Alberta Dual Sport riders fall colors ride

[MICRider]

Went for a ride with some of the fellow's from the Alberta Dual Sport group. We did the Victoria Trail fall colors ride, all gravel and just a teensy bit of dirt. Great guys, it was a lot more fun than the typical cruiser poker run that I attend. The oldest rider there was Ben, he just turned 80 a short time ago and rides a Cagiva Elefant. Hope I spelt that right! Here's a few pics of the ride yesterday


Staging at Tim Horton's in Fort Saskatchewn. About 15 or 20 of us in total.

The start of Victoria Trail for us, just turned off highway 38 and onto the gravel.


Cool KLR with lot's of home built goodies... This bikes owner is a real life McGyver!

Lot's of BMW's! (Well, 2 in this pic, but I would say half the bikes were beemers.)


Stopped at Victoria Trail Settlement museum for a regroup.

Shark Strom!

RCMP monument.

Finished up in Smoky Lake.


It was a great ride although very dusty! The only HD we saw was in the Tim Hortons parking lot... Lol!

[FastDoc]

What a great ride!

Looks like marvelous weather too, and a good group of people and bike to be with.

Your KLR looks great. Wonderful bike.

The Cagiva Elefant was really a Ducati with a pedigree problem.

Cagiva owned Ducati for a brief (and some say dark) period of time and really wanted their name on the bikes, even though they were re-badged Ducatis. The motor even says 'Ducati' on it.

They sold terribly, and the company was soon bought by the US based Texas Pacific Group, who built Ducati into the empire it is today.

[FastDoc]

BTW the KLR does very well even in some semi-nasty stuff.

I rode with Roger this weekend. Because he is having some joint problems I rode his KLR and he rode my KLX.

I rode the living crap out of that KLR, including sand and single track, even a few mild jumps and I loved it.

Very underrated bike; if a guy could have only one bike it would be a great choice.

[FastDoc]

Just noticed.

What is the DEAL with the pumpkins in that last picture?!

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by FastDoc

Just noticed.

What is the DEAL with the pumpkins in that last picture?!

Lol, they have a big pumpkin festival every fall .
Those are fiberglass I think
The KLR did great, they were the second largest group there... At least 5 or so of them. The lime green one even had a cracked frame!

One fellow had one of the brand new water cooled GS's there, boy does it sound sweet!

Found a pic I took about the Pumpkin Park,

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for the pics, Stew. I haven't been in that area for a long time.

[SpudRider]

Thanks for posting the nice photos, Stew. Your blue KLR650 looks great, as does the trusty, J.C. Whitney Travel Trunk.

[katoranger]

Noticed that your leaves are gone. We are still fully green here. Just saying that Kansas could use some more good people.

Wish I could have been there though.

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by FastDoc

What a great ride!

Looks like marvelous weather too, and a good group of people and bike to be with.

Your KLR looks great. Wonderful bike.

The Cagiva Elefant was really a Ducati with a pedigree problem.

Cagiva owned Ducati for a brief (and some say dark) period of time and really wanted their name on the bikes, even though they were re-badged Ducatis. The motor even says 'Ducati' on it.

They sold terribly, and the company was soon bought by the US based Texas Pacific Group, who built Ducati into the empire it is today.

Ben was telling me he has another bike with the same motor, but it's a sportbike chassis. I was amazed at how well he handled the Elefant, the only time he had a little trouble with it was when he tried to park on an off camber with the high side being the kickstand side. I think that was more due to his height (or lack thereof!) than anything else though! He solved the problem by just leaning it against a wooden fence .

It was funny, I heard that there might be a little bit of challenging dirt on the ride so I took my panniers off for fear of dumping the bike and trapping a leg under one of the boxes... To my surprise, most of the bikes had panniers anyway and the dirt wasn't very challenging at all!

I am very happy with the KLR, I think it was a good move to trade the Shadow for it. And it just turned over 20,000 km's on this ride!
It would have 5 or 6,000 more km's on it, but I mostly rode the Wing this summer.

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Thanks for the pics, Stew. I haven't been in that area for a long time.

If your ever in the area (visiting your folks or something) give me a shout and we'll get together for coffee .

My great plans to get down to the coast get dashed every year
Maybe next summer?

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

Thanks for posting the nice photos, Stew. Your blue KLR650 looks great, as does the trusty, J.C. Whitney Travel Trunk.

Thanks for the kind words Spud!
I got that trunk on the recommendation of a very wise rider
Handiest thing I've put on the bike, I don't go anywhere without it!

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by katoranger

Noticed that your leaves are gone. We are still fully green here. Just saying that Kansas could use some more good people.

Wish I could have been there though.

It's definitely looking like fall winter here now, good thing the ride was Saturday! Windy cool and wet today, looks like the same for tomorrow...

I'll be begging you for enough space in your shed to put a bed after I've moved a few tons of snow this winter!

[katoranger]

I even have a cot out there.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by katoranger

I even have a cot out there.

After the snow starts to fly in Idaho, I will be tempted to head for Kansas, myself!

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by MICRider

If your ever in the area (visiting your folks or something) give me a shout and we'll get together for coffee .

My great plans to get down to the coast get dashed every year
Maybe next summer?

I'll be sure to!

I hope you can make it next summer. It would be great to go on a DS ride.