Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127603
GDUAL SPORT ~ BackroadsAdventures beginning to break, giving us a breathtaking v ie w of the valleys below. After checking out a few more mountain tops , we emerged out of the d eep woods and came upon a beautifu l lake wh ere we stopped fo r lunch. From h is backpack, David pulled out sa nd wich es, fru it drinks and chocolate bars, and we munched away while sitting on a log on the edge of the me - I missed Tuesday's ride, the first da y of the tour, which was scheduled to be a da y ride in the mountain s surround ing Cranbrook. But wh en I arrived late Tuesday afternoon, I didn't feel too bad. I saw Leroy Winters - a friend that I hadn't seen since we rode together on another dual sp ort tour in Me xico' s Copper Canyon over a yea r ago - standing outside his motel room in his ridin g gear, soaked to the bone. Evidently it had rained for most of the 70mile ride. The ne xt morn ing dawned cool, cloud y and gray, but at least it wa sn't ra in ing. Le r oy, Da vid, Mark "The Sweep" Hara s and m yself met for breakfast. Martindale briefed us about the ride, basically warning us not to get separated on the trail. "This is big country ou t here. If you get lost, it's not like you can follow a dirt road for a few miles and run into some town. Out here, it could be 70 miles or more before you come across any semblance of civilization." He also warned us to keep our eyes o pen fo r w il d li fe . " ...especi ally for deer. They have this thing about jumping out in fron t of moving objects . A friend of mine wa s rid ing up here once a nd he ran into a deer ; actuall y, the d eer ran into him . It jus t ju mped out of th e wood s and nailed h im. H e wa s okay, but the deer didn't make it. On o u r las t tour we saw a moose, ba ld eagles, e lk and mountain go a ts. But don' t be su rp rised if you see a grizzly lake. or rams." As for me, I wan ted to see a moose . You do n' t see many of them in LA. Sho rtly after breakfast, we were making the transition from pavement to dirt on our DR350s. With David lead ing the way, Mark pulling up the rear, and Leroy and myself positioned in between, we began the firs t of wha t would be - during the next four days many mountain-peak ascents. Before the day was over, we had climbed to at least five moun tain look-ou ts a nd were rewarded with spectacu lar views each time. The first climb took us right through a la yer of clouds and jus t befo re we reache d the to p of th e mounta in , we po pped ou t of the clouds a nd felt the wa rm rays of sunlight hitting our faces. Off in the dis tance, you could see other mountain tops sneaki ng up through the clouds. After soaking in the sights, we backtracked for a while as the clouds were (Abo ve) Mark Haras, left, and Martindale, right, are the ma in forces behind the Backroad s Ad vent ures' tours. Haras is a fulltime mechanic at a local motorcycle shop; that is vel)' reassuring when you 're way out in the middle of nowhere. (Left) One di rt road that we followed led to this crater-looking forma tion at the top of a mountai n. About an hour later, we were back on th e dirt roads, weaving our wa y through the woods at a leisurely pa ce . Alon g the way, we saw deer and wild goats, but no moose. Our u ltimate dest ination on Wednesday was a sm all town called Fernie, whose economy th r ives on th e nea rb y s ki s lo pes. We r olled in to to wn about 6:00 p .m ., but we weren't ready to call it a da y not yet. " We could check into o u r ho tel, or we can ex plore a nother lookout if you guys want," said Martindale. The vo ting was unanimous. Abou t 30 m inutes lat er , we were looking down on Fernie and , to o u r backs, a rather mean-looking thunderstorm wa s brewing in the distance. "We're going to get wet, " warned Leroy. " N a h, " said Ma rk . "We'll be okay." Leroy wasn't convi nce d. He q uickly snuffed out his cigarette and headed back d own the mo u n ta in with David in tow. Mark and I, howeve r, h u ng ou t and wa tched the sun set behind the mountains. . Le roy' s words p roved tru e when it st arted to pour. Knowing that a heater and a hot shower were only a few miles away, Mark and I had a blast riding down the mountain in the rain. At the bottom, we found both Leroy and David seeking shelter insid e an old abandoned wood shed off to th e si de o f th e d irt roa d . Mark and I joined them as we rode out the brief storm. Shortly thereafter, the four of us rode in to town and ro lled up to our hotel, w he re Da v id 's 16- yea r-old n ephew, Gra ha m, was wait ing in Dav id 's Jeep Cherokee. No soo ne r had I pu lled my goggl es off my helmet th an Graham handed me my room key. And, yes, our gearbags were already delivered to our rooms. A nice touch! That nigh t we ate in a resta urant in town ca lled The Ele va tor and it was here we got the cha nce to really get to know one another as we traded some of our best stories - some motorcycle-related , so me not. Martindale had perhaps the best story of the week when recalling some of h is experiences r unning freight trains. "One morning, as th e su n was just coming up, there, up ah ead and stand-