Me myself and my KLR: it's been a while

Oh where to start? Winter is now upon us and I am sitting at home out of work for a bit. I parked the bike late October but between then and the last time I posted a lot has happened. Lots of pictures and stories.

So the best place to start would be taking the bike to the Denman East and Hornby Island ferry terminals rebuild. I shipped the bike via a container that was loaded onto FRPD derrick #6. The video you are about to see is the bike being unloaded onto Denman Island. Yes the crane, Liebherr 883, is a bit overkill but it worked.

Ok so this is just a photo. I am having difficultly uploading the video right now so live with it. As you can clearly see though from the photo is that my bike is very cool. Also in the very cool range was that the day this picture was taken I found out that there was a 3rd position on the bikes ignition. Turns out if you turn the key just a little to the right while removing it from the bike the ignition switch is actually in the on position. Bad idea when you are storing your ride in a container for the next 10 days or so. The battery was stone cold dead and no amount of charging could restore a charge to it.

So now I am my bike on the land but the bike wouldn't start via the starter so after pushing the bike up the hill and rolling it back down I got the engine started and away I went hoping to make it to my motel room in Courtenay (@ 30km) before what ever charge the battery had was completely discharged.

Nope didn't make it. Just off the Denman ferry and on my way when the battery went flat and the bike died on the side of the road. THANK GOD FOR BCAA and cell phones. Got the bike back and got a new battery the next day. Not had a problem since. Knock on wood. But let me say this about that ignition switch, it is very finicky and is something I always pay attention to when shutting the bike down.

So now to explore Vancouver Island a little bit at a time.

Starting out on Comox lake logging roads.


Geared up for fishing.


Some Comox Lake back country.

The roads were is really good condition. This is a private road system more or less. The logging companies ask that you stay out at certain time due to the big nasty "this is my road" logging trucks that are hauling out of this area. Not a bad idea really. Staying out that is. The trucking isn't done 24/7 so there are plenty of opportunities to use the roads. You just have to know when. Which can be a bitch because you have to drive to the beginning of the road to find out. A small inconvenience really.
Now the road is hard packed but don't get to comfortable because there is plenty of loose rolling rock to be found on top of the hard. It seems you just get some speed up and come around a corner and WHOA loose rock...or WHOA pick up truck.


Looking down Comox Lake.

But the WHOAs are worth it. Especially when you get these types of WHOAs. The next pictures show a bit of the road material. Note the size of the loose rocks. These play havoc with the front tire of a bike. Not to mention the vehicles that roar along thinking that they are the only ones on the road that day.

But I came out to go fishing and that's just what I'm going to do. I set myself up at the mouth of Cruikshank Creek. Beautiful area. Easily accessible. Not a soul. What more could you ask for? Now I'm not the best at fishing but I like it. This day I had a few strikes but didn't bring anything home for dinner. A couple of week later I went back again to try my luck. Saw another fellow pull in some nice sized rainbow trout.