After riding through a snow/ice storm for about 2 long hours, we had taken a break at Faeder Lake about 30 miles from the town of Kelowna in British Columbia. Having warmed up a little, as we were getting back on the road, the gears on Old Bucephalus stopped engaging. So there we were, in the middle of no where, with intermittent icy rain, wondering what to do next.
The motorcycle trip to the Canadian Rockies with my buddies Muzammil aka Moose and Zain had been a few months in the making and we were finally on the road in mid June. The weather forecast was uncharacteristically unsettled as it is generally decent around this time, so we decided to take a truck along with two bikes and rotate the truck driving duty.
It was supposed to rain throughout the first day of the ‘ride’ so we loaded up the bikes on a trailer and took off from Seattle headed to Kamloops in BC. Stopping just shy of the border for a quick lunch (courtesy Zain’s cooking) we crossed the border at the Sumas crossing. So far the weather has been good and we were a bit disappointed not to have ridden the bikes, but near the Coquihalla highway (‘The Coq’) we hit some serious rain which lasted all the way through to Kamloops. The Airbnb we had booked was excellent and we stayed in relaxing after a long drive.
The next morning Zain cooked up some spicy shakshuka and we headed out after unloading the bikes and returning the trailer at the local U-Haul. We headed into the Rockies making our way towards Valemount. The route is very scenic and we had an enjoyable ride till we hit some rain on the way. After a short break we rode though the inclement weather as suggested by a couple of bikers we met coming the other way at the rest stop. We had booked rooms at the ‘Canada’s Best Value Inn‘ in Valemount, after checking we set up our barbeque in the parking lot and had an enjoyable evening grilling, chatting and just relaxing after a good ride. Valemount is a good base for outdoors adventures, hiking, rafting and cycling in the summers and skiing in the winters in the surrounding mountains.
Day 3 of the ride promised was going up to Jasper and then taking the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93 AB) down to Banff and finishing the day at Golden BC. We rode through the very scenic Mt. Robson park, stopping at several places just to take in the views and made it to Jasper a little before noon. Jasper is a beautiful mountain town and if one has time it is worth spending at least a day here. We had a relaxed lunch at Jasper Pizza, walked a little about town and then headed out towards Banff on the Icefields Highway. On a side note, a couple of months after our trip Jasper was severely affected by wildfires and it seems there has been extensive fire damage. I really hope they are able to get the resources to rebuild the town very soon. Back on the highway, we saw the first ominous sign of bad weather in the distance and we were riding right into it. We hit a few snow flurries on the way to Athabasca glacier, Moose and I went up the short hike from the highway (around 25-30 min up and back), while at the Glacier snow started to come down. We hurried back to the bikes, got into our winter riding gear and were back on the road hoping that we would ride out the weather. Alas, nature had other plans, after very short break in the snow we hit intermittent snow and snow/ice mix and the temperature fell to below freezing. Although the road conditions were getting dangerous, there was not much one could do but keep ones head down and keep riding.
After a couple of hours of difficult riding, we stopped to rest at Faeder Lake 35 miles from our destination in the town of Golden, BC, as both Moose and I needed to warm up a little. We tried to fire up our stove to make coffee but the wind was just too strong, so we all took refuge in the truck and got our core temperature up. After about 30 min we started the bikes planning to make the final push to our destination. As Moose and Zain headed out, the gear on my bike refused to engage. We tried a few tricks, like trying to take off in high gear but I think either the clutch or gearbox were totally busted. It was way to cold and miserable to really do anything else but leave the bike at the rest area and come back for it the next day. We finally made it to the Airbnb in Golden, Moose and I parked ourselves in front of the fireplace to warm up while Zain (who was toasty, having being in the truck all this time) whipped up some comfort food. We decided to chart out the next steps in the morning and called it a day. The next morning, we reached out to the bike shop in town, who connected us with a towing company. We found old Bucephalus was very much at the spot we had left it the previous day. After a somewhat detailed inspection, we concluded that the bile is done for, the two options we had were either to haul it back to Seattle or give it a dignified send off right there in Golden BC. It was a hard decision to make, both Moose and I had been on many road trips on the bike, and I had crisscrossed the US and Canada a few times, clocking more then 50,000 miles on Bucephalus. It turned out that the nearest trailer was a 3 hr. drive away, which simply made hauling the non functional bike infeasible. We found a salvage dealer who agreed to junk the bike and I bid farewell to a old friend and companion of many adventures. The number plate is now displayed on the wall in my office.
The final leg of the journey took us from Golden to Kelowna, part of the ride took us through the Rockies into the Okanagan valley, the ride though not as exciting as the previous day was fun, the weather being perfect to be out on the road. Stopping to have lunch in Revelstoke (at a nice cafe La Baguette) we made it to Kelowna towards the afternoon. We grilled some burgers, polished off a nice bottle of wine that our Airbnb host had left for us and turned in for the night. The last day of the trip was a rather uneventful ride from Kelowna to Seattle, it was a long-ish ride taking us back on ‘the Coq’ and then Highway 9 once across the border we were back to base late afternoon.
It had been an adventure filled trip, bittersweet in that I had to bid goodbye to my friend of 50,000 miles. You will be missed Old Bucephalus!!
The Open Roads 