The Lone Rider rides again

GOLDEN,B.C. -- I‘m back in the saddle, back on the road and back to rolling east. Not even temperatures that dropped as low as 2 Celcius in a driving rain coming over the Coquihalla Summit on B.C. Hwy 5 -- the Highway Thru Hell -- could dampen my spirits as I bid a fond farewell to Vancouver.

I will admit the breakdown last Friday somewhere in the BMW’s rear end had me what Dave Alvin and The Blasters called "killing time in the blue shadows!" Especially when I had to have the Bike-a-Lounger towed to Vancouver, then wait until Tuesday for Vancouver BMW Ducati to open.

I went over to East Vancouver using the city's friendly and efficient TransLink buses and Skytrain on Tuesday morning and did all but beg them to move up a Friday afternoon service slot they had previously promised.

As low as I felt as I bided my time exploring Vancouver‘s waterfont and historic Gastown district, words fail me to express my joy when Daniel, the service guy  from Van BMW called to say they were already working on it and I’d be back on the road before dark on Wednesday!!

I was having a celebratory drink with Kami, a good friend from her days at my local -- The Metro in Edmonton -- when Daniel rang again with the astonishing news the bike was readyII Just six hours after I'd pleaded with them just to diagnose the problem!!

A rebuilt final drive and a new rear brake rotor -- which had come loose at the buttons(?) if that makes any sense to you wrenchers out there -- later and suddenly the clouds parted and the sun was shinin g and tgher eas joy in Mudville once again.

I had dinner with Kristen, a former government colleague and talented graphic deisgner and her husband Matt, a lawyer with a silk stocking firm downtown. I’m not sure I made much sense over dinner and drinks at The Irish Heather, a pub Mindy and I first visited on our honeymoon in 1996.

I was so astonished at the successful and way-ahead-of-schedule resolution of the Beemer’s problems, I was in La La Land --, even more than usual. Just look at that dopey grin!! Who's a happy boy!

And I won't forget the tip Matt gave me on managing the power of my iPhone battery. Thank you!

After spending a couple of nights in a downtown hotel, it was good to visit with Diana, who was Mindy’s flatmate in Ottawa when we met in 1993. I was so excited, I talked myself hoarse and spent a restless night at Diana's condo.

By 9 a.m., was In a cab to the bike shop. By 10:15, I was rolling once again albeit with a sizeable portion of my maintenance budget already gone!

I can’t thank Vancouver BMW Ducati enough. Whether it was my bitching on Facebook, the intervention of BMW’s corporate office, the surprise intervention by the most unlikeliest of my friends or just common decency and what I call the brotherhood of the road, Van BMW came through for me big time! I'm going with common decency!

I got as far as Port Coquitlam south of Vancouver when it began to rain -- a real Wet Coast downpour. Luckily, I had my new Scott riding suit -- waterproof, windproof and warm.

Thanks to the K1200LT's heated seat and handgrips, I was reasonably comfortable. At least for the first couple of hours. By the time I got to Hope, B.C., the temperature was barely 7C and I think I was getting a little hypothermic!

There were two or three other bikers in the café where I had a long and very restorative lunch of soup, sandwich and a coffee. One had just come down the Coquihalla -- lots of snow but it was melting as soon as it hit the road, he said.

I resolved to take the more southerly Hwy. 3 or the Crowsnest Pass Highway. Allison Pass blocked by snow, said a shivering rider who had barely made it through before it became completely socked in.

The three days lost in Vancouver had eaten any leeway in my schedule. The only time I will be able to see Mindy before late August or early September is this weekend. We have planned for months to meet In Canmore, a cool little Rocky Mountain resort town just outside Banff National Park. I’d have been really bummed if we had not been able to meet up before I head east of Alberta.

So, I chose The Coke, as the locals call it. I headed for Merritt, where I had originally planned to spend a night -- only a night three days earlier. As I climbed to the Coquihalla Summit, the bike’s digital thermometer hit 2C! I kept praying all the way into Merritt that it wouldn’t get slushy. Prayers thankfully answered.

I made it to Kelowna after a 127-kilometer ride through yet more rain, over the Pennask Summit, which is even higher the highest point on The Coke! I was terrified I was going to see the temperature readout go into negative territory!

In all, I put nearly 450 cold, wet, but worry-free clicks on the new rear drive!

I made it to the Super 8, made a beeline for the hot tub and was still shaking when I ordered a pizza and called it a night afer setting up a breakfast meeting with Gary, a photographer and artist I used to work with at the late great Brampton Times.

More on that and today’s ride tomorrow. I have to call Mindy and let her know our weekend away is back on!