Tweet
Ken Talbot's Revelstoke Rally preview by Ken Talbot
Ken Talbot's Revelstoke Rally preview
Just for something to do (on the first good weekend we've had up this way for a long time), SWMBO and I pulled off the Kaslo loop mentioned in the Revelstoke itinerary page. I'm glad to report that the road is in good shape.
Rather than pull it off in a single day, though, we drove down through the Slocan valley, spent the night in Nelson, then returned via Kaslo today. When we do this as a group ride, I think we should do the loop clockwise rather than the way SWMBO and I did it. This will have us doing the best part, 50km of uninterrupted twisties, early in the day rather than later. There are some more twisty sections for the second half of the ride too, but nothing like the New Denver to Kaslo section.
At 500km total, this was the first real ride for Tsunami after the winter rebuild, and the first long ride for SWMBO on the XS11 'H we got for her last year. Both bikes performed without a hitch.
We got away from Revelstoke about 10:00 hrs with full tanks. Traffic on 23S was light, so we moved along "at or just a bit" over the limit without any slow vehicles in the way. A little ways out, I noticed a couple of bike headlights coming up from behind. I couldn't tell what they were, but they didn't seem to be in any big rush to get by so I just kept up the pace.
By the time we got to the ferry, the bikes had caught up, and it was a couple from Port Coquitlam on his 'n hers Harleys. Turns out this is their first significant ride of the season too. Sure am glad summer looks like it is here to stay now. Their first comment when we pulled up at the ferry was something about how long it took them to catch up with us..
Off the ferry, we continued cruising at about 100-110km to Nakusp, then slowed back to 90-100 for the leg to New Denver. By this time, we were ready for lunch at the Apple Tree deli. We got to talking with the owner about his nicely restored Norton parked out front. He was telling us about a 'vintage bikes' dance coming up at Silverton (the next little village aloing the way) in a couple of weeks or so.
After lunch, we basically just loafed along down the Slocan valley, tuned back north on 3A, and ended in Nelson just after 14:00hrs. Distance covered was 245km, and I had had to switch Tsunami to reserve at about 240km. We checked in to the hotel, had a quick shower to clean up, did a little shopping, and it was time for some of the Nelson Brewing Company's finest.
This morning, we gassed up in Nelson, then started out along the north shore of Kootenay Lake. This is a nicely twisty piece of road, but it is fairly slow going because of housing congestion. There are so many driveways and vehicles parked along the shoulder that they keep the speed limit pretty low. Once you get past most of the congestion, things pick up until the next real twisty section where the road climbs up along the rock bluffs overlooking Kootenay Lake.
45 minutes on the road and we were in Kaslo, and starting the "main attraction" of this trip. From here, it is a solid 50km of two lane twisty road. The sign at the start of the road advises "Caution - winding mountain highway, use caution when passing" The posted speed limit is 80km/h, and you wouldn't want to do too much more than that on most of this section. The "slow to xx km/h" advisory signs for the tighter corners are not overly conservative either. We did get behind a few slow moving vehicles along the way, but the XS works well for making the most of short passing opportunities.
At New Denver, we turned north onto #6 to follow our tracks back to Nakusp. The heat of the day made the iced capuccino from the Broadway Deli and Bistro go down very nicely. One more gas stop at the outskirts of town, then it was #23 north along the Arrow Lakes to the ferry again. This time, we came around the last corner and the line was already boarding. Did I mention that maybe we should have chugged back that capuccino just a bit faster? As it was, we got on the ferry okay, but we were at the back of the boat, and just about the last ones off when it got to the Revelstoke side. Usually, motorcycles just go automatically to the head of the line for a "first on, first off" treatment. Oh well, these things happen.
After that, all that was left was the 50km run back to Revelstoke. We were behind quite a bit of traffic from the ferry, but is was all moving along at 110km anyways. At this speed, there wasn't much point in trying to get by so we just tagged along for the ride.
And that's about all for this trip report. The next one will be about the same route, but with a much bigger group of riders! Watch for the photos.
August is coming up fast...
Just for something to do (on the first good weekend we've had up this way for a long time), SWMBO and I pulled off the Kaslo loop mentioned in the Revelstoke itinerary page. I'm glad to report that the road is in good shape.
Rather than pull it off in a single day, though, we drove down through the Slocan valley, spent the night in Nelson, then returned via Kaslo today. When we do this as a group ride, I think we should do the loop clockwise rather than the way SWMBO and I did it. This will have us doing the best part, 50km of uninterrupted twisties, early in the day rather than later. There are some more twisty sections for the second half of the ride too, but nothing like the New Denver to Kaslo section.
At 500km total, this was the first real ride for Tsunami after the winter rebuild, and the first long ride for SWMBO on the XS11 'H we got for her last year. Both bikes performed without a hitch.
We got away from Revelstoke about 10:00 hrs with full tanks. Traffic on 23S was light, so we moved along "at or just a bit" over the limit without any slow vehicles in the way. A little ways out, I noticed a couple of bike headlights coming up from behind. I couldn't tell what they were, but they didn't seem to be in any big rush to get by so I just kept up the pace.
By the time we got to the ferry, the bikes had caught up, and it was a couple from Port Coquitlam on his 'n hers Harleys. Turns out this is their first significant ride of the season too. Sure am glad summer looks like it is here to stay now. Their first comment when we pulled up at the ferry was something about how long it took them to catch up with us..
Off the ferry, we continued cruising at about 100-110km to Nakusp, then slowed back to 90-100 for the leg to New Denver. By this time, we were ready for lunch at the Apple Tree deli. We got to talking with the owner about his nicely restored Norton parked out front. He was telling us about a 'vintage bikes' dance coming up at Silverton (the next little village aloing the way) in a couple of weeks or so.
After lunch, we basically just loafed along down the Slocan valley, tuned back north on 3A, and ended in Nelson just after 14:00hrs. Distance covered was 245km, and I had had to switch Tsunami to reserve at about 240km. We checked in to the hotel, had a quick shower to clean up, did a little shopping, and it was time for some of the Nelson Brewing Company's finest.
This morning, we gassed up in Nelson, then started out along the north shore of Kootenay Lake. This is a nicely twisty piece of road, but it is fairly slow going because of housing congestion. There are so many driveways and vehicles parked along the shoulder that they keep the speed limit pretty low. Once you get past most of the congestion, things pick up until the next real twisty section where the road climbs up along the rock bluffs overlooking Kootenay Lake.
45 minutes on the road and we were in Kaslo, and starting the "main attraction" of this trip. From here, it is a solid 50km of two lane twisty road. The sign at the start of the road advises "Caution - winding mountain highway, use caution when passing" The posted speed limit is 80km/h, and you wouldn't want to do too much more than that on most of this section. The "slow to xx km/h" advisory signs for the tighter corners are not overly conservative either. We did get behind a few slow moving vehicles along the way, but the XS works well for making the most of short passing opportunities.
At New Denver, we turned north onto #6 to follow our tracks back to Nakusp. The heat of the day made the iced capuccino from the Broadway Deli and Bistro go down very nicely. One more gas stop at the outskirts of town, then it was #23 north along the Arrow Lakes to the ferry again. This time, we came around the last corner and the line was already boarding. Did I mention that maybe we should have chugged back that capuccino just a bit faster? As it was, we got on the ferry okay, but we were at the back of the boat, and just about the last ones off when it got to the Revelstoke side. Usually, motorcycles just go automatically to the head of the line for a "first on, first off" treatment. Oh well, these things happen.
After that, all that was left was the 50km run back to Revelstoke. We were behind quite a bit of traffic from the ferry, but is was all moving along at 110km anyways. At this speed, there wasn't much point in trying to get by so we just tagged along for the ride.
And that's about all for this trip report. The next one will be about the same route, but with a much bigger group of riders! Watch for the photos.
August is coming up fast...