Paraglide Canada, Adventure Blog

I'm headed north ,,,,,

2011-03-16T09:28:00.001-07:00

Leaving Valadares was hard this year , flying was good and I like spending time with my flying buddies some of which were staying on , but all good things must end and on to the next adventure . Last day in GV I rode my bike up to launch to say bye to everyone and then hit the road to Prado in Bahia for Carnival .
The ride was busy and long I was so tired and we arrived at 9;30pm well after dark and on super busy hwy I didn't help that i put on my new visor which is tinted dark ! But we made it , and ended up spending the next 5-6 days relaxing, eating and flying ,oh a little drinking as well as dancing . The flying was coastal and fun for the guys whom had never done this before , like Wayne , Lyle and Doug it was really great ! Lots of hangovers after the parties... thanks Wayne for getting me home at 6am when it was sunny out !!
Our little group split up Wayne headed back to Rio, Doug and the rest headed to GV and I went north on the BR101 highway. I put in 3 600km days then needed a rest which was at Porto de Galinhas south of Renclife nice spot but a tourist trap , very expensive and I hit the weekend ! 1 days rest, went running, swimming and touring around ! I headed north again towards Fortaleza and stopped at a place I had always heard about called Canoa Quebrada from flying magazines , lots of big dunes and sand and windmills , nice place to hang about and learn kitesurfing. I did not want to go further towards Fortaleza , I could see a big storm brewing , when I went thru the city to get to Paracuru north of the city I missed the rain by about 20 minutes and the roads were flooding in some places , I am staying at Pousada SOL e Lua which is owned by a pilot Roland Zgraggen from Switzerland whom I knew thru paragliding and Urs Harri, Small world I met him in GV and he said he was now living in the north and to come and see him. The bike is ready i'm finishing my blog and ready to hit the Amazon river ferry from Belem to Manaus. yahhooo...

Governador Valadares .....

2011-03-03T04:56:00.000-08:00

Well these past weeks flew by quickly, I sort of let the blog slide by and am now getting ready to leave GV. The bike is ready to go again and we are heading to Prado for carnival its in Bahia on the beach .
After leaving Andradas I headed north along the gold trail towards Pocos de Caldas then over to Vaginha which wqsa a nice ride . From here I went up to Ouro Preto around the south end of the city then up the valley behind the city toward Belo and over to Ipatinga then Governador Valadares .
The flying here has been good this year the first 2 weeks were great and now the weather has come in , time to leave . The tour with the guys was great everyone had their personal best and will go home with great memories of GV flying and nightlife !!!
My first day flying in GV was great and flew 124km missed the last climb out as i thought it was going to OD. Many good flights the following week with 116km flight and a easy 100 km flight if it was not for the cloud suck and worry about OD. but did manage a 87km flight with Greg, Manny, Wayne and myself. Now it is time to leave here and find new adventure in northern Brasil and get home ....pictures to follow...

Out to the lake and foward to the Coast

2011-02-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

Evandero asked my to come to then lake for the weekend and was it ever nice , lake side house of his friend , fishing, swimming and B-B que´s.Well fishing was interesting as the fishe were about 2 inches long and we kept them they were cleaned and salted and fried all before the supper, I actually felt sorry for the little guys... but such is life ! We apent 2 days here and then I decided to go to the coast to visit my friend Jorden in Caraguatatuba. Nice ride down thru a city called Salesopolis nice twisties and not traffic. I ended up staying 3 days at Jordens house and doing some flying from the local site landing on the beach in the city . Jorden has a nice house in the jungle outside of the city , lots of bird and wild life. Jorden I met a few years ago while riding past this city and we have kept in touch , he lives in Toronto Canada 8 month and here 4 months . He has hanglide and paraglided for 30 yrs and is still in the local club contact him thru me if you want information on this area for flying or traveling he is a geat contact in this area . Thanks for the hospitality ..It was on and off rain so, I headed back to Campinas and got soaked on the way back, stopped in the local bike shop and put on some new tires which I had ordered . Yahoooo new tires I´m excited again, amazing how little thing make you happy , but their was not tread left for the roads I still want to do and the mud here is so slippery . I´m back in Evandero´s planning the next week and over to GV via Adradas and Pocos de Caldas to Belo ... cheers

to be continued ...

2011-02-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

The city of Guaratuba was crowded with family´s on holidays as was everwhere else on the coast amd is expensive over the holidays everywhere except inland . This does not stop untill after Carnival i´m informed ! Great ! I left this city the next day and had a flat tire at the ferry crossing , with a 4 inch nail in my tire . Like how does this happen is the nail sticking up on the road ? or after you run over it does it get propelled into the tire ? This i can´t figure out ? Anyways it was an easy fix and I put in an old tube and continued . Nice ride from Caioba up to Morreles which is a nice little town very beautiful and lots of water in the area rivrs and small lago´s . After this town up an old route that is up the Serra´s again with original rocks inlaid all the way to the top by early slave´s brought over in the 1700´s Cool Road !! Back out onto the Br 116 hwy and stayed in Registro.
Next day left and headed towards Campinas thru a park up to Sao miguel Arcanjo up the Serra´s again but not after I had a flat tire again, guess what.... the tube I put in the day before was rotten and fell apart, smart thinking on my part I had stopped and bought a spare as soon as my spare was used ! Learn from your mistakes and never trust an old tube or repair !
I made Evendero´s house by the evening and we went out for beers and showed me his new biker house . This time at the house was so welcome to clean fix the bike and talk about new trips ect., he is also helping me with my blog and adding pictures and soon a map of my travels as he is a computer wiz. Thanks for the stay and the help Evandero that is great ! cheers

Dear diary....

2011-02-04T05:29:00.000-08:00

We´ll its now Feb 4th, and I am in Campinas staying at Evandero´s house www.pisteriros.com.br . Cheri and I met him last year inthe campground in Uruguay with another biker called Peterson they were starting their journey to Chile. He is a great person and invited me to check out his new business. He is starting up a company to provide motorbike adventure and tours as well as a place to park your bike or stop and recover from your trip on the bike . He also can provide information on routes and plan trips for group rides , very useful if you want to go and travel and find interesting places to see !
After I left Saprianga I headed north towards thru the Serra´s undeing up in Cambara do sur up to Bom Jardim da serra then down the Rio do Rastro road to Florinopolis thru the backcountry for me slow, dirt roads are the best way to enjoy the flavour of the country and the people. I managed to get lost a few time with the backroads but how lost can you really get with maps and your gut feelings ! Nice scenery and clean water simular to what you would find in Canada or other countries . I ended up in Florinopolis in the rain... great ! No beach time or women to look at !! Or flying !! Picked up and bug and was sick for a day here as well or was it from drinking Caipirinha !
Well after 2 days of torrential rain and my cloths not drying I decided it was time to move north. Good decision as now my cloths dried and I was having fun again, went up past Joinville and over to the beach city called Guaratuba.

Riding in the new year !

2011-01-16T17:18:00.001-08:00

I ended up leaving Punte de Este on about the 6th and heading to a guy's house who I had met throught the bike shop and Fernando. Fernado if you read this thank you very much for your hospitality and the use of your shop and for puting up with me for the time I was with you and storing my bike for a year , much appreciated . I ended up going over to Benos Aries for a day , to pick up my Corbin seat which I had left in Mendoza, thanks Areil and Pablo for arranging the seat to get to BA for me . It is 2 inches lower and way more comfortable for riding solo and being able to touch the ground when you stop or get on or off the bike .

I ended up missing the ferry to get back to herbert's place in the country but it was great because I ended up enjoying the city of Colonia and the old part is a Unesco world heritage site and meeting some guys on the ferry on the way over and drinking beer untill 3 am. Herbert is a german guy who was in canada for 25 years and now is living the dream in Uruguay and also rides a vulcan 900. I am trying to talk him into riding his bike south to Ushuia this year ....well see !

Life is short and you have to reach out and take it all in ! Dreams should become reality ....

After leaving herbert's who was also a great host , I headed north along the coast toward Punte del diablo a cool little very busy tourist beach , unfortunatly everthing was booked solid , I would have liked to spend a few days on the beach .

I headed to Chuy border crossing and made the crossing at about 3pm and rode for another 3-4 hrs north to Rio grande .

The next day caught the ferry over the spit to ?? BR101 and rode up a skinny piece of land toward Porto Alegre and ended up in Soa Leapoldo in the evening .

The following day I road towards Sipiranga a small nice city where they have a great paragliding site and ended up getting in a sledder it was overcast and no one else was flying .Pilots do have to work down here so their is not much happening during the week.

Now I am south and west of Porto Alegre after the locals talked me into driving 300km the this new spot called Cacapava . It ended up being a very cool place for flying and cheaper hotels and food as well as you move away from the coast . The local boys treated me very well showing me the sites and giving me rides to and from launch . Friday was a small tour around the area on my new wing and harness , as it was starting to overdevelop. Saturday was great and I flew solo for about 4 hrs hoping I was going in the right direction. The plan was for everyone to take off and fly together well only 5 out of 20 pilots ended up getting away from the hill as I learned later.

So I guess I am lucky , I was forth for the distance this day 1 of the locals set a new site record of 303km , home town advantage and I would have not go where he did, not with the desolate county out here and limited portuguese language. still I had a great day and flew over 120km , and good way to break in the new gear and not flying for months ... lets get it on ! Day 3 here was blowing over the back and strong and only 2 pilots flew , now am wriitn this in my hotel room ready to sleep amd head north again to Sipiranga again to fly and watch the national hang champs .... and finally caught up with my blog yahooo ...cheers

It's about time ... for an update !!

2011-01-16T16:58:00.000-08:00

I'm on the road north ....or so i thought . Well i do feel like i'm confessing my sins when it takes so long to blog , and i'm not so much into this electronic world yet. or am I ???

Anyways I left Canada for Uruguay on Dec 30th which means I arrive in Monte video at 1200 on New years eve 6 hrs before new years in Canada. Unfortunatly it was very uneventful as I was still in the airpost exchanging money and trying to arrange a ride to my hotel , but the fire works looked impressive as that is the big thing down here on New years !

The next day everthing was closed ,, not even the buses run, I had a hard time finding food everything is closed . The next 4-5 days or was it 6 was spent working on the bike at the Kawi dealer in La Barra , it seems the idiots in Canada gave me the wrong part... it was the front sprocket and I had taken it all apart I ended up spending 2 extra days trying to get a sprocket fpr my bike .

It is very expensive and super busy in this area during x mas, as it is a dream area for the rich and famous , the Monte Carlo of the south. The hostel was 50.00us a night for 4 people in a room ! It was crazy, tons of young people wanting to party all night long , dico opens at 1-2am and goes untill 7am , of course my roomates would sleep all day eat at 9pm then go out at 2am and come home at 3-7am and start snoring ... fun ! I'm glad to be out on the rooad !

Group evening in GV Brazil.

2010-04-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

After a hard day's paragliding in Valadares, Brazil the tour group retires for SKOL.

Mendoza Sunset - December '09

2010-04-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Wicked lenticular's forming over Andes mountains on while riding south towards Tunuyan.

Fellow Travelers in Argentina

2010-04-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

These folks from Germany joined Cheri and I in a nice little campground on the east coast of Argentina. She's travelling on a BMW F-800 and he's on a BMW-1200.

New products and gear from Ozone and Macpara

2010-03-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone , In order to change with the times and offer my clients new products I have decided to branch out and bring in 2 different brands of Paragliders. Now I am dealing direct for Ozone paragliders , www.flyozone.com and Macpara paragliders , www.macpara.com . While Advance paragliders www.advance.ch has served me well and will continue to be my main brand, I will filling a void and serving my clients better. I can now offer a variety of products at competitive prices. Let me know if I can help you find a wing to suit your needs ,maybe a new speed wing , paramoter, or land kite for the non flying days , Serving the flying community for 20yrs now and hopefully many more ..... cheers

Brasil tour 2010

2010-03-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hi , well were finished another tour to Brasil this has been year 10 ... ahhhhh , where does time go . We had 6 on tour and another 6 ex students in GV this year , so their were about 13 of us Canucks flying Gv . The weather was great when we arrived and from what I heard had been nice for the past 6 weeks prier to us coming into Gv . Cloud base was very high this year 8000-10,000ft which is great for XC . Wendy , Steve, Ron , Chris , and Laura and Dominic had their personal best flights ,both in altitude , time and distance. They seemed to be out flying each other on any of the days , all were landing at the 35km mark and Laura and Ron both landed because they had had enought but i'm sure could have flown farther if they had wanter too ...
Day 6 or seven the weather came in on us and we were able to fly but not far and were doing extended sledders to the landing area. Doug did his personal best and logged 300km in 3 days one of the days flying Tandem with richard to 100km mark , good work doug . Greg and I were working and did not get great flights during this time , but it was a fun year working with this group. See you all in Brasil next year and lets fly further ..... chow

Buenos aries to Uruguay

2010-03-11T16:51:00.001-08:00

Timing is everything when on a bike, when to leave and when to stay , good thing I know weather so well . I was able to keep us dry by knowing clouds and weather patterns . Riding into B.A. was a challange and finding our hostel ( Dakar motors) was hard... being everything looks athe same when you have a city of 8 millon people , it took me 3 hrs and lots of asking in broken spanish to the locals . We ended up staying in the city for about 3 days to visit cheri's friends and trying to get a Visa into Brasil .. which was bloody usless... Unless you exit Argentina you are not allowed a visa to Brasil. We wanted to leave from Uruguay to park the bike untill next year so we had to get the visa from Uruguay . We did so after taking the ferry from BA to Montevideo on the fast ferry , probably bought from B.C.
Uruguay was so nice , relaxing and friendly they did give us a year to stay for the bike . We stayed in a campground by Pute del este which as deluxe , store , games rooms and swimming pool. We had a chance to exercise, going for runs together and relaxing on the beaches . It was nice, real nice.... !! I would by a place here it is that nice !! I ended up storing the bike in Uruguay again untill next season and another adventure .
My bike now need some TLC when I return ... with my trip from Canada ending up now at 46,000,00 km.
I could never imagine when I started this 3 seasons ago how far this would take me and how much more I know about the world and the nice people I have met along the way. It have changed the way I look at things and how really the same we are, all over the world . Cheers

and back to Brasil ....

2010-03-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

Ok ,did I metion how bloody windy it was in the south of Patagonia holy shit .... you could not imagine unless you have been their . day and night it was windy and dangerous for riding ! Getting blown over to the side of the raod constantly and having to keep the bike inline was so f*^%*&ing hard on my body , I was suprised Cheri didn't bail on me it was really a hard trip for her as well . Cold and windy and sometimes rainy sums it up ! I had to put on all the cloths I had and then was still frozen , it was nice to leave this area and head north. Ushaia was nice but it snowed on us but still a very nice place to visit and fish if i could go back !
The route north was boring and desert like , with long riding days and lots of wind . I would have to say many days it was 80km winds from the side and when a truck went by on the opposite side of the road (windward side) it would jerk you over to the truck side as it was the way you were leaning on to try to stay on the road . As we were riding north each day it got warmer and the days shorter which was interesting to me .. after about 8 days it was time to start pulling cloths off again .... Many of the campgrounds we stayed at were dusty and cloths got dirty easy so lots of washing and hanging out our equpment . But all and all we did manage to have some fun and joke about it . We met alot of other bikers in the south telling us of their simular adventures with the wind and dust some of them tales of accidents were they were injured .... we survived . I only put the bike down once when it pushed me to the opposite side of the road on gravel , I got cheri to climb off and then tried to manouver it back to the proper side and when it went side ways to the wind I could not hold it up and over she went !

still more to come ...

2010-01-29T05:38:00.000-08:00

After we spent a few days looking around the barriloche area , which was my favorite area in Argentina , we continued south on Ruta 40 , nice road mountains with snow on 1 side , desert on the other simular to riding down in California or Nevada . But always a brutal cross wind from the west , we hit gravel near Rio Mayo and for the next 4 days it was grueling ... it took all my strengh and skills to keep the bike on the road sometimes , the cross winds were about 80km hr and the road was terrible in places , we were down to 20 km hr trying to keep from being blown into the oncoming lane . numerous times we were blown to the right and i has to let the bike go so as not to dump it , then crawl it over to the left again slowly over the loose gravel piles . Lucky we would not see traffic for hrs sometimes on these roads ..

I am sick to the wind down here !! It is so nice when it is at your back and front and not from the side you can hear and your neck and arms do not hurt from the constant battle of keeping straight.

The south area el chalten and el cafate were great , but starting to get cold with glaciers and 40kph winds constantly wind chill was clold riding , wish I would have brought my Gore tex liners... but still it is an Adventure which is what we wanted !

Woild like to come back to this area to expolore , hike and fish again some day ! Cool area ! Fishing looks amasing if it was not so windy all the time. Well it is time to leave and head North to the heat again after about 430000 km I start my journey North !!!! cheers

I'm in Ushaia , end of the road going south !

2010-01-29T05:20:00.000-08:00

Well after many weeks of travel and no posting... It has been a long few weeks rought roads , dangerous winds and terrain, and some cold days . But we pushed on and now we are here .... it is cool here , sort of like Alaska, High mountains surround the port clty , and as of last night we have now fresh snow on them and even in town !

We are going to try to head north today for Rio grande which is about 3 hrs away over a high pass , I know it will be slow going with the snow . But time is running out to get back to brasil for the 16th , and we have to get visa's in BA still .

We started this trip south after athe climb up Aconcaugua , which you can check our blog out on www.climbforprostate.com . Cheri , nick and myself rode south for 1 week on the 11 th of January . It was very hot leaving Mendoza around 40c , but easy riding untill south of San Rafael, then we hit a wall of wind , about 90km /hr , so we had to wait at a station for a few hrs , and continued on later under brutal cross winds , soon to learn that this was the norm !!

we traveled with nick for a week testing his riding skills and patience , it was difficult riding for him on the gravel unpaved roads and with wind to boot ! He learned alot before he left to head home 1 week later just north of Barriloche .

La Cumbre , Argentina

2009-12-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

Crossed the border into Argentina without problems , flat country riding ... boring desert like landscape , farmland , corn , wheat , rice in places .I was following a semi about to pass and it had a blow out on the back tire scared the shit out of me and rubber was flying... wow so cool to watch and I did not get hit ever better ! I arriver in Cordoba city late asked at the gas station if I could set up my tent at the back in a field , no problem . After I everything set up andf was about to go to sleep another guys came over and said it was too Dangerous ... so I packed up my gear again and left in the dark . Now I entered Cordoba in the dark .... shit well the only hotel I could find was a love hotel , what a dive ! Noisy , smelly and the guy kept phoning my room for some reason , he asked for 100 peso more after I paid him 100 , then he gave it back , Could not figure that on out !

Was glad to be out of the city and roode north to enter the small puebla of La Cumbre the mecca of paragling in Argentina , home of Andi Hediger and distribtor of Advance paragliders . No flying for 3 days , wind was from the wrong way , nice shop set up at the airport for repairs . Now I am in San Juan , wine country north of Mendoza ! Heading north to get some altitude to start acclimatising for Aconcagua. More later .........

I'm in Argentina now ....

2009-12-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone ... well after about 400 hrs of travel, I made it to Uruguay safe. No bags lost, no hang ups.... oppps, yes the plane leaving Toronto was 3 hrs late so instead of leaving at 10pm they left at 1am ... yes, Air Canada ! Anyways does't matter I had a 8 hrs lay over in Brasil .

So went out to Punte del Este after Montevideo. My bike was in the shop and they were working on it when I arrived , how nice is that ! What service... tuned up the bike , put in new shocks, heavier ones for Cheri's big butt !! Whom will be joining me in Mendoza in after the climb .

So after spending 3 days in a Hostel with the kids, I was ready to leave .... did I used to drink that much . They were doing tequilla shots at 2pm in the afternoon and didn't stop untill 4am .... ahhhhh.

Well I hit the road and I must say yahhoooo it sure feels good to be back on the bike " yo soy libre " !

Nothing reall spectacular about the route really flat , I had 1 night camping where is poured out while I was camping ! Thunder , lightning and heavy rain , my tent was floating I had everything piled on my air matress water was inside the tent . Everthing was wet and mudddy ... north of where I was they had hail the size of baseballs.. so I was lucky, lots of big trees down everwhere .

Heading to Argentina .....

2009-11-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

Well my season here in Canada is finished , a slow year in the Okanagan valley we are feeling the affects of the slumping economy! But on the other hand it gives me more time to plan a new Adventure !! This is what I am doing in December ... Flying to Uruguay , Ponte del Este. picking up the bike , yes my blue steed will be alive once again ! It needs some TLC, valve job ,new shocks and some new fangles for my trip to Mendoza ,Argentina. I am meeting a few guys to Climb Mt. Aconcagua and were going to try to fly from the summit . http://www.climbforprostate.com/ so check out my site and sponsor me if you have not do so already ! Hope we make it it will be a great adventure ! After the climb , I am meeting my girlfreind Cheri, were riding 2 up and Nick from Chile and were going to ride the bikes down to Ushuaia . The end of the road ,fishing and camping along the way so stay tuned for more pictures .... after this I will ride back up to Uruguay store the bike or sell it ? Anyone want to ride my bike back to Canada ? Then head over to Governador Valadares for my annual Paragling tour Feb 20-2nd March ... who wants to come flying, put up your hand or contact me and well arrange it !! So thats it, the winter is a planned and we'll keep you informed .... have a nice fall / winter everyone !! cheers

Win a free wing from Advance !

2009-09-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

This year the Advance Competition Team got 2 great successes in the most renowned competitions, with Andy Aebi’s victory in the World Championship in Mexico in February and with Chrigel Maurer’s victory in the extrem race RedBull X-Alps in July. We wish to celebrate these new titles with all the pilots trusting our brand and took the opportunity of the Coupe Icare last week to launch as a world première the promotional offer Win your wing :
All pilots buying a new Advance wing between 17 September 2009 (opening day of Coupe Icare) and 28 February 2010 – date of the invoice - subscribe online ( http:/www.advance.ch/win) and take part to our offer. The draw will be made on the 10 March 2010 with as first prize the refund of the wing’s purchase price, then a personal 2 day seminar with Chrigel Maurer, 5 Thermore Jacket and 5 Walking Bags.We’ll send you soon the flyers to give to your customers and pilots. This flyer is now delivered with all new wings and sent by newsletter to the pilots. The information is also available in our homepage and sent to the magazines. You can forward to your customers the flyer attached to this email as a pdf file.The chance to win is quite high as during the time of the draw (a little bit more than 5 months) the amount of wings we’ll deliver will be much less than during a complete year. We are also convinced that the communication, promotion and interest of such an offer will have advantageous results for all our dealers.We remain at your disposal when you need further information and we send you our best regards from Thun.Daniel FrutigerTeam ADVANCE

Wow... is it september already ??

2009-09-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well not much to report except this summer blew by ... I guess they all do , slow down you move to fast ! well Gloden Glass off this coming weekend and then the cold weather sets in ... ahhh well December lands me in Argentina , and we are Climbing Aconcagua to 23000ft and 5 of us will attempt to fly from the Summit, yahooo.... I hope we make it! I will be heading down on the bike to Terra del Fuego after this, then back up to Brasil to run my trip Feb 20 -2 March . Hope you can join us for more flying x-c fun, contact me if you want to come along ... thats all ... cheers

XC Fun Comp July 3-4th -5th

2009-05-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone , we are getting some nice prizes being donated from Advance and Flytec for the competition coming up July long weekend. The X-C comp is open for all pilots and is a combined distance flown over 3 days from different sites in the Valley . Local pilots will be giving tips and advice on flying the area , it is good time to fly XC in our area with retrieves being provide by from the club ! Free Camping in my yard for the weekend ... cheers

Summer courses and more fun ...

2009-04-23T12:30:00.001-07:00

Courses planned for the summer ... This Sunday the 26th April is a reserve throw and repack course , at the priest valley gym , behind the Vernon rec center . Cost is 40.00 , this will give you the opportunity to throw and repack your reserve. Course starts at 9:30-2:30 try to be on time !!
July 3rd-4th-5th is the X-C challenge , a fun comp for most pilots , we will fly from 3 selected sites in the valley , your best distance is recorded and the winner in each category is determined , Only dhv 1, 1/2 and 2 gliders can enter , cost is 100.00 for 3 days flying and $$ will be donated to the Climb for Prostate cancer http://www.climbforprostate.com/.
Also I am hosting another SIV course over the Mara lake site, July 25th-26th-27th. Cost of this is 675.00 for the 3 days , book early if you want a place on this course . Email me if you want details on any of these events I have planned ... good flying .. cheers

Back to work , lets go flying !

2009-04-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so it is back to work now on everything ... paragliding defintely, house well I have to at least clean it .. the new shop yes , put power into it , thanks to Greg P ! Yard need lots of TLC as well . Never ending once it starts... lots of new equipment coming in , orders to Advance and woody Valley have been placed . If you want anything let me know asap before it is shipped , spring is backordered usually with most companies and some popular products ! we will be flying this week if this storm blows over , let hope we are so far behind already on spring ! lets go flying and get some spring x-c flight in ... cheers

I`m comming home ......

2009-03-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

It seems like everything takes a turn in the right direction for me ... as I was riding along the coast of Uraguay , I noticed a Kawasaki dealership so after not seeing one for a few months ... not many Kawi´s here , only Honda and Yamaha and some Suzuki´s . I stopped in for an oil change , it been awhile..... the bike ! I was talking to the guy whom owns the place and he had someone who could store my bike for me whom he trusted , I looked at my import visa and noticed it was good for a year ! Yah !! Now I don´t have too go to B.A. Argentina, set it all up in 2 days , found a great hostel in Punte del Este near the beach in a nice area . Beaches on both sides of the hostel and lots of people to chat with , booked a ticket out of here for next week direct to Kelowna. This is so cool, great way to end my big adventure and feeling comfortable about leaving a nice country . Washed the bike lubed it up , unhooked the battery , drained the carb, put a cover on it and hopefully it will be waiting for the next trip in 10 months to Patigonia and ......

I`m in Uraguay !!

2009-03-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well what a ride ... 3500km in the past week from GV . The riding became better past Sao Paulo when it started to become less populated. The ride thru Rio and Sao Paulo were easy but you did have to battle traffic and sqeek by everyone, othwise it would have taken hrs in a car , bikes rule !! I did get stuck one night between towns at dark and it started to pour , I got soaked , could not see and their were about a thousand trucks on this road. I had to pull into a gas station and wait until 9pm for the rain to stop . Found a hotel ordered pizza ! haha , Yesterday I entered Uraguay after a nice few days riding in the south of Brasil and last night stayed at Rio grande . I had to stay here, I liked the name ... it was a cool city on the coast , lots of fishing and prawning ! Brasil border was confused ... I had to check the bike out then ride 20 km back into brasil to get my passport stamped to exit myself , figure that one out ! Uraguay was a breeze no computor work , just paper ... the customs guy wanted a tip he put a jar in front of me , I played stupid and went and got my drivers license out for him instead , ha . That`s how it works just act stupid ! I really like the feel of this place easy laid back , temp is nice and it is really rural , it seems like a cross between the foot hills of Alberta and New Zealand .... time to head south again toward Argentina ... 200 km away .

Riding Riding Riding ....

2009-03-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ok , I am ready to come home now , too many restraunte meals to many hotel rooms and wearing the same cloths for months now ahhhh ok well I do know it still sucks at home , as doug sent me a picture of my backyard... 2 feet of snow still and just about April ... that sucks as well ! I have spent a few days touring Vitoria area and Buzious with a friend, it was cool .. Buzious was nice but a tourist trap , beaches were nice ... now i have headed toward Sao Paulo and am planning to go south into Uraguay and Argentina ... so well just see what happens I´m taking the toll rd south , shit they eat up the money fast , I´m sure glad we don´t have them at home anymore . This road south is just full of trucks and I am getting headaches from the diesel fumes. My face is black with soot after a couple hrs riding.... nice !!!! Racoon face.... I am looking forward to spring and flying and getting some work done... chow

Flying is so nice ....

2009-03-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

We are just winding down the tour group now , Frank Tracy and Chris have gone back to Canada .... Roger , Chris E, and Phil are still flying and gettting in their personal best flights , cloud base has been high but the launch has beeen fickle witht the wind comming up the road instead of up the north or south launch, so we have to move back and forth looking for the best cycle to launch in . most days the guys are logging 2-3 hrs airtime and reaching cloud base . Everyone is blown away who have not been here before and are improving nicely. I have been flying 60+ km every flight and landing early to catch the bus back . Greg went up north to Puetro Seguro with Lisa to catch some sun and travel a bit. I am finished here on Thursday and will be heading home via Argentina , looks like I cannot sell my bike or store it here , and Buenos Aries is the place to store it for a while untill I decide what to do with it . Your allowed 8 months to keep a bike in Argentina ... so looks like I will be heading out on my bike again south to Argentina again .... hmmmm I was kinda looking to just fly home and get back ... oh well more riding to come ....

Back to GV

2009-02-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hey, the group of us are back in Governador Valadares after spending 1 week on the coast , we visited 2 new sites both which were non flyable. Too bad as they looked like fun and had incredible scenery ... we did fly Costello and chris and I had good flights the others had sort of extended sledders as the overdevelopment moved in . I was nice for me as I flew back to Costello and had a nice flighyt which I had been wanting to do for a few years now . Wer ended up flying Alfredo Chaves for the last day and spent 1 day on the beach in Vitoria . Frank, Tracy and Chris Frank´s son left for Sao paulo and rio to catch carnival ... we travelled by over night bus to GV arriving at 430 am ahhhh brutal ... so hooked up a room and went flying at 10 am . Flew 80 km for the first flight in GV with Kevin from Santa Barbra. Greg and Chris wilson flew well greg was at about 65km and Chris set his personal best at 55 km ! The past 2-3 days have been so so flying around the mtn and playing .. over deleloped today , rest day waiting for the sun to come back and bake us again.... ahhh the heat is nice ! cheers

Paragliding in Alfredo Chaves .....

2009-02-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

Well i stayed a day in GV , put the bike at Pablo´s house , locked it up and jumped on the bus for Vitoria , met Greg and Lisa at the airport when they arrived , good to see my friends again !!! Lots to talk about , checked into a Hotel on the beach , went into the city for supper !
Picked up the rest of the crew Chris , Chris , Frank and Tracy at the airport the following night , went for supper and beers ... too many beers !
We rented 1 combi van and 1 car to transport everything and headed to Alfredo Chaves , just spent the past 3 days flying , conditions were nice some rain but about 4-6 hrs flying in 3 days . Evening spent going to the beach and trying to not drink too much with the boys , they are on holiday mode ! Chris k , is geting lots of hrs in and is flying well , the others are trying new wings and getting used to them everyone is starting to chill out from the long trip down here and de stressing . Today 18th , some rain inland we are at the beach , trying to figure where to go next , flying to Costelo , beach or head further inland to get better weather .... Carnival is starting on Saturday so it will get busy here !! Nice to be flying again ......

Oro Preto to Valadares ...

2009-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

After Petropolis I headed inland towards Belo Horizonte, a small mining town where they found and stored the gold . This town was also amasing to see, lots of 16-17th century Churches, gold painting and small narrow streets . I recommend this to everyone whom comes to Brasil to see how it was back then ...I could have spent a few days here interesting and relaxing , nice foor and pubs . I only spent 1 night then headed out for Governador Valadres the next day . The ride to Valadares was nice rolling hills , up and down the small mountains they have here , heating up as I get closer to Valadares, rode into town about 5 pm went to the landing area ... was greated by a bunch of the locals , they thought i was crazy to ride here on my bike ..... So I accomplished what I set out to do .. Ride to G.V. on my bike to meet my group !!! Checked into a hotel , washed up went for beer with the boys .... A nice feeling !

Paraty , Petropolis and Oro Preto .. the gold trail !!

2009-02-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

After travelling up the coast.... I was recommended to visit in Paraty, a colonial town on the coast . It was so neat a whole 17th century village of portuguese construction , re done and so well , Old town is now hotels, shops and resturantes. I ended up going on a boat cruise to get off the bike for a day and it was perfect . 5 hrs on a larger sail type boat 40ft , went to 5 different islands and snorkeled and swam , met some people from all over , but mainly Argentinian´s in this area on holidays ! Enjoyed beers with some friendly Argentina girls after. I also had the best burger and milkshake of the trip here !
Next day loaded up early 11am and headed out up the coast to Petropolis , which is near Rio just north west of the city . Very enjoyable ride into the coastal mtns and up in elevation so cooler now , found a hotel late at dark and some rain again ! This city has no place to stay and it´s a tourist town ? what gives ? Next day I walked around and explored the old city of Euro´s and Germans , Relaxing city , great temperature , I can see why they settled here . Coastal hwy was so nice, but hot ... nice to be back in the mountains .

I found paradise....

2009-02-09T04:55:00.000-08:00

Ok , So where I was again , getting lost in the days and the travel , I entered Brasil thru Foz do aguazu (sp) great set of falls on the Argentina -Brasil border, it´s national park... so really quite nice , expensive and touristy but ... they were nice to see . Driving up from B.A. was nice as well ,small towns ,great courtyards, freindly people . Met some bikers whom own bike shop and went to a B Party they fed me and got me drunk , we talked about bikes and my trip... it was cool . Crossed the border without problems , not having a license plate is a pain in the ass , it fell off between Chile and Argentina !
Lots of police in Brasil .. got stopped once for driving without my helmet on, they let me go and I had to show them the note from the Chile police about the lost licence plate !
I crossed over to the east coast near Joinville to see Larissa a freind, she showed me around her town and rest for a day .Then up the coast to Santos which is a city off of Sao Pàulo , nice area ...went to the flying site met some guys , next thing you know i´m flying a Fresh Breeze paramotor on the beach over the city. You have to love it , city was nice, flying site in the city, landing on the beach, Great !!
Moved up the coast between Santos and Rio , incredible beaches and feels like you in California except the weather is warmer . Ahhh this is what I have been looking for ... white sand, warm water and small surfing towns all over . Found another flying site heading out of town and got invited to fly , flew 1.5 hrs thermalling and dynamic , landing on the beach ! hmmmmm I can get used to this ..

Still in BA. Argentina ...

2009-01-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

Well hagin out at a workshop /hostal /campground ... Dakar Motors is really a workshop and anywhere you can find a place to sleep in ok, with the owner . Thier are about 8 others staying here right now a french couple , heading to Aussie , A german heading to South Africa, A swiss guy going to NZ and a few Americans heading north to brasil then upwards home . Two to the americans bikes are down , one has a oil leak which has been very hard to fix on a bmw and ahas already spent 2000 on it to fix it, the other claims someone took off his oil filler cap and it leaked all the oil out , on a KLR . So both are waing to get their bikes repaired . The others are waiting for shipping quotes and or flights for bikes and themselves . 4 of them are doing round the world trips cool.... hmmmm....So I applied for an entry Visa to Brasil... and the told me to come back after 12 noon in 2 days, not before ... so I came back at 2:30pm thinking that will give them some leeway , well it turns out you have to be here between 12-1pm . Otherwise you have to come back the next day haha.. why did they not tell me this!!! So now I guess I have time in the city to continue my blog .. changed tires again went to more of a street tire 50/50 heading into Brasil...you get about 5-6ooo km from a set of tires this trip is my 3rd set ! Changed oil and ready to go again... am wound up, ready to get out of here and head north , I planned on stopping in Florinopolis for some Kitesurfing lessons then up to see the boys , Greg , Lisa, Chris , Frank , Tracy and Frank´s son now Chris in Vitoria ... see yah soon , lets hope for nice weather !!

Wow , the days ride by.....

2009-01-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

After a day in San Martin, I headed south to Barriloche , it was so nice ,incredible waters , many lakes and so clear , simular to New Zealand much much larger .Camping and fishing for the next week , staying for free on the river banks . Lots of camping in this area and packpackers .. headed south of Barrailoche about 150km then decided to head Northward to Brasil , Will have to leave far south of Argentina for next year, as their is much more to see and waters to fish . Now i"m in Buenos Aries , applying for a visa into Brasil. Staying at Dakar Motors with a bunch of other Motor bike travellers in a small place. The trip over took 3 days on and off road but so hot and windy... 43c on the bike . I had to stop every 1.5 hrs to water myself off , which was sticking a hose in my suitand letting it go , or laying in a river , people thought i was crazy .... but it saved me big time !! I met a fellow rider whom I had been emailing at a gas stop in the middle of nowhere ... we had been talking for about 2 months and last i heard from him was before newyears.. and we just hapened to be at the same place at the same time ... kinda strange how that works out , he is headed south , I am headed north ..... small world, we exchanged stories and went on our own ways! cheers from B.A.

Back in Argentina !

2009-01-16T16:01:00.000-08:00

I decided to head back to Argentina instead of heading to Puerto Monte, left Pucon after a nice night drinking wine with a bunch of Mountain guides , good music and lots of wine at the hostel !
Headed east around the back to the Volcano and was rewarded with some nice riding on 4x4 tracks . Camped beside a lake and watched the sunset and had a fire . A good way to enjoy life .... today was rain all day as I headed for a ferry , which crosses a lake called ? Towards San Martin , in Argentina ... this place is simular to Pucon , like a mini Banff and Jasper nice but expensive and lots of Tourists ... oh well that s me included . cheers

Wipe out ! No skin off my Ass !!

2009-01-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

Well , after a great couple of days getting my bike up to speed again ...new brakes , oil change, chain oiled air cleaner cleaned ,we went and watched part of the Dakar rally it was good ! I want to do it now !!!
I left nick´s house and headed south on the Toll hwy , about 1 hr into the ride it was getting windy from the sea breeze and I was getting buffeted around , I was going down the hill behind a rock bluff and I was like holy shit these are crazy winds here ..... ahhhhh my front tire had blown out, I got big time front wobble, thought i´d got it under control a few times trying to slow down and pull over .... then I was on my ass sliding down the highway watching my bike hit the guard rail and slide across the highway into the ditch. ! I finally came to a stop after a few rolls and stood up and went a picked up my bike .. holly shit that was fast ! Lucky for me ... i´m still alive !! hahahah and no skin off my ass , my suit and gloves saved me ! A few people stopped and helped me and I got the bike loaded up in a truck and taken to a tire shop to get the tire repaired. 2 hrs later , back on the road ! Yes, my bike is looking now like it is on a trip !!!!
The fairing is wired together and my suit has holes all over it , it´s ragged ! So now i´m in Pucon in the lakes district simular to banff - going to get some fishing supplies and go fishing and head further south to camp and enjoy the nature out here. It is really nice in this area , just like home ! cheers

La Serena , Chile at Nick's and Anna Marie's house ...

2009-01-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

Yeh , I made it on the 8th in time for the Dakar rally . Which I was racing to catch but found out it is not untill the 11th . Nick and his wife , have a new house and a new little baby boy ! 1 month old... I wonder who the father is ? Sitting by the swimming pool having a beer in his backyard and watching the sunset over the ocean . I acutally never made it to his house the night I left Customs in Chile the tire went flat and it was just too dark to ride about 10:30 before I found a campsite . The campsite charged me a whopping 1$ for staying the night ... good value !
Took the bike in for a service today , new chain , new sprocket, new brakes pads front and back , oil change and a cleaning.... don't know how much it all cost haven't figuerd out the exchange rate yet. Everyweek a new currancy and new rates and trying to figure out how much everthing is worth , keeps you on your toes .. Bike is running great again will catch the Dakar rally on Sunday it is 2 hrs south of here so I will leave nick's and ride south towards Santiago and monday should put me in the big city to get my Visa for Brasil ... time is ticking down i don't really know if i will make it all the way south , it is such a long way still and these 500km days are taking their toll on me... chow !

Heading to La Serena, Chile.

2009-01-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

Days go by quickly when riding and not knowing or caring what day it is or what time it is , you just ride, eat sleep and talk to yourself well sort of ... at least think alot about stuff , not always really important just stuff ! It started to get really hot 35c -40c and very dry desert like southern California , kinda boring and straight roads , had to stop a few times to sleep or nap , was falling asleep while riding in the heat . Not good ! But in Argentina you have rest stops and Gas stations which are very simular to Canadian ones . One stop shopping ! Ok last day before heading into La Serena was to cross a 4800m pass, no problem !! Customs was easy , leaving Argentina great roads mix of on and off road and very dry , wound my way higher and higher. Looking out for the Condor ! Amazing ride up to the pass Agua Negro , it just kept going higher and getting colder and windy. Nice photos which will be posted today !! Promise ! This ride really blew me away like nothing I have rode yet , I felt drunk and tingly at the top... stopped for photo's and down the other side toward Chile . I made it to customs at 7pm and found I had lost my License plate and also was getting a flat tire on the front. Well about 1.5 hrs later I finised , I found most of the customs offices down here are staffed by men usually police which usually suck at office work, typing and filling forms out . Most were finger plucking the keys and phoning others to find out how to to do something . It took them about 40 minutes and 4 guys to find out first how to fill out the form and then print it .... oh well . Left customs at dark again and rode an other hour towards civilization , stopping to pump my front tire up with a hand pump every 30km ! Very tired and dirty and hungry !

Wow .....

2009-01-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, what a day and 3900meters makes.... I decended into the east side of Bolivia, I guess they call that the Amazon side or next to Paraguay. The decent was incredible and scenery excellent , most of it was gravel single lane and very curvy into the jungle like bush. Millions of butteryfly's were everywhere for the next 200km towards the Argentine Border . I arrived at the border called Yacuiba! I went pretty easy only about 1 hrs to clear while some were saying they waited for already 2 hrs . By the time I cleared it was about 6pm and I headed south for a hotel , bordertowns tend to suck and aren't very nice. Usually dirty , busy and a lot of stange people wanting to enter and leave , like myself ! Another 13 hrs day riding and so tired !! 550km day !
The next few days were spent riding in a varity of farm land, bush and desert , depending on how close to the mountians you were at thje time. I found an excellent area Between Salta and Cafayate, again incredible scenery , vineyards , lakes and rivers simular to the Okanogon area . It also hade some canyons simular to Zion park in the USA , brilliante red colors in the evening and lots of tourists in the town of Cafayate itself . I ended up eating in town and riding into the canyon to set up my tent . It seems like riding into Argentina from Bolivia is like going from Mexico into the USA, things are just well normal ...

Heading out of Bolivia !

2009-01-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

Well new years in La Paz was boring, boring, boring ! I walked arounf looking for a place to have a beer and found nothing , no pubs or bars to be seen. I guess they dont drink here ! Well i saved myself a hangover ! Got up the next day and the Garage where i parked my bike was locked and i could not get my bike out all day as well as a few other mad car owners . The number listed on the door would not answer.. haha good new years joke ! Well all the busses leaving the city were also closed as well as the main bus station itself... trapped in boring La paz wtih other travellers ! Went to see the movie Australia, don´t do it, it is terrible ! More hollywood crap ! Traveled over to city called Potasi in the south 500km away made good time untill I hit the pass at 4pm , went up too 4200m and of course it was raining which turned to hail 2 "worth , Visability was crap my visor always fogs over and their was lightning all around ! ahhha very tense for about 1 hr. Made it to Potasi at dark , found a Hotel with a sauna to defrost ! I took about 2 hrs to warm up again !! Today the 3rd, i´ve decided to head over to the east to warm up drop altitude and head south for Argentia . Tonight i´m is a small town called Paddilla , 3 hrs south of the capital Sucre ... yahooo always fun and good riding .... chow

Feliz anos ! 09

2009-01-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well, it is a new year ... happy new year everyone ! well where was i last ... oh yeah, I did not make it to Cuzco untill the 27th in the evening , and of course it was raining hard and trying to find a hotel at christmas at night in a new confusing city, which also has parking for bikes is well ... I got really wet . And spent more money than I should have, 50 usd for a 4 star hotel . I was tired and wet and they had parking for me in the hotel ! Most of these place also include breakfast so... I can fill up before I ride and don´t eat again untill supper. The next day I spent riding and looking at some ruins and a paragliding site , which was cool , I wish I had a wing with me ! I rode towards the Inca trail and to a town at the end of the road, called ? which leads to Matchu pithcu.
Anyways you can catch a train from here to Matchu Pithcu town , which is really cool. I spent the 29th at Matchu Pithcu , it was amazing and stunning ! Some nice hikes up here as well . I missed my train ride back , no watch it had been stolen from my hotel room by someone and I misread my ticket it was on 24 hr clock and showed 15 minutes too late. Shit I had to pay again and it is not cheap ! Oh well, I won´t eat for a few days to make it up !
From here I rode to Lake Titikaka in the south of Peru , the bike was running rough , carb need cleaning again . I went thru heavy rain again and never was below 3300meters all day so it was a bit chilly . The ride was nice but my bike is sick , no power and cutting out .
Made it to a comfy hotel and went on a boat ride to the lake to visit the floating village, where 2000 people live on floating islands and have everything made of reeds , pretty cool as well . Crossed the border on the 31st into Bolivia no hassles but had to pay a small bribe fee the the cops and this border is very confusing and not really any signage but ... i´m in Bolivia now !

Dec 24th and 25th !!! Merry x mas everyone ....

2008-12-25T17:03:00.002-08:00

Wow , I woke up on the 24th feeling great , it was raining and i was supposed to get an early start , nope not going out in the rain ! Not a good way to start the day at 3500m and in the rain. When it cleared I hit the road about 10am , the road was incredible smooth pavement and super curvy , no traffic , the day before x mas , up and down passes as usual , this was about 4 hrs everything was great untill .... I hit a dog .... I think I killed it , it ran out on a corner and I could not swerve so much as I would have wiped out. Theri were people right thero as well and i did not want to stop and cause a big deal of it . Peru is crazy with dogs, I have never had so many chase me untill this place, about 50 a day it was only a motter of time ... it was small so it did not bite it.... lucky, if it was bigger I may have taken a big tumble !!
After this the day went better , crossed a 4100m pass , incredible , scenery was amasing all day long hard to describe I will try to post pictures tomorrow or when i get to Cuzco. Yes, the local were right about the 3 days but it looks so close on the map ... only doing 200km per day at 30 km hr... not fast, but I feel blessed to be here with what I am seeing and feeling ... Complete freedom .....
I spent the night walking around town people watching , eveyone goes out on the street her for x mas . Had a relaxing morning sort of hit the road by 10am . All off road today slow and tedious.. averaged 25 km hr , constuction and out of the way roads, up and down and all around .... was in desert 2 times then up to 3900m , fog and hail again today . Put the warm cloths on, take them off , put them on, take them off .... you just have to laugh It was a fun day again and had a hamberger for supper , ran out of money and the machines don´t work in this town... it was a nice x mas day ! Hope your all well and the best for the new year, Feliz Navidad....

Dec 24 and 25th

2008-12-25T17:03:00.001-08:00

Huanaco to Huancayo

2008-12-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

Man , their are so many towns and villagaes out here with so many names which sound the same ...I never know where I am going, crossed over some high passes again today feeling real tired and sick and dizzy from altitude . Stopped to dry out all my gear.... sleeping bag, tent, mattress were all soaked from last night. Stopped at 3pm today I was told it would take another 3 hrs to reach the next town with a hotel so am resting up for the push tomorrow to Cuzco . I was also told it would take 3 day from here , well see ....

Huaraz valley southerly to La union

2008-12-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

I decided not to cross the passes here as I was told I may have to wait while the snow clears and the traffic can pass, The highest pass here is 4700 m, I thought that would be cool to do but maybe not in the rainly season . This was a good decision, as I headed south I could see new snow down low already, I did not want to go to the coast again so decided to head inland I crossed over a 3100 m pass and it was raining and some hail , this day was the most amazing day for scenery on the trip so far. Roads were good for most of the day and it was incredible hope to post some pictures soon . The last part of the day was well nice but tough and slow going very windy and lots of mud and holes in gravel . It was 3pm and they said it was another 4 hrs of this type of road , I ended up making a few wrong turns out here , it is sort of like taking logging roads in Canada you never know here you are half of the time , most side roads are not marked , you supposed to know where you are out here .
Well I got to the top of another pass at dark and was not going to try top go down , I started to set up my tent on the side of this road when a truck stopped and said not too it was very dangerous for robbers !! So plan B keep going at dark I stopped and asked directions and know I was not going to get down and asked this family if i could camp in their yard at 3000m again. I ended up setting up in the dark and fog . The dogs did´nt like me camped in the yard and kept barking at me everytime i turned in the tent. Well it was a sleepless night between the dogs and oporing rain and the truicks passing by within a few feet. I was up at 5pm with everyone on else , I could hear people walking by my tent and talking about the gringo and why do they get up so early , it foggy, raining sort of and still dark, all they do here is heard sheep and cattle and donkeys . Well I said my goodbyes to the family and the dogs and headed down the windy muddy road for 2 more hrs . I am so happy I camped on the top that night instead of going down the road in the dark even if i didn´t get any sleep . I also ate something which made me sick this day and my kidney are really hurting to move much or bend over ...

Trujillo to Huaraz valley ,...

2008-12-23T18:22:00.000-08:00

Well today i got up early , by the time I ate and got loaded it was still 8pm , the winds started at 830pm , it was not so bad today as the mountains are blocking some of the wind , wow is it dry here , i don´t see how they live on what , they live in shacks and have nothing . We are so lucky to be born in Canada .... I ducked inland at Casma and started climbing up to 3000m , quite a change in 2 hrs from sweating to putting on the rain suit and cold weather gear .
Nice ride then I had fog for an hr on a very narrow rd with stright drop offs , probably better I could not see over the side , I think sometimes i´m scared of heights when i´attached to the earth . Got up into the high alto plana not much grows well up this high but they farm most every inch they can farm . Never seen another car for 3 hrs . Dropped into the valley at 4pm and like usual it started to pour again . So hotel shopping looking like a wet rat .... Got a decent hotel and a warm shower. This valley is world famous for mtn clibing with soth very technical ice /rock climbing and is like the chamonis or South america . But I found out it is the rainy season here and the summer season in Lima on the coast , go figure that one out ...

I´m in Peru .....

2008-12-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well, what a difference a few days makes , I went from Quito which is a huge polluted city to a county train station at 3500m. The ride was good except the last 5 minutes which it poured rain and hail. Boy did I get wet ! I found this neat little train station which has been converted to a hotel at the base of the highest mtn , in Equador . Had a nice supper and was the only one in the hotel . Next morning I woke up to clear sky´s and had a chance to see the Chimborazo mtn before it closed in . Next day , was a long ride I was trying to get close to the border so I could get to it early I didn´t want another 5 hrs wait.... nice windy roads all day up and down the mtns but I did not go below 3000m most of the day. Lots of poor people out here , the terrrain goes from dry desert to tropical sometimes depends on which side of the mtn your on .Up one side of the mtn down the other , all day long. I finally got a room at dark again ! I had to do this for the next 2 days .
Wow, only a few hrs from Macara the border , and it was so easy this time , no line ups and they were all really helpfull, what a change, I slipped thru in an hr both sides my exit and entry .
It was a marked change as go from 3550 m down to sea level and into Peru which seems to be very poor and barren. Now i´m travelling along the coast which is a desert ,very little vegatation except along the rivers and areas which are irrigated. I wanted to take the inland route but it is very slow and non paved and if I break down out their ... well I may have a wait and it is very dry and hot here. The past few evenings I rode late into the evening , 3 nights ago it was raining, hail and cold , then I had dense fog and bad roads, last night it was terrible winds and blowing sand.
Tonight I stopped at 4pm in Chicalayo only doing 4 hrs riding in , but stong coastal winds and blowing sand again, direct cross wind is starting to take the toll on me and it is really physical . The bike is at a constant angle and helmet gets blown sideways , so my neck it very sore..... ahhh, tomorrow i´m up early to beat the winds . I´m in a coastal town very cool ... old steets and nice atmosphere, very modern as well and everyone is shopping getting ready for x mas town in decorated in x mas trees and lights. Today had to buy a new toilet kit forgot it at my friends house in Quito. shit what a dummy ... Bike was burning a bit of oil today must have been the cross/ head wind and the passing of slow moving trucks. Tomorrow heading toward Hurez area, high mtns near 4000m lots of hiking and mtn clibing in this area, looking foward to getting out of this heat and wind....

X crossing into Ecuador ....

2008-12-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

Its the 17th today , I was making terrible time in the last part of Columbia, very windy roads and truck traffic , I guess i have to get my ass out of bed earlier. But it is slow going some days. I was passed by some guys on bigger bikes today and tried to keep up with them , they were way to fast for me , I did pass them in town using my GPS for route finding and then we met up at the border. They are from Columbia and riding inot Ecuador on a 10 day tour , they helped me get thru Customs on the Columbia side , then we all waited at the Ecuador side ... for 5 Fu%$ing hrs , waiting to get a stamp into Ecuador , not a good start , but everyone was in the same boat , So next time I have to wait in a line up at Canada customs I will remember how organised it really is !! By the time we got out it was 5pm and getting dark and then it started to rain , I did make it to my friends house in Ibarra at 7.30 pm , 100 km north of Quito.
I stayed at Jorge house for 2 nights and toured around the area , I Put on an SIV course here in 1998 the first for Ecuadorian pilots and it was in this town , so it was cool to see it 10 yrs later .. Nice area but so complex with the weather systems , found some thermal pools and went for a soak for a few hrs and read my book , actually I read 3 books so far on my trip ... pretty nice !

Today i´m at my freinds house Henri in Quito , stayed last night and am planning to leave today to head south , have to make some miles , i figure it will take 3 days to leave Ecuador and head for Peru for x mas . I just don´t want to cross again on a Sunday like last week .. but you never know here ... life is good anyways .. at least i´m not in - 40c like Alberta ... Ha ha ....

Tripping around ...Bucamarunga .

2008-12-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

I spent a few days around Bucamarunga and small city about 1 million . Richi and I went riding out back and was showing me some of his flying sites , nice area lots of flying sites , deep valleys. Launch is in front of his house and you can pretty well fly all day here it seems , thermaling in the morning and ridge flying in the afternoon . I was flying at about 5pm and crossed a ridge out 8km away and did not make it back, had to land out ... tons of power lines just missed one on landing that I could not see ... yeeee ...
Well I finaly left B munga and headed over to Medellin another city , nice ride it took about 8 hrs , the last few were real twisty and got back into the swing of the bike again , F´´$&/$king crazy drivers here . I have heard they are going to get worse in Peru ... great . I spent a few days in Medellin , got my speedo cable fixed , 2 new signal light holders the other ones rotted off , the Kawi dealer gave them to me for free , sweet as the other ones were duct taped on .
Exited Medellin this morning, stayed in a great area of medellin and was a few blocks from all the bike shops , even better . Well I was supposed to be in Cali tonight but did not make it so I am in a small town called ?? about 100 km short , I only did 50 km in 2 hrs this morning traffic and twistys lots of landsides and construction, they just finished a very rainy time down here and had major floods and landslides I´m glad I was not doing this trip 1 - 2 weeks ago.. I also met up with a british biker whom i´d passed and then I got a flat on the rear tire . He stopped and helped me with the fix , put the new tube in and found out it had 2 holes in it , from rubbing in the boxes , so it took longer than usual to get back on the road . Just as we got back on the road it started pouring rain , on with the rain gear and back on the road . The next few hrs were slow , lots of stops for traffic and bad visability , I left the british guy, he was going a diffefernt route, immediatly after this my bike started to slow down then stopped in the pouring rain .... shit !! what could it be... I put the choke on and it started again, it ran rough for the next hr, then went back to normal, maybe water shorting something out .. or bad gas ? I was to tired to continue to Cali and it was dark so. off to a side town for a hotel . I can ´t believe I only did 250 km today i´m so tired the concentration is intense your riding has to be on the ball all the time whew .. i´m gojng to bed .....

Yahoo , I made it to Columbia...

2008-12-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well after a few days of sorting out my rotten bike , had to pull the carb. off again .It´s a big hassel this time I took it into a mechanic and used his air hose to blow it out . It is now working fine, must have been some clogging in one of the holes , the gas was bad as well . I did get out of Panama the next day like I thought . Loaded the bike at the cargo terminal at 9am and was at the Passenger termimal at 10:30am . I had Omar a guy whom owns a Import/ Export business in Panama meet me at the cargo terminal, he took care of my papers with customs for the past year and helped me get my bike on a flight right away. Then he gave me a ride to the terminal such a nice guy , whom also rides a big 1100 harley, he just said to me well we are all bike riders and we help each other... all he wanted was to see me continue my journey without problems . Remember I had left my bike in Panama illegally , so when I came back into Panama I had to legally get it back into the country , so I could then take it out again , so he took care of the customs B.S. that goes on !!
Most flights were full but I did manage to catch a flight on Copa at 11:30 am and was in Bogata by 1:30pm . As I was sitting in the lounge waiting for the plane , I was talking with a woman , whom was also getting on my flight , well her Family owns the shipping company who I shipped my bike with , what a shot of luck ! She helped my get a taxi and find my place in the city and told me to contact her the next day to get the bike out easy. Well I was out of customs and had the bike waiting for me at the shipping company 2 hrs later. That´s luck for you ... but then the bike started acting up going thru Bogata city ,only 7 million people in this city ...
I couple of days in the city to sort the bike troubles out and now I am in Bucamarunga a city north about 8 hrs drive . Staying at http://www.colombiaparagliding.com/ it´s a nice place over looking the city. Richi Mantilla owns the company, does tours and tandems . A great place to fly and chill out for a few days . Bogata was a nice city as far as cities go relaxed, modern, clean and seemed friendly. Columbia is working hard on their bad reputation and are welcoming the tourist to their nice country . The county side was a mix of new zealand and switzerland , very green nice lakes and lots of farming . The roads were ok , lots of construction and crappy drivers passing going up hills with solid lines .... you really have to keep your wits about you , interesting and heart stopping sometimes !
Well thats about it for now , tomorrow i´m going flying and tuesday heading for Medellin west of Bogata . My speedometer cable holder fell on the bike and hit the spokes while i was riding yesterday causing the cable to get ripped apart , now i need a new one as i don´t know how fast I am going or how many km I have done .... oh well small problems on a trip like this ... cheers

Panama Red .....

2008-12-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

Hi . Finally arrived in Panama after 24 hrs of travel , yeah it sucks but no pain no gain right ... so did i tell you it rained non stop for the next 4 days , i went and bought an umbrella . Stazing at a friends house right now where i have the bike stored . Well actually it seems i did not store it, what was i thinking when i left here . Oh boy what a mess , the battery was dead , the chain was rusty metal was corroded and everything was covered with bird shit.

the battery was completley dry, so i walked around about 4 miles and found all the bike shops in Panama , ther last one was the kawi dealer , but not the place you get parts , Finally managed to get oil fliters , oil , new battery and lubricant , chain oil as well. Back to the bike , well 4 days of work later it is back to running well , i had to pull the carb off twice , to clean it or the bike would not run without the choke on . Did some research on the internet and found a solution , drill 2 holes in tis and that and all is running well now - The bike is like new , and im just waitng for permit to enter the country so i can leave it. Their are 2 ways to get to Columbia , by boat or by plane. I was to late to book the boat so i will leave by plane, so the bike get loaded on the cargo plane and i take the passenger plane hopefully tomorrow but you never know... i am in Panama .... more to come from Columbia ...

Brasil Tour dates ......

2008-10-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone , Brasil tour dates are March 1-10th 09. Come on out and fly your brains out in Governador Valadares world famous flying site and host of the World Championships 2005. This will be my 8 year leading trips into this area everyone comes back with great reviews and tons of hrs of flying time . This site is know for light large thermals and smooth flying. It is a great place to learn to thermal better and start your x-c flying career, for more details contact me and book early . Remember to get your Brasil entry visa and book your airline flights if you intend to go soon. Cheers

New flight suit and Acro Harness from Woody Valley

2008-10-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hi , Woody valley has 2 new items , 1 is and new flight suit and the other is a Acro harness new designed and with 2 reserve underneath, just in case . check out http://www.woodyvalley.com/ for pictures and details ...

Advane wins PWC again 4 years in a row !

2008-10-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

Andy Aebi wins the World Cup for 2008 and Stefan Schmocker finishes third. This means that an incredible series of ADVANCE successes continues into a fourth year.ADVANCE competition pilots Andy Aeby and Stefan Schmocker placed first and third respectively in the final rankings of the 2008 Paragliding World Cup and so can seamlessly add to Chrigel Maurer’s three titles (2005-2007). This continued success also puts ADVANCE designer Thomas Ripplinger into the limelight, as well as the whole production team. Quite simply such success would be impossible without the tireless efforts of all concerned! Thomas Ripplinger head of Advance design, has once again produced superb wings for the guys to compete on. The success of the Competition team directly translates into the use of the design technology with Advance serial class gliders.The World Cup finale in Castelo, Brazil, was lucky with the weather, and it was possible to fly seven tasks. Andy, who arrived in Brazil in pole position, was able to maintain his advantage and therefore has won the PWC overall title for the first time (having finished third last year). Stefan Schmocker was also able to capitalise on the strong position he had already established in previous rounds, finishing in third place overall in Brazil. Other ADVANCE pilots Heli Eichholzer (AT) 7th, Jeremie Lager (F) 14th, Michael Sigel (CH) 17th and Orlin Dimov (BG), 30th, round off our small but fantastic ADVANCE Pro-Comp Teams’ great results.Thanks to our ADVANCE team pilots the unbelievable ADVANCE success story, set in train with the introduction of the HiArc-concept more than four years ago, forges ahead. (More about HiArc under OMEGA 7)The whole ADVANCE team sincerely congratulates the pilots for their great performances. Results and pictures: http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/

Well i guess i'm a bit behind on this !!

2008-10-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see my summer has been very busy, hense my lack of postings ! or i just forget , but now i have some time and the season is coming to a close. so what is new !! well i trained about 20 new pilots this summer ... welcome all my new fledgelings ! I am getting ready to finish my bike trip , from Panama where i left my bike last February. I will ride from Panama - Argentina - Brasil . I will be running tours to Brasil this season hope to ride my bike to Governadaor Valadares , but well see i only have 3 months and do not want to rush the trip.
I am also building a Garage on my property and a shop to do Paragliding repairs and inspections . I will try my best now to update this site and keep you informed of new... news so here goes .....cheers and have a great fall !

Spring Flying ....

2008-05-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

ahhh so spring is here finally and the flying is sweet , really like spring flying except for the cold up high ... but the thermals are so nice and big and smooth usually, yesterday we flew off of Baldy late in the day , Doug and I found 1 thermal out in the valley and worked it over too Vernon Mtn , not a long or spectacular flight but really nice .....Doug had a great flight as well ... that's it ...

New light weight hiker .....

2008-05-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

The ALPHA 4 HIKE has achieved all the specification parameters set for it by our R&D Team! Light - a perfect mix of materials.
New Skytex 27 g/m2 Material for the upper and lower wing surface
New Skytex 40 g/m2 for leading edge and ribs
Lightweight, specially coated lines
Narrow risers
Compact, light-as-possible backpackMore dynamic – better performance
Compared with the regular ALPHA 4 the HIKE can use a higher takeoff weight, in effect allowing a smaller glider to be flown; and it has thinner lines. Both of these features give it a bit more lively flying qualities, and much better performance – but passive safety is unchanged. Certification
The ALPHA 4 HIKE has been certified as EN B / LTF 1-2 in all three of its sizes (23, 25, 28).Availability
Production is underway. The first test gliders will be delivered from June (Week 23). At ADVANCE we’ve never wanted to produce a short-lived glider. But new materials, the obvious advantages of our Smart Sail System as a lightweight concept, and a growing pilot appreciation of lightweight equipment have now persuaded us to develop a moderately light glider. Based on the ALPHA 4 we’ve made a glider which will give the weight-conscious pilot a genuine lower-end intermediate alternative. But we’d like to make absolutely clear that, compared with a ‘normal’ ADVANCE paraglider, an ALPHA 4 HIKE’s lifespan will be clearly shorter, especially if doesn’t get kind treatment. Even though the lively handling and the good performance will very much encourage a lot of flying with this glider, the ALPHA 4 HIKE is, and always will be, a lightweight glider.

Impress 2 + Dhv certified harness...

2008-04-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

IMPRESS 2+: a Plus for Protection and Safety 11.04.08 The popular, aerodynamically ideal ADVANCE IMPRESS 2 will also be available from the end of April in the PLUS version, with LTF certified back protector. The ADVANCE iMPRESS 2 is an aerodynamically efficient and versatile state-of-the-art harness. Initially developed for competition use, it has become very popular for all those pilots who like to enjoy the warmth of the speedbag on long flights. The new PLUS version (IMPRESS 2+), which comes with a thicker, LTF certified, back protector, provides even more protection and safety. The new protector is elegantly housed so that the appearance is virtually unchanged, and similarly any difference in the aerodynamics is negligible. From the end of April the IMPRESS 2+, in the same sizes and colours as the IMPRESS 2, will be ready for testing at flying schools. From the same time you will also be able to make an online booking for a test flight on this web site.

Spring course's in full swing !

2008-04-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Well finally a decent weekend for weather.... friday and saturday we had many student flights Jory Josh and Steve are on their way to becoming certified , we finsihed Saturday at the reserve throwing/packing course which about 30 pilots attended . No major hangups of deployments were found a few smaller ones with velcro holding problems ! Lets hope for a warmer spring and light thermal days to come ... cheers

Sigma 7 coming soon !!

2008-04-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well the much waited for.... Sigma 7 will be availible in June , lets hope Advance does not delay too much , but that was my last word from Daniel , also the Impress 2+ DHV certified cacoon harness will be ready in June as well . The new success harness is comming in june as well , what is with Advance this season , they must had learned their lesson from the bi beta 4 i guess... so i can't wait ,,, i'm flying the S7 this season .... now get that wing out !! cheers

Instructors and Tandem course "08"

2008-03-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hi , I have released the dates for the course , May 3, 4, 5 th for the instructors course and 6, 7, 8th for the Tandem course . Come on out and progress to a higher level of pilot . Learn how to teach and to do Tandems in the best location in Canada . I have been running these courses for 17 years and am the most experianced instructor in Canada ! Let me help you become a competant Instructor and Tandem pilot so you can introduce new people to out exciting sport in safety, email me for details ... cheers

Bi Beta 4 has been released !

2008-03-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

The much anticipated Bi Beta 4 is now in production !! Yahoo..... a new Tandem wing , many new improvments . New big years kit , new trimmer system and new tandem risers which are adjustable in the air for your passenger ! What more could a pilot want , besides and new designed wing and more performance , This will be a great seller for Advance for sure ! I will post details soon, as well Advance is releasing their new Harness the Impress 2 + , which is a DHV certified harness with 18cm back foam , ideal for those who want a pod harness and safety as well . And And ... the Sigma 7 is supposed to be out by Mid June , again big hype over this wing and many pilots waiting to buy it including myself , my summer wing !

Advance continues to rock the paragliding world with 1st class wings and harnesses often copied but never duplicated !! cheers

Brasil Trip 08

2008-03-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well, well.... its all over another great month in G.V. Brasil . The flying was good , not the best at times but the guys from my group managed to fly everyday of the tour ! Bob had his best flights ever and was overcome with emotion on his second day ... 1st real thermal flight , 1st time in the clouds,1st x-c flight, 1st out and return , 1st time to land on the other side of the river with 2 hrs flying time ! Now they go back to Canada with experiance which would take years to do in Canada .... We had 4 Canadians in the comp here , we all did quite well .. In the end I placed 3rd in serial class , 16th overall , and won the x-c challange . my best year here in the comps .. one day last week flying 120km, 3 day total of 250km !!
Tuesday the 18th March I will be back in Canada for the season Teaching and Tandems for the remainder of the year hope to see all my friends this spring ... cheers

Motor bike photo's from peach ...

2008-02-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hi , if your looking for a different perspective on our trip look at peachli's photos... kinda cool !
http://picasaweb.google.ca/pitsch67/

New models comming in spring !

2008-01-29T09:39:00.000-08:00

In splendid weather ADVANCE were able to introduce the SIGMA 7 and the BI BETA 4, both in the final phase of their development, to a wide section of the public!This year, due to magnificent weather, the Stubai Cup 2008 attracted a huge number of visitors. From Friday to Sunday the sun was often blotted out by paragliders instead of clouds.For ADVANCE the announcement of the SIGMA 7 and the BI BETA 4 was our main feature. In the hands of the 10 pilots of the SPÄLTI OMEGA 7 up-and-comers team these wings were presented for the first time. Both these gliders are nearing completion and will be available in Spring/Summer 2008. (For detailed info. see the PDF) The iMPRESS 2+ harness, a certified version with a thicker protector, attracted a lot of attention, and not only from pilots from Germany. This harness is also just about to be finalised. On our homepage we will keep you up to date about the finishing touches to these products.The opportunity to try out gliders was enthusiastically taken up. Above all we were surprised at the large demand for the EPSILON 5 and ALPHA 4. Both these wings can also be used as motorgliders, and this year on our stand one could distinctly hear many dialects from the flatlands. It’s well known that both these gliders have already made many friends among the paramotor fraternity. The OMEGA 7 test glider also found itself almost permanently in the air - there was no sign of it relaxing on the stand. This wing continues to impress pilots, and so its elegant shape could frequently be admired from below.

New Reserve parachutes developed ..

2008-01-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

ADVANCE now offers two newly developed reserve parachutes, the NANO (Dwarf) and PROTECT II, which feature very fast opening performance.ADVANCE, Swing and U-Turn GmbH have formed a strategic development partnership in the field of reserve parachutes. These three companies are combining their project resources, so as to be able to bring new and topical technology on to the market at attractive prices as a result of intensive research and development.The most important feature of a reserve is its short opening time. To achieve this extremely fast opening behaviour the PROTECT II’s Rapid Inflation System (RIS) comes into effect:- the parachute has special bands which make sure that the canopy edges around the base don’t lie flat on each other. The precise pre-tension of these bands create air channels which enhance the opening qualities in the first split seconds of deployment. This means that the PROTECT II opens as fast as a small canopy, but provides the low sink rate of a large one.PARATEX RS TX40The light fabric of only 40g/sq.m is specially formulated to meet the specific demands of a reserve parachute by combining just the right relationship between weave density and weft. Paratex RS TX 40 uses both single and double polyamid threads, with the double threads cleverly worked into the weave. This creates an extremely light material with high strength and long life.

I'm back in Canada !!

2008-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

ahhhh its cold here , -14 c last night that sucks ! but Spring is comming ! I decided to come home i was lonely for my dog and to sleep in my own bed and eat my own food ! Auber was happy i was home , I will have time to take care of bills , taxes and reflect on how nice a trip it was ... it's over for this winter but i will start my plans for next fall for the remained of the trip to Argentina , the bike is sitting in Panama for my return ! I am now making plans to go to Brasil in Feb for some flying ... , then come back when it is warm again ! pictures to follow soon . cheers

Panama and area ....

2008-01-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

Well i spent about 5 days in Panama , and at first i hated it , busy and polluted compared to where i have been in the past number of weeks . The hotel was on a busy road and noisy, but the price was right , 38 dollar night . It was called Hotel Montreal ! But it was in a great area of the city and i felt totally safe at all times . The city is booming in construction, and lots of tourist. I made it finally to the canal !! It has always been a dream of mine to see this place and i was impressed ! Lots of older military bases and houses from the when the USA controlled the area are now left abandoned . The canel is surrounded with jungle and protected areas . I rode to the Colon area on the carribean coast and had a beer at Historic spanish fort , then rode 1.5 hrs back to the pacific coast and had a beer at the old USA fort . I did start to enjoy the city by the time i left and realised how much more i want to see when i go back later in the year.

Panama city !!

2008-01-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Yahooo .. i made it ! I made goal ! A lttle slow but ! Paragliding terms for those of you who don¨t know , anyways .... Yes i"m into the people the noise and the pollution . But I"m glad i can see the city i"ve dreamed about and read about ! No accidents , no banditos , just good riding and alot of nice memories . Just about 3 months ago we left , man did that pass quick ! Now i"m off to see the city the canel and the area ... cheers

Costa Rica..

2008-01-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

Well, i must say i had alot of fun in Costa Rica , I went to few national parks , saw alot of birds Tucans , macaws etc , most of the monkeys and lizards and a few others.. I met alot of foriegn tourist mainly germans... and canadians ! But I never really met many Ticans... too bad . staying at hostels you don´t really get to meet the locals and to them your just another tourist ! but i did meet some interesting people and had some fun. Now after crossing into Panama the first stop was a mountain town i was reccomended , but when i got their it was packed with people , it was Satuday and they were having a festival ... so i exited after a few hrs and rode down the road to the city of David . from here i rode south to the coast and it again was so busy i just kept riding south , now i am in Santiago . Heading toward panama city ... i guess , maybe i´ll get side tracked for a few days on the beach before i enter the confusion of the city ! cheers

Has it been 2 weeks...

2008-01-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

Well , I must confess, doing blogs is not really my thing, as you might be able to tell . While I am having fun, I keep forgetting to tell the world about it. I just crossed into Panama yesterday after leaving the OSA penninsula. The border crossing was easy and not busy, i had a couple of kids help me , one to watch my bike and the other to put every step in order , which ended up costing me 5 dollars and a coke ! Great value for the ease of the crossing !
After New years I ended up in rain for 3 days , everything was soaked , it was the hardest rain I have every rode in. Very interesting and a little dangerous ! Ended up going down to the bottom of the east coast , just before the Panama border . More rain and everything smelled like mold ... so I bolted for the west coast again made it to Uvita , a small little town below Dominical . I then visited Uvita for a few days and then went to the Osa penninsula, to see some wild life . It really is a nice place to see animals you only have seen in pictures .
Ahhh to be back where the sun is again and dry cloths... this is a nice area of Costa rica !

New website comming soon !

2008-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

Yes , Garth is building me a new site , for those of you who wonder why i haven"t changed my old tours and such ... hopefully we will have it up and running this spring ... cheers

Monteverde for new years !

2008-01-01T17:35:00.000-08:00

I went riding in the back country heading north again, towards Monteverde or the high lands it was nice to be up high and cooler riding. checked out the small towns where the tourists don"t go. Made it to Monteverde in time to do the zip line at 1:30 , 2 hrs of fun the longest highest and such in Costa rica right now , i wanted the year to go out with some fun ! I quite enjoyed it for the money .. went to a pub for the evening and celebrated the new year ! Yahoo it"s 08 !!
I left today for lake Arenal over the back trying to get lost but not such luck today just a really nice ride in some great areas along the lake . It reminded me of new Zealand alot ! I also saw my first monkeys since being here on the side of the rd, in the trees , the mother was holding a baby which was so small you could barely see it on her chest . She was eating flowers while the little one was breast feeding, so cool . Now i am in La fortuna typing and tryng to see where to go next ... hmmm well see .

Parrita for x mas !

2008-01-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

I made it to Barry and Janes house for x mas day ..they made me supper and we went boggie boarding and watched the sunset with beers in hand ! They just moved into their new house on bandaras beach north of Parrita . I spent the next few days lazing around reading , my secound book of the trip or is it the third ? hmmmm well it was nice to enjoy thier place and their company....thanks and bunch , Gracious ! I am starting run again, 2 months and about 6 dozen beer later my gut is getting bigger, i"ll look like my brother soon if i keep it up !! Stab! so working out has become a routine ... when i left Parrita i followed some back roads in to the forest and seen some Tucan birds , they are soooo cool , got lost found my way and got lost again . Nothing is marked in the back area here ... Went over a bridge and looked down into the river , lots of crocs and big as well 20 ft long.. , went paragliding on an evening flight in Caldara, saw the locals place to fly !

A sweet week in the sun !

2008-01-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, they really have some nice beaches here , first stop was in the famous Tamarindo beach area , did"t really care for this area too developed and too many Canadians !! It was like a mini anybeach in America , complete with the bitching when the auto teller does not work , people are so stupid , they expect everything to work here like back at home . well f**%4uckin stay at home then. Enough said ... a day here was all i could handle. I slipped down the coastal rd checking out a bunch of beaches and areas and ende up staying in Sumara for x mas eve. This was a nice small town and not too over developed yet , the rd in here was through lots of forest and water crossing and swimming holes ! sweet ! I called it iguana road ....

Felix anos everyone !

2008-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well , what a fun time i had trying to cross the border into Cosata rica , the day started out leaving San juan de sol just acroos the border . I decided to take a back rd .. ha... well i was in the boonnies , army guards checking me out thinking i"m smuggling some thing . 2 checkpoints looking for guns and dope. Then i thinking maybe it was not such a good idea to be by myself along the border in the middle of the mountains in Nicaragua. Well no problems except for this long hill which was all mud and ruts oh shit ! Well half way up i spun out and fell over and got stuck in the mud ! It was so hot out , 90% humidity .. about 1 hr of stuggling , pushing, swearing and laughing got me to the top . A few trips up and down to collect my cloths and helmet , the rest was smooth except when i hit a mud hole and crashed again , that shit is slippery for anything .. well i arrived at the border with mud all over me and the bike , i was quite the suprise for a few . I think all of costa rica was trying to get back to Nicarugua for x mas. It was either wait in line for 5 hrs joining the line about 2000 people , or pay for some service , 35 dollars and 1 hrs later i was out of Nicarugua . Now i had to enter Costa rica ! another 2 hrs and a few more dollars and i was heading for the beach .
I did fall again this day ... i was putting my kick stand down on a slight up hill trying to get my music on and over i went ... shit , you just have to laugh at my stupidity sometimes !!

Stilladrift in Nicaragua....

2007-12-22T16:08:00.000-08:00

Peach and i drifted apart on high tide , he left me for another woman ! He bolted down too Panama to meet his girl , that was good now i can slow down a bit and look around . I spent 2-3 day in Laguna de Apoyo , relaxing swimming and looking around the area . Nice area and they have a flying site as well . Canadian woman owns a hostel of sorts on the lake, really a nice friendly place to hang out . I then went over to Lake Nicaragua and took the bike on a fairy to an island on the lake , it has 2 volcano´s on it and about 40,000 people , lots to do but it was rainy and windy both day i was their .. oh well . Yesterday i loaded up and went to San Jaun del Sur , on the lower coast just before Costa Rica . Hopefully i will get over the border tomorrow and spend x mas somewhere in Costa Rica, The beaches here are nice , good for surfing supposed to be the top 5 surf beaches in the world. Lots of tourist and a small town which looks lot it will boom soon. I think Nicaragua will be the next Costa Rica for tourists and for buying land . Have a good x mas everyone !!

Nicaraugua Rocks !!

2007-12-16T18:57:00.000-08:00

Well we did get away from Honduras today but it took us about 2 hrs to get some american money out for a casa de cambio , so a late start getting out of the capital and traffis and getting lost etc , so we ended up heading south to Danli near the border ,, next morning border x ing was easy compared too getting into Honduras , which was 5 hrs , this crossing took us about 1 hr , we felt way different here the roads were nicer the people seemed nicer , no guns, not alot of guns . This county feels good ... found some pilots whom were out flying and watched them fly , Looked into the centre of a volcano which is still smoking .. found a new cool beautiful flying site ,, this place is nice ... watch for some pics ... cheers

2 days in the capital Teguciglapa

2007-12-14T06:46:00.000-08:00

We rode today from the coast, inland over some cool mountains with lots of good flying sites , and nice clouds .. good thing we didn't bring wings with us we would always be flying. we noticed today that this is not tha safest of countries , lots of people carry guns and there are gaurds all over even at small gas stations , we asked sme of the locals about some routes on the smaller backroads and they suggested against it, lots of banditos ! So after about 5 hrs and one of the worst rides of the trip we made it to the city. They main hwy here from the largest port is packed with trucks and slow moving everything . the rd is very curvy and mountainous . I was getting sick of diesel fumes and long lines trying to pass , so we ended up passing alot on the right hand side of the rd , which is also very dangerous ... oh boy ut it had to be done other wise i was going to puke . We made it to the cty and are staying with Jeffery a paragliding pilot from Canada whom lives here part time . yesterday was spent washing , cleaning and putting new rubber on our bikes , it took a few hrs riding around the city but we did find the right size tires , just not as aggeesive as we wanted more of a street tire, but it beats running without tread .I did get 5000 miles on the stock tire so that's pretty good , 5000 + miles from Las Vegas already .... yah baby ! Today the 14th we leave for Nicaragua.. lets see how the border x ing is

What a day ...

2007-12-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

We rode to the port city of Peurto Barrios, after we decide the day before to skip going into Belize , too much hassle with customs, bikes and such to only spend a few days in the country and we ad heard from a few it was not that nice anyways . We again decided to head into Honduras , as time is running out for peach to make it to Panama for x mas. Today we had a big hassle at the border getting the bikes into Honduras after telling the customs fofficers in Guatemala that we had documents for the bikes to have them into the country , their was a bit of a flurry on this and again we sweet talked our way out of it. We hit the border x ing in Honduras at lunch so we had too wait, Then we paid money and then i had to give a ride to this guy 55km to Peurto Cortes on the back of my bike to start the paper work . 4 hrs later sitting outside and lots of paper work we were legally in Honduras . Rode down the coast and found a nice hotel in Omoa for the night ... good seafood again!!

La libertad to Rio dulcea

2007-12-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

Nice to finally wake up someplace warm , foggy in the morning and started off by 9 am heading north east towards Tikal, Stopped for breakfast and a lake and a town called Flores , nice area and a stopping point for the mayan ruins to the north of us. We decide we had had enough
of the mayans , so we didn't go to see them . Heading south now was a better option, really liked this area rolling hills turing to small mountians and lots of jungle . Made it to a small town El Rellano near th coast and stayed at a hostel \ hotel right on the water , it is a fresh water river which flows into the ocean here. Met some travellers here whom work at the local orphanage school, they do good work for the local kids and help them have a decent life of sorts , better than they would if they lived onthe street or at home . Good seafood !

Were in Honduras now !

2007-12-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

welllll.. how time flys when your having fun . We headed down the hwy towards La Frontere border crossing with Guatemala. nice ride most of the way , lots of Jungle . Hit this small town , not much their, no gas, no banks. Found out that this was only a crossing for foot passengers and we could not clear our bikes out of Mexico , big problem in a way , as we had too give a security deposit to the customs when we entered Mexico and now we had to prove that the bikes were leaving Mexico, or face getting our deposit for fitted . We decided to take the chance and cross here othewise we would have to ride about another 400km to a decent border x ing . The border is a large river between the 2 countries. Only ferries are small ponga type boats , very narrow and long . Well after negotiating a price and finding an ok place to load we lifted them onto the boats . 1 boat per bike , i was a little tense , if it went over in this river , the trip would end quickly. We made it to the other side in about 10 minutes first up river then down then back up again , it was a great adventure and we were now in Guatemala! The roads changed and the towns were much poorer. Pigs and dogs everywhere... we were riding quite fast and i noticed a building off to the side ... immigration..we stopped and got our passports checked
and said he could not do the bikes here and we would have to go back to mexico ... duh well after some sweet talk and a chat with the police he said to go without it. yahoo ... we rode for another couple hrs when it started to and get darkand then pour rain ,so we stopped at a little resturante to dry off and eat and they also had a room for us so we put in for the night , another interesting day...
s

New pictures finally uploaded...

2007-12-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yes , i finally remembered my username and password for picasa...so now the photo¨s of Mexico are up, also photos of peach´s are on this site http://www.picasaweb.google.ca/pitsch67/ My photos can be viewed under
Tours site and Pictures button...... below New´s and upcomming events , cheers

hhhm .. trying to remember.

2007-12-08T06:15:00.000-08:00

Now where did we stay last night ? small town , mexican , had a church, well it was somewhere in the middle of nowhere.. again ! but the rooms were really nice and they had hot water... bonus ! It was a mining town for marble and stone and such . Had supper at the market, comsome and some chicken ... not much . We just turned over 12,000 km on the trip. hard to believe. As we decided to head towards the cuoata hwy heading for Orizaba , now we start to pay , but like peach said , at least we don´t have to pass 5000 cars and trucks a day , and can look around a bit . Set the cruise at 100km /hr and managed to get down the east coast 600km or more , we are now in Vellahermosa. The day was a mixture of cold and hot riding as usual dress warm then as the day goes on stip down . The volcano near Orizaba was neat , mexico´s largest small bit of snow on the top . Humid as we approched the east coast near Veracruz the day went by quick . We tried to find tires for our bikes in town here but ... no good, they said it would take 3 days to bring them in, and we don´t have 3 days. Our tires are wearing out i have 6000 km on them we hope to0 leave today for Planque mayan ruins and hopefully into Guatamala, heading for Tikal ruins ... well see . But at least its warm out finally ... now if i can only remember my password to my picassa site. to download the pictures ??? cheers

Valle to ??

2007-12-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

We had a late start today I wanted to see some of my paragliding buddies say goodbye, we ended up going out of town past penon launch trying to skirt around the volcano on the west side , well it was a nice rd untill we got lost, sort of and headed too much west. Spent the night at a small hotel, 200 peso for the night , or about 20 dollars for 2 of us. No night riding in this area we were warned .. we were pushing our luck too much . This town was cool, pearched on a mountain with drop off´s on all sides .... we left here early the next morning and are finding lots of donkeys and cattle on the roads now , had to slam on the breaks more than a few times , quality of the roads is getting worse as we head south. Made it to Igualla , and then east from here , have decided to hit the toll rds on the east coast to make some km. Finding the roads too slow and too much traffic , we are going to try to make it south tommorrow heading for the border . peach´s time is running out he has too be in Panama at christmas to meet his GF.. well see ...

Talpalpa to Valle de Bravo !!

2007-12-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

Woke up at dawn again, wached the sun rise ,what and nice view from launch ! Made a quick exit south towards Colima , trying to make it too Valle , rode hard all day today ,, lots of traffic, on narrow roads thru lots of small town , we are trying to aviod the toll rds ! We made it to valle after dark again , very cold but nice to be somewhere familiar . The last 2 hrs of the ride were great , riding in pine forest thru some parks and curvy rds . We ended up spending 2 nights in Valle I got to say hi to most of my buddies.. it was good to see all of them again ! lots of politics going on so i´m glad i´m not working their anymore ! We road around checked out the penon launch and went up to the monach butterflies , but it started to rain , we got soaked ! It was the hardest rain i have ever seen here , and new snow on the Volcano.. bye bye Valle it was nice !

PV overland to Talpapa

2007-12-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

After bugging dean for a few days washing cñoths and hanging out.. it was time to leave again , we exited the back way straight west on a new highway which has been built in the last few years . It was a great rd , nice and windy and fairly good pavement , we sure know how to wind the bike out now . had a good ride through varied terrain , jungle of the coast and very hot to upper mountains at 5000' ft. Agian always changing cloths through out the day , we took mainly rds which were not traveeled much and came out behind Talpalpa launch north of Colima , arriving again at dark , I hate this..taking so many chances , idiot drivers, dogs or donkey´s on the rd after dark ! Anyways got to the paragliding site at dark , met up with an old freind who owns it , he gave us a place to stay and a few beers to put use to bed , thanks ! This site I have to come back and fly some day .... any takers who want to come ?

PV and Dean´s place

2007-12-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

We followed the coast after a late start today, ran into 2 others on KLR´s heading down from Montana , retired and spending the winter in Ixtapa south of PV . Nice winter for them then they are riding back again in the spring ! We contacted a paragliding friend in PV abd said we could stay with him in his penthouse in a swanky hotel , yeah !! We spent a few days looking around PV, oilchanges on the bikes , cleaned them and fixed stuff which need to be fixed . Funny thing , we were in the mall having a coffee in the morning and in walks Frank kerrnick.... He was down on a holiday and we just happed to be in the same place at the same time ? wwwwweird ! Well you know Frank... we went out that night and got drunk !! bar hopping in PV , but listened to some good local bands. I toured peach around showing him PV went swimming in the river up at the Mismiloya river and at at Boca de tomatlan .. GREAT DAY..

Durango to San Blas...

2007-12-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

We started early again this morning , headed into the very polluted city and directly out again without stopping ! The ride west of Durango was one of my best pavement days ever , it follows down a canyon towards the coast , we had 4 hrs of windy rds.... peach said he counted 17 turns per kilometer or about 2000 turns or more, the scenery was fantastic when we could look , and the road was in great shape with little traffic so we really tested the bikes out and wore the rubber off the side of the tires !! We wound our way down to the west coast , south of Mazitlan. By this time it was so hot 3 in the afternoon, we decided to try for Puerto Vallarta. It was slow going ... more traffic and delays , we made it to San Blas north of PV, a cool little coastal town for surfers , nice beaches, and fresh water crocs . Beer sure was good !

Let¨s get back to some heat...

2007-12-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

This morning was really cold , frost on everything , started the day as sunrise , as we have to put some miles on we are behind our shedule. we rode about 12hrs today, covered lots of ice , mud and heat . By lunch we were on the praries and rolling hills , nice area reminded my of Australia, some scares on the rd , with a few drivers comming into my lane on the corners , close call with a gaurd rail ! Rode into the night looking for a Hotel and stayed at a love shack. Ended the night north of Durango , Mexico .

Parqe de cobre...

2007-12-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

Creel was a cool tourist type town , met a guy fron Texas who runs tours their in sept oct . for bikers and quads . He gave use the rundown of the place , we had to wash our bikes before heading into the canyon, they were about 40 lbs too heavy with all the mud on them . The german guy decided not to go with use we got him into too much trouble the day before .. and the start of this day would have been the same for him a super windy rd going in , then contruction , so more mud , we can´t seem to get away from the snow ! After an incredible ride down into Bioplates bottom of the canyon , it was warm enough that we had to strip the cold cloths off again we dropped 6ooo'ft in 1 hr , nice area , had lunch and fixed a few bike problems , missing screws, bolts and a loose battery connection. The locals told us a short cut out of the canyon , well 3 hrs later and some really bumpy roads we were back at the rim again at sunset ! Back into the snow , cold weather cloths on again, riding in snow and mud at night , in the middle for f/&%$758king nowhere . We managed to find out way into a village asked some local women about a hotel , they thought we weer missionaries !! ha. The store was actually a hotel as well , but not much of one , still a place out of the cold. She then walked us across the street to a litte old ladies house and asked if she could feed us ! The best meal we have had in Mexico so far !

The days are flying by ....

2007-12-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well yes, as you can guess i am terrible at keeping this up too date, either we are in the middle of nowhere or I am too tired or had too much beer to write .... most of the time we ride hard all day and it is too late by the time I eat, then look for and internet cafe. Well my last post was comming into Mexico. we travelled thur some wild areas in the north . Very beautiful and desolate , lots of time no one was on the same road as us for hrs at a time . On our 3 rd day in Mexico north of creel , we started to climb in altitude and ..... we hit snow and lots of it , temp dropped to -3 c, and on went all the warm cloths , thank god for the heated vest , I also needed hand warmers but had to leave them on the other bike , not thinking i would have use for them again.. ha I could have used them a half dozen times already !
We had slow going for 3 days only doing 1oo km some days ice , snow , mud , we both took numerous wipeouts but peatch won here . no one was husrt and the bikes did good , the racks and pelican cases were great for protection. We had a German biker join use for a day on a BMW650 , ha this was our slowest day . The mud got so deep that his front tire stopped turning and was skidding along , so it was really slow going . and lots of wipeouts for him , he finally got pissed enough that he loaded his bike on a truck and paid for it to get hauled to the next town. I have some great photo´s when I can get them loaded again . After a hard day and slow going we made it to creel which is at the top of cooper canyon.

viva la mexico....

2007-12-01T20:16:00.000-08:00

Yes we made it , cleared customs thu arizona on the 21st , a place called lukeville ? hmm easy crossing , went thru here so we could get permits for bikes to enter the mainland part of Mexico. Got drunk the night before with a Canadian guy who we met in the bar , he lives in Yuma , said we could crash in his house. Had a fire pit in his back yard and he played the guitar and we drank lots of beer .....bad hangover next day . Did oil changes on the bike, looked around yuma and went out to the sand dunes south along the border and watched incredibly expensive dune buggies rip up the slopes .... after entering we learned how to ride in deep sand for 30km , what a workout getting unstuck, but it was fun...

Brasil Tour Dates Change !!!!

2007-11-19T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hi , I have just learned that , they have now decided on having a competition on the week I wanted to run the tour, so I will run the tour after the comp. New dates are March 10-20 In Valadares , come on out let's go flying someplace warm and fun. Lots of x-c potential , great night life, excellent food and lots of pilots from all over the world to chat with . Please let me know if your interested asap , Remember to get your travel visa early.. good for 5 yrs. cheers

What day is it ?

2007-11-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and i don't have a clue what the date is and i don't care, how cool is that !
It has been a couple of days of driving here and their and lots of phone calls ! The end results are the bike ran low on oil , i guess it pushed out thru the exhaust and the top end over heated ! So something must have let loose to cause the oil to run low , i just did an oil change 10 days earlier. I didn't check the oil the day i left but had done 3 days earlier , so where did it all go ? Well Kawasaki covered the problems and said they would rebuild the top end but not everything ... I was not happy with this ... it over heated and i still have to ride this bike down into South America. I decided to buy a new bike with a fresh engine . It's funny but i have been complaining to peachly about this engine since before the trip started, saying that something did not feel right with it . It would pop alot comming down hills, backfire many times and run rough in some sections . It was like the valves were not shimmed right or timming was off . I took it to a dealer in Carson city and he said not to worry about it , that the valves don't need adjusting and it was probably the altitude. hmmmm So today i bought a new bike and will ride the old one back to Canada in the springtime... today i swap everything over and put some breakin miles on it. Fun Fun . Now i'm holding us in Las Vegas... thanks peach and gabreille for being so patient .... so it continues !

Pissedandbroke on Route 66

2007-11-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable ... we finally left the grips of Las vegas, the ride south was smooth sailing untill about 3 hrs into the trip . We stopped to check directions as we exited the Mojave Desert , just outside of Amboy , and i noticed my bike sounding louder than normal. Driving done the rd another couple of km we stopped again at a Gas station being rebuilt and that as far as i wanted to go with her. I put a quart of oil in and it just barely reqistared on the window , holly shit ! where did my oil go ?? The knocking did not go away so plan B ..... one of the locals offered to give us a ride anywhwhere we wanted to go ...he had a truck and a trailer!! Dave was his name nicest guy you could meet, probably in the whole of the USA! We were so lucky to have broken down here of all places if you have to break down .. loaded up the bikes and headed back to Las Vegas . Dave had a couple of rules , he likes to drive slow and you had to tolerate his smoking.... ( the good stuff ) shit . 3 hrs later we were back at Gabrielle's house ! The ride was great driving in the desert, clear night stars were out , things aren't that bad we had a good buzz on and were in the desert with our new friend who makes Diesel motor bikes in his spare time !

Seems like were stuck here !!!

2007-11-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Las vegas has us , well peachly anyways ... peach has so much to do... change tires, upload new maps, send crap back to swizerland etc. I am waiting to leave but it gives me time to do this blog and set up the photo's , I don't know how i will manage the photo's from the road but will try to update things as i go along , be patient ,we will now leave tomorrow for Joshua Tree National park then Mexico ! My photo's can be looked at via my website or on the link , hope you enjoy !http://picasaweb.google.ca/paraglidecanada/MotorbikeTrip02 cheers everyone !

November 10th

2007-11-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

After working on the bikes this morning and cleaning the dust of of everything, we headed north toward Coral sand dunes and Zion National park. This is one of the most beautiful parks that i have ever been too. The light was great , the fall colors were out , yes it i warmer down here and some of the trees are still green , Another creation beyond belief . It makes me feel small and insignificant this place is timeless . We had a long ride back to Las vegas about 3 hrs on the hwy , boring !! Hope to head to California tomorrow? well see ...

Heading east ?

2007-11-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

Well being we are so close to Grand canyon , I thought we had better check it out while were down this way. We visited Lake Mead, then camped the night at valley of Fire, could not see the valley as we got in after dark , but in the morning it was amazing.. I will try to post some pctures soon as i figure it out ! Valley of fire is a small area but do neat red rocks of sand stone and scuptured by wind and rain ... over to the townof Mesquite afterthis and over the Mtn range heading south to Grand Canyon , met up with some locals whom asked how we found this road ,, we told them good ole GPS they were suprised , it was really rough and technical riding for the next few hrs , good work out. The rd then turned to dust and i had to stay back aways to avoid eating peacly's dirt . We arrived at Toweap in the middle of nowhere Grand canyon ... no tourists here , no busses , no facilities , no gaurd rails !! We walked up to the edge and looked 2oooft straight down, it was incredible ! We left the canyon at about 4pm and headed north to Kanab , which is just over the border into Utah. My bike started to act up on the way i could not go over 70km /hr , this was by far the dustiest part of our trip so far ! Peachly was behind so it was not problem for me , while driving i just missed hitting a horse doing about 60km /hr . It was running across the rd in front of me and i had to swerve and hit the brkes hard , holy shit ! Wild horses night time and dausty rds , a recipe to an accident , if my bike was not acting up i probably would have hit it . Anyways , solved the problem by washing out my airfilter, it was clogged with a fine dust ... cleaned it up , we did find about 3 - 4 bolts missing from peachly bike , 1 frame bolt, 1 rack/ carrier bolt, 1 exhaust bolt ,, went to the local bike shop and got replacements in the morning, I told him to use Blue loctite !