Hey you guys!

Ten bike tours is a pretty serious milestone.  As I write this I’m watching Sideways with my wife- the movie that inspired the first tour ten years ago.  I still remember watching it for the first time back in 2006 and the subsequent planning of my first bike tour- the Easy Rider Tour 2006.  The idea of motorcycle tours being an annual pilgrimage- for ten years in a row no less- was definitely not on the radar back then.

I figured the ten year milestone deserved something special, so I spent a few months compiling, editing, and transposing all of my journals and photos into a comprehensive website.  You’re reading it now.  I even scored a cool address for it- bcbiketour.com.  I did this mostly for me, so I could go to a single source and reminisce and jog all of those memories hidden in the back of my mind.  I’m sure glad I wrote them.  I was able to use hashtags for various people, places, and other assorted memories so I could read through journals with a common thread.

Being the tenth, I knew that this tour had to be special, so the planning for this one started back in March with the usual “where should I go?” debate.  After I decided where I was going I knew that I’d have to make some changes, the first of which being my bike.

I sold Silver.  It was incredibly difficult, but I sold Silver and I did it for two reasons:  First, his mileage was getting near 90,000km and he was 12 years old.  If I was ever going to sell him and get a decent return, this was the time.  Once a bike gets over 100,000 buyers get nervous. Second, I am going very far- farther than I’ve ever been before.  I knew with certainty that I was going to shatter the distance record set during the Road Warrior Tour 2012, and for that I would need a touring bike.  Silver was a cruiser.  To put it in car terms- Silver was like a BMW Roadster.  I needed an Escalade.

It was very hard to do.  I had a strong attachment to that bike after 9 seasons together.  Somehow I was able to numb myself to all of that and get him sold.  His replacement is a used motorcycle that I found for a really good deal.  It is 2 years newer than Silver, has 20,000 fewer kilometres than Silver, is 200 pounds bigger that Silver (despite having an engine displacement of 1300 vs Silver’s 1600), has hard saddlebags and a trunk that I can lock up, has external speakers, is liquid cooled, and has 30 more horsepower than Silver did.

In short, this was a big upgrade.   The new bike is a 2005 Yamaha Royal Star Midnight Venture.  His name is Midnight.

I made several modifications to Midnight.  That backrest was custom ordered.  The tank bib and chrome tank cover were custom ordered.  There were these weird little flame stickers running all through the bike that I removed, and I changed the external speakers to something with a little more pop.

A few months ago I was reminiscing about my childhood and somewhere I read that this was the 30th Anniversary of the release of the film The Goonies.  This movie had a serious impact on my childhood.  My brother and I would watch it over and over again, and even to this day we can recite scenes together.  The film was shot in a town called Astoria in Oregon and throughout the summer they are having events to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the film’s release.  I thought it would be cool to visit there…so I’m going.

The Goonie Tour 2015 will be a 15 day tour to Astoria, down the Oregon Coast, and then back through BC before I return home.    This is a very ambitious schedule and it will definitely push me to the limits of riding endurance and planning.  What I’m looking forward to the most is capturing the feeling I had on the first tour…that excitement that comes with discovery of a new place.  I got a bit of that when I went down into Montana on the Road Warrior Tour 2012, but this was going to be a full-on American tour…and I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning.

Actually, what I’m looking forward to the most is finding pirate treasure.