Trip Blog & Members Section

July 2009

A Rookie’s Tale

Tuesday, July 7th - 2009

Some of you may have noticed Tyler’s announcement in the What’s New section earlier this year regarding two new UK investors in RMMH. I’m one of them and as well as “coughing up some of my ill gotten gains”…sorry, I meant investing hard earned cash, for some unexplainable reason, I find myself spending the 2009 season as a rookie guide, trying hard to remember Brandon and Jarvis’ expert advice and learning from their years of experience.

This blog is to introduce myself to those of you who may not have met me on a previous RMMH tour. Many of you may have already seen me, stylishly leading the way in a well used photo taken on the first California Sea to Sky trip back in ‘03. I failed to negotiate a royalty deal with RMMH, so I’ll be happy to autograph any copies for a couple of bucks!

I’ve spent the best part of 30 years working in the construction industry as a Quantity Surveyor, in London, U.K. I’ve been into bikes from my teens and had a number of machines including, more recently, Speed and Street Triples. My Laverda Jota takes pride of place in the rear living room of my house!. It will run again one day, I promise. I’ve made numerous journeys to Europe since the mid-80’s to watch endurance, superbike and GP racing. Early in the new millennium, I decided to broaden my horizons and after a trip to New Zealand for a guided bike tour of South Island, I came across RMMH. After four fantastic holidays with them between ‘01 and ‘05, including helping Brandon scout the Pacific Rim Adventure, I spent the next few years’ holidays biking in South America. I kept in touch with the RMMH team during this time and met up with them at the London Bike shows in 2007 and 2008. During these visits, I gave them my own unique and well researched guided tours of some of London’s most famous drinking emporiums, which, on both occasions ended up in the legendary curry house that is the Agra Tandoori….God, I miss that place already!

I’d had the idea of approaching RMMH for a number of years, to see if they would be interested in having a Limey/Pommie/Brit on board. After some discussion with Brandon, he also persuaded me to invest (that man could sell sand to an Arab, ice to an Eskimo etc, etc). Once I became a partner in RMMH, I had a difficult decision to make….quantity surveying or motorcycle touring. Less than one nanosecond later my application for a work permit was winging it’s way to the Canadian High Commission. After a mere 4 month wait, the permit finally arrived, and here I am in “Beautiful BC” ready for action.

I now have the first trip (Best of the West) under my belt. I’m sure this belt will need loosening several notches by the end of Summer. I keep trying to kid myself….. Caesar Salad has the word salad in it, so it must be healthy, right?.

Life on the road is really good, a pleasurable mix of eating, drinking and schmoozing with the guests, along with intensive bouts of bike washing, visor cleaning, distribution of cold beverages/candies (that’ll be sweets to us Brits) and bag carrying. I’m also learning the art of truck and trailer driving. I think I’m doing OK, but my parking possibly needs some fine tuning…..

We were really lucky on the BOTW trip, hardly any rain, and blue skies for most of the ten days, which has resulted in my “truckers tan” coming along nicely.

We are now working hard, preparing for the forthcoming tours and I look forward to meeting more of our guests over the next few weeks.

Cheers, Guy

Trip: Best of Western Canada

— GuyC, July 7, 2009

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June 2009

The Yellowstone Brick Road

Wednesday, June 24th - 2009

We’re out on the road right now for the first big ride of the season and as usual, it’s good to be back. This time around there is an even greater sense of how sweet it feels to be doing a motorcycle tour because well, first of all, there’s actual motorcycles involved. Let me explain.

When Brandon contacted me early this spring to discuss the upcoming season he mentioned a scouting trip down to the US that would focus on finding the very best roads to include on Rocky Mountain’s new “Old Faithful” tour. Two guys in the truck could increase the mileage each day and since it looked like I was going to be guiding on that trip anyway, this gave me a chance to get a feel for the lay of the land.

The plan was to bring along a GS (or two), run the planned route of the tour and when time permitted we would take a bike off the truck and work on scrubbing the new rubber. Along the way we could also scope out the new hotels our guests were booked into and sample the local cuisine. It almost sounded like a vacation!

Some nasty weather just before we were set to head out made us scrap the idea of bringing bikes. The elevation of a few towns on the circuit is higher than the Peak of Whistler Mountain and as we all know, mixing snow with motorcycles is like putting HP Sauce in your oatmeal. You just don’t do it.

No big deal; if there’s one thing better about driving than riding (other than warmth and dryness); it’s the accessibility to junk food. After all, this was a road trip.

Our first night was in Soap Lake which is one of the stops on our Coast to California tours but on Day 2 it was time to start breaking new trail. I guess we shouldn’t take all the credit; Lewis and Clark were actually the first to explore a lot of these roads back in the 19th Century. Brandon will tell you all about it over dinner in Joseph, Oregon.

Outside of Joseph was where we encountered our first major obstacle of the mission and now that I think about it, this little setback was kind of ironic. Here we were, stopped dead in our tracks by a wall of snow on a mountain pass that takes us to Stanley. The ironic part is that the frosty delay was situated over a masterpiece of road known in those parts as none other than Hell’s Canyon.

Back the way we came and eventually we ran out of steam in Baker City. The next morning at breakfast I was reminded of two things. For one, you can have gravy in the US on virtually anything you want at any time of day. Second thing is, though, it doesn’t mean it’s gonna be good.

Back in the truck and back to the comfort food that Brandon and I have grown so fond of over the years of touring: Beef jerky. We had a few options for the day ahead and decided to explore them all. Met another wall of snow on a pass up through the Cascades and while it did force us to abandon a route with definite potential, it also led us to a very interesting stop in a tiny hick resort where they teach you how to distil your own bourbon. Maybe save that one for the Redneck Fantasy Tour that’s still in the planning stages.

We made it to Victor and I’ve got to say that is one impressive place. The restaurants, the staff, the amenities; it was all top-notch. Brandon and I were so rested in the morning we even hit the gym for a workout. To reward ourselves we splurged that day on the finest jerky Chevron had to offer.

It was time to venture into the Tetons and onwards to Yellowstone Park. Some of the sights at Yellowstone have to be seen to be believed. Very nice. We were logging into the 4000-range for total kilometres now and I was starting to see that scouting was not all fun and games. The hardest part was taking a route, being blown away by the scenery and the twisties and then turning around to go back to square one, only to take a second road that arrived at the same destination as the first. It was mentally exhausting but when the second route turns out being even better than the original, the kind of road that has made Rocky Mountain famous, it all seems worth it.

By Kalispell, Montana the driving was starting to take its toll. We both needed a break and to help ease the tension we decided to go on a shopping spree at Best Buy. Don’t laugh guys. Going into an electronics mega-store like that with money to burn felt pretty close to that first visit to a motorcycle shop in the spring. Everything so shiny and new…

Three hours and over two thousand dollars later it was time to make a run for the border. Just think about this story the next time you see Brandon recording footage as you lean into a turn. And hey, where do you think I got this laptop?

Our final stretch home topped 20-straight hours of driving and in total we logged 6 000-plus kms but some of the roads are the sweetest I’ve ever seen. Can’t wait for the chance to tackle them on two wheels.

 

Trip: Old Faithful

— Jarvis, June 24, 2009

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June 2008

New Tiger 1050 comments.

I own a Tiger 1050, which I have had for just over 12 months now, previously I owned the old model Tiger 995I, which I purchased on my return from doing a Rockies tour in 2002, when I discovered that it could be lowered thanks to RMMH, I had always been told the Tiger would be too high for me but RMMH had one in their selection. 
As soon as I got back I brought one, Thanks guys. Although the 955i is a great bike to ride & I had mine for over 4 years & clocked up 49,000 + miles it was heavy, so when the new Tiger 1050 came out I had to have one,it is lower as standard,much lighter and easier to handle and although the Tank is smaller than the old Tiger, the 1050 is tuned spot on and the petrol consumption is good, my partner still rides a 995I, when we ride together he uses at least 1 litre more fuel than I do. 

I have had my 1050 lowered even further, by changing the plate the suspension sits on, it took us about 2o minutes to fit and makes enough difference that I can now put my feet flat on the ground which gives me better control and stability.

As I am only 5’5” this is a big deal to me, I would recommend it, one of the things that always puts people of trying a Tiger is usually the hight, but if you need to drop it just that little bit further you can and until you’ve tried a Tiger you don’t know what you are missing.

I am looking forward to coming over to California in October and riding with RMMH again, this time on a Tiger.

— Pearl Tiger, June 21, 2008

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March 2008

Pacific Rim Adventure

It is nice to see another “Pacific Rim Adventure” added to the schedule for 2008. I was part of the inaugural trip in 2007, it was amazing!! With the added off day in Victoria, it will allow everyone to experience what true world class city it is! Just beware the Chicken!!

Trip: Pacific Rim Adventure

— Devon, March 9, 2008

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February 2008

Blog by Jarvis with highlights from the MCN London Show 2008

February 21, 2008

Through seven plus years of touring with Rocky Mountain, there’s no escaping the fact that the ‘London Calling’ was getting rather clear. Really, there are only so many excuses a Canadian guide can come up as to why he hasn’t been over to the homeland of the overwhelming majority for so many of our guests and believe me, I may have used them all.

Well say goodbye to the old, untraveled homebody, this winter it was off to England for the MCN Motorcycle Show at the ExCel. And what a show it was! Bikes everywhere, inside and out of the complex, and now the countdown over in Western Canada til the big thaw is on.

The show itself was a great experience, thanks mostly to the huge number of riders that stopped into the Rocky Mountain booth. Some showing sincere interest in booking a holiday, some just looking to chat, and some - past guests that is - looking for an opportunity to exact revenge on three unsuspecting Canucks by way of copious amounts of food and beer the second our shift for the day ended. You all know who you are!!!

First there was the pub crawl through downtown London followed by a stop at an Indian restaurant. Next night, Chinese at the Lotus (and I don’t know whether it was the gin making that place float or the Thames itself). We also hit up an amazing Thai restaurant, a Sushi joint that would make a few Vancouver restaurants jealous, and we wrapped up the show with a Sunday picnic right at our booth (thanks Julie!). Last but not least, our London tour guides, Paul and Jan, took us to the Ace Cafe for lunch and followed it up with home cooked Sheppard’s pie.

Peter’s famous sloe gin was dessert for that night, and yes, I’ve secured the recipe!

Now if it seems like I spend a lot of time focusing on food, just spend a week or so out touring the Rockies with me and it’ll all become clear.

The ultimate highlight of the trip that I simply must mention was on the final day when Jan tossed me the keys to her bright, shiny red Cooper and told me to, “Put my toe on the floor.”

First time driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road for me, and let’s just say that in the future I’ll be much more understanding of the challenge guests face leaving Whistler on Day 1.

It was really great seeing everyone and it was awesome getting a chance to see what makes London so famous. Hope everyone’s looking forward to the summer. Cheerio!

— Jarvis, February 22, 2008

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