The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - second route setting weekend.

The event is now a little more than a month away (opens on Friday 27 June) and preparations are well underway. The snow has melted except at the highest elevations, the bears are up and about and the puddles have mostly evaporated.

The first day’s route and the systems test route are already set leaving days two and three to concentrate on.

the long and dusty road

The plan for the weekend was to set the first half of days two and three, returning in the near future to complete both days.

The first route-setting day.

Without giving much away, I can tell that day two is a run up to Sayward Junction for a food, fuel and Passage Control (PC) stop before a long loop, more food, fuel and PC and a different return to Gold River.

This expedition would test my local knowledge and route-setting skills.

The Day One route has been designed to give a straightforward introduction to the gravel forest roads of the north of Vancouver Island. Days Two and Three offer somewhat of a progression in the theme. Don’t expect anything approaching the difficulty of a Hard Enduro though - all these routes can be ridden with both wheels down at all times.

ahhhh! what now?

The route opens with a striking obstruction. Well it appears to be an obstruction as you approach it, but on a bike there is a hidden way around to the right hand side.

One further non-existent road later, demonstrating the importance of riding the route with local knowledge and adapting to developing situations, and I met up with Mike who will be on the crew.

After a swift sandwich lunch we set off to try to complete the middle third of the route through the Salmon River forest.

The next bethwsrtment came as a result of winter carnage in the woods. The first, rotten, birch we were able to pull out of the way. The next dozens persuaded us to about-turn and go another way. It was at this point I was rewriting the route on the fly, dropping the gps timing markers as we went.

The planned route was rejoined and followed reaching the snow. Quick stop for Mike to take the next photo (why do photos never convey the grandeur of the real thing?)….

wun day, sun, all this will be yours wot, the curtins?

Imperceptibly, the road had transitioned from a forest main to a mountain winding branch. All was going well until…

we be befukked

Time to stop and think carefully. We could have forced a way around this at the right hand end of the log, BUT we didn’t know why the road had been closed by the loggers, didn’t know what lay beyond and the prospect of sending thirty or more Rallyists up this way on event day only to discover that the loggers had well and truly blocked the way and everyone was now in a state of chaos persuaded me that in a very un-Mandelorian manner “This is NOT the way!”.

Route rewrite-on-the-fly again had us rejoining the route once again from a new direction and the timing pins layout continued to be systematic and successful!

And it had started to rain. Well, fling it down…. pissing, cold, wet, going through waterproofs miserable rain. Time to head back. Swiftest route back to Wayward Junction, loaded Mike’s bike up onto the back of his truck and I set out for Gold River. The Weather Gods took pity and things dried out and warmed up a little.

a fork in the road

I had a useable set of Richta gps timing gates around which to reconstruct the roadbook, taking account of the unexpected road closures and will be able to complete the route next visit.

The second route-setting day.

The plan for the second day was exactly the same as for the first day, do the first half of the route to fit in with other logistical restraints.

Strangely, everything went to plan. It was dry and relatively warm, the roads were open, the washouts from previous years had been either cleared or driven over so many times that they were little more than slight challenges. I got to my planned turnaround in good time with no difficulties.

doesn’t indicate steepness, interesting climb to come

Despite the challenges, route setting progresses well. A further ten days have been put aside to complete two days of road-work, by which time everything will have been ridden to demonstrate rideable routes and we will be ready.

Finally for now, if you are curious about what the “dashboard” of my bike looks like, it looks like this:

DR650, nav tower, Gaia and Roadbook Reader, Bluetooth controller, usb chargers, heated grips

I’m off to the desk to transcribe my weekend efforts. More soon and entries on the Shop tab of this website.

Cheers! Jonathan