Rinty
New member
It's been a dreary and cold September, but the weather suddenly improved, and I was happy to get the opportunity to take Dave Anderson's HP2 Enduro out for a couple of days and enjoy the fall colours. For those of you who haven't heard of him, the talented Dave owns Anderwerks BMW, our local independent service centre. He has had the HP2 for about a year, and has spent many hours farkling and modifying it (I will post a list of mods later).
After bringing the bike home, it didn't take long to get it packed and ready to go:
I headed south on Highway 2, imagining myself to be Steve Farson, riding into the Colorado foothills. At the Fort Macleod junction, I jinked west a few hundred metres, and then turned south onto the Blue Trail (highways 810/800). This is LDS country:
My plan had been to overnight in Glacier Park, but the bike was starting to wear me out, so I decided to stay in Waterton, and make the run up Going to the Sun Highway in the morning. Dave had installed an unbaffled Remus Power Cone can, making the bike extremely loud, and the vibration from the un counter-balanced engine was running up through the Ohlin forks into the handlebars, and numbing out my hands. This is a very focused machine, which is how he likes them.
In Waterton, I gassed up at the famous Pat's Waterton Service, and then checked in at the Bayshore Inn:
http://www.bayshoreinn.com/
The staff were super friendly and helpful, and I had an enjoyable dinner and drinks in the lounge, talking bikes and politics with Ken, from Essex Montana, who had been touring on a Valkyrie.
I got up fairly early, and I knew it was going to be a bloody cold ride, so I added some ski wear into my layers. I took these shots of Waterton Lake, next to the Inn:
And yes, that is the Prince of Wales Hotel, an interesting place to stay.
I pushed the bike onto the street, so as not to wake up everyone in the Inn, and it started up just fine, despite the cold.
On the way out of Town, I stopped to take this photo (I was lucky, I almost drove by it):
Then I headed up Chief Mountain Highway, to the border. As I climbed, it got colder and colder, and, while my body was warm, my hands were starting to numb out. I made it to the crossing, but the gates were closed!
There was a service truck on site, and the driver told me that the crossing had closed for the season the day before.
Then a Border Services officer came out, a real friendly guy, (ex RCMP), and we had an interesting discussion about various political subjects.
So now I was faced with backtracking to Cardston and crossing at Carway, which meant an extra 180 km, so I decided to drop the Pass ride and head up the Cowboy Trail (22). Backtracking down the Chief, I stopped at this lookout, which faces Sofa Mountain, and Vimy Peak:
Vimy Ridge is the site of the WW I battle in France which, some say, defined Canada's nationhood.
To be continued...
After bringing the bike home, it didn't take long to get it packed and ready to go:
I headed south on Highway 2, imagining myself to be Steve Farson, riding into the Colorado foothills. At the Fort Macleod junction, I jinked west a few hundred metres, and then turned south onto the Blue Trail (highways 810/800). This is LDS country:
My plan had been to overnight in Glacier Park, but the bike was starting to wear me out, so I decided to stay in Waterton, and make the run up Going to the Sun Highway in the morning. Dave had installed an unbaffled Remus Power Cone can, making the bike extremely loud, and the vibration from the un counter-balanced engine was running up through the Ohlin forks into the handlebars, and numbing out my hands. This is a very focused machine, which is how he likes them.
In Waterton, I gassed up at the famous Pat's Waterton Service, and then checked in at the Bayshore Inn:
http://www.bayshoreinn.com/
The staff were super friendly and helpful, and I had an enjoyable dinner and drinks in the lounge, talking bikes and politics with Ken, from Essex Montana, who had been touring on a Valkyrie.
I got up fairly early, and I knew it was going to be a bloody cold ride, so I added some ski wear into my layers. I took these shots of Waterton Lake, next to the Inn:
And yes, that is the Prince of Wales Hotel, an interesting place to stay.
I pushed the bike onto the street, so as not to wake up everyone in the Inn, and it started up just fine, despite the cold.
On the way out of Town, I stopped to take this photo (I was lucky, I almost drove by it):
Then I headed up Chief Mountain Highway, to the border. As I climbed, it got colder and colder, and, while my body was warm, my hands were starting to numb out. I made it to the crossing, but the gates were closed!
There was a service truck on site, and the driver told me that the crossing had closed for the season the day before.
Then a Border Services officer came out, a real friendly guy, (ex RCMP), and we had an interesting discussion about various political subjects.So now I was faced with backtracking to Cardston and crossing at Carway, which meant an extra 180 km, so I decided to drop the Pass ride and head up the Cowboy Trail (22). Backtracking down the Chief, I stopped at this lookout, which faces Sofa Mountain, and Vimy Peak:
Vimy Ridge is the site of the WW I battle in France which, some say, defined Canada's nationhood.
To be continued...
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