“What displacement is that?”  The ice cream truck driver has ditched his station and crossed the street.
“That’s a quarter litre.”
“Quarter Litre?”  Labeled that way the Kawasaki Ninja 250R sounds much more intimidating, in keeping with the new 249cc entry-market wonder’s looks.

Last night I snuggled into the coziness of the Bayview Hotel, which is part of the Ripley Creek Inn complex.  A restored period piece sitting above the Bitter Creek Café, the Bayview Hotel is refreshingly authentic, comfortably homey and decidedly inexpensive, and the café below puts the weak offerings of Bell II’s cuisine to shame.

Fresh bread complemented by the creamiest Baba Ganoush I’ve ever sampled joined my table briefly.  On Chef/Owner Debbie Kremzar’s menu, and mine, fresh oven baked salmon in a maple mustard grain reduction.  A meal to linger and reflect over as the trip begins to trail off.  There are themes emerging. 

The River Song Café doesn’t open until noon on Sundays and that’s not helping my morning any.  I’m a breakfast person and right now my blood sugar level is off, riding feels like the toughest thing in the world.  I’m not a morning person, and this morning has had a unique start.

A French-Canadian woman has asked Rob for help, last night her boyfriend and his hiking companion arrived to Telegraph Creek… almost.  After hiking five days, the two found themselves separated from civilization by the Stikine River.  That would explain all the yelling back and forth across the river last night as my head hit the pillow.

Ducati is proud to announce victory for a customer spec Hypermotard at the 86th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Using a Ducati Hypermotard 1100 S, Greg Trachy won the 1200cc motorcycle class outright and took an incredible fourth over all classes.

“Run!  It’s the Apocalypse Cow.  Horizontally opposed twin udders of flaming destruction!  Laser blast foglight eyes!  Angry cartoon headlights!  Grazing on the carcasses of defeated sportbikes in corners.”

So things got a bit punchy, but the R1200GS Adventure was the only bike to merit a nickname during our survey of Adventure Touring mounts over the course of our recent Ontario visit.  That’s a distinct honour in our books, as well as a fun term of endearment.  You just wouldn’t nickname a Varadero for example.

Meet the brand new 2008 Honda Varadero...  Except it’s not.  Honda introduced the Varadero to the European market in 1999, the bike arriving at the Adventure Touring party well before the hosts put out the plastic cups. Indeed, Canada gets the second generation of the 996cc v-twin adventure bike, which received smoother-styling, fuel-injection and a sixth gear back in 2003.  The problem is that the Adventure party has been in full swing for a while now, meaning the Varadero is up against a fresh batch of capable and diverse competition.

Third gear, 180kph, mid-sweeper, dead stable, planted to the point of over confidence, and engine still pulling - these are the pertinent facts of the 2008 Suzuki B-King, a 181hp, 108 lb-ft of torque sci-fi cannonball to which I’m currently clinging.  The biggest question?  Do I upshift?  Or back off?