Like the guy in Simon & Garfunkle’s “Cecilia”, my confidence was shaken.  Twice in one day.  Just before my first-ever ride on the highway.

Our plan was to ride a loop from Calgary to Bragg Creek in the foothills of the Rockies for breakfast, ride through Kananaskis Country up Highwood Pass (Canada’s highest paved highway), do a short hike, and continue through the pass to the Trans Canada Highway back into Calgary.  Total KM:  349. A big day for the first ride.

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Despite living in the urban core of a self-proclaimed “world class city”, our backlane is a dirt road.  It is graded a few times per year which means they scrape away at it so it is level and without potholes.  This leaves a large incline to our garage – or decline, as it were.  Jordan backed up his R1200GS pas probleme.  Like a good ducky following its mother, I followed him.  I didn’t slide down backwards as he did, in neutral with the engine running, though.  No, I tippy-toed backwards, pausing at the wrong spot, where the decline made it impossible for me to touch the ground.  I dropped my bike.  No worries – it was a short fall and I let it go.  No injuries to me or the bike (just my ego).

Down the back-country lane we went  - arrived at the (paved) street where I encountered another steep decline and a blind corner.  Pause to look, can’t reach the ground.  I dropped my bike.  This time I tried to fight it and (mildly) sprained my ankle.  Oh, and I lost the end of my brake lever.  Good thing I have small hands.

Only slight damage to the brake lever

I didn’t want the ride to be over before it started.  So, we continued on.  First – out of the city to Bragg Creek for breakfast.  I wasn’t hungry, though – still concerned about my abilities.  Then from Bragg Creek to Longview, traveling south fighting some cross winds.  I thought they were absolutely crazy, but a quick check at weather.ca and they were only about 32km/hr.  !RUTA CUARENTA! is all I could think about (Route 40 in the Andes – whose winds have blown motos, and their riders, off the road!)

The next 50kms were gorgeous.  No traffic, no wind, and just 90km / hour.  Nice and easy up through the mountains to the pass.  I totally got into it … not only did I respond to the numerous riders on the road, I began to initiate the point-my-finger-at-the-ground-wave, which, I think  means ‘hey’.  I felt like I was in a club.  After a brief hike (didn’t realize the ankle was sprained yet) up a mountain cirque of skree, skree, and more skree we were back in the saddle.

Ahhh… Ruta Cuarenta.  Yes!  More winds – this time, travelling north, with a bit of traffic and winding roads through the mountains.  Experienced riders would be jealous, true.  But on a first ride?  At 100km/hr?  No one got a wave from me.

Out of the pass and onto the highway home.  5 pm on a Sunday from the mountains to Calgary = 2 lanes of conjested traffic at 120-130km/hr.  Oh, and somehow, the cross winds continued… despite now traveling east.  How is that even possible?  It was hairy in places, but the worst was the incessant wind in my helmet (I think one of my earplugs fell out).  So… loud head, surrounded by impatient drivers wanting to start the BBQ at home, and fighting cross winds for the next 50 km.  Short, but intense.  It felt like hours.

The ride into the city was awesome.  I was still afraid of full-stops, should I stall (recall my aforementioned confidence issue), but there were none to be had.  A gentle ride in, cruising through green lights up the dreaded incline from the paved road to our country-lane-in-the-city of a back lane.  I had Jordan ride the bike up into the garage.

So, though my start to the day was dodgy, I’m glad I kept going.  I truely was worried about my abilities at that point: did I make the right decision buying a bike?  Why didn’t I get that euphoric feeling riders always talk about – ‘riding with the elements’ and all that?  Will I ever feel as comfortable as other women look on their bike?

But, I did ride a 350km first ride in traffic, wind and mountains at speeds twice of what I’ve ever attempted.  So, though I may not have all the skills or the comfort yet, I have chutzpa.  That’s got to be worth something.

We spent the past weekend at the Horizons Unlimited meeting in Nakusp (interior of BC).  So much fun!

The ride out was interesting… leaving Calgary at +11 degrees and rain meant plastic bags in our boots, a balaclava, silks, wool, rain gear in addition to our regular kit.  There is no bad weather – just bad clothing.  The ride was rainy and cool until we hit the front ranges of the Rockies.  After that – warm… then friggin’ hot!  3 hours into our trip we were dripping sweat.  We stripped at a gas station and enjoyed trucker-quality burger and fries.

About 100 people showed up and lived through +32 degrees (only 6 hours away from +11 in Calgary!!) to hear stories from and meet adventure riders like Audrey & Ekke (Europe & Africa on their GS’s), Trent & Monica (Columbia in 4 weeks on a Chinese 250), Carole & Peter (South America for 14 months on a bike), Jeremy Kroeker (mid-east, et al – Google:  Motorcycle Therapy – excellent photographs!), and Rene Cormier (everywhere:  154,000 km over 5.5 years).

So now, we are super pumped!  Okay, so we have confirmed the date (July 1, 2009) and we are calculating what we need to save.  To be sure, we have estimated about $100 / day for 2 of us on 2 bikes.  This is an average for North, Central & South America and is almost a random number – how do you really know?  And it doesn’t have our side trip to Antarctica figured in.  Wondering what to do to raise more cash – we devised our awesom, yet clearly obvious plan.  Rent the basement suite in our house that is completely vacant and which we rarely venture down into!

Oh, and Alaska is off the list for now.  Not enough time and we could do it over 3 weeks any summer.  We’re in Canada, after all.

Who knew ‘my’ parking lot would be so popular?  Apparently, everyone hangs out there… I had other drivers testing their skills, call-centre employees sneaking out for a cigarette, children running around with a ball, and a group of firefighters.  Okay – they were actually on the side road by the station, hanging out around their truck.  But, hey! they were in FULL VIEW!  It was like they were in my parking lot.  Less stalls this time and more confidence.  Did a few fast stops, and sneaked out onto the road a few times.

Today, however, we hit the road.  A few hills, some blind corners, and one twisty road.  It felt great.  The parking lot was good for the first few times, but without ‘lanes’ or stop lines, I couldn’t really tell if I was riding well or not.

Today, only 2 stalls – an uphill start and one I can’t explain.  We have to check the clutch – I couldn’t start the 650 in gear with the clutch in – I had to put it in neutral.  According to www.650.com, it’s a sensor.

But, that will have to wait.  There’s hiking in the mountains this weekend!

Yay - I finally found the perfect BMW F650 gs!  Not only is it in great shape, it has heated grips (I live in Canada), factory low suspension (I can flat-foot it), and it’s iceberg blue (matches my eyes).

I’ve not ridden a bike for over a year, and my first time out on the 650 – in a parking lot – turned out better than expected.  Then again, I stayed in 1st most of the time and, truth be told, I stalled the darned thing numerous times.  Jordan & I rode to the parking lot together, with me as pillion, and he was very kind (and patient!) while he watched me go back and forth, round and round, practicing my stopping, starting, and turning.  I was going to treat him for a coffee afterward, but I forgot my wallet ; )

Jordan has always had a love of all things on wheels.  Especially motorcycles.  I have a penchant for explorers, mountains and ice.  So, we’ve been discussing a year-long ride from Alaska to Antarctica.  A motorcycle mishap and job relocation in 2007 forced us to hang tight for a while longer.  If I can get a lot of practice over the rest of this summer and next – we should be good to leave in June or July.

I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about the whole thing.  Not leaving work or our place in Calgary – Lord!  we’ve got 20 more years of that daily grind in front of us.  I’m nervous about my capabilities on the bike on the treacherous road conditions and, especially traffic!

We will keep you posted about our planning progress: what to do with the house?, what about our careers?, equipment, destinations etc.  And, please offer up any bit of wisdom you might have that will help us!

For now, though, it’s back to the parking lot for me.  That, and a refresher course (I decrease my odds of accident by over 5% with both!).