Category: Adventures

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – On Roads

Percé, Quebec, no bones about it; this is a tourist town like so many others, save for coastal splendour that would make a landscape painter weep with frustration at being unable to capture its grandeur and subtlety, and an amazing driveway…

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – The Foam on the Bang

Gaspé Peninsula — Between hotelier Evelyn Pouliot of “Saint-Maxime Petit Hotel” and I, we’ve worked out the literal translation for her restaurant recommendation here in Mont-Louis – “The Foam on the Bang.”  Some things sound better in the original we decide, “La Broue dans l’Toupet” is one.  Figuratively, it’s a restaurant term for freakishly busy,…

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Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – The Saint Lawrence

In 1535, as part of his second trip to Canada, Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to sail the inland part of the Saint Lawrence.  Later, in 1613, the river served as the primary route the exploration of North America’s, pioneered by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.  Those facts from social studies never had…

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Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Poutine

It’s a heart stopping ride, thanks to the diet. Poutine is everything your doctor ever warned you about, but better. French fries, covered in cheese curd and doused in gravy… The gold standard on which all other heart stopping poutine death is based.

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Jail

I’m writing you from Jail. Yes, some would agree that incarceration is long over due thanks to wanton acts of disregard for various social standards, but the details of my megalomania are quite inconsequential…

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Prologue

My “cunning plan” to ride the Buell Ulysses across Canada has been shattered in another journalists accident, before the trip proper even started. Luckily, Ducati’s stepped in with a flight upgrade.

North: The KTM Summer of Adventure – 19: Port Hardy to Nanaimo, BC

Is that a bloodstain on the carpet? Last night when the Ferry docked in Port Hardy, at the northern end of Vancouver Island, I found myself casting around for a hotel room, the Thunderbird Inn seemed to fit the bill. The lady at the front desk, congenial, plump and bespectacled, seemed only too willing to…

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North: The KTM Summer of Adventure – 17: Stewart to Prince Rupert, BC

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….

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North: The KTM Summer of Adventure – 16: Telegraph Creek to Bell II, BC

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.

North: The KTM Summer of Adventure – 15: Watson Lake, YT to Telegraph Creek, BC

So KTM, would now be a good time to mention that my off-road history could be measured in quantities prefixed with “mili”? Likely not, because the ride from Dease Lake to Telegraph has me debating subtleties of throttle control like never before. By the way KTM, the fuel injection is a tad jerky at low speed isn’t it? Give there’s a billion-foot drop to the left I’m all about control.

North: The KTM Summer of Adventure – 13: Whitehorse to Watson Lake, YT

The 990 Adventure and I skulked from the Dempster like a rebuffed dog.  The weather drove us forward, but eventually the Yukon took over pulling us along.  Backtracking in the sunshine, the road to Whitehorse was represented and replenished by a more moderate pace and sunny breaks. Untethered from a single destination, the ride began…

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