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| This twisty hill is just outside of East Sooke Park. Pretty Amazing on the bike. |
This weekend was my first as a fully licensed motorcyclist, and it was a weekend full of riding. The weather forecast was pretty iffy for the weekend, cloudy with showers and possibly clearing on Sunday. I woke up early Saturday and dragged Motorcycle Man out of his cozy bed, because we were going riding rain or shine. It was slightly sunny as I got up and got ready, but it changed to showers. We pulled out Lucy and Motorcycle Man's ride (he doesn't have a name for it) and did our pre-check inspection. We kind of tossed out the idea of driving to Duncan, but it started to rain shortly after we got under way, so that altered our plans. We decided to go out to beautiful Sidney for breakfast. Cafe 3 is a tiny little restaurant and it is always busy and there is always a wait. It was well worth the wait. I usually drive Motorcycle Man crazy with snapping pictures of our meal, but today I was too hungry and realized after I scarfed down the Pacific Benny that I had forgotten to take a pic. Let me assure you it was amazing! The Pacific Benny is a crab cake served with egg and hollandaise sauce. OMG it was divine!!! We continued on after our breakfast and took the long lazy way back down West Saanich Road. I love this ride, it is full of twisties and it is a great ride with long lazy curves. It started to pour and it was torrential and it soaked us to the skin. We arrived home chilled, but happy, well at least one of us was. The whole thing about being a newb is even when it is raining it doesn't seem to really bother you. Motorcycle Man on the other hand has been riding for 30+ years and has the been there done that feeling about riding in the rain. Thank goodness he decided to go along on my ride, it says a lot when your spousal unit just does something like this for you. After we got home we settled in and warmed up.
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| Saturday's weather was a mixed bag of tricks, mostly rain, but I didn't mind too much. |
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| If you come to Vancouver Island, you have to stop in scenic Sidney has have breaky at Cafe 3. |
Sunday morning bloomed full and glorious with sunshine. The minute I saw the sun, I was all but out the door, when Motorcycle Man said, "Whoa, we need to have some breakfast and some coffee first." Darn it, I was hoping we would do destination eating. I whipped up some blueberry pancakes and waited while he leisurely ate them. (Seriously I have a one track mind and it is hard to contain my exuberance sometimes) We decided to go out Sooke way and rode through Metchosin and East Sooke Park. The weather was so nice we meandered down to the beach. We continued eventually into Sooke.
It was GLORIOUS!! The sun was beautiful, the temperature perfect and OH THE TWISTIES!!!!! The road out this way is very twisty and I now know why riders love them so, you get momentum going, you lean into the turn and it is nothing less than perfection. You become one with the bike and it is an exhilarating feeling.
As our afternoon wound down we were feeling a little peckish, so of course we needed to stop and have a little something something. We headed to Mom's Cafe and ordered the salmon corn chowder. It was pretty yummy. What I have been finding about our moto adventures is that there seems to be an element of stopping at little eateries, this is just an added side bonus. While we were at Mom's a group of bikers riding classic motorcycles pulled up for lunch as well. On our way out I snapped some pictures of these beautiful classic bikes. There were 2 beautiful old Harley's with side cars, a triumph, a Norton and a Matchless. Gorgeous bikes. The best part of the day was when Motorcycle Man said to me over a bowl of chowder, "Welcome to the club." That meant more to me than anything!
We had such a wonderful day, I could have gone a 1,000 miles, it was amazing!!!
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| Little meander to the beach at East Sooke Park |
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| The weather was perfect and it was beautifully warm and I could lazed in the sun for hours |
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| A little bit of fall in the countryside |
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| This is a little pull off just after the twisties end with a little bridge at the bottom. It was a very popular place for motorcyclists, several came by as we were stopped. |
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| Motorcycle Man and his ride |
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| There were other 2 wheelers as well, had a lovely chat with the lady who owned one of the bicycles. |
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| Another shot of the twisty hill and bridge - bike Nirvana |
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| These 2 young guns came ripping around the corner & down the hill & pulled over, they were waiting for traffic to clear so they could take another run at the hill and video each other coming down. I think every motorcyclist on the Island was coming down this hill today. They finally gave up and decided just to go as the traffic was too heavy. |
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| What's not to love about a brilliantly sunny day, good riding company and beautiful vintage bikes. |
11 comments:
Your enthusiasm is infectious!
Looks like you and the hubby had a great ride.
That Norton is very foxy <3
"You become one with the bike and it is an exhilarating feeling."
Greatest feeling in the world!
Wow!
Too cool for words.
Lovely! Vancouver Island look's a bit like northern Sweden, on a larger scale though.
Time to get MM to take a pic while you're riding your bike?
Awesome wright up, you obviously enjoying your new found passion. And yes the Twisties is what it is all about.
Great read really enjoyed it. Keep it up.
Some beautiful pictures. I especially like the fog in the first one. It looks like you had a wonderful ride.
Like the sidecar pictures and the old Norton.
Just curious if you feel that Vancouver Island needs more roads or is it easy to connect to the mainland? Or not...
Richard
What a great weekend. The Pacific Benny sounds good. It is nice to find little eateries along the way when riding.
I am glad you got out for some riding this weekend even if Saturday was a wet one.
Dar:
I love MOM'S Cafe. Actually my friend was there on Sunday morning for breakfast before coming back to the mainland. I just asked her, NO bikes when she was there, you must have come later.
I thought that Matticks Farm had the best Eggs Benny on the Island ? that's what they advertise, we have eaten there several times.
get MM to take you on Millstream/Munns Road to Prospect Lake. Maybe next Spring we could tag along with you on the Port Renfrew Loop. It's been a couple of years since I have ridden it.
glad to see you are enjoying your new found freedom
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Fuzzy - I am so in love with everything bike its crazy. Best part is I have a handsome dude to ride with! Oh the twisties! seriously that was the best fun I have had in a long time.
Turtle - It was hard to come up with words to accurately give my feelings a description. It is too cool and I love motoing.
JahSeagrove - Thomas - I think next time we go out we will use the GoPro and I will give MM my camera. Vancouver Island is beautiful, I was thinking that it looked like Sweden as well in looking at all your lovely pictures.
Raftnn - It definitely is a passion/addiction/love. You get to go so many places and are truly in touch with your environment, whether it be on scooter or motorcycle. The twisties are definitely my favorite!
RichardM- There are plenty of roads on the Island, but vehicle traffic can only get off via ferry either from Victoria or from Nanaimo. A bridge to the mainland would be great, but due to the seismic area I don't think we will ever see that happen. I don't often leave the island because everything I need is here. The first picture is actually campfire smoke, it was so funny, the lady bicyclist said she saw me emerge from the mist in my all my pink glory. - lol I never considered the pink gear glorious - I usually feel like an oompa loompa in it.
Trobairitz - This weekend ROCKED!!!! I in total bliss. I don't even really mind riding in the rain. I am hoping we get a few more nice weekends before the drudge and grey of winter sets in. As for food, it seems to be a very social part of biking.
Bob:
We did Munn's Road on the last day of our traffic course, it was pretty spectacular and it makes you appreciate manoeuvring at slow speed, when the signs say 30K, they mean it and it is appropriate. Renfrew loop sounds awesome, we will definitely have to plan that. We hit Mom's Cafe about 2:00 pm. I have to say my favorite benny place is John's Place, Cafe 3 was awesome as well. I haven't had a benny at Matticks farm, hmmm sounds like a little side trip is in order.
I am loving the new found bike freedom and have a deeper admiration for those who ride and those who teach riders. I also happen to have the best riding partner in the world too.
I am holding you to some sort of bike trip on the Island Mr. Bobskoot!
I laughed out loud when you said MM requested breakfast and coffee first. He may not have realized this, but if you were that excited before coffee I can only imagine how wound up you were after coffee.
Your posts are so much fun to read, your excitement certainly comes through your writing. Thank you.
Oh, how I know the feeling. The enthusiasm, the spirit. Been there, done that, and still can't get enough of it. I can easily go without breakfast when the road calls. Hubby... not so much. Destination rides can do it for me but I have had trips where I went on one energy bar and water for hours. You see, you are not alone. Nice to see some pics of you guys for a change.
Troubadour - I was so impatient waiting for the pancakes to cook, I almost tossed him a protein bar and a couple of coffee beans to suck on to get the demon bean fix so we could get going. But he is about taking his time & savoring Sunday mornings. It almost feels like being a kid at Christmas waiting to open presents and play with them. I stared at him the whole time he was slowly eating his breakfast. Oy it seemed like it took thousands of years for hime to finish. The best part was when I said we couldn't leave until we had done a pre-check before we left. I checked everything from tires, chain, spokes and all the other stuff. I think he was a little surprised, My instructors would be proud.
Sonja - It's a pretty awesome feeling to be so excited about something. there is something magical about riding on a sunny day. I could hear Lucy calling to me from the garage - lol. I like you can not get enough of it. I rode after work today and was freezing, but didn't care. On a side note I was wondering if your riding pants are Joe Rocket ballistic ones? I bought them, thought they came with hip armor, but mine didn't, did yours?
Thank you guys for all your kind encouragement and also getting what I am talking about. I swear unless you ride people have no idea what you are feeling.
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