Princess Scooterpie - A Motorcycle Diva who likes to moto wander & write about it.

Ride to eat and doing 'The Loop' - twisty nirvana island style

2020-06-26T15:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went for a really long ride. On our anniversary which was the day before I finally insured the Duchess. We went for a little tootle with a friend, of course it was a 'ride to eat' jaunt. This is the first time I have looked at my bike and sat on it since last October. I usually go to the parking lot before I venture out, but it didn't work out that way. Coffee and goodies was a very pressing matter at that moment. The wonderful thing is that with in a few minutes I was feeling the groove of riding again and the first test was the right hand turn onto the rather large hill by my house, all of that went smoothly. I was riding a little gingerly to give my bike the respect it deserves and for me to get the feel of it again. Very quickly I was getting used to the lean and the familiar feeling of leaning into the curve. I still love my NC700, although secretly I am coveting my husbands BMW F800GT which he got about a year ago. It came with a lowered seat and I have been heavily hinting that I would like to take it for a spin, but he seems to conveniently not hear my hint or ignores it. I get it, it's his baby. I was pretty picky about who rode the Duchess. I think what he is afraid of is that I am going to like it so much that we will end up hunting one up for me. I am perfectly contented with what I have. *wink wink*

The hubs Beemer

Yesterday was the perfect day for a ramble out into the countryside to our favourite coffee place Shirley Delicious, which is aptly named because it is in the unincorporated town of Shirley.

It is an eclectic coffee place offering a wide variety of meals from vegan, gluten free, and regular, if not exotic choices of food. They make the best deserts and their sandwiches are artisan quality it is worth the hour ride out there. We tend to laze around in the sun chatting out side. Covid19 has changed the way everything is done on the island, and it takes. a bit of intimacy out of the experience. The island is a very foodie place, lots of fabulous places to eat and explore different cuisines.

They have a very eclectic menu and it caters to just about everyone from vegan, gluten free options, to the rest of us omnivores. Sorry about the picture tint, I was too hungry and wanted to grab a quick food porn pick before it got scarfed up. It was a fresh turkey sandwich with cranberry chutney, brie cheese, fresh herbs and greens on house made foccia bread. OMG it was worth the hour drive!

I'm not sure how many in my blog world know that I have discovered a new passion during the pandemic, art. I have been going through massive changes before the pandemic with my job and am in the middle of a job hunt. The changes started well back in December and ultimately it meant the medical practice I was working at for the last 27 years closed in June. It has been a topsy turvy time, and a bit of emotional roller coaster, but I am now unemployed and looking for work. During this time I needed something to channel my energy into and I started rock painting for fun. Things have rapidly changed with this and an I am delightfully enjoying this new creative outlet and I am being daring and have moved onto painting small canvases. The reason I mention this is I left these two little rocks out with the owner of Shirley Delicious and they were thrilled to get the crow and snoozy bee. So back to the road trip part.

After we finished our delectable goodies we were just going to pop down the road to Jordan River, where I just wanted to pick up a few rocks for painting.

This is the lead off point for the Pacific Circle Marine Route affectionately known as 'The Loop' to the locals. I could hear it calling my name and we decided to ride!

Map credited to Cowichan Valley Tourism 179 miles of twisty nirvana

The Loop winds through the beautiful Cowichan Valley on paved logging roads and it's very remote and you lose cellular coverage through quite a few parts of it. The road is narrow and twisty and have some very high sharp turn areas and many a rider has come to grief out there and it is a little unnerving because essentially you are probably 2-4 hours away from help of any time, so you have to be pretty cautious and follow the road advisory signs. Anyway that being said it is a magical ride, through beautiful west coast wilderness and forest. We have being experiencing an abundance of bears on the island, although we didn't see one this trip we did find bear scat several times in the middle of the road. You kind of don't really want to pull over to the side and whip out your picnic lunch in really isolated spots. You have to be bear aware in just about all remote regions of BC. We have had a few grizzly bears swim over from the mainland and they really aren't a native species to Vancouver Island.

The Duchess waiting for the Beemer

If you were wondering what I was waiting for, hub was adjusting his suspension on the Beemer because he and the daughter were out the other day. We also took a quick break just to enjoy the cool ocean breeze. Once you get into the Loop back country the temperature is usually a good 7-9 degrees higher than oceanside.

This is the start of the drive up a steep hill and the road gets progressively narrower and very twisty/. Yay Twists! It is 179.63 miles of twisty goodness (300km for us Canucks). Past this point there aren't many more pictures as we tend to keep riding. We did not stop at Port Renfrew out of courtesy to the residents, during the pandemic we are limiting our visiting to island spots, particularly remote places as they do not have any medical facilities and we want to respect their communities; It is also home to the Pacheedaht First Nation, they are known as the people of the Sea foam. They have the most beautiful campground on their traditional land, wide open to the ocean and it is spectacular. We thank the Pacheedaht First Nation for allowing us to visit their traditional territory.

After you leave the Pacheedaht First Nation there us a lake with a little lonely tree growing out of a stump, that is the only place we stopped to take a picture.

After our picture stop we completed our lovely ride through to Lake Cowichan and then headed to the Trans Canada 1 to get home. Traffic has been rather light as most people are just staying with in their communities as our restrictions have lifted a bit. Our provincial authorities are asking us to keep our travel local and within our provincial borders. We did flatten the covid curve, but we are all very anxious about new cases and we really aren't all that friendly to people from outside Canada at the moment and even inter provincially Premiers are asking Canadians not to travel to other provinces.

All in all if was wonderful to get back on two wheels and have a little wind therapy with my life bestie and we enjoyed ourselves. We were tired when we got home, but had big grins on our faces, they type of grin only a two wheeled jaunt produces.

Blogging again

2020-06-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Blogger has changed a lot since I last used it. One of the reasons I had given up on blogging is that I couldn't get blogger to work on my iPad or my PC, and it was an exercise in futility trying to get anything posted or upload a picture and I all but abandoned the blog. Yesterday to my surprise, there is a new version of blogger and it works!

I have a new iMac which integrates all of my apple products - yay! I take a lot of photos and it's nice that pictures automatically show up on my desktop, and I can happily and easily upload pictures of my adventures to the blog without a struggle. So here's to blogging again!

Here's to more adventures!

PS - Comment moderation is stilll on this blog.

With every season there are changes.

2020-06-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

It has been quite awhile since I have visited my blog, I do keep an eye out for spammers and zap their posts because the notifications come to email.

It has been well over a year since I have blogged anything, the reason is that life has gotten so busy, that there just was not enough time to do anything other than work, eat, sleep, survive. So here we are today after experiencing a pandemic and still in the midst of it. This has brought change in my life by way of finding time at home to be peaceful and filled with art. I have taken up painting, mostly rocks, but canvases and drawing. We have been asked to stay at home and not do any non essential travel and to physical distance. I was still working through this time period as I was the only one in my office.

Covid did pay a visit to our house and I had one very sick family member, but all is well now. I have to say it was very scary and worrisome. I have never been this afraid ever. So keep washing your hands and physical distancing, mask wearing is also smart, keep those droplets in!

So here is what is happening with me, I decided that I was no longer going to teach motorcycling and retired this year before the season began. I did love teaching and loved mentoring, but did it for 5 years and all on weekends and evening extra training sessions. Over the last two years I had upgraded to teaching classroom theory and traffic instructor taking newbs out on the road. I work full-time and by the time of the end of riding season I was exhausted because I was working almost 7 days straight and was no logging any seat time on The Duchess. My hub would say "Let's go for a ride" my response usually was "Can't I'm teaching". There comes a point where you have to find balance and that time has come. I want to ride for fun and not have to worry about what kind of mayhem my student(s) are going to cause or get into - trust me I have seen some hair curling stuff. So that part of my life has happily closed, but I will always be around to mentor and support new riders and be a safety advocate. Here we are and it's June 19th and I still have not insured my bike! Gotta get on that!

Another change that has come my way is that I am in the process of a career shift. The change came back in December when my employer became seriously ill. I finally wrapped up our office last week and walked out of there for the last time after sitting at that desk for 27 years. It has been emotionally draining because it was just my boss and me, and I am still worried for my friend. I have been anxious and at times downright terrified of the 'last day' at work. But after intensely working to close the office and looking at options, something shifted and I actually found peace.

Go figure in a pandemic fraught with chaos and fear, I take up painting and that has been my godsend and given me a quietness and contentedness. I have been looking at options because right now job hunting is difficult. I am still looking at everything and thinking I no longer want to work in a solo medical practice. I am ready to venture into a work place where I am with others. The last 6 months being alone in my office has been truly tough and not having any contact with anyone was starving my bubbly soul.

I'm actually quite excited about finding this new path, I never thought I would say this, particularly thinking back 6 months ago. I think it feels good to have some forward direction, instead of being stuck to a spot. I have some leads, I've revamped my resume and have had a few interviews (which after 27 years at one place was interesting). I have decided I am going to take what is right for me and it may be awhile, but that is perfectly fine.

Hopefully soon you will see some motorcycle pictures, but we are keeping it local on our island due to the pandemic. I can't say how often the blogging is going to be happening, because now in my side cases is an art set with pencils, sketch pad, watercolours and watercolour pad. I'm savouring life a little bit more than I have in quite awhile.

I hope you are all well.

Motorcycle anniversary and other assorted loose ends

2019-03-30T13:43:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of my first novice class where I was responsible for teaching 10 new students during my practicum. It was very intense, as a new instructor you are expected to teach the bulk of the curriculum. It was at times very stressful, other times very fun, and I must say I was extremely happy and relieved when it was over. I have come quite a way from those early novice classes and enjoy teaching quite a bit. It was worth all the effort and the rewards of mentoring new motorcyclist is beyond measure and I'm thoroughly grateful to the instructors who mentored me and continue to mentor me. Hard work really does pay off.

On another note, I kind of lost track of blogging and almost ditched it all because I was having trouble logging in and even posting. I'm not the most techy person, but in the end it just came down to changing to a more compatible browser. Jeez if only I had figured that out a year ago! So I'm back to blogging! Woot!

I am no longer a part of Farkle Garage and it may be finished as well, tv land is hard and very competitive. It was fun while it lasted and I think I still have some stories to tell, who knows you may see some vlogging and a youtube channel.

Still in the land of the living!

2019-03-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

It has been quite awhile since I've created a blog post. I did a lot of teaching in 2018 and was extremely busy and it left precious little time for blogging, riding, or even free time. This year is a little different, I'm trying to find a little balance in my life and a little more personal time. I have frontloaded most of my early classes earlier in the season and a little later in the season. I am hoping to have a chunk in the middle that I can go on adventures.

It has been an exciting start to the New Year! I taught my first novice class early in the season and Scooterpie Junior was in the class learning to ride with my partner instructor. I have to say there is something a little surreal watching your kiddo learning to ride. At one point I was practicing a bit for a demonstration I was going to be doing and I saw Junior go whizzing by me. In that blink of the eye I saw my little teeny tiny girl all of a sudden grow-up! It seems just like yesterday that she was a babe coming home from the hospital, my how time flies!

My lovely daughter passed her motorcycle skills test and has completed part one of her training, now she is waiting for her traffic class which is mid-April. I have to say I am extremely excited! I can see some beautiful long summer evening rides with my hub and daughter. Life is definitely coming full circle.

Life is too busy! Time to slow it down!

2018-10-16T14:26:00.002-07:00

It seems I have fallen off the blog train and into oblivion. It is not for lack of wanting to blog, but more like my life is too busy and getting in the way of sitting behind the keyboard and generating content. I'm not sure what I am going to do with Princess Scooterpie blog at this point.

Update on what's up with me, it has been a very busy year and it has been filled with personal/professional growth and a few health challenges thrown in on top (nothing dire) just physically challenging.

I have spent a good chunk of the early part of 2018 studying and upgrading my motorcycle instructor skills, which included three teaching practicums, two in the classroom theory portion of our curriculum and one for motorcycle traffic class for a two day 16 hour guided riding session for our newly graduated novice (basic) motorcycle students. I passed my three practicums with flying colours and haven't really looked back too much since then, actually I've been too busy to look back or do much else since undertaking this in the spring.

It has been an extremely busy year teaching for me. Our season is drawing to a close and to date I have taught 4 novice classes & a theory class, which encompasses two weekends per course, 5 Theory A introductory sessions for would be students, and 6 two day traffic classes, as well as numerous extra training sessions for students who need a little more seat time to work on skills. This year alone I have taught or mentored about 100 students through the course of teaching in 2018, that's a lot of teaching! Add onto this my full time job, and I have to say I am feeling worn a little thin, so I am actually kind of happy that this weekend will be my final traffic class as the season comes to a close.

I didn't get in very much riding for pleasure at all, which saddens me quite a bit, and next year I will be needing to find a better balance to my work life. My hub and I didn't get in too many adventures together either due to my schedule and we need to remedy that, as he has a new to him BMW F800GT, which is pretty exciting for him and I'm still trying to figure out how to pry the keys from his hands and take it for a rip, he is a little protective of it. During the summer we did escape on two mini adventures, the first was in June when we rode up to Tofino for a weekend getaway and the second was in August where we escaped to ride the Sea to Sky Highway and Duffy Lake Rd t& Thompson Okanagan, we were planning at least a week on the road, but the forest fire situation in BC quickly curtailed that and we rode about 1,000km in two days and called it a day due to the heavy smoke/ash from the majority of our province being on fire, so that was that.

After we returned and hub went back to work, I took on another novice course and unfortunately hurt my right knee. At first we thought it was a meniscal or ligament tear, and after a week being laid up and not being able to ambulate well an MRI was ordered and visit to an orthopedic specialist. The findings are not what I was expecting acute osteoarthritis with the meniscus being displaced. The MCL and ACL were not torn and were intact, that is the good news. However, the structure of my knee is not very happy at the moment, I have narrowing in the joint canal, edema in the surrounding structures and a joint effusion. What this means is that there is nothing surgical to fix at this point and is going to keep on declining because of it being osteoarthritis. In retrospect if there had been torn ligaments or meniscal tear, it would have been easier to manage. The current treatment plan is to moderate activity with low impact exercise, wearing a brace for walking/hiking, I guess there goes my budding basketball career - just kidding. I am going to see the orthopod for some cortisone injections and synvisc (hyluronic acid) joint lubrication injection. All of this may have a large impact on teaching motorcycling due to the amount of walking and stop/go impact that I sustain through teaching and adding the physicality of pushing motorcycles around. So life might be getting a little slower for me in the near future with regards to teaching, and that has me feeling sad, but on a brighter note I can still ride and it has impacted my seat time.

So now I'm gearing up for winter and the quieter time of the year and actually looking forward to a little bit of down time and maybe I can get the knee to settle a bit more and get into a more comfortable state and start building up muscles with some pool therapy and low impact exercise.

All in all though despite the wee knee setback, I have had a really good year and am excited about adventures for next year.

Upgrade! The journey continues!

2018-05-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have been teaching since January 2015. Up until this point I have been teaching just novice sessions in the parking lot. I generally teach 4 to 5 classes a year and there are 10 students in each class, so that's a lot of new students. I finally made the decision that I wanted to do more and in the very early spring I did a practicum for the classroom theory session and completed that. The final step was to do a traffic course practicum which consists of two days of guiding riding with 4 students and an instructor assessor. This past weekend was the date! It was gloriously sunny and hot and all 4 students passed with flying colours and I am sure whenever they shoulder check they will hear my voice in their minds saying "Shoulder check and scan more!". Here's to happy riding and new students!

The adventure continues!

Sunshine, Motorcycles, & Sculptures ??Spring is here??!

2018-04-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Weekend 3 morning class grads.

Motorcycle season teaching season is well underway, we have had 3 weekend courses so far this year and I have taught two and a refresher session as well. It feels like winter is finally starting to retreat and spring is starting to take hold. Mother Nature has been more than a little confused as of late, she has been throwing rapidly cycling weather changes at us. The old saying about Victoria is "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it'll be different." It is true!

My poor students were experiencing torrential rain, freezing cold winds and frosty parkinglot conditions, all of this makes for a very challenging learn to ride experience, particularly if they haven't figured out layering and waterproofing. This weekend was no exception with frenetic weather. Saturday it was so cold I had multiple layers on, and at one point I looked like a Gangster Smurf with my blue hoody pulled up over my ballcap to keep the wind at bay. I will say that motorcycle instructors are an intrepid breed, we are out on the lot teaching when most would be snuggled up in their cozy homes sipping coffee on an early Saturday or Sunday morning and not traipsing around the lot hollering "Head and eyes up, look where you want to go." The next day it completely different, it was warm and brilliantly sunny, and I was trying to figure out what that yellow blob was in the sky. At one point I was standing there basking in the sun's warmth. I know this is going to sound weird, but I actually kind of like when the weather is being difficult, because it helps students understand what they are facing in the real world of riding, and it is not all sunny zen-like days of twisty nirvana.

At the end there were 9 smiling new riders who all passed their MST on the first try, they're now onto further adventures with traffic classes and road tests. I'm pretty happy, I feel the same joy at teaching as when I've been out on a great ride, it's a kick seeing them go from wobbly tentative riders to riders gaining confidence and competence. To reward myself I took the long way home and enjoyed the sights and smells and being in the moment.

Beach Art Sculptures at Esquimalt Lagoon

I buzzed by the beach, it was the perfect day to stop and soak up the sun. I've been missing the feel of the sun on my face for about 7 months, it has been grey and dark since October. There is a magical thing happening at the beach at Esquimalt Lagoon, a beach art sculptor Paul Lewis has been creating these beautiful artworks of local and migratory birds. Esquimalt Lagoon is a bird sanctuary and is teeming with birds; seagulls, herons, trumpeter swans, and Canadian geese as well as sightings of resident eagles. To understand the scale of most of these beautiful sculptures they are almost as big as my bike.

Every couple of days a new sculpture seems to pop up, there is one in progress with another nest being built. I will have to run back there during the weekend to see what it is.

I was particularly enchanted with the crow, in her nest guarding her cache of eggs.

Canada Goose

I loved the rendering of the Canadian Geese, their eyes where sparkling in the sun and it was so life-like. Did you know that Canadian Geese are monogamous and mate for life? Apparently in the bird world they are stick to it kind of birds and if a mate passes they sometimes do find another mate.

It was such a bonny sunny clear day, you could see the Olympics in the distance when looking out over the Straight of Juan de Fuca towards Port Angeles. I am hoping the season has changed and that we will continue with this beautiful sunny weather, I had almost forgotten what the sun looked like.

Pop back in a few more days there are more sculptures to see!

It's that time of year!

2018-04-19T11:54:00.002-07:00

Winter is starting to reluctantly lose it's grip on the Island, but just when you think it's over - BLAM it gets cold and rainy and a little snow and frost thrown in for good measure. This is the time of year on the Island when people start pulling their moto beasties out of winter hibernation from their moto lairs.

I have already taught one full Novice class and am just finishing up a second. This group is all my girlfriends who ride, and belong to my riding group the Moto Mama's. My BF instructor friend Debra and I proposed to our riding school a 4 hour skill refresher course to shake out the winter cobwebs from the bikes and riders skills. The skill levels of riders varied from very new to long term riders.

All of this was done on the Moto Mama's own bikes, which is a wonderful way to build skill on your own ride. We had everything there from Honda CBR 250's, Honda CB500x, Vintage Yamaha 750, Triumph 900, BMW650, BMW 310, Suzuki TU250, Suzuki Gladius and a fully dressed Harley Davidson.

Getting ready to launch into an exercise which entails riding a figure 8 within a circle. This involves good clutch/throttle control and killer sightlines. I love doing this particular exercise and I got a chance to put the Duchess through her paces demoing the exercises, I could do this particular exercise all day long.

The Moto Mama's

There is a mother/daughter duo in the Moto Mama's, I loved watching the interaction and how proud mom was of her girl! I love the diversity of the bikes the Moto Mama's ride and it's so funny how each bike suits the rider so well.

Fierce women kicking cone butt!

We started right at the beginning working on rusty friction zone skills practicing slow speed slaloms, the dreaded U-turn, 90 degree turns and a weave. I always find the skills that suffer the most with most new and returning riders are the slow speed handling skills and sightlines. Some of the ladies even commented on this themselves. The U-turn box in particular elicited a lot of groans and "Oh no way can I do that", but with a little coaching they were all whipping off U-turns like butter on a hot griddle - they were SIZZLING!

Then it was onto brisk starts progressing through smooth up and downshifting. We worked on solid stops with good braking techniques. Just as in our novice classes we used a building block approach layering one skill on top another.

Look, Lean, and Believe!

After we honed those skills we worked on counter steering, getting a little speed and lean on. This is were the fun begins, everyone loves doing this particular exercise. This prompted big smiles and usually cries of "More!"

As an instructor watching the gals put their bikes through their paces and working on skills, I could see the confidence creeping in and skills smoothing out, and that's a good feeling! I am so proud of these women, they are fierce! We had an excellent day, everyone was so happy and feeling ready to ride.

Wondering what to practice to blow out the moto cobwebs? I suggest working on slow speed skills, go practice some figure 8's, U-turns, slaloms, brisk starts and quick stops, getting used to the weight of your bike and waiting for that old muscle memory to kick back in. If you really want to go to town hook up with your local riding school for an experienced riders course or skill refresher.

Have fun and keep the shiny side up!

I'm putting the Duchess through her paces early in the riding season. I love working on slow speed skills, for me it is not about going fast, I love the precision of slow speed riding.

When bloggers meet.

2018-04-19T11:01:00.002-07:00

Last weekend was a very busy weekend indeed! I had the greatest pleasure of meeting two bloggers! Motorcyclist/fashion blogger Shybiker and fashion blogger Sheila Ephemera . Sorry no pictures, it seems I have gotten out of blogging mode. We met up for lunch and had a wonderful time chatting and getting to know each other. I love it when I meet other bloggers that I have been following for a long time. Shybiker introduced me to a new blogger Sheila who just happens to live in Victoria. We talked about everything and our conversation was wide ranging and eclectic.

Ralph has a love of fine writing instruments and I certainly appreciate the beauty of a well balanced smooth perfect pen. I have been envious of some of the lovely pens I have seen on the blog and was so thrilled when Ralph gave me this beautiful desk pen as a memento. I am absolutely in love with it, it is now the sacred pen on the my desk and pity the fool who tries to take it. Thank you for this gorgeous pen!

We had a lovely afternoon of seeing the sights and do some shopping. Sheila is a fashion maven who thrifts a lot of her beautiful clothes and there really is an art to thrifting and being adventurous. She is fearless with style and it was glorious watching her go through the racks and pull outfits together. I am definitely stuck in a fashion rut, but will be paying more attention to our local boutiques as they offer such beautiful clothes and shoes and I kinda dig the idea of upcycling. After our rambles through a few of her favourite haunts we went back to her place for tea and I was tickled pink when she gave me a peek at her closet - GLORIOUS! We chatted the afternoon away and then before I knew it, it was time to say adieu! Unfortunately I was unable to meet up with Ralph and Sheila again on the weekend as I had teaching commitments. But all I can say is it was memorable and I had such a fantastic time!

I'm still here!

2018-02-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

Doyou ever feel like you're hibernating from the world? It seems thatis whats been happening more and more over the last 7-8 months. I had a very busy year last year what with working, teaching, working, and a little bit of summer riding. Well the cycle has started all over again. So here we go again! I am going to try and blog a little more regularly.

I am in love with my Instant Pot

2017-10-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have never usually been one for fancy gadgets, unless it was a farkle for my bike. I don't normally get excited about appliances, but wait for it - I AM IN LOVE WITH MY INSTANT POT.

What is an Instant Pot you say? It is a multi function cooker, it is basically an electric pressure cooker. It will function as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice maker, steamer, and yogurt maker. This gadget is gaining a cult-like following, several people I know have them and have been raving about them for months! It cuts down the cooking time significantly, which is great for someone like me who is constantly busy doing stuff or on bike adventures, teaching, or just plain busy. Occasionally I forget to pull out stuff for supper and on those nights it's usually a free-for-all at may house and I generally give-up or give-in and we succumb to eating sandwiches or spaghetti or over cooked chicken because I nuked it to death to thaw it.

I have been contemplating getting one, but decided I would float the idea as a potential Christmas present. So now this is where it gets weird, I've been hunting to find the best price and in my experience I have found all the good sales on electronics and small appliances happen in October. I spotted the 8 quart Instant Pot on sale at our local Canadian Tire, and it was a good sale! So I mentioned it to hubby and daughter. Then I called hubby a couple of times and sniveled and pleaded my case (he is getting pretty tired of hearing about the Instant Pot). So all I could do is hope!

He was working on Saturday all day and as I was slogging through making another abysmal supper him and Scooterpie Jr came into the kitchen and said "Pretend it's Christmas.", when I turned around there was the Instant Pot! Well I actually whooped and did a little happy dance. I am so excited!

On Sunday I decided to give this crazy thing a go, read all the instructions, and set it up! I was going to be adventuresome and try a pot roast with potatoes and carrots. (I must admit to being a little overwhelmed and feeling a little trepidation, because my granny blew an old fashioned pressure cooker through her ceiling) In the end my pot roast was fabulous and instead of taking close to 2-2 1/2 hours and many pots used, the actual cooking time for the roast was 50 minutes and 10 minutes for the veggies. It usually takes a few minutes to vent the pressure cooker so all in all I would say 70 minutes. The roast was tender, veggies cooked and it was yummy.

I liked cooking in it so much I decided to try some steel cut oats, they were amazing! I am so excited about my kitchen Farkle!

Steelcut oats with dried cranberries.

Spam and we aren't talking the crappy canned lunch meat

2017-10-19T12:43:00.004-07:00

Due to the amount of Spam being posted to the blog, the comment moderation has now been turned on. That is all.

Let the ADVENTURE begin

2017-08-08T10:42:00.001-07:00

ScooterBob is on Vancouver Island.

What on earth is a 'Tiddler' - don't blush!

2017-07-10T14:15:00.002-07:00

Relax you can stop blushing now!

A 'Tiddler' is a vintage bike 25 years or older and 250ccs and under.

This is my friend Jason on his vintage 1964, 2 stroke, 50cc, Suzuki N15. The bike is a family heirloom with a very rusty patina and it is showing it's 53 years, it needs a little TLC and moto-botox! Finally something a little rustier than me!

There is quite a story about this little bike, Jason's dad bought it new, he used to ride this little bike to university from Hope to Kelowna over Hope Princeton Highway 3. Remember this bike is only 50ccs! The Hope Princeton is a very twisty windy mountain highway with lots of sheer cliffs and drops, but the scenery is spectacular! If you aren't familiar with it, check out the link to google images

Hope Princeton Highway Route 3

That is quite a daily commute for a 50cc bike! Can you just imagine the whine of the motor and probably more than a few nervous moments. I can picture Jason's dad as a young man riding this gnarly little Suzi over the might Hope Princeton.

This little bike has had it's share of adventure, but sadly the adventure ended in 1969, Jason's pop lent the intrepid little Suzi to a friend and heaccidentally drove it off a 6 foot cliff and bent the bars.

After her unfortunate accident she was relegated to moto hibernation in the barn and didn't see the light of day until 1980! Jason's Grandpa loaded the bike in a truck and hauled it to Victoria, where Jason took it with him from place to place in storage.

Finally in the winter of 2017 Suzi made a brief stop at my house and my hubby took a crack at getting it running. Lots of parts were seized, corroded, and generally in bad shape. My hub loves challenges when it comes to this type of stuff. Through his dogged persistence and a little TLC he managed to get it to turn over and actually run. He took things apart, cleaned them, and soaked a few things in pine sol (that's his magic potion).

Last Friday Jason dropped by surprisingly he was riding down the street with the whine and cough of the 2 stroke and a trail of smoke belching out the exhaust. The mix was off and needed a little tweaking. It was also leaking a little gas and the spark plug gap was off.

Check out the roachy rusty patina on this bike. Jason is doing a partial restoration on the bike, but the rusty patina lends a certain charm. Probably the biggest restoration is going to be the seat being recovered and possibly a few of the parts rechromed, but the paint is going to stay as it is at this point. It is a cool looking little thing. Jason is happily riding around and plans to hand it down to his kids when he is done, who know maybe they will decide to restore it a little more. The last time this bike was insured and on the road was in 1969! All I can say is keep on running old lady you aren't looking too bad for 53 considering what she has been through!

Anniversary getaway! 28 years & counting

2017-06-28T12:58:00.004-07:00

We are stopped at the Ellis River look-out on Highway 4. Take note of the fence in the background it is covered in locks.

My hubby and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary with a bike trip to Tofino last weekend. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, the road was clear and traffic was light! The twisties were FABULOUS!!!! We ride a lot together, but have never ridden to our favourite island destination and it was our first moto overnighter, which always leads to a packing dilemma when you are a packrat who always brings too much. I worry that part of it to death, because Island weather is so unpredictable particularly up Tofino way, it truly is the Wet Coast. In any event I got it all sorted and packed into 1 bag in my side case, and I did cull out some stuff. Hubby actually ended up bringing more stuff than me and was surprised at how light I was travelling. Yay me!

The day dawned sunny and hot! We were off on our adventure riding the beautiful narrow and twisty Highway 4. This road is an adventure during peak summer travel time, lots of motorhomes, campers, trucks and trailers, and quite a lot of the drivers are not prepared at how twisty and narrow the road is and a lot of folks end up crossing the centre line when taking the corners, so you have to keep this in mind when travelling through there.

There is a small fence ad people have taken to attaching locks and memorabilia to the fence. I stood an read some of the messages, most a very touching commemorating an event, milestone or the life of a person. We decided to add our own memento.

We added a lock with our initials and anniversary date, we did this together. I have the keys for the lock as my keepsake. It was quite a touching moment. Happy 28th anniversary honey! My life has never been boring and always full of adventure.

This spot is so picturesque! You can walk down and dangle your feet in the water if your inclined, but watch out for the drop off and swift current. It can also be a bit hairy trying to get back on the road or pulling into this place. More adventures await us!

Our next stop was the Visitor Centre to snap a few pics.

Tofino is a funky little hamlet which is a fishing town, and have a vibrant art community and one that attracts free spirits. Most who follow my blog will have seen pictures from our previous vacations there.

We stopped at Long Beach for a quick amble on the beach. Long Beach pulls surfers to it like a magnet.

We stayed at a lovely beachside resort Ocean Village. They have the most charming A-frame cabins that are fully stocked and have gorgeous views.

It was time to settle in and have some snacks and then beach walk time!

We went to Picnic Charcuterie for lovely meat and cheese.

Then it was off to our favourite eatery Red Can Gourmet, it is run by a former chef who was up at Whistler and has a few Michelin stars. The carrot cake is the BEST I've ever eaten. They have marvelous entrees and seafood chowder that is served with their heavenly baguette. Tofino is a foodie paradise.

On Saturday we opted to have freshly made Gelato from Chocolate Tofino for dinner! I had my favourite white chocolate raspberry. To die for! We seem to do a lot of eating when we are in Tofino! It all gets balanced by the amount of exercise we do, we usually shun the car and walk everywhere and go kayaking or other adventurous activities. We tried paddle boarding for the first time, and I left the camera at the room, I could foresee it being at the bottom of the ocean. It turns out my balance on a paddle board isn't as stellar as it is on the bike. I stood up 4 times and promptly fell 4 times, so decided to do it kneeling instead which worked well for me anyway.

After a full day of fun there were beautiful sunsets to watch while sitting on the beach with our favourite bevvies.

I never get tired of this place. Its amazing how fast the time flew and we were soon packing up the bikes and getting ready for the 4 hour ride back home. It was wickedly hot while we were on our trip and I think when we were going inland towards Port Alberni it must have been around 35 degrees Celsius, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it was a little toasty in all the gear.

It was a great adventure and I think we will be doing a few more come vacation time! I am getting used to the idea of travelling with less, I am going to look for some keen sandals that will replace my need for sneakers and flip flops, one less thing to carry. As the sticker says "I survived Hwy 4" it can be a very interesting road to ride and can be a bit crazy at times.

Moto Nerd

2017-05-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

This was me getting instruction from a master police rider in the advanced layout and yes he told me to "Turn your head!"

I admit it, I'm a moto nerd. I love traffic cones, particularly when they're in intricate slow speed layouts. This weekend I participated in a Motorcycle Skills Challenge event put on by 3 local police departments, provincial insurance corporation and the riding school I teach for, I was there as an instructor coach. I also took the opportunity to take a few runs through the cones.

This event started last year at the beginning of riding season to help get riders road ready and introduce them to the concept of regular skill building practice and opportunities for training and safer choices. It was gratifying to see such a broad spectrum of riders come out and participate. The range of bikes was incredible; scooters, Honda groms, adventure bikes, dirt, sport bikes, and ginormous cruisers.

As an instructor it is rewarding helping people gain new skills and for others helping them refine their skills. At times it was an eye opener of the lack of training some riders have and seeing the realization that they need further training to up their skill set.

Warm-up & skill building area

The most rewarding moment was when I was up at the WSP cone layout which was created by The Washington State Police. The layout is a large circle with 2 cones in the centre and the rider performs a figure 8 on the inside of the circle trying not to go out of bounds as they do each loop of the 8. There was one rider who rode the entire beginner circuit and each time the figure 8 and uturns were his nemesis, but his dogged determination was tremendously inspiring and I worked harder to help him improve and work on sightlines and friction zone. We chatted for a bit and he was so grateful and he was showing improvement.

It is these moments when I realize how encouragement and upbeat positivity can affect a rider who may be struggling, they generally just need more one on one instruction, seat time, and confidence building. It also opens your eyes to the fact that some riders just don't know what to practice or how often. My advice to him was to get some tennis balls, cut them in half and use them as markers, go to a lot and practice u-turns, slaloms, smooth starts and quick stops. The most consistent problem for most riders is keeping their head and eyes up and 'looking where you want to go", the next would be smooth use of the friction zone when riding slow. These are the bread and butter skills of every rider.

It was a good day and I think about 100 riders came out and took advantage of the instructor coaching and riding through the sea of orange cones.

I am off to teach a new flock of riders this weekend, I'm stoked!

Blast from the past - Riding Pillion

2017-05-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rode pillion, I haven't really done this since I earned my motorcycle license. We have two motorcycles in our garage and only one of them is insured - and it's mine. Once upon a time, on lovely summer days back in the '80's you would find me and then boyfriend riding all over Northern BC. Those were heady days, we used to go everywhere on his bike! I continued to ride on the back off/on over the years, but that seemed to pretty much come to an end when we had our kiddo, it wasn't practical and it didn't lend itself to much riding time.

The cruiser is my hubby's bike Honda V45 Magna, he's had it since 1983, he used to pick me up for dates on that baby and I'd hop on and away we'd go!

At one time I was a great pillion passenger, you couldn't ask for better. I never fidgeted or leaned the wrong way. For the most part I was very content, although my view was mostly obscured by the back of the hub's head. I loved nothing more on a hot summer day to go for a ride on some twisties. It was the time of my youth and bck then there really was no motorcycle gear to speak of and I shudder at our lack of gear. I rode on the back of the bike for 28 years and then all of that changed when Pandora's moto box was opened with the scooter.

My impressions of my experience of riding pillion I would have to say it feels very odd sitting on the back. K said that when I have ridden on the back on two occasions that I am squirmy now. He says he can feel my hands twitch when he shifts, brakes, and rolls on/off the throttle. He he says he can feel my left foot wiggle around when you would be throwing in a shift, it's reflexive. My bike also has a very unforgiving passenger seat and does not have a sissybar, I felt like I was going to slide off. Its funny I didn't enjoy the ride as much as I used to and actually felt anxious for some odd reason, its hard now to give up control.

This seat is not conducive to a comfy passenger ride

There is an art to being a pillion passenger, when the passenger does it well and leans with you and doesn't wiggle around or thunk into the back of your helmet it makes for a good ride. I have yet to take a passenger on my bike and really haven't had a need or a desire to do so. I think what made it more difficult as well as we were both concerned about the bike bottoming out on bumps and when corning due to the fact that I lowered, so it actually made the ride less smooth and not as fluid as it usually is. I also have to hand it to those who love riding pillion and are good passengers!

So my question is would you ride pillion? Or do you think you could not handle giving up control? Got to say the view from the back was not as nice from the front and it was awkward trying to crane my neck around over the hub's shoulder. I think next time we will take the car ;)

Spot on??? Satellite trackers versus cellphones

2017-04-27T15:15:00.003-07:00

I am contemplating a 1 or 2 week road trip with a friend and feel the need to invest in a little technology, because cellphone coverage can be spotty. Last night I went to a bike night event and listened to the tale about a woman's solo trip to New Zealand. It got me thinking about safety and whole bunch of other things which I need to sort out in the next few months. This trip will see me staying within my countries borders.

There are several satellite driven trackers or personal safety beacons out there that allow coverage where cellular just doesn't go. There are brand options where you have to pay a monthly/yearly subscription.

I am intrigued by the personal beacon unit that the lady adventurer has last night, it is a '5 year' beacon that you don't pay any fees or subscriptions for.

There are other options such as the Spot which I believe you pay a monthly fee, which I am not all that keen on as I have cell and that is costly enough.

Another friend has this satellite tracker which has text message capabilities and mapping, it has a sliding scale for fees, so when you use it more, you pay more and the months you aren't utilizing it the fee is nominal.

So my question is to you my fellow travelling bloggers - If you use a satellite tracker what do you like about it? What don't you like about it? Which models have you tried? What to you recommend?

Meeting up with David Masse Life on 2 Wheels moto/vlogger

2017-04-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

(Photo credit David Masse - photos are the property of David Masse)

Blogging is an interesting thing, its almost like putting a note in a bottle and tossing it into the digital ocean and not knowing if anyone will ever read or respond to it. For Most of us, when we first start blogging you kind of feel alone in the digital universe and then you start following other like-minded blogs. After several years of following, reading and commenting, you start to feel a kinship with your fellow bloggers. It is funny how the internet draws you into creating friendships with people you have never physically met, its almost like having an electronic pen pal.

(Photo credit David Masse - photos are the property of David Masse)

I have been following David Masse's blog since I started riding and blogging in 2011. David rides a beautiful Vespa and shares a Honda Shadow with another blogger Sonja. David's original blog was the Scoot Commute, a Montreal based lawyer scooting his way to and from work and epic scooter travel adventures. David is a very adventurous blogger and has recently started a great video blog. Check out his current blog here. Life on Two Wheels

I have been fortunate to link up with a few of the bloggers that I follow and in each case, it has been the first time we have met and it feels like we have known each other for years. This has at times left my family a little worried, because I am off meeting someone who I really don't know and I caution my daughter not to do this, and of course it is a case of "Do as I say, Not as I do" and she has called me on that and I am still hearing about it.

(Photo credit David Masse - photos are the property of David Masse )

About a week before Easter I received and email from David that he, his wife, son and daughter-in-law would be in Victoria for the long weekend and would be delighted if we could meet for coffee. I was so excited and it was such a pleasure to meet David, Susan, Andrew and Anoushka. We had a lovely time at coffee and then met them for a lovely dinner at a local eatery, my daughter tagged along which was a bonus.

PS: David hope you don't mind, but I pinched a few pictures off your blog, its hard finding a picture of you on your scooter and bike, like most bloggers we usually just take pics of our scoots on our adventures.

*Photos in this post are not to be copied without permission of David Masse

Springtime means demo time!

2017-04-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

The one sure way to know it's spring is the motorcycle dealers are running demo days in an effort of enticing you to part with your cash for their newest motorcycle offerings. Saturday was a mixed bag of sun and clouds and warmer temperatures in Victoria. So it was up out of bed early, grab a quick cup of coffee which wasn't nearly enough, and we were on our way to check out Honda's newest offerings in hopes one would follow hubby home. We looked at everything and hubby tried two, the NC750X manual and NC750 DCT. I suggested he try the Africa Twin and VFR1200, and he wasn't interested. I was tempted to take out the F6B, which is a scaled down Goldwing without the top trunk and then after sitting on the behemoth I decided against it due to how heavy it was. I was also on a mission for my riding school to put the Rebel 300 through its paces, as we are looking at it as an addition to our traffic fleet.

Hubby was 'meh' on both NC's, although he did find the DCT automatic intriguing, but not enough to purchase it. He found the manual NC a capable plain bike. It has a reputation being compared to 'oatmeal' pokey, slow, and very low revving, the bike was designed as a commuting bike and its presence in the market has more of a solid footing in Europe due to its good gas mileage and front trunk which sits where the gas tank normally would. He did like it, but it is not hitting any chords in his heart, so I guess it means more test drives.

I rode the Rebel 300, my impression is that it is a vast improvement over the previous Rebel 250's, which were chunky small beginner bikes. My last experience with the 250 was a bone rattling ride which is as slow as a bowl of watery oatmeal, but it was a good entry level bike for those looking to get something light and flickable. The Rebel 300 has more pep and is a little more agile, and doesn't shake your bones apart and has a cleaner design. It was a little sluggish for the highway and you have to quickly shift. For our purposes it will be a good traffic bike for novice students. I was also talking to a former student who is on the petite side and she purchased the CB300F last year and liked it, but felt it was still too tall, even with lowering links. She sat on the Rebel 300 and it was a perfect fit, so for petite riders there are two offerings the 300 and 500, which I believe share the same frame specs.

Farkle Garage Episode 8 New look, New Garage, New Stories!

2017-04-18T13:00:00.002-07:00

Pull up a chair and join us in the garage for 30 minutes of motorcycle TV! The gang is hanging out at Bucky's Taphouse talking bike with other riders, and the Farkle Garage Band is rocking out. What does music and motorcycling have in common - therapy! Check out a Steve's human farkle, and the muffpot brings a whole new meaning to the idea of take-out, Clive really brings to life the term Ride to Eat! Producer Ray takes us on a ride Adventure style!

Farkle Garage Episode 8

2017-03-25T20:56:00.001-07:00

Fitbit friend or foe

2017-03-14T21:33:00.001-07:00

About a month ago I made some positive changes in my life, I started to exercise and changed my eating habits. I have been far too sedentary and it is just the nature of my desk job, winter blahs and other health issues which have limited my activity level. I started working out on an eliptical and a treadmill, which after 30 days has lead to a 10lb weight loss and overall better health and fitness.

The twist of this story is the fitbit, it was a motivator in the beginning, but it quickly spiralled into something more, the fitness frenemy.

So lets talk about this beast of technology. I have a very competitive side and I am an 'all in or all out', 'go big or go home' kind of gal, you get the idea. I am driven and most of you who have followed my adventures probably know this about me. This little piece of wearable tech inspired me in the beginning and was keeping me on track, unfortunately though it has also triggered my driving personality tendencies. This is not good when you were essentially a couch potato and then overnight become a treadmill marathoner, it equates to a very bad space for body wellness.

At first I was listening to my body, I started slow, and took it all at a decent pace. I was getting into the groove, getting that endorphin rush I remember from when I was an avid runner. My endurance increased and 'boom' I was running longer times and longer distances. But then I started competing in fitbit challenges to get a 'virtual badge'. This is where it goes wrong, I started pushing myself to wrack up the steps on the fitbit and the number of active minutes. Its like a drug, you see the numbers clicking up, you get obsessed, and before you know it you are outrunning everything that is sensible and not listening to the subtle and not so subtle messages the body is sending, like a searing pain in the heel.

This leads me to where I am today - I hate to even admit this, but here I sit on my couch with ice on a painful heel which is plantar fasciitis triggered by overuse. Yes overtraining was a stupid thing to do, and yes I blame myself, but I also put some of this on the obsession building wearable fitness technology which is the fitness crackberry of pedometers.

At this point I am forced to rest or I risk damaging the ligament in my foot. I have also made the decision after hobbling along, that the fitbit is not my master. Although these pedometers may have a place in fitness when used with a grain of salt, the darker side of it is that it can become an obsession and trigger unhealthy tendencies. There are healthier ways to get fit, but I ignored the common sense approach that I started out with.

I have done a little bit of research on the wearable fitness tech and believe it or not, it is becoming increasingly more common that users are succumbing to the obsessive/addictive aspect of it. Tech is a sneaky thing, it insidiously works its way deep into your life in multiple layers and ways, sometimes I don't think we give it the thought and care we should.

Don't get me wrong I am not going to stop on my quest for a healthier me, but I am taking it down several notches and slowing down, being more mindful of what my half century old body is telling me and it is not fitness at all costs because that means injuring myself. I'm in it for the long haul and the fitbit is going in the drawer and this is going to be a journey of non-counted steps at a reasonable healthy pace.

Blogger is driving me crazy!

2017-03-11T20:57:00.001-08:00

You may have noticed a lack of posts, its because every time I write a blog post, blogger shuts down and its annoying. I am seriously thinking of moving the blog, but not sure how to do it - techulexic me.

Any suggestions?