adopted two kittens, sisters, and have been introducing them to our rabbits. so far it's going extremely well