a motorcycle.
You see, I tried once, when I was
about twelve years old. A friend of
mine had a small dirt bike and let me
give it a whirl. I climbed aboard, full
of wonder and excitement, and slow-
ly rolled off down the gravel alleyway
with apprehensive confidence. This
ride ended with me pinned, against
a wooden fence, by the bike as it
dragged me along. I was twisting the
throttle as I fell to the ground. That
was the end of my first ride.
Fast forward to forty years of age.
I’d enrolled in, and successfully
completed, a beginners motorcycle
course. The search began for the
perfect cycle for the mature, but new
rider. For me that machine was a
2014 - Triumph Tiger 800XC.
With dreams of travelling the
world on the back of my new steel
steed I started equipping it for such
an adventure. Samantha was right
there, encouraging the process, and
after several months of riding alone
she started to accompany me, riding
pillion. We’d now become insepara-
ble; travelling together, every chance
we had. As much as possible we
incorporated two-wheel adventures
into our wanderlust.
Numerous ‘short’ rides around
North America wasn’t enough and
before long we were asking ourselves,
“could two months become four
months or even six months per year?
Is this a possibility?” It depended on
our priorities.
A few moments in crazy storms, on
two wheels, was enough. We wanted
a sidecar and the Ural Gear Up was
the ride of choice, a machine chosen
for its ease of repair and mainte-
nance, for its comfort and simplicity
of operation.
Without even a test ride, we or-
dered one and it was delivered in
June. On the day of delivery, I rode
our Tiger to the dealer and left her
there to be sold on consignment,
riding away on the new three-wheel-
er. This shiny machine handled very
differently from the two-wheel bike
and it took some getting used to. Sa-
mantha immediately fell in love with
the comfy sidecar seat, stability and
better views.
With the Ural firmly in our hands
we had to break it in and ensure a
proper 500 kilometre service was
performed. We anticipated our
journey across Canada to be about
8,000 kilometres. The ‘newfangled’
Ural also needed to be kitted out to
carry all our luggage, camping and
electronics, comfortably and safely.
We went with Pelican resin cases and
waterproof bags.
TRAVERSE 18
With our luggage obtained and in-
stalled it was time to finish the break
in. A few rides throughout central
and southern Alberta, Canada got
the job done but the bike seemed to
be using much more fuel than what
the specifications showed. Sam and I
thought maybe it was just the break-
ing in process, so we pressed on.
The fateful day of our departure.
Loaded, we set off eastward from
Calgary aiming for Saskatoon. The
excitement of this grand adventure
now a reality, we rolled along through
Drumheller collecting photos and
video. The skies were big, blue and