Nakusp or bust

henrywillms

henrywillms

Hero member
Location
Canada
Off for a few days riding in Beautiful Britsh Columbia. Home of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, hippies, rednecks, and Wolfgang's Laverda Headquarters in Nakusp, among other things. First though its 1300 km of Canadian prairies though so I modify the RGS slightly to tackle the Trans Canada Highway across 3 provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan (who can say that correctly) and Alberta. I think there are 3 corners and 1 small hill. I have ridden it many times but try not to if I can anymore. Will unload the bike in Calgary Alberta and ride from there.20220710_165829.jpg
 
After 14 hours on the road i arrive in Calgary. As Paul Leclair well knows the Calgary Stampede is on. For those non cowboys its the Worlds largest gathering of cows, cowboys, and various other animals, some two legged. Actually, Calgary is a great city and is on the edge of the Rocky Mountains. After a good nights sleep I start the ride to Nakusp. This stretch of the TransCanada is truly gorgeous. It is Canada's main east - west highway (and in some places the only esst - west route) so it can be a bit busy.....by Canadian standards anyway, and some of it is 4 lane and mostly sweepers. But the mountain scenery is awesome. I haven't been this route for many years and it brings back a memory of being stopped on this highway for 8 hours while they cleared a deadly traffic accident. Watch the TV show Highway Thru Hell to get an idea of how dangerous it can be. Also it comes to my mind the difference of riding here vs the Alps. In one section from Golden to Revelstoke its 150 km with no services...no gas, no restaurants or houses....just road and trees and wildlife. Traffic not too bad and im making good time. One intetesting observation in these moden times is that these Tesla electric cars can really accelerate to pass the semi trailers. From 100kph or so they just instantly accelerate up to 140 or 150. The RGS Dellortos and their high tec accelerator pumps are not quite in the same league.

After 400 kms I get to Revelstoke and head south toward Nakusp. This is the old bridge before Wolfgang opened his parts business and caused i ncreased traffic😄😄

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Heading south from Revelstoke toward Nakusp the 2 lane hiway is quiet and enough vornets and elevation changes for me to start knocking the rust off my riding skills and try to smooth out my cornering....its been a couple of years since I have been riding in the mountains. I reach the ferry crossing and I sweet talk the ferry lady ...fairy? ...to let me on the ferry first. It works and I bypass a line of logging trucks, semi trucks, campers etc. First on is first off. I hit the road with no one in front of me and I dont think there was a car ahead of me for the next 50 kms into Nakusp. The road is getting more curvey. I'm going about 140 kph...at least on the straights when I think I better slow down to avoid a speeding ticket. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police must be smart enough to think the first ones off the ferry are probably going like a bat out of hell. Im just minding my own business and all of a sudden this awful loud noise from behind me....some local on a Harley Sportster with a straight pipe exhaust, beanie helmet, lunch box strapped to his seat goes roaring by me. Hands up high on his ape hanger bars, work boots on his highway pegs he takes the corners without slowing down....must be his daily route to work. I follow him into Nakusp knowing he either knows there are no cops or will get a ticket instead of me!!

The view from the ferry 20220712_131711.jpg
 
Sadly, the logic of tailing behind someone traveling at "citation" speeds is faulty. I've been fooled by that in the past. The police have great discretion on who they decide to chat with. :(
Nice bike, BTW.
 
Love hearing about long trips on the bikes. Good stuff, Henry. Yeah, Teslas - have a look at the acceleration stats - nothing with pistons will touch them, let alone a 40 year old air cooled Lav :eek:
 
Great report Henry - I'll be heading out that way in a month's time for a few weeks of 2-wheeled therapy. Hope to pass thru Nakusp and get a visit in with Wolfgang and Margo
 
Next Chapter

I make into Nakusp in real good time from Calgary. Travelling alone has that advantage. Too early to check into the hotel so I go to Wolfgangs. I want to do a few thingd on the bike. So after shooting the shit sitting on his patio looking at the mountains I wheel the bike into his shop. He has been focused on getting parts made and restored so the shop is set up for that. Only his SF 750 is in the shop as a test bed for some protype footpegs and shift/ brake levers.

We put a modified throttle pull cam thingy on my bike.....the piece the throttle cable pulls on to rotate the shaft to lift the slides. My bike had an erratic idle .....some times just right then go for a ride and it was too low. Didn't want to stay in adjustment. Wolfgang had built up the flat plate for the idle screw stop to be a semi circle. Seems to have fixed my problem. Also found out that Dellorto used different profiles where the throttle cable wraps around of the this part. The new one is more rounded than the one that was on it. So need to adjust the cable length setting. Also replaced the Heim joints on the rear brake lever. Old ones so tight (even after soaking in oil) that they were preventing brake pedal from returning.

Off to the hotel and get supper. Town looks the same at first. The I notice a couple of thing. First more motorcycles than ever on the main street and at hotels. Lots of big groups. I dont have the patience for travelling with 6 or 12 people. And if i did I would probably be the first guy voted off the island.

Also Covid has hurt the businesses in Nakusp and other small towns. Much of the impact is businesses can't get staff to work. Where the hell these people went is beyond me...did they all win some lottery? As a result some businesses closed, or open less hours. Also food menus are cut back to the basics. All really noticeable in a small tourist town like Nakusp.

The next morning I help Wolfgang replace the roof on his garage. As many of you recall his son Chris lost the lower part of his left leg in a motorcycle accident when s puece a scrap metal fell off a truck and hit him. He gets around good and is working hard but ladders and roofs probably not a good idea. Not sure two old guys climbing around on a roof of slippery metal is a good idea but we get it done. Hopefully 5 hours of my time is worth one hours of Wolfgangs in exchange for the work on my bike.

Overhead costs are being incurred so expect Laverda parts prices to increase!
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NAKUSP.......Next chapter. We did get off the roof and avoided the wasps whose nest was under the eave. I'm pretty allergic to stings and now have to carry an Epipen. A sting would have put a damper on the trip with a visit to the hospital. Luckily the Nakusp hospital is still fully open. In Canada right now many smaller rural hospitals are closing their Emergency Rooms for periods of time due to lack of nurses and doctors. I'll have to remember to try stay on the road to avoid any trips to the hospital.
 
NAKUSP....next Chapter

The next couple of days I do several rides around Nakusp. The weather turned hot really fast, mornings cool but mid 30c in the afternoon. I just leave early in the morning and get back to the hotel by mid afternoon. Also don't stop much to take pictures. Luckily its only a few small small towns I have to ride through so I avoid getting stuck in any traffic...almost . In Canada there are two seasons. Winter and Construction. You can't fix roads in winter so your sure to hit a Construction zone when on the highways while riding. There was one just south of Nakusp I rode through 5 times. Had to stop each time, I think the flagman didn't like motorcycles or maybe just me. Anyway the new asphalt was perfect and even the road they had not redone was in very good shape. No issues with bumps or cracks throwing you off your line in a corner. I got luckly in that there was almost no traffic on the roads. Passing on the best of the roads means doing so on the solid yellow line. On one 50km stretch of probably the best road in the area I only had to pass one vehicle....and no bikes passed me so I was going at a good pace for an old guy on an old bike! The Laverda seemed to attract a lot of admirers who recalled "away bsck when..." Waiting at the construction zone for oncoming traffic to clear
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Nakusp last chapter

Thursday night a friend and his crew arrive in Nakusp on a variety of rides. Three Yamaha crotch rockets a Harley Bagger and a Spyder. Old age has caught up with a couple of the guys..... I was going to ride with these guys the next day as we head back to Calgary. But I figure out that even though the three crotch rocket riders are fast the overall pace of the group is slow...late starts in the morning, more and longer breaks. So I tell them I will meet them at the hotel. I get an early start at 7am. Again I stop for the road construction. It's got to be a tough job laying asphalt for 12 or 14 hours a day in 30c+ weather. After that its clear sailing and I am making really good time. I feel Im really in the groove....focused yet relaxed and fast and smooth. Until the bear. I am leaned over and rounding a tight blind corner and see a big black bear with a white crested on his chest on the side of the road....my side. For those that don't know bears have great smell and good hearing but lousy eye sight. I close the throttle and either the change in exhaust noise or perhaps my smell ( I left early in the am...no shower that day) seemed to scare him off. He stood up on his hind legs gave me one last dirty look and twisted around and went off the road back into the trees.

The rest of the ride included going on another Ferry. This is a 35 minute ride or so. Absolutely gorgeous views. Again I get lucky and there are only two motorcycles and a few cars ahead of me. Good thing as its a large ferry full of semi trucks and motor homes. I get passed the guys in front of me and have an excellent 70 km ride into the town Creston. From there I am on a bigger highway with more traffic to Sparwood. Nice ride but the real fun stuff is over. I get to Sparwood, home of the "world's biggest dump truck" so they claim, at 3:30. I beat most of the heat but its hot now. The other guys get in 3 hours later, beat from the heat. Supper and a few drinks and off to bed.

Next day another 7 am start with 2 of the guys who wanted to get away early. Last of the mountains are beautiful as we cross the Crowsnest Pass and descend to the foothills of Alberta. A quick ride through ranch country and I reach my destination in Calgary by 10am. The ride is over. It was great. It had been many years since I did a trip mostly by myself. You get to meet a lot of other bikers and swap stories when your solo. Your on your own schedule and not have to worry about keeping a group together.

The drive home in the SUV pulling the bike on the trailer was 14 hours. Hot as hell so I was glad for the A/C. Played a bit of hopscotch across the prairies with some Hells Angels riding.....you guessed it...Harleys. They didn't ask me to join their gang, no Laverdas allowed I guess . Pic from the last ferry ride
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henrywillms said:
Nakusp last chapter

Thursday night a friend and his crew arrive in Nakusp on a variety of rides. Three Yamaha crotch rockets a Harley Bagger and a Spyder. Old age has caught up with a couple of the guys..... I was going to ride with these guys the next day as we head back to Calgary. But I figure out that even though the three crotch rocket riders are fast the overall pace of the group is slow...late starts in the morning, more and longer breaks. So I tell them I will meet them at the hotel. I get an early start at 7am. Again I stop for the road construction. It's got to be a tough job laying asphalt for 12 or 14 hours a day in 30c+ weather. After that its clear sailing and I am making really good time. I feel Im really in the groove....focused yet relaxed and fast and smooth. Until the bear. I am leaned over and rounding a tight blind corner and see a big black bear with a white crested on his chest on the side of the road....my side. For those that don't know bears have great smell and good hearing but lousy eye sight. I close the throttle and either the change in exhaust noise or perhaps my smell ( I left early in the am...no shower that day) seemed to scare him off. He stood up on his hind legs gave me one last dirty look and twisted around and went off the road back into the trees.

The rest of the ride included going on another Ferry. This is a 35 minute ride or so. Absolutely gorgeous views. Again I get lucky and there are only two motorcycles and a few cars ahead of me. Good thing as its a large ferry full of semi trucks and motor homes. I get passed the guys in front of me and have an excellent 70 km ride into the town Creston. From there I am on a bigger highway with more traffic to Sparwood. Nice ride but the real fun stuff is over. I get to Sparwood, home of the "world's biggest dump truck" so they claim, at 3:30. I beat most of the heat but its hot now. The other guys get in 3 hours later, beat from the heat. Supper and a few drinks and off to bed.

Next day another 7 am start with 2 of the guys who wanted to get away early. Last of the mountains are beautiful as we cross the Crowsnest Pass and descend to the foothills of Alberta. A quick ride through ranch country and I reach my destination in Calgary by 10am. The ride is over. It was great. It had been many years since I did a trip mostly by myself. You get to meet a lot of other bikers and swap stories when your solo. Your on your own schedule and not have to worry about keeping a group together.

The drive home in the SUV pulling the bike on the trailer was 14 hours. Hot as hell so I was glad for the A/C. Played a bit of hopscotch across the prairies with some Hells Angels riding.....you guessed it...Harleys. They didn't ask me to join their gang, no Laverdas allowed I guess . Pic from the last ferry ride
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Thanks Henry, sounds like a great trip.
 
Nice jaunt! Thanks for posting 😁
It’s great to ride with a couple of mates but can be drag if they don’t want to keep to the same schedule. We often agree on where to meet, rather than where to ride, although you can find out about some great roads from following others 👍
 
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