Hi there and welcome to ‘Wheelspin’ 

A new blog documenting rides, events and the motorcycling lifestyle.

For those of you that don’t know I’ll be embarking on a 6 week x-Canada ride starting at the end of June with stops at ‘Freedom Machine’ a vintage, custom and antique bike show in Durham Ontario, held at this really cool fake ghost town on private property with lots of space for camping. www.freedommachineshow.com 

Also on the list,

Port Dover for Friday the 13th,  Magnetic Hill in New Brunswick, Riding the Confederation Bridge into P.E.I. the Bay of Fundy and of course the one on everyones bucket list, The Cabot Trail and since I’m already on that side of the country, the CMC National Rally (Yes I’m already registered for the National) on my way back west.

The idea of this blog is to share information on things like road conditions,  those must do rides, tips and tricks on camping, packing the bike, gear reviews, places to eat, where to find service or parts, places to avoid as well as documenting some good times,  because as we all know… It’s not the destination it’s the ride.

A well traveled route that has some notoriety around here is the Duffy Loop as it’s known locally by the riding community, depending on which direction you travel it’s the #1 Trans Canada from Vancouver to Hope, up the Fraser Canyon to Cache Creek, then onto highway 99 south from Lillooet and down through Pemberton, Whistler, Squamish and back into Vancouver. Another option riding out to Hope is highway #7 but this adds another hour, hour and a half to the total loop ride but is far more scenic and twisty.

Dr.Mucker, first officer from the 056 and myself did our 1st loop ride of 2018 last week, you can watch a video of that ride here 

The last few years I’ve been averaging 3 loop rides a season as it’s one of my favourite local rides. Last year I stretched it out into an overnighter and more kilometres by adding the loop of highways 97C and 8 taking you through Logan Lake, Mamatte Lake and Lower Nicola, some of BC’s old copper mining country and into ranch lands before joining back up with the #1 Trans Canada at Spences Bridge back in the Fraser Canyon. Some stunning country and views along 97C. A few of us have the extended loop ride scheduled for next weekend, I’ll bring you up to speed on that here after the 15th of May.

A few other rides I’ve got down on my calendar in spray paint…

• May 26th is the first flat track races of 2018 in these parts, Pemberton Raceway and a few of us from the 056 are going. 
• May 27th I’m a registered rider in the 'Ride To Live' charity ride to raise awareness and money to fight prostate cancer. There’s a BBQ, a poker run (I love poker runs) and entertainment, looks like I might be a tad sore for that one but that never stopped me before.  to learn more www.ridetolive.ca
• Come early June I’m registered for flat track school hosted by Go Flat Track  and I’m looking forward to writing about that experience. If you check their website they have links to some good video, note that it’s not recorded at Pemberton, I think it’s in Ontario somewhere. www.goflattrack.com

That covers the start of the 2018 riding season, I have a few other rides and events to see when I get back but I think I’ll leave that for later.

**A Final Note on the Duffy: We saw some fresh slides in the chutes along the highway as well there is rock and debris coming down right now, please check road conditions and ride it with extreme caution. The road had been swept of winter gravel and was in pretty good shape overall. We didn’t do the Cache Creek run we did the shortened  Lytton to Lillooet route, highway #12. 

Check www.drivebc.com  for all BC road travel updates and camera views.

3 days after our ride Cache Creek was flooding.