Day 7
Tud
find the time to keep the updates coming, but I'm going to try to sneak one
in now, so Shirley set them up.
Well, I got you all to Goose Bay, I suppose now I should get you back. It
was Wednesday morning and my original plan was to catch the ferry the day
before, but ice in the bay meant that it wouldn't be coming until Sunday,
and I had to get back to work. Lutz and Al didn't, so they were going to
stay behind and wait and then continue on to Newfoundland. I was a bit
jealous, but that's ok, I was looking forward to the ride back. It also
meant that our pace would be quicker, we were going to do the run back to
Baie Comeau in 3 days instead of the 4 it took us to get up here. I was a
little sore in the morning from a couple too many vodka's the night before,
but I didn't let on. Speaking of which, Shirley a round is in order before
I continue.
The plan for the morning was to pack up and meet at the Tim Horton's down
the street, and from there we were going to drop in to the Labradorian, a
local paper, so that they could take some pictures. I think it was about
10:30am by the time we were at Tim Horton's, and I took a few minutes to buy
a couple boxes of donuts and deliver them to the shop for the guys that
worked on my bike the day before. Before I get too far into the pictures, I
understand that John and Anne were going to take their bike, but
unfortunately they couldn't, but did they really have to dress like clowns
just because someone from a newspaper was going to take some pictures? And
yes, I'm hypocritical because you'll also notice that I've lost the warm
winter coat for my leather jacket.
Getting ready to leave the hotel:
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e3b027186
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e2389310f
No, they didn't spell CRUD wrong, CURD is the Canadian URal Dnepr riders
group.
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e39882e4b
A hotel that doesn't take dogs, an open window with the screen removed, and
a very obedient dog, hmmmmm....
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e322f9d20
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e26c84f21
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e3ac9184b
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e3278cd0e
John was probably telling Lutz about how he holed a piston after leaving
home on the trip, again.
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e37c52e70
Trying to get some fluids into me to get rid of the hangover, but her outfit
ain't helping.
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e35716641
We finally left the hotel and rode the 3 km's to Tim Horton's, I was feeling
a little like Choubaka:
http://tinyurl.com/m2x743
http://tinyurl.com/mjqe2j
(she sees fine out of both eyes, in case you were wondering)
http://tinyurl.com/leu35t
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e2207cbff
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e22c17d69
http://tinyurl.com/m75ge6
http://tinyurl.com/msqetf
Really John? This is what you're wearing in the minivan today?
Last shot before we head down the street to meet with Chelsie from the
paper:
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e349602db
The newspaper was just about 1KM away, that's Chelsie taking the picture.
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e247aec45
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e29288b6f
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e3346deda
Can you guess who the star was?
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e290914b1
http://tinyurl.com/luftta
http://tinyurl.com/kjut22
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e2702863a
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e39b8f359
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e28f03f3b
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e230abfb1
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e3f6967e0
After chatting with the girl from the Labadorian, we headed for our last
stop before separating as a group, the welcome sign which we passed at
separate times the day before. This was the only time we got a taste of the
mosquitoes we've been warned about. They're definitely bigger than the ones
around here, but they weren't exactly monsters. Nevertheless, they were out
and we weren't keen on sticking around too long.
http://tinyurl.com/kqtqu3
http://tinyurl.com/lnpg6b
http://tinyurl.com/mw5cwv
http://tinyurl.com/lfe4xg
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e3fd5e5ca
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e383e725f
http://tinyurl.com/m2dr42
http://tinyurl.com/mur5ku
http://www.alkayphotos.com/p474437264/e2ade7bf1
http://tinyurl.com/mlbhv8
http://tinyurl.com/nfhpge
Backing into position:
http://tinyurl.com/lhmbx7
http://tinyurl.com/m3vpr2
http://tinyurl.com/kp6ly5
http://tinyurl.com/klsa4r
At this point we said our goodbyes to All and Lutz and the remaining 3 bikes
and the minivan headed back to Churchill Falls. Like most trips, the
novelty of it all has worn off a bit for the return trip, the newness of it
is gone a bit, so there were a lot less photos taken. This one, however,
was still worth taking:
We made it back to Churchill Falls in fairly short order and planned on
spending the night here due to the late start we got in Goose Bay. On the
trip up I had replaced one of wheels on the way up because the bearings
seemed to be shot. On the way into Churchill Falls the bike started getting
squirrely again, moreso than the gravel roads would account for, so when I
got to the hotel I gave my credit card to Shelley and she checked me into
the hotel as Derek and I went to work on the bikes. He was swapping tires
because his tread was getting low, and I ended up pulling my main tire
because all, and I mean ALL the spokes were loose. This was causing it to
act squirrely, but surprisingly none of them were broken. Three years of
winter riding had pretty much made it impossible to tighten them (I still
need to put some penetrating oil on them to see if I can loosen them up) and
the spare I was carrying had the bad bearings. This wasn't a major issue
since I had brought spare bearings along, it was just a matter of pulling
the wheel and old bearings, repacking the replacements and getting it all
back together. A bit of a greasy job for a parking lot, but we managed.
Oh, and Shelley was kind enough to bring me the can of Diet Pepsi perched on
the rack.
After getting the bikes back together we hit the restaurant where I ate more
than necessary, but tonight we didn't bother with the bar even though it
wasn't far away. Our goal was to cut a day off the trip and get back to
Baie Comeau in three days instead of 4, so we retired early with the plan of
getting to Gagnon and camping there for the night. That's it for Day 7,
nothing stands out in my now fading memory of the ride from HVGB to
Churchill Falls. Oh wait, I almost forgot. The road was extremely dusty
during this leg of the trip. Derek has an aftermarket air filter setup that
makes it easy for him to get to the air filters, whereas Fred and I have the
stock setup. Derek decided to clean his air filters to get all the dust
out, but Fred and I decided to check the plugs and see how they looked.
They were a nice tan color so we figured we weren't running rich, which
means the dust either wasn't being that hard on them or there wasn't that
much dust on them, so we left them untouched. Try to keep this in mind
until I get to Day 8.
Another round of drinks.
--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph
JMark
> Holy crap I've been slack. Unfortunately it's been busy at work and I
> can't find the time to keep the updates coming, but I'm going to try to
> sneak one in now, so Shirley set them up.
<snip>
> Derek has an
> aftermarket air filter setup that makes it easy for him to get to the
> air filters, whereas Fred and I have the stock setup. Derek decided to
> clean his air filters to get all the dust out, but Fred and I decided to
> check the plugs and see how they looked. They were a nice tan color so
> we figured we weren't running rich, which means the dust either wasn't
> being that hard on them or there wasn't that much dust on them, so we
> left them untouched. Try to keep this in mind until I get to Day 8.
...and?
--
JMark
Tud
And I'm still busy at work. <g> But I will take a moment to add this, the
bike developed a strange problem on bumpy roads. It would be going along
and then die completely, I could start it right back up again by turning the
kill switch to the off position and then back on again. I would slow
slightly while the bikes not running, but it would fire back up again,
usually with a nice loud backfire. This happened a bunch of times,
sometimes 3-4 times in a row, other times once and then not again for hours.
I don't think it happened once I hit the paved roads. I suspect it's
something loose in the teh kill switch, which I haven't taken apart yet.