BC Big Trailie Ride 3
First Day - June 20, 2008
I think it was somewhere between 25 and 30 riders that gathered in the morning for the 8:00am start on the day's ride - a loop ride that would start and end at the Super 8 Motel in Merritt, B.C. We had quite a mixture of bikes this year with several BMW's and V-Stroms, a few KTM's, a Triumph, a Buell, and even a Suzuki Intruder.
We started by taking Hwy 5A north, skirting Nicola Lake. We then diverted onto the Douglas Lake Road, which started out as a nice dirt road but then had unexpected stretches of sand, sometimes 8-10" deep. A few riders were rather new to the dirt, and with the road being much more difficult than expected, our large group of riders was soon spread out.
| Getting Ready with an AdvRider Salute from Night Wolf |
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| Did you know the Suzuki Intruder qualifies as a Dual-Sport? |
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After several of the deep sandy sections, the first group of riders stopped for a break and a chance for everyone to re-group. Unfortunately, we found out that Strompette (who was fairly new to the dirt) had fallen, and so she and some others had turned around and would find a paved route to meet back up at lunch in Chase.
| The Douglas Lake Road |
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After re-grouping with those that made it through the sand, we discovered that we had already made it through the worst that the Douglas Lake Road could throw at us. We made it through one more sandy section, and then the road started winding through a beautiful forested section. We re-grouped again just outside of Westwold.
| Re-Grouping Again |
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We met for lunch at Bistro 333 in Chase. It was a great little restaurant, with good food at reasonable prices; and they didn't seem to mind some 20+ dirty motorcyclists showing up. The restaurant is just across from the railroad tracks; and after we had finished lunch, it was a treat to see an old steam locomotive show up. Apparently, it was something like the 150 year anniversary of the railroad in these parts, and the steam locomotive showed up for a small celebration.
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After lunch, our goal was to reach the Sun Peaks Ski Resort. We headed across the bridge at Chase which crosses the Shuswap Lakes, and then headed up Todd Mountain Road.
| Heading Up the Todd Mountain Road |
Farmerger |
DrewTheRev |
PacWestGS |
Adams Lake (Foreground) and Shuswap Lake (Background) |
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Todd Mountain Road is an active forest services road, and we did pass one logging truck coming down as we were riding up. It's a fun road to ride, and there are some beautiful views along the way.
| Pics of Me Riding Up Todd Mountain Road |
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Leaving Chase after lunch, we had split into two groups; and the first group soon arrived at Sun Peaks.
| Re-Grouping at Sun Peaks Ski Resort |
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We were waiting awhile for the second group to arrive, so PacWestGS (Russ), Ken, and I decided to ride back a ways, and get some pictures of the next group riding through. We told the rest of the first group to keep going.
The first rider we see from the second group was Cooler. He decided to stop to chat, but was on a off-camber part of the road and tipped over. Whoops! Soon after, the rest of the group came passing through.
| More of Todd Mountain Road |
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From Sun Peaks, it was mostly pavement on the way back to Merritt.
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Although the day started out a little dicey, with the Douglas Lake Road being in much worse shape than expected, it was a great day's ride. A few riders had some tip-overs, but nothing too serious.
Most of us went to the pub for dinner, and then a few of us gathered in PacWestGS's room to watch a little bit of Dust2Glory, and discuss the day's ride. Then it was to bed, to get ready for the next day.