Issue #272 Sick of the Snow
Perhaps we’ve focused too much on winter of late. This issue is intended to thaw frozen hearts.
As a Canadian, it is difficult not to occasionally fixate on winter. For many months it is right there outside the window. Forget the images of people wandering around Vancouver in shorts, and helicopters flying in snow during the Winter Olympics, winter is what defines us to much of the rest of the world. And we have been a little winter-oriented lately.
I still get a chill from several recent stories. In our April issue, we met Paul Heglund of Consul, Saskatchewan, whose goal is to ride at least once every month of the year with frostbite a predictable outcome. An unrelated injury ended his long personal best streak of 94 months. We’re not sure if the end was mourned or met with a small amount of relief.
And last issue, Marissa Landry’s story “Breaking Winter” told how some riders in Saskatchewan while away the off-season. The imagery to support the piece included bikes buried in the snow—two things that really shouldn’t be put together unless it involves frozen lakes and studded tires. Readers may also recall Jim Chomica from our August 2008 edition. He was the Kimberley, BC resident who rode his sidecar equipped Triumph Scrambler far enough up logging roads to get stuck in the snow. A few years ago a rider who was in the midst of crossing Canada by motorcycle in winter was introduced to me at one of the industry shows in Alberta. This feat had been previously accomplished only a couple of times—and for good reason! I am not sure the gentleman has not yet thawed out.
I was emailed by a friend in Ontario who had achieved one of his goals this past winter. The goal? Riding his motorcycle to the ski hill to do a little skiing. There he was with his skis attached to his motorcycle, the rest of his equipment stuffed into a duffel bag on the back of his bike. He was smiling in the pictures but I had to think that he was shivering on the inside. Oddly, I have wondered about doing the same thing but the areas I’d consider would have residual spring and summer snow. I have ridden through a long snowstorm, fingers locked on the grips (not from fear but cold) but I am not planning on doing it again.
So, why bring all this up in the June issue? Well, “June” is a bit misleading. The issue is actually mailed very early in May and I am writing this in April. Riding to work the other day I could see snow capping the hills west of our office here in Victoria. And only a few days earlier Harley-Davidson had kicked-off its annual coast-to-coast demo ride tour at our local dealer, Steve Drane Harley-Davidson.
This winter has been an odd one, even in Victoria it has seemed to last longer than usual. Victoria’s much ballyhooed Annual Flower Count was snowed out. That’s what we get for touting too long our supposed paradise-like weather.
I like to keep track of the clearing of Hwy. 20 through Washington state’s North Cascades. It starts in April and runs through to the beginning of May. That road is not the only riding by any stretch and we have usually done a fair bit by the time it opens, but somehow it seems to mark the real opening of the warm riding season. It is as though a gateway has appeared with the promise of soft winds and sunshine on our faces. This year it is going to be a couple of weeks later than usual due to excessive snow.
When I flew to Georgia for the press introduction of Honda’s Gold Wing and CBR250R appearing in this issue, the motorcycle writer I was traveling with was practically straining at his seatbelt to get on the road. The thought of 80F and sunshine were just too much for him to stand after an Ontario winter—he may have even been making motorcycle noises under his breath as the plane was landing. This issue will defrost you in a couple of ways as we head to Arizona to ride Triumphs, California to ride the Ducati Diavel, Key West and South Carolina. But if that is not enough, the start of summer, or the end of the NHL playoffs, is just around the corner.
