0:00

While we all love day trips with other

0:02

riders, whether it's from a hotel room or

0:04

our own back door, day trips can be full-on

0:07

adventures. And having a few others along for the ride

0:09

not only makes it safer for the obvious reason,

0:12

but just makes the ride more fun in so many ways.

0:14

I mean, you get to share it with someone, take breaks with

0:16

someone, learn from another rider, but

0:19

you've got the benefit also of having others

0:21

to work together if the going gets tough.

0:24

And if you don't ride with others, well, how could you

0:26

possibly take Clinton Smout's advice of

0:28

letting your friend go first? Today

0:30

on our exclusive Rider Skills program, we've got some tips

0:33

for riding with others, as well as

0:35

what a motorcycle instructor slash guide

0:37

packs for his day trips, which may get you thinking

0:39

about what you pack for yours. I'm

0:42

Jim Martin. This is Adventure Rider Radio. Stay

0:44

with us. We got a good one for you. I'm

0:46

Sam Manickam. Ted Simons. Mr.

0:49

Pence. Bill Brugu. Have you heard of... Jocelyn

0:51

Snow.

0:52

Charlie Borman. Simon Thomas. I'm

0:54

a big fan of the one-man show. I love it. I love

0:56

it. Lisa Chavez. Grant

0:59

Johnson. Gwen Chavez. Clinton

1:01

Smout. And you're listening to Adventure Rider Radio.

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1:42

Well, welcome to another Adventure Rider

1:44

Radio Rider Skills program. Rider

1:46

Skills is an exclusive program we developed here at

1:48

Adventure Rider Radio designed to give you tools that can improve

1:50

your riding skills both on and off road.

1:53

Now, of course, these segments are not meant to be a substitute

1:55

for professional training. These are ideas and

1:57

concepts that should you choose to try, you're doing well.

1:59

doing so at your own risk. Now

2:02

today I'm joined by Clinton Smout from

2:04

Smart Adventures in Ontario, Canada, but Clinton

2:06

is not at work per se.

2:28

Well here we are for another Rider Skills with Clinton

2:31

Smout. Clinton, welcome back.

2:33

Hi Jim.

2:34

You're on another adventure aren't you? I

2:37

mean I know you are.

2:38

I have a charmed life. I'm so

2:40

lucky to be out here. And

2:43

it's your old province in Canada,

2:45

beautiful

2:46

British Columbia. Yeah, that's

2:49

amazing. So you're on the on the 80 VX thing

2:51

that we talked about before about you going on

2:53

it. And what do you do

2:55

like day two or three?

2:56

We just finished the third day,

2:59

but the second day riding.

3:00

Ah right, so the riding is really boring

3:03

and you know, uneventful. Horrible

3:05

Jim, you wouldn't like it at all. Thanks, I

3:07

appreciate that. So

3:10

it's gorgeous isn't it? I mean, so what

3:12

do you ride anyway, as far as trails and things

3:14

go? Describe it a little bit. Yeah,

3:16

well from where we are, this

3:18

particular tour is called a hub and

3:21

spoke. It's a supported ride. So

3:23

participants bikes were shipped here

3:25

from wherever in Canada they lived.

3:28

So a few from Quebec,

3:30

lots from Ontario, BC,

3:33

Manitoba, Saskatchewan. And

3:35

then we've made our way

3:37

to Sun Peaks Resort up in

3:39

the mountains of beautiful BC. And

3:42

then each day we venture out

3:45

in two groups and

3:48

we go out different routes each

3:50

day and then come back each night to

3:52

Sun Peaks. Wow.

3:55

And what's the riding like? Phenomenal.

3:59

There's lots of great.

3:59

Travel lots of good trails and

4:02

phenomenal twisty paved

4:04

roads to get to those

4:07

So it's quite a mix a

4:09

lot of elevation I'm loving the

4:11

hills because as you know a ski

4:14

hill in Ontario where my little

4:17

school is

4:18

That would be called a bump in Western

4:21

Canada, it's funny though You don't really think that

4:23

when you're when you're used to seeing it all the time do you it's

4:25

only when you go there and you? See mountains

4:28

and then all of a sudden you realize wow This

4:31

really belittles our hills in

4:33

Ontario it

4:34

does and what's fantastic Is

4:37

in order to get up and over

4:40

a mountain and down the other side because

4:42

it's so steep Engineers

4:45

who built the roads and trails they

4:47

have zigzaggy routes

4:50

which are switchbacks so

4:52

there's tons of very very steep

4:54

up hills and then a sharp and

4:57

turn

4:58

to pick you the other direction and then

5:01

back so kind of a zed pattern and

5:04

That's so much fun and gravel to

5:06

go around The team

5:08

who is running this event. It's

5:10

a gentleman named Ryan Austin and

5:13

he's got a total of 12 people here

5:16

I was flabbergasted with the size

5:19

of the support staff. So

5:21

it's been incredibly slick and

5:23

well organized Oh Like

5:26

I have a name tag and

5:28

there's like a barcode

5:31

on it. So they scan that

5:33

When I pick up my bagged lunch

5:35

for the day, which means I'm out

5:38

and I have to sign back in which

5:40

I keep forgetting to do when

5:43

you come back in and We're

5:46

all on the staff are on a whatsapp

5:48

program. So I'm getting

5:51

these reminders Clinton

5:53

are you back in you didn't sign back in

5:57

So tomorrow I must remember that

5:59

So it's very, very organized. So

6:02

when you're out riding during the day, how,

6:04

like, is the group all together all the time or is everybody

6:06

splitting off and going on their own?

6:08

Well, because it's such integral

6:11

trails with lots of rights and

6:13

less, GPS

6:16

technology is fantastic, but

6:18

there's so many different brands and

6:21

styles. You need

6:23

back country maps downloaded

6:27

and a lot of people didn't have

6:29

that. So the organizers thought

6:32

it would safer and more

6:34

efficient to have a lead

6:36

rider, a few participants,

6:38

another staff member, a

6:40

few more participants. I think

6:43

there was five kind

6:45

of support riders in my group

6:47

yesterday and today and 15

6:50

participants. So

6:54

an advanced team goes out and

6:56

they put trail markers up, big

6:58

signs with arrows to indicate

7:01

to the group which way to turn

7:03

left and right. So we've got

7:06

two systems, physical people who

7:08

know the route leading, but

7:11

if you get separated, you just

7:13

follow the signs. Oh, I see.

7:16

Wow, that's really good. It does sound very organized

7:19

and it still has a flavor of

7:21

adventure though, right? I mean, it doesn't feel like you're just following

7:23

a bunch of people around. I know you're

7:25

working.

7:26

Yeah, yes, hard work. But

7:30

it's amazing

7:33

how well, in any of these events

7:35

you've done them, there's a great camaraderie

7:38

buildup. Today, there was some pretty technical

7:40

stuff when people were cheering

7:42

each other on folks

7:45

as they felt too intimidated to go

7:47

down these drop offs or steep

7:49

hills. There was willing

7:51

and able staff members to take their

7:53

bike down for them. But for the most

7:56

part, everybody tried it. And

7:58

because There's a lot of instructor

8:01

types here. There'd be a

8:04

very diplomatic and pleasant

8:06

lesson delivery before

8:08

the technical stuff. Hey, gather

8:10

around folks. Let's chit

8:13

chat about how do we go up a steep,

8:15

rocky hill? You know, body

8:18

position, cover the clutch, momentum.

8:21

I added, of course, let

8:24

your friend go first. Funny.

8:27

We were just talking about that. We just recorded raw

8:29

for September. I used you as

8:32

an example. Actually, you'll have to hear that. I've

8:34

let your friend go first, but well,

8:37

it's great because you and I had planned on talking

8:39

about group riding. Yeah. Not,

8:41

there's not an organized group like what you're on

8:44

necessarily, but riding with your buddies

8:46

and more informal group riding. So we

8:48

plan to talk about this. And it's kind of interesting that you're out on a

8:50

group ride right now, enjoying yourself as

8:53

much as it is supposed to hard work.

8:55

Yeah. So, um, so group rides,

8:57

where do we start with this? I mean, we, I guess we could

8:59

talk about some general precautions, but what we're

9:02

talking about here is, you know, when you go with

9:04

your buddy for, um, for a day trip or

9:06

you maybe join another group and

9:08

there's a distinct difference in that in between

9:11

those two. And I wanted to point that out to begin with is that

9:13

if you go out with your buddy or a couple of buddies, you

9:15

can always talk about things. And I'm sure you do. You

9:18

talk about things before you go, Hey, how are we going to do this?

9:21

Or what are you going to do if you stop? Or maybe, you know, their

9:23

style and you, you have a riding style that

9:25

you, uh, you adhere to in the group where

9:28

you know how to follow somebody, you know, what sort of distance

9:30

and you know, what's going to happen if somebody disappears, what

9:32

the procedure is. But if you join a

9:34

group, you may not have that, uh,

9:36

ability to say how things are going to

9:38

run. Somebody else is doing it and they're going to do it their

9:41

way.

9:41

So maybe if, if we could clean,

9:43

if we could just start there, cause I'm kind of curious how you

9:45

would handle it. If you went to ride

9:48

and you just sort of met up with people and they said, Hey,

9:50

you know, good to meet you. Why don't you come out and ride with your

9:52

group? However, it happens. You join the group

9:54

to ride. What do you do? Do you do

9:57

sort of lay down the law? What's him to say?

9:59

Well, this is Zoué or how

10:01

do you handle that?

10:02

Yeah, I think there's some diplomacy

10:05

involved, but there's got to be some chit

10:07

chat and communication at the beginning.

10:10

That's, I think, paramount.

10:12

Meet at a coffee shop, parking

10:15

lot. Once everybody arrives,

10:18

someone has to put their hand up

10:20

and say, you know, should we talk

10:22

about a couple of things about the ride?

10:24

Like, is everybody comfortable going

10:27

on the express way or the freeway or do

10:29

we want to ride back roads? And

10:31

you kind of get a group consensus. But

10:35

I think it's got to be very calm

10:37

the way it's presented and ask questions

10:39

because a lot of people won't put their hand

10:41

up because they're intimidated. So I

10:45

think speed should be discussed. Is

10:48

everybody okay with the odd time, like 10

10:50

miles an hour over the speed limit

10:53

kilometers an hour? What

10:55

a lot of people will do is speed

10:59

enough that they're not getting demerit

11:01

points. So, you know,

11:03

not in our province, it's 15

11:06

kilometers over the posted speed

11:08

limit, you start accumulating

11:11

points that will affect your license and

11:13

insurance and your wallet. After

11:16

that, it might be

11:19

a very small ticket and most

11:21

police officers are not

11:23

looking for the person doing nine

11:25

kilometers over the posted speed

11:27

limit.

11:29

What do you do? How do you, like,

11:31

what if you went for a ride and you and I've had

11:33

this happen before, you don't like the riding

11:36

style of the group and you want to back

11:38

out. So do you sort of, do you sort of talk with

11:41

them in advance about that or how do you do

11:43

it?

11:44

I think somebody,

11:47

whoever organized a group or the

11:49

email that went out to everybody, someone's

11:53

kind of leading

11:54

and that's the person that should

11:57

have a little bit of responsibility

11:59

in.

11:59

getting information from the other. So

12:02

I asked for input. Now

12:04

you ask 10 people, you might get 10 different

12:07

opinions, but if nine

12:09

of them say, no, man, to keep

12:11

the group together, we're going to run all the red

12:13

lights. I don't want to be in that

12:15

group. Don't like up a T.

12:18

I think that's really important. If

12:20

you're not comfortable with the pace

12:23

or the attitude

12:25

towards safety, then

12:28

don't ride with that group. Find somebody

12:31

else that's going to match more your

12:33

interests. Very, very important.

12:36

Right. And what do you do? Do you sort of grab a person

12:38

at the back or something and say, Hey, I'm cutting out. Like,

12:40

you know what I mean? If you've started on the run already

12:43

and you want to leave. Yeah, I think

12:45

if you can pull

12:47

up beside them and give them cut

12:50

the throat signal, you can climb

12:52

out some kind of suggestion

12:56

because otherwise they might worry about you

12:58

and come back looking for you. That's what I'm saying.

13:01

The bushes has gone off a corner.

13:04

So it would be nice. Yeah. It's not really fair to

13:06

do to somebody to take on like that. That

13:09

makes sense. Okay. So did

13:11

you have more there? Just

13:14

that your own life preservation is paramount.

13:18

That should be first and foremost. You don't

13:20

feel comfortable. Ride above

13:23

your comfort level in speed

13:25

or cornering pace or

13:28

running through traffic signals just

13:31

to keep up with the group. There's strangers

13:33

maybe even you don't even know them.

13:36

It's, you know, it's one of

13:38

those things that is very difficult though, isn't it? Like,

13:40

as you mentioned about riding too fast to try and

13:42

keep up, it's very easy to

13:44

fall into that with a group. And

13:47

it's, um,

13:48

I guess it's just you. You have to work on, you

13:50

know, your. Self your ego of, okay,

13:53

I'm going to be the last person or okay. I'm going to, I'm

13:55

just going to be behind rather than

13:57

trying to push yourself to keep up.

13:59

Yes, and a good group

14:02

leader with some experience or training

14:05

will

14:06

appreciate the slingshot

14:08

effect. So if

14:11

you take off from the stop

14:13

sign, I've got to go pretty

14:16

fast to catch up to you if

14:18

you leave before me. So

14:23

then as a group, you

14:25

start decelerating for the next

14:27

stop sign or red light. I'm

14:30

still doing fast, fast pace

14:33

to catch up. So there's that

14:35

bungee cord with flash

14:38

slingshot effect that can be very

14:40

dangerous people if they don't look

14:43

far enough down the road and adjust

14:46

their speed. So if

14:48

you're leading a group, you should probably

14:50

start decelerating

14:53

for a stop or a corner

14:56

sooner than you would if you were riding

14:58

by yourself because you appreciate

15:01

what's happening behind you. It's like

15:03

a slinky. That's

15:05

a better analogy. I'm

15:08

thinking that some of the stuff you

15:10

would want to discuss before you

15:12

go, let's talk about that first. So what

15:14

would that be? Things like stops

15:17

and go ahead. Yeah, first

15:19

of all, maybe where's our destination?

15:23

So if you do get a red light and you don't

15:25

feel like running it just to keep up to people,

15:28

be kind of nice to know where the restaurant

15:30

is that you're planning and going.

15:33

Or hope you see them in the parking lot.

15:35

So I'd kind of like to know the

15:37

destination and the kind of road

15:39

choices that the group is planning. Highway,

15:42

gravel, what is the plan

15:45

if the group gets separated?

15:48

Are they hooked up on comms

15:50

with their helmets? Do they have radios?

15:53

Or does the lead rider wisely

15:56

pick a big, safe parking lot?

15:59

lot

16:00

to pull over that

16:02

has the length

16:04

of parking lot that he can get the number

16:06

of riders off the road safely

16:09

behind her or him. But

16:13

it's still visible to the

16:16

rider who got separated and they're trying

16:18

to catch up. He can't turn

16:21

down the side street and go into a parking

16:23

lot unless you're trying to hide from that

16:25

person. That would work.

16:28

Okay, so that makes perfect sense. You

16:31

want to know where you're going, you know, routes,

16:33

I guess, things like that. What others,

16:35

I mean, some of the stuff that I'm thinking of that you like

16:37

to talk about, and it can go sort

16:40

of unsaid, I think, like I said, if you're riding with

16:43

people you ride with all the time, but particularly if you're riding

16:45

with someone new, what about things

16:47

like how far are you going to go before

16:49

you stop or what do you do at a turn, those type

16:51

of things?

16:52

Yeah, excellent ideas. So

16:55

fuel range, if you're going on a day ride,

17:00

I think if you're thirsty, hungry,

17:02

need to washroom, somebody else does.

17:05

So there should be scheduled breaks.

17:07

Riding for hours

17:10

and hours and hour can get very monotonous

17:13

and the physical elements of wind,

17:16

cold, rain, whatever it is, riders

17:19

will really appreciate being able

17:21

to pull over and stop. You're

17:23

not doing an iron butt rally, you're

17:25

just out for a ride with your buddies.

17:29

So definitely the

17:31

group where

17:33

maybe there's a lot of cigarette smokers.

17:36

Every 20 minutes I see the turn signal go

17:38

on because they're pulling over again for another

17:40

smoke go. I don't want to be

17:42

with that group. Not my

17:45

cup of tea. I don't mind them smoking

17:47

as long as they're not right beside me. But

17:49

it seems like you just get into the top

17:51

gear. Oh my God, the turn signal is on

17:53

again.

17:56

But, you

17:57

know, are we going to ride staggered?

17:59

if they're fairly new to riding

18:02

with others, should

18:05

that be described and explained?

18:08

I think staggered was really invented

18:11

as you come into congested areas.

18:14

So, sorry, just, Clint, before you get it, let's

18:17

explain that fully, what that is, Staggers. Some people

18:19

may not be aware of what it is. Yeah. So

18:21

you're talking about riding formation here, while you're riding along. Right.

18:24

So on our side of the globe, where

18:28

we ride on the right-hand side

18:30

of the road, imagine there's only

18:33

one lane going north. Conventional

18:36

wisdom says the lead rider

18:38

of the group of buddies should

18:40

be in the left tire track. So

18:43

it's basically your tires

18:46

are where you would be sitting

18:48

in your car. Right, the track closest

18:50

to the center line. That's correct.

18:54

And then the second rider is

18:56

one second following distance

18:59

behind the first, and

19:02

they're diagonally away

19:04

from them in the right tire track.

19:08

Then if there's a third rider, they're

19:11

one second behind rider

19:14

number two in the

19:16

left tire track. So

19:18

the math is number one

19:20

and three are in alignment,

19:23

and they're two seconds apart, but

19:26

number one to two is only

19:29

one second apart, but they're in

19:31

a different tire track. So

19:34

odd numbers end up

19:36

on the left, even

19:38

numbers, if you had six, for instance,

19:41

they're all on the right tire track. Right.

19:44

And the idea is that you're

19:47

not riding side by side, which

19:50

it was fascinating today. The gentleman

19:52

who was running this tour

19:55

that I'm on, the Adventure

19:58

X, his name is Ryan. Austin

20:01

and he has a very long and distinguished

20:04

police traffic

20:06

officer career motor cop. So

20:09

one of the guys today at lunch

20:11

said, why do you guys

20:14

ride side by side? And

20:17

what Ryan explained in policing,

20:20

it's not an ego thing, it's

20:22

actually safer for them approaching

20:25

intersections. If you

20:27

consider that one of the

20:30

most common things around the world

20:32

that affects us negatively as

20:35

a motorcyclist is the car

20:37

that turns across our path.

20:40

So the vehicle is coming towards

20:42

us

20:43

and in, you know, western parts

20:45

of the world, they turn left in front of us because

20:49

they may not see you. They're

20:51

used to seeing the breadth of

20:54

a vehicle like a car or truck and

20:56

they're used to seeing two headlights spatially

21:00

apart, not a single

21:02

skinny headlight. So

21:05

their brain may not

21:07

acknowledge a motorcycle because

21:09

they're used to spatially looking

21:12

for bigger vehicles. So

21:15

police officers feel that

21:17

it's safer that they

21:19

ride side by side in traffic.

21:22

That's interesting. Now, is that something they

21:24

just do as police officers like

21:27

between themselves or is that something they train to

21:29

do? They're trained

21:32

and it also looks pretty cool in

21:34

processions. You know, you don't

21:36

see a motorcade with

21:39

the dignitary in the limo and

21:42

the police officers are riding

21:44

staggered. They're usually in pairs

21:47

side by side. Right. Yeah, you have

21:49

to be trained. I mean, I think you would have to train for

21:51

that and you have to know the other rider is also

21:53

trained for that because that's one real problem

21:55

with riding close to someone. Exactly.

21:58

Now, I'm not offended. it personally

22:01

because if there's a big pothole

22:03

I would like the option

22:05

to swerve right or left whatever

22:08

you know feels good at the time based

22:10

on traffic etc but

22:12

if you're right beside me Jim

22:15

now I've got a thing so I take Jim out

22:17

or do I hit the pothole? Pothole or Jim?

22:20

Well ruins are very expensive. I

22:23

thought you were gonna say because it ruins that let your friend

22:25

go first thing. No!

22:28

We're

22:38

gonna take a quick break I have two things I want to tell you about

22:40

we've got a lot more coming up. We

22:54

started this podcast over nine

22:57

years ago now one of the first people we had

22:59

on the show was a fellow named René Cormier.

23:02

René's story was incredibly interesting

23:04

he'd traveled the world on a budget of $25 a day and

23:06

even at that he managed

23:09

to run out of money halfway around the world he

23:11

ended up taking like five years to do the

23:13

whole trip he wrote a fantastic

23:15

book about the journey called the University

23:17

of Gravel Roads and by the

23:19

time he was done you kind of think that he would have got

23:21

the bug out of his system you know like time to settle down

23:24

and get a real job again but instead of having

23:26

enough of motorcycle travel the whole

23:28

trip it just fueled him even more he could

23:31

not let go of this thing so he decided

23:33

what he really wanted most of the life was to show others

23:36

what he found on the road why it was so

23:38

incredible traveling the world by motorcycle

23:40

he started a tour company he called it René-dian

23:43

adventures now I think this is a melding

23:45

of his name René and the fact of these Canadians

23:48

so it's René-dian René-Canadian

23:51

I don't know that's what I'm taking anyway I gotta ask

23:53

him about that but so for the past 13 years

23:55

now René-dian adventures has been showing

23:58

riders these incredible routes and traveling

24:01

the world by motorcycle, riding to destinations

24:04

like Africa, Mongolia, New

24:06

Zealand, South America, Scotland,

24:08

and Canada. And what's unique

24:10

about Renadian Adventures is that it is driven by

24:13

Rene, also his wife and

24:15

a long-term group of dedicated guides and

24:17

support people that are all

24:20

passionate about their love of riding

24:22

and showing that love of riding, showing what they

24:24

love on the road to other people. And

24:26

that's probably why Renadian has been so successful over the

24:28

years. They run small groups, usually under 10

24:30

bikes. They use upscale boutique accommodations

24:33

with sensible, well-thought-out itineraries.

24:36

They put a lot into this. Now they

24:38

have full-time staff in South Africa, Canada,

24:41

and the US. They run mainly BMWs

24:44

and Rene is still at the heart of

24:46

it. In fact, he spends a good deal of his time on

24:48

trips guiding. Rene knows

24:51

these areas intimately. He knows the the

24:53

itinerary intimately. As a matter of fact,

24:55

he said that if you ask him what

24:58

the bathroom situation is on the afternoon

25:00

of the 11th day, he can tell you what

25:02

that is actually like. I mean, that is

25:05

really knowing what you do. Rene

25:07

is seriously passionate

25:08

about what he does. The

25:09

website is renadian.com.

25:12

So just think of that melding of the name. Even if

25:14

he tells me that's not what it is, I'm sticking with this anyway

25:17

because I think it's a good way to remember his name. Renadian,

25:19

Rene, and Canadian. It has to be that. It has to be

25:21

renadian.com. Anyway, anytime you're

25:23

dealing with him, throw in the johurta on Adventure

25:26

Rider Radio. Renadian.com.

25:28

Sometimes

25:31

it's just great fun to eat up the

25:33

miles and you've had them, you

25:35

know, that feeling, the wind, the sun, the

25:37

heat on you. Just an incredible feeling of

25:40

being on your bike cruising at, you know,

25:42

one steady speed, probably

25:45

on a straight stretch of road. Incredible

25:47

feeling. But after a while of riding

25:49

like that, holding that throttle hand

25:51

in one position, the wrist bent at just the exact

25:54

angle, your forearm flexed and stiff, even

25:56

up to the bicep, and it could even go up into your

25:58

shoulder. It creates fatigue.

26:01

It's unnecessary fatigue. And

26:03

I say unnecessary because there is a solution.

26:06

The solution is the Atlas throttle

26:09

lock. The Atlas throttle lock was invented

26:11

by round the worlders Heidi and David Winters

26:13

after needing a throttle lock due to a broken

26:16

wrist and being unable to find anything that satisfied

26:18

David the rider. But when you look at

26:20

the Atlas throttle lock, you're probably going to think more

26:22

of engineering or Swiss

26:24

watch type quality before you think of a couple

26:27

riding two up around the world on a KTM. The

26:29

Atlas throttle lock is the real deal.

26:32

I mean it's ultra thin, finely

26:34

crafted, clamps onto your bike in

26:36

a few minutes and swaps out from one bike

26:39

to another easily. But the way

26:41

it works, the way it works, that's

26:43

what impresses me the most. It has two buttons

26:45

on it. One for engage, one for disengage.

26:48

Those buttons have a tactile feedback that

26:50

tell you what you're doing without having to look at

26:52

them. There's no need to glimpse down. Your thumb and

26:55

those incredible buttons tell all. When

26:57

it's engaged, it holds your throttle in one position,

27:00

no slipping down like others I've tried

27:02

and you go over bumps or have a rattly spot on the road.

27:05

Yet at the same time, you can just adjust the throttle by

27:07

twisting it and it holds the new position. It

27:10

just stays there. You see what I mean

27:12

about well designed. Atlas

27:14

throttle lock.com is the website.

27:16

This will change the way you ride. Atlas

27:19

throttle lock.com. Anytime you're dealing with them, throw in there that

27:21

you heard them here on Adventure Rider Radio. Atlas

27:24

throttle lock.com. Okay,

27:29

so you could ride staggered. What

27:32

about in line? Because we didn't talk about that.

27:34

Yeah, and in line, we did a lot

27:36

of it today. Staggered works great

27:38

on paved roads and

27:41

sometimes gravel roads if

27:44

you're coming into a congested

27:46

traffic area because it keeps the group together.

27:50

If you're spread out in

27:52

line, especially on a Toronto

27:54

highway, if we're riding

27:57

along two seconds following

27:59

distance. between us, Jim, one

28:01

or two small cars are going to cut into

28:04

that space. Oh, yeah. We're staggered.

28:06

You're a little closer together and that may

28:09

avoid that. Right. But

28:12

so in line is negative in that

28:14

sense. But where I've always recommended

28:17

people not ride staggered is

28:20

really twisty roads. Today,

28:23

we are on tons of them in

28:25

the mountains, both gravel and paved.

28:28

And on those twisty roads, let's

28:30

say you're in this staggered position

28:33

where you're close to the ditch, not

28:36

the center lane.

28:38

I am not going to go around a corner

28:40

to

28:41

the left when I'm

28:43

on the very right-hand side of

28:45

my lane. Cause if anything goes

28:47

wrong, I'm into the

28:50

trees or the ditch or off the cliff.

28:53

I want to be on the left tire track

28:55

sometimes approaching a

28:57

corner, but I want that

29:00

flexibility of choice when

29:03

it's twisty, maybe I want to apex

29:05

the corner, go in wide,

29:08

cut across the curve. So

29:11

I get to kind of the center or the apex.

29:14

And then as I accelerate, my motorcycle

29:17

stands up and goes back to the

29:19

outside. But I want that

29:21

choice. If I'm riding

29:24

staggered, I can't do that. Cause I'm

29:26

cutting off someone's lane that

29:29

might be going to different speed to

29:31

me. So I've always

29:33

thought in twisty situations,

29:36

nice curves, don't

29:38

stagger. You back off

29:40

from the person you're besides,

29:43

you get two or three seconds behind them

29:46

and you pick and choose your lane

29:48

decision. Now,

29:52

since we're talking about staggered or riding

29:54

in line, I think it only makes sense to go into talking

29:56

about following distance in particular when you get onto

29:58

a gravel road.

29:59

roads or trails or things like that. And

30:02

of course you've been probably dealing with this with dust.

30:05

So can we cover that sort of stuff?

30:07

Yeah I think whenever we get off-pavement

30:11

into gravel, people have

30:13

to anticipate, which is a word

30:15

we use in instructor training a lot.

30:18

There's reactive riders

30:21

and there's riders who survive a lot

30:23

longer who anticipate

30:26

what could be ahead of us. So

30:28

gravel is less likely

30:31

to be the same, like

30:33

a paved road for miles and miles

30:36

is pretty similar. There might be some

30:38

cracks in the pavement or potholes,

30:41

but the road surface is pretty uniform.

30:44

Gravel

30:46

is affected far more by

30:48

environmental changes, rain,

30:51

grade, wind,

30:54

different road surfaces, mud,

30:56

sand, gravel, big rocks,

30:59

no rocks. There's so

31:01

much variety. So

31:05

we say following distance in gravel

31:08

should be double what you're doing on

31:10

the pavement, even if it's not dusty.

31:14

One of the reasons is if you

31:16

have to do emergency stop, one

31:19

of our riders today in the second group

31:22

came back and he was a little white-faced

31:24

and a little shaken up because Clinton, my

31:26

God, I almost hit a deer

31:29

half an hour ago. A big

31:31

buck crossed the road right

31:33

in front of his bike. He

31:36

said he got on the brakes really hard

31:40

and he did slow down dramatically, didn't

31:42

hit the deer, but as

31:44

the rider behind him, maybe

31:47

wasn't paying as astute attention

31:50

and was following closely as

31:52

they would have been maybe on the pavement, who

31:55

knows if they could have got on

31:57

the brakes as efficiently as possible.

32:00

as Aldo did, maybe

32:02

ran into him or had to

32:04

veer around him to miss him causing

32:06

an accident. So in

32:09

gravel, we need far more braking

32:11

distance than we do

32:13

on dry pavement. Yeah, that

32:16

makes perfect sense. And I'm glad that you just told

32:18

that story because I'm thinking that how

32:20

do you handle it

32:22

when someone is following too closely

32:25

when you're riding in the dirt? But

32:27

most safety instructors

32:29

say if you're being followed too close on

32:31

pavement, that person

32:34

obviously is impatient.

32:37

They want the space in front

32:39

of you, don't they? So

32:42

one thing you should never do, let's

32:44

say you're in the left tire track,

32:47

which is thought of as the blocking position.

32:51

All are less likely to

32:53

pass you on your throttle

32:55

side of your motorcycle on the

32:58

right side. On the curb side, yeah. Yeah.

33:01

But if you look in your mirror and you see

33:05

one of those little bobs on

33:07

the hood of a truck, you

33:09

might think, oh my God, I got to get out of the way.

33:11

And you pull over to the side

33:14

of your lane where bicycles ride.

33:17

It's almost an invitation to be

33:19

passed within your own lane, especially

33:22

in many parts of the world. That's

33:25

a courtesy that a driver

33:27

will do in front of you that

33:30

maybe they see you on your motorcycle

33:32

behind them. They'll pull over

33:34

to the edge of their lane and

33:37

allow you to pass beside them. Not

33:40

as prevalent in North America where

33:42

we seem to be very lane possessive.

33:47

But if someone's following

33:49

you too close, I don't recommend

33:52

you move over to the

33:54

right to let them pass on your left.

33:57

That's your lane. So what

33:59

I do... With a brake light,

34:01

I gradually slow

34:04

down a little. I don't

34:06

jam on the brakes, but if I gradually

34:08

slow down, what happens to

34:10

the space in front of me?

34:13

Yeah, you gain more space.

34:15

It's a lot bigger. Oh my

34:17

goodness, the person that's impatient, they

34:20

want that space really badly

34:22

now. And at the first

34:24

opportunity, they're gonna pass

34:27

you

34:27

and good riddance to them. Yeah,

34:29

you're safer away from them. What about on dirt? And

34:32

what if it's one of your own group? Because this happens,

34:34

you go for a ride with people, like we were

34:36

talking about here, you know, you're out with three, four people, maybe

34:39

you know them, maybe you don't, but you have somebody who's

34:41

really riding your tail.

34:43

Do you stop and talk with them?

34:45

Well, I'll put my left clutch hand out.

34:47

We discuss signals with

34:50

groups that we ride with, you know, the off-road

34:52

course or buddies, whatever. If

34:55

I take my left hand as

34:57

if I'm patting the dog, move

34:59

it up and down, that means slow down

35:02

danger. Then as I

35:04

get really slow, I'll motion

35:06

the person up beside me and

35:09

either let them pass or I'll

35:11

yell to them, back off,

35:13

stop following so close. Or

35:16

if there's an opportunity to pull over and

35:19

say, are you enjoying the ride? I'm

35:21

afraid I'm stressing out a bit because you're

35:23

breathing down my neck, back

35:26

off a little. And I

35:28

think you're completely within

35:30

your rights to mention stuff

35:33

like that if it's bothering you, because that's

35:35

distracting your attention

35:38

away from what you should be

35:40

focusing is what's in front of you, not

35:42

the chuckle head behind you. Yeah,

35:45

and you really should, shouldn't you? I mean, for

35:47

safety reasons, because otherwise you

35:49

end up jumping in the brakes, I'm thinking this deer,

35:51

and then all of a sudden somebody's into the back of you. And you're

35:53

thinking, I wish I had said something to them earlier

35:56

to get them off my tail. Yes,

35:59

yeah. I'm

36:00

way more outspoken after

36:03

witnessing lots of crashes and

36:05

things that maybe I should

36:08

have said something and now

36:10

I do. Yeah. Yeah.

36:13

Well, okay. So let's talk about signs and signals.

36:15

You started to a little bit there. You're saying about patting the

36:17

dog. Yeah. When you go

36:19

ride with a few friends, do you sort of, before

36:21

you go, say, okay, these are my signs. Are

36:23

you guys into this? Yeah.

36:26

What's your sign? I think they should be.

36:28

I'm a Gemini that enjoys long

36:31

rides in the forest, Gemini. But

36:34

that's it. There's all kinds

36:36

of them. Like people, some clubs

36:38

publish pages

36:41

of hand signals and things. Other

36:44

clubs or groups of buddies, they

36:46

just have a few. So turn signals, obviously.

36:49

But a common one is you'll pull up

36:51

beside the person and

36:54

you, with your clutch hand, move

36:57

your fingers and thumb together, kind

36:59

of symbolizing someone

37:01

talking or a dog barking. That

37:04

means your turn signal has been on for

37:06

the last four miles. That's a good one.

37:11

That's one you see a lot. And

37:13

that's, it's very dangerous because traffic

37:16

coming towards you doesn't know what you're doing.

37:18

Traffic behind you. And

37:21

they may make a change

37:23

across your path based on

37:26

that turn signal you forgot to

37:28

turn off. So

37:31

that's a good one that groups can,

37:34

group members can share with other members.

37:37

You may even see it in your mirror and

37:39

just do that yapping dog

37:41

sign with your left hand and hopefully

37:43

they'll figure it out.

37:45

Right.

37:46

So what are the signs and signals to use?

37:49

Well, off road, because

37:51

we don't have turn signals on a lot of our bikes,

37:54

we use our arms. And I

37:56

wear light covered gloves a lot,

37:59

yellow on the street. So when

38:01

I put my electric turn signal

38:04

on, if it's dusty, I'll throw my hand up

38:06

as well. It's a little extra. It

38:09

may not be as bright as

38:12

just the turn signal, but it does show

38:14

a double intention

38:16

of what I'm going to do. As

38:19

long as it's not too hard

38:21

of a traction area, because I shouldn't

38:23

be riding with one arm on

38:25

the bar. So that kind

38:28

of hand signals, but slow down danger.

38:30

I will indicate if I know the

38:33

trailer, I'm up front and

38:35

I can see there's a steep

38:37

hill coming ahead. Again,

38:39

with the left hand, I'll

38:41

point

38:43

up and down

38:46

with my arm to illustrate

38:49

we're coming to an uphill

38:51

and vice versa for downhill,

38:53

I'll point my hand repeatedly down,

38:56

kind of slicing the air with the arm,

38:59

just so people kind of get an idea

39:02

what's coming up ahead. Because if I'm

39:04

leading, I get to see it first.

39:07

Right.

39:08

What about when you spot like a hole

39:11

or something like that? Do you, what do you expect at that?

39:13

A lot of people will take a boot

39:16

off the peg, sitting or standing

39:18

to indicate debris that they're

39:20

approaching. And that's

39:22

really helpful because people

39:25

behind, especially if they're riding

39:27

in the dust, which I can't stand doing,

39:30

but that will help alert

39:33

following riders of some

39:36

kind of problem that's coming up. We

39:39

had a lot of cows on the road today. This

39:42

part of British Columbia is a lot of free range

39:45

cattle and they're wild.

39:48

Nobody's milking these cows every

39:50

night. They're just out there until the

39:52

snow comes and

39:55

no fencing. So they're on the road.

39:58

And then to keep them in a certain area,

39:59

area,

40:01

the ranchers will put the cattle

40:03

crossings, they're just open bars

40:07

so the cows won't cross it because their feet

40:09

will fall through. Of course,

40:11

cars and bikes can just roll over those gaps.

40:14

But we had to

40:17

be very cautious

40:18

with

40:19

them. When they're on the side of the road,

40:22

I gave the slow down signal

40:24

and that meant let's

40:26

drop our speeds down so if a

40:29

car or a cow does dart

40:31

out in front of us, you've got an opportunity

40:34

to stop or swerve. Your slow

40:36

down signals is the slow padding of

40:38

the dog. It's what you picture,

40:40

I think, what most people would picture. But it's

40:42

important, I think, to work those out in

40:45

advance, at least a couple of them, so

40:48

that people understand what you're doing. Because lifting

40:50

the boot off of the foot peg, I

40:52

haven't heard that before and I don't think I would have

40:54

got that at all, that there was debris. Right,

40:58

that's what they do. Pointing also

41:00

helps. And

41:03

then there can be a

41:05

lot of people use communicators now.

41:08

And it was interesting, one of the sponsors

41:10

of this event, Importation

41:13

Tebow, it's a Quebec company, they

41:16

provided a pretty fancy

41:19

communication device to each of

41:21

the members. And

41:24

there was a few left over and they were kind

41:26

enough to give me one. So I've

41:29

got to read the instructions, Jim, and figure

41:31

out how to set it up. I'm going to do that tonight.

41:33

What do you mean you didn't have it on already? You've already been riding.

41:36

Yeah, that was the whole day, but I didn't have

41:38

a chance. I was fixing a tire

41:40

and doing a few other things on

41:42

bikes. That's more important than me. Plus,

41:47

I've never been a fan of

41:50

talking to other people as I'm

41:52

riding. I know you don't like that. Yeah.

41:55

Like this system, I'm going to try it because I

41:57

can appreciate the value maybe

41:59

between... between a lead and sweep instructor,

42:03

you could let them know, hey, you know what?

42:06

This person's just pulled over, they

42:08

forgot to do their helmet up or something like

42:10

that. And you can just let the lead

42:13

rider know. This particular

42:15

system goes about 1.6

42:18

kilometers, but

42:21

it'll leapfrog if there's

42:24

a few people with them, it could go

42:26

as far as eight kilometers. So

42:29

the signal will work. So I'm

42:31

interested to try it. Despite

42:34

the fact that I have a lot of voices

42:36

in my head already, so I don't

42:38

need any. So you'll never know which one's talking

42:41

to you. You're hot. The thing that

42:43

I've always found is, especially at West,

42:45

because there's so many hills, et cetera, that it

42:47

cuts out pretty quick if you just got

42:50

a couple of people. I know it can transmit

42:52

from one rider to the next when you have them all

42:54

set up. That takes a little bit of organization

42:57

at the start, but otherwise I found it sort

42:59

of limited because you disappear

43:01

rather quickly. But they are quite

43:03

handy. I mean, it's nice, you don't have

43:05

to worry about hand signals or anything, you just talk

43:07

over the comms. So certainly

43:10

a nice thing. By the way, I wanna jump back. You

43:13

mentioned about the seeing the cattle. One thing to keep in

43:15

mind is when you're looking at wildlife or the deer on

43:17

the side of the road, you often see people

43:19

go by a deer that's on the side of the road. It's

43:21

facing them and they don't slow down. Animals,

43:24

in my experience, generally go in the direction

43:27

they're facing. Not always, sometimes

43:29

they'll spin around, but usually, so if they bolt, they're

43:32

gonna bolt in the direction they're facing. So I think

43:35

any animal that's facing you on the road, you

43:37

wanna be extra careful because at any second

43:39

they can bolt and it's liable to be right

43:41

out in front of you. And they're a

43:44

slight animal. They're not a

43:46

charge you animal, horses,

43:48

deer. They survived

43:52

by getting away really quickly

43:54

from something that might jump on their back,

43:56

mountain lion, whatever. They're

44:00

very, very unpredictable.

44:03

And from my experience, although

44:05

some municipalities go to great

44:08

lengths, Jim, they set up

44:10

deer crossing areas. I

44:12

have never seen a deer use one

44:14

of them yet. You know, they have those

44:16

signs. I know, and the deer just don't seem

44:18

to pay attention to them at all. It's very strange.

44:21

It's very disrespectful. Hey,

44:24

Clinton, how do you handle riding in dust?

44:27

You've been doing this a little bit. I mean, I know you've done

44:29

it your whole life. How do you handle riding with

44:31

dust with a couple of buddies?

44:34

I can't do it. We discussed

44:36

it at the end of the day. Because

44:39

BMW is a German

44:41

company, as soon as you finished

44:43

one of these events, you park your bike, the

44:46

days rides over, there's coolers

44:49

with beer. So I

44:51

complained that they didn't have any root

44:53

beer. So one of the executives, I just

44:55

did it jokingly. I'm fine with

44:58

water. I don't know if I told you I'm allergic

45:00

to alcohol. Yeah. So

45:03

this guy ran out in his car and found

45:05

a store and brought back eight root beer

45:08

for me. Wow. It was pretty

45:10

nice. So over our

45:12

beers, we were discussing how

45:15

dusty it was. And one guy

45:17

actually said, you know what, there was a

45:19

time I was so close to the guy. I

45:22

couldn't see the road. And

45:24

I'm going, that's insane. What

45:27

if there had been all those big rocks, cow

45:30

patty, potholes? You

45:33

can't see that. You can't react

45:35

in time with a visibility that's left

45:37

in dust. So for

45:40

me personally, I can't ride

45:42

in dust. I'll back off to

45:44

the extreme of René Cormier's

45:49

tour in South Africa.

45:51

I was lucky enough to go there quite a few

45:53

years ago, but he took us through

45:56

Nenibia where it hadn't

45:58

rained for four years. years. Can

46:01

you imagine the dust? Wow.

46:04

It was over a mile

46:07

that I was giving in separation

46:09

between the rider in front of us. There

46:11

was nine bikes, 14

46:14

people, and I was the sweep

46:16

rider. I seem

46:19

to have developed that habit. I'm at the

46:21

back all the time Jim. I'm not sure how that's

46:23

evolved. I think you like that. I do.

46:27

But I can't follow in somebody's

46:30

dust. So I was a mile behind

46:33

and that gave the little bit of

46:35

wind and time for

46:38

the dust to settle down.

46:41

And to me there's a few

46:43

positives. One, I'm not getting it

46:45

in my eyes. More importantly,

46:47

lungs. Because I'm sure if you

46:49

look at it microscopically, dust

46:52

is little pieces of aggregate, isn't it?

46:54

It's silica. It's rock. I

46:57

don't think our lungs process that.

46:59

So maybe it's building up. And

47:02

our bikes certainly don't. No.

47:04

And it's horrible on your bike. So

47:07

on the last Yukon trip we did,

47:10

one fella has

47:12

a KLR 650. And

47:15

it was a mature KLR

47:18

with a lot of experience.

47:21

And this guy Clayton, he says to me, Clayton,

47:25

have you got any tips on how I could tune

47:27

up my bike? Because it's hardly

47:30

even pulling me up the hills anymore.

47:32

And I'm thinking you've been riding

47:34

the dust behind those other guys

47:37

all week. So I took the air filter

47:40

out. It was an aftermarket

47:42

one. And I banged it on my

47:44

aluminum side case. And

47:46

about three teaspoons of dust and

47:49

dirt came out. So

47:51

then I poured a bottle of water on it.

47:54

And I held it in front of my exhaust

47:56

pipe and just lit the throttle up in

47:58

neutral. It was like a hairdryer.

48:01

Awesome. Put it back

48:03

in and then off he went. He was in the fast

48:06

group and at dinner he

48:08

came up and said, I gotta buy

48:10

you a root beer, Clinton, cause that bike has

48:12

never gone so fast. The dust

48:14

is horrible for our motorcycle. If

48:20

you let your air cleaner get

48:22

so clogged, but you're still

48:24

pulling on the throttle,

48:26

you're dragging the

48:28

dirt

48:30

into your fuel system, carburetor

48:33

or fuel injection. That's

48:35

getting inside the engine and

48:37

microscopic dirt

48:40

wears out piston

48:42

rings, cylinder walls. So you're

48:44

really affecting the lifespan

48:47

of your engine and probably

48:50

your own lungs. You

48:53

didn't talk about the safety of the danger

48:55

aspect. The vision, you

48:58

can't see what's in front of you. Like

49:00

some people like to ride really close to

49:02

someone else because the dust

49:05

hasn't quite risen up. Cause

49:08

when somebody runs through somewhere, there's a bit of

49:10

dust comes up, but it seems to continue

49:12

to float up after they've gone. So there's like

49:14

a distance you ride away

49:17

from somebody where you'll get the most dust. And

49:19

then when you back off to like what you're talking about

49:21

where the dust starts to settle again. Do

49:23

you ever condone riding up close? No,

49:26

I heard that flimsy

49:29

excuse today as well. Another

49:32

guy said, no, no, I ride right on his

49:34

back tire, just off a

49:36

couple of feet off. Then

49:38

I'm not getting the dust. Crazy. You're

49:41

gambling. If anything

49:43

goes wrong, that person can't

49:45

change lanes abruptly to avoid

49:47

an obstacle or an animal

49:50

because you're right there. So

49:53

I'm afraid if you're right behind me like

49:55

that, in motocross,

49:57

we used to break check. You

49:59

would. slide over, jam on

50:01

the brakes and take the line of

50:03

the other person and then

50:06

they have to slow down dramatically and

50:08

you continue faster than them.

50:11

I think I'd be tempted to do, I wouldn't

50:13

do that, but I'd be thinking about it. I

50:16

hate people following me to close and

50:19

I can't ride in dust. Any

50:23

other things to go along with riding with

50:26

a couple of buddies? Yeah,

50:28

I think we talked about the hand

50:31

signals. If they're your

50:33

buddies, you probably got their cell phone

50:35

and you number and you've got

50:37

a cell phone. So if you get separated, some

50:40

way of communicating is really handy.

50:43

That's the beauty of cell phones these

50:45

days. Pre-cell phones,

50:48

these two instructor friends of mine, they

50:51

met teaching, got married. Hey,

50:55

let's go to Deal's Gap. You've heard

50:57

of that Mecca twisty road

51:00

in Tennessee. They're from Canada,

51:02

this couple. So off they go.

51:04

He's on a VFR 800, pretty good

51:06

fuel range, big tank.

51:11

Catherine was on an RZ

51:14

or RZ in the States, 350,

51:17

two stroke, not very good on fuel.

51:20

So George is

51:22

leading and doesn't realize

51:24

Catherine's beeping the horn because she's on

51:26

reserve. So she gets

51:29

off the interstate,

51:30

fills up with fuel.

51:33

George finally realizes he's been

51:35

riding with himself and he's

51:37

freaking out, where's my new wife? So

51:40

he cuts across the grass,

51:42

goes north on

51:45

the interstate. As she's

51:47

coming on the on-ramp, they

51:49

miss each other. So

51:52

three days, two

51:55

nights on their honeymoon, they're

51:58

in separate hotels.

54:00

to ride at the pace of the experienced

54:03

rider. So what we've

54:05

always recommended, and

54:07

I'll be doing it quite a bit this fall,

54:09

we've got some young instructors getting

54:12

their motorcycle licenses for the

54:14

street. They've been teaching dirt

54:16

bike for quite a few years. And

54:18

I've got permission from their parents that

54:21

would you mind if I mentored them and

54:23

took them out on the street, just so I

54:26

feel safer about them riding a bike

54:28

to work? And the parents are

54:30

very happy about that. I will

54:32

put them behind me or

54:35

another experienced rider and I'll ride at

54:37

the back. But I don't want

54:39

them always at the back

54:42

and a really experienced

54:45

rider leading them or

54:47

a whole bunch of them, because the paces

54:50

that they should both be going are

54:52

different. So we

54:55

put the inexperienced people

54:57

behind the lead rider. And

55:00

that seems to be safer for everybody.

55:03

Yeah, that makes sense. Well, okay,

55:06

well, let's take a break. When we come

55:08

back, we're gonna talk about what every

55:10

rider should be carrying on day trips

55:13

for adventure motorcycling. So stay

55:15

with us. Perfect.

55:31

XInnovate, that's H-E-X, Innovate. Are

55:39

the makers of the GS 911 code reader and

55:42

the EZ-Can accessory manager. These

55:45

are two game changing devices that helps

55:47

us deal with modern motorcycles. First,

55:50

the GS 911. The GS 911

55:52

is a code reader for BMW motorcycles

55:55

that allows you to see into your motorcycle in ways

55:57

that only the dealer could have before. So

55:59

that... fear of riding a high-tech computerized

56:02

bike off the beaten path becomes diminished

56:04

because you have the GS911

56:07

in your pocket. It's that small. It lets

56:09

you read the fault codes. It lets you pinpoint

56:12

and fix a problem and get back in the

56:14

saddle again. The other one

56:16

I mentioned is the EasyCan accessory manager.

56:19

What the EasyCan does is, well, it

56:21

just makes it dead simple to connect accessories

56:24

to your bike. But not only simple,

56:26

but there's so many other things to go along with this.

56:28

It uses the bike's factory controls

56:31

to work the accessories. So there's

56:33

no tapping into wires. There's no cutting the wiring harness.

56:36

You hook this thing up to the battery. Then you

56:38

plug it in and you can use your bike's

56:40

controls in a bunch of different ways to work

56:42

things like your lights or heated grips or whatever. And

56:45

then when you turn your ignition off, your battery

56:47

is saved because you haven't wired up something

56:49

wrong that's going to drain your battery. This thing takes care

56:51

of that. It also takes care of overloads. It'll shut down a

56:54

circuit if there's an overload. It's an

56:56

incredibly simple but

56:58

incredibly

56:58

complicated inside device

57:00

that makes hooking accessories up super

57:03

simple and safe. And that's why manufacturers

57:06

like it because people don't mess up their bikes when

57:08

they use the EasyCan accessory manager.

57:11

If you have a modern bike and you're planning on installing

57:13

any accessories, lights, heated grips, no

57:16

matter, then the EasyCan accessory

57:18

manager is for you from Hex. Hexinnovate.com

57:22

is the website. Anytime you're dealing with them, throw in there that you

57:24

heard them here on Adventure Rider Radio. Hexinnovate.com.

57:28

That's Hexinnovate.com.

57:32

If you're serious about riding, serious about getting

57:34

the most from your bike, then you'll want to be replacing

57:36

those stock pegs with a set of IMS

57:39

products foot pegs. Larger, properly

57:41

designed and manufactured foot pegs will give you the added

57:44

leverage to help control the extra weight

57:46

of an adventure bike and helps especially

57:48

when you add some luggage on or other gear that

57:50

you're taking. They'll give you better traction

57:53

between your foot and the peg itself and

57:55

that instills confidence. The more you

57:57

ride with them, the more you realize just how much you can...

59:59

is essential. So I

1:00:02

have an inReach with me and

1:00:05

my cell phone. And the more

1:00:07

modern satellite systems,

1:00:09

you can link to your

1:00:12

iPhone or whatever kind of phone you

1:00:14

have. So it's much, much easier

1:00:17

to text through

1:00:19

your phone when it's

1:00:21

linked to the satellite phone. Yeah,

1:00:24

the Bluetooth connection, that is ideal. It

1:00:26

really works well. The inReach makes a mini

1:00:29

that you can get that really depends on

1:00:31

your cell phone being there to type

1:00:33

messages back and forth. And there's another one

1:00:35

called Zoleo that is very

1:00:37

good. And Zoleo uses both

1:00:39

satellite and cell, depending on

1:00:42

if you have cell service, it'll use cell to save

1:00:44

the satellite and then use satellite at

1:00:46

other times. But it's the same sort of thing. It's a little

1:00:48

box that you carry with you. It connects to your cell phone.

1:00:51

There are some buttons on the box that you press,

1:00:53

but on your cell phone, you have the app and you type

1:00:55

away. It's just like texting is the same sort of thing.

1:00:58

Excellent. And so the technology

1:01:00

is getting better and better with that.

1:01:03

Now, a lot of people don't, I talked to

1:01:05

some people on this trip, they say, nah, you know,

1:01:07

I looked at them, they're $49

1:01:10

a month.

1:01:11

But a lot of the plans, you

1:01:14

can have dormant when you're not using

1:01:16

them and activate it for

1:01:18

the time you are out on tour.

1:01:21

Yeah, you can also rent

1:01:23

them readily in many cities

1:01:26

for the time of your tour.

1:01:28

But you know, even $49 a month, really, if

1:01:32

it saves you or somebody

1:01:35

else being stuck

1:01:37

overnight or injured for

1:01:39

a more prolonged time, that's

1:01:42

peanuts. It's cheap. And

1:01:44

you think about it as something goes wrong. You

1:01:46

know, if anyone thinks to put themselves in that situation

1:01:49

where something goes wrong, you're in the backcountry, there's no communications,

1:01:52

you're only out for a day trip. And

1:01:54

now all of a sudden, it looks like you're gonna have to spend the night,

1:01:56

you would pay somebody double that,

1:01:59

you know, to rest

1:01:59

you and get you out of that situation. So

1:02:02

money well spent really. And

1:02:04

that one that I mentioned, the Zolio again, not doing

1:02:07

a sales pitch for them because I don't get anything

1:02:09

from it, but they have that as well with

1:02:11

the, you know, you can pay for it while you're using it. So

1:02:14

if you're in an area where you're riding during

1:02:16

the summertime, you're not riding in the winter, you know,

1:02:18

you can shut off for the wintertime and that's

1:02:20

really handy. I think it's kind of like you could

1:02:22

look at it like insurance, couldn't you? Absolutely.

1:02:25

It's a good idea. It's an expense

1:02:27

we all

1:02:28

hope we never need, but it's

1:02:31

there when you need it. I know one

1:02:33

guy that I bet he has a satellite

1:02:35

phone now. He got into

1:02:38

adventure riding. This was for

1:02:40

five years ago, British Columbia

1:02:42

fellow. I met him at the Vancouver

1:02:45

Motorcycle Show and he told

1:02:47

me this horrific story. He was just

1:02:49

getting back into riding. He

1:02:52

decided to ride solo,

1:02:54

down some lumber roads,

1:02:56

and then went down towards

1:02:59

the river and

1:03:00

had a bad crash, a

1:03:03

broken femur with a GSA

1:03:06

on top of them. That's a

1:03:08

lot of motorcycle to have on top. Three

1:03:11

days he was trapped there, Jim, no

1:03:14

cell signal, until some

1:03:16

hikers luckily came.

1:03:19

The harrowing tale involved

1:03:21

him beeping the horn at

1:03:23

night to keep bears away. He

1:03:27

ran out of food. He did have a

1:03:29

bottle of water in his tank bag, but that

1:03:31

was long gone. He

1:03:33

was malnourished, dehydrated,

1:03:36

and in shock by

1:03:38

the time these two hikers who were

1:03:40

very experienced mountain adventure

1:03:44

people and had satellite

1:03:46

with them. But they saved his life,

1:03:49

really, because another few

1:03:51

days he probably was succumbed.

1:03:54

Oh yeah, yeah, that's horrible.

1:03:57

That would be very scary. The thing is, in

1:03:59

BC, where you're riding right now, there's

1:04:01

a lot of roads where if you go off the road, no

1:04:03

one's going to see you. No one's going to find

1:04:06

you. The vegetation will part as

1:04:08

you slide through it and it will close

1:04:10

back up again and you might be down 75 feet, 100

1:04:12

feet, 200 feet

1:04:14

or more and no one's going to see it. No one will

1:04:17

ever know you went off the road. That's right.

1:04:19

I was thinking of that. I saw some turkey

1:04:22

vultures and there's

1:04:24

part of my brain. There's two voices

1:04:26

in my head, Jim. I don't know if it's the devil

1:04:28

and another guy but one voice said,

1:04:31

okay, there's nobody in front of us. Let's

1:04:34

wind this bike up a little bit and have

1:04:37

fun. The other voice is saying,

1:04:39

do you remember seeing those turkey vultures?

1:04:42

That's the only way they're going to find you,

1:04:44

stupid. Don't go fast. They would be

1:04:47

circling over my corpse. Yes,

1:04:50

right. So yeah, I

1:04:52

completely agree but you can

1:04:54

bet that guy did save $49 a month

1:04:57

five years ago or

1:04:59

maybe it was a bit cheaper. He

1:05:01

would have paid it, wouldn't he? He would have been happy to pay it in

1:05:03

any amount. Oh my goodness. So especially

1:05:06

riding solo or in

1:05:08

a group, somebody's got to have

1:05:11

a way to get communication.

1:05:15

Let me just throw in there. I know

1:05:17

it's sort of really going on in

1:05:19

this point but with the satellite

1:05:21

comm, it's not an automatic

1:05:23

guaranteed free ticket. You do need a

1:05:26

view of the sky.

1:05:27

You

1:05:29

just have to keep that in mind. You can't just go

1:05:31

crazy out there and be silly

1:05:34

because you've got the satellite communicator.

1:05:36

You need that clear view of the sky which

1:05:38

may not always be available. By

1:05:41

the way, where do you keep your in reach? Mine's

1:05:44

in my left vest pocket. So

1:05:46

I've got my BMW jacket and

1:05:48

I wear a bright orange helmet

1:05:51

and a bright orange kind of fluorescent

1:05:54

vest. I look like a big pylon

1:05:57

but somebody said to me today, I don't

1:05:59

think it was. was complimentary gym, they say, wow,

1:06:03

you're pretty bright. And

1:06:05

I said, yeah, well, when you're not very

1:06:08

bright, you should at least look at it. Right,

1:06:10

you just try to make out for it. Okay,

1:06:13

so comms, we got that comms, what else?

1:06:15

Yes, I think

1:06:19

if you're going with a few people, if

1:06:22

you have any medical issues,

1:06:25

some people are shy about saying it, but

1:06:28

I think it's important you let them know. So

1:06:31

first day of the ride or with the

1:06:33

group, I'll say, hey, just so you know, folks,

1:06:36

I've had a heart attack. I carry

1:06:38

this little red bottle of nitroglycerin

1:06:42

in my right hand, top

1:06:44

pocket of my coat, so it's easily

1:06:46

accessible. Just in case, you

1:06:48

know, my last name is Smoke, but

1:06:51

if you see me flopping around on the ground

1:06:53

like a trout, give me a couple squirts

1:06:55

of that spray. And

1:06:58

nitroglycerin will help me get

1:07:00

better, but if you

1:07:03

are allergic to anything,

1:07:05

let us know. You don't have to tell

1:07:07

the whole group, but maybe tell the group leader

1:07:10

that you have an EpiPen in

1:07:12

your tank bag. If

1:07:15

you're diabetic, it'd be handy

1:07:18

for a leader to know

1:07:20

that, or maybe somebody in

1:07:22

the group that's got some first aid, so

1:07:25

they'll know the correct thing

1:07:27

to give you, sugar, et cetera,

1:07:31

if you have an attack.

1:07:34

And that's very,

1:07:37

very important to let people know, so

1:07:40

they can help you get medication

1:07:42

that you're carrying with you,

1:07:44

or

1:07:45

get help and be able to tell them what's

1:07:47

going on. So I think sharing

1:07:50

a little bit of medical background and

1:07:52

other information is

1:07:54

important. Okay. And

1:07:58

then for yourself, the other part of the group,

1:07:59

about you

1:08:01

is what is your own fitness

1:08:03

and experience

1:08:05

for kind of the distance you're planning,

1:08:08

maybe the degree of difficulty

1:08:10

of this trail that you envision it will

1:08:13

be, maybe more experienced

1:08:15

people that have done this route before,

1:08:17

if it's adventure riding, they

1:08:20

can share that with you because

1:08:22

a little bit of planning ahead

1:08:25

is very helpful. For instance,

1:08:27

on this tour that I'm

1:08:29

on, there's vast level

1:08:32

of experience difference.

1:08:35

So we did 627 kilometers yesterday to get to Sun

1:08:37

Peaks Resort. Quite

1:08:43

a bit of it, maybe 250k was gravel, little bit of trail.

1:08:49

That was incredibly fatiguing

1:08:52

for someone that had never done off-road

1:08:55

riding. You don't want to

1:08:57

push yourself too far in

1:09:00

adventure riding. I thought

1:09:02

that was really good customer service

1:09:05

just in case it was needed. Let

1:09:10

me get you to walk through this exercise. You're

1:09:12

getting ready to go for a day trip. What

1:09:15

is in your pockets? Let's just talk about what's

1:09:18

in your pockets on your jacket

1:09:20

that you're going to wear. What's in your pockets? Wallet,

1:09:24

for sure. I don't like it in,

1:09:27

like in my jeans I have on now, my

1:09:29

wallet's in my right back pocket. So

1:09:32

I'm sitting on it.

1:09:33

But I don't want it there when I'm sitting on a

1:09:35

motorcycle. So it's in

1:09:37

a zippered waterproof pocket

1:09:40

of my BMW jacket. The

1:09:42

nitroglycerin cell phone,

1:09:45

my inReach Mini is

1:09:47

in my left vest pocket.

1:09:51

I've got a really nice knife

1:09:54

with a lockable blade. I

1:09:57

have a knife that I carry in my

1:09:59

tools. But now this one's

1:10:01

a pocket knife. I

1:10:03

think that's all, oh, I have two

1:10:06

pairs of glasses. Okay, two

1:10:08

pair of glasses. And okay, so that's everything

1:10:10

in your pockets? That's everything. Okay,

1:10:13

so what do you have in any

1:10:15

sort of day bag or anything that you're taking? So

1:10:17

what's all the other stuff that you're taking with

1:10:20

you on the day trip?

1:10:23

Water, for

1:10:24

sure. And some

1:10:26

kind of snacks. If, you know, I'm

1:10:28

going out for a day, I don't need a full

1:10:30

course meal, but some energy

1:10:33

bars, some

1:10:35

peanuts, some raisins, something that's

1:10:37

got a little kick to it. And

1:10:39

that really helps when I stop

1:10:41

to have a break. Okay,

1:10:44

so water snack, what else? So I carry that stuff.

1:10:46

I've got some tools because

1:10:49

I'm adventure

1:10:51

riding. So I can

1:10:53

fix my own bike or somebody else's,

1:10:56

any kind of tire issue I

1:10:58

can handle with what I carry in it. So I've

1:11:01

got tire on the tools. Don't

1:11:03

get in the tool kit now. So no,

1:11:05

I'll just say, let's leave it as tools right now and we'll

1:11:07

go back to that. And then we'll get a little more detail. What other

1:11:09

sort of things? So you've got your tool kit, what else? We

1:11:13

talked about cell and satellite.

1:11:16

I've got some reindeer, but

1:11:19

that's in that bag, in

1:11:23

addition to the tools.

1:11:25

And I have a tow rope,

1:11:27

or we'll get into all that, what's in my tool

1:11:30

bag specifically. But I

1:11:32

take stuff that I might need to fix

1:11:34

my bike or get me or

1:11:37

somebody else out.

1:11:39

Okay, so you're not taking a whole ton of things. You've

1:11:41

got water snacks, you've got your satellite, your

1:11:44

cell phone, of course, all your personal things.

1:11:47

You've got a knife in your pocket and

1:11:49

you've got a tool kit that I know is going to be

1:11:52

key here, the reindeer and

1:11:54

tow rope. Is there anything else you can think

1:11:56

of that you take on any other

1:11:58

day trip that you take?

1:11:59

day trip.

1:12:01

Yeah, I used to carry a big camera

1:12:03

in a tank bag but cell

1:12:05

phone cameras are incredible now.

1:12:09

So I haven't picked

1:12:11

up on, I've got some pretty nice

1:12:13

cameras because I used to be a photographer

1:12:15

but the cell phone is so quick

1:12:18

just whip it out of your pocket and way you

1:12:20

go. Okay, well

1:12:22

let's talk about that toolkit now. Exactly

1:12:25

what do you have in your toolkit? So

1:12:28

I have the tools that

1:12:30

are universal for any kind of bike

1:12:33

because I'm out with friends. I have

1:12:35

a metric adjustable, they're hard

1:12:37

to find. Wrenches

1:12:40

that will allow me to tighten

1:12:43

or adjust a chain, take

1:12:45

a wheel off. I've

1:12:47

got a small screwdriver

1:12:49

with multiple heads, you know those kind

1:12:52

that stick in the end magnetically. So

1:12:55

I don't want six screwdrivers, I don't have room.

1:12:58

Then I carry three kinds of

1:13:00

tape, black electrical

1:13:03

tape, a big

1:13:05

roll of good strong

1:13:07

three-inch wide tape. This

1:13:10

particular brand is Gorilla because

1:13:12

it rips easy but it's very strong.

1:13:15

I also have a small roll of

1:13:20

its rad hose repair

1:13:22

tape and

1:13:25

it will seal small cracks

1:13:27

and cuts or holes in a rad hose.

1:13:30

That's really handy but the

1:13:32

two smaller rolls of tape sit

1:13:35

inside the bigger one. Oh,

1:13:38

that's important. I carry four

1:13:41

big heavy tire irons and

1:13:44

I used to have an old

1:13:47

BMW came with a

1:13:51

pre-extensive toolkit

1:13:53

and the tire irons are about six

1:13:56

inches long. Fantastic

1:13:58

on the bicycle but if you've got a big

1:14:00

adventure bike tire. They're

1:14:04

pretty well useless. They're a bit better than

1:14:06

your fingers, but I have

1:14:08

them. They've got to be 12

1:14:10

inches long. These Michelin

1:14:13

tire irons, I'll show you them, Jim. And they're

1:14:15

fantastic. I carry

1:14:17

a bottle of tire lube

1:14:20

that helps me take off

1:14:23

and install tires without

1:14:25

a tire machine. Cause I'm on

1:14:27

my knees on the side of the trailer

1:14:30

roads usually doing tires.

1:14:32

What kind of tire lube is it?

1:14:34

It's called Nomar.

1:14:37

N-O in the space M-A-R.

1:14:40

It's phenomenal cause

1:14:42

it's very, very slippery like a Vaseline

1:14:45

consistency, but it evaporates

1:14:48

quite quickly. Four or five

1:14:50

minutes after applying

1:14:53

it, the tires completely dry

1:14:55

again. Nice. Okay.

1:14:57

So you can't, you can't take too

1:14:59

long installing the tires telling

1:15:02

a story or something. Now

1:15:04

it's dry rubber against the

1:15:07

rim. You're back to square one again. Okay. Well, then

1:15:10

I have a small kit that allows

1:15:12

me to patch a tube. There's

1:15:15

a valve stem remover tool

1:15:18

and then I have a plug kit, which

1:15:20

I've used many times on tours.

1:15:23

Uh, in Colorado couple of

1:15:25

years ago, a lady picked up a piece

1:15:27

of barbed wire. So she

1:15:30

had an extremely slow leak

1:15:33

and I couldn't find it. So

1:15:35

I took the wheel off and I cleaned

1:15:37

it thoroughly first. I want to

1:15:40

be clear on that, Jim. That was very clean.

1:15:42

The wheel. Then I filled the past

1:15:44

up in my motel room

1:15:47

and I found the tiny bubbles

1:15:49

from this hunk of wire.

1:15:51

You haven't allowed at the same time, Clinton. No,

1:15:54

I did that after I cleaned the

1:15:56

tub, but I plugged

1:15:59

it. Um, I could not find

1:16:01

it. I sprayed that tire with

1:16:04

water when it was on the bike and

1:16:06

I couldn't find it. So

1:16:09

frustrated, I thought I've got to immerse

1:16:11

it in something and the motel

1:16:13

bathtub worked perfectly and I was

1:16:15

able to plug it. So I carry plugs, you

1:16:18

know, the kind where you punch it through the

1:16:20

hole you've reamed out and

1:16:22

it leaves the rabid ears of

1:16:25

the plug that you snip. I've

1:16:27

used those a lot over the years

1:16:29

on these trips. Okay, what else? That's

1:16:32

my tire stuff. Then I've got the tow

1:16:34

rope in there. My green chili one

1:16:37

with a fantastic elasticy

1:16:39

part in the middle, which

1:16:42

takes the snap out. Then

1:16:45

what else do I have in there? I'm just trying to envision

1:16:48

it all. Oh, I've got the torch set

1:16:51

and I've got a tool roll with

1:16:53

a variety of metric tools.

1:16:56

I've

1:16:56

got an eight mil up to 22

1:16:58

mil and

1:17:01

then I have the adjustable wrench.

1:17:04

If I don't have, if the

1:17:06

axle bolt I'm working on is bigger

1:17:08

than a 22 millimeter. And

1:17:13

screwdrivers, that's pretty well it.

1:17:15

I've got a rag, I've got a

1:17:17

pair of work gloves because

1:17:20

nothing worse than doing a chain,

1:17:22

a tire, the bike's filthy, you're

1:17:24

filthy. Then you gotta put your nice

1:17:27

gloves back on or

1:17:29

go into a town with a restaurant to have

1:17:31

a coffee or

1:17:35

a meal and your hands are

1:17:37

covered in grease. Or even just to protect your hands

1:17:41

while you're working on something. Okay, what

1:17:43

else? Do you carry a flashlight

1:17:45

at all? Yes, thank you. And

1:17:48

I used it last night because

1:17:50

we were putting a tire

1:17:53

on a front wheel

1:17:55

in the underground which had

1:17:58

lights on.

1:17:59

But

1:17:59

I think it was a 40 watt bulb.

1:18:02

So I couldn't even read

1:18:04

my tire pressure gauge. So I've

1:18:07

got a really bright, but very small

1:18:09

compact flashlight.

1:18:13

I've got the you're out of

1:18:15

gas credit card,

1:18:17

my siphon hose. Ah,

1:18:20

I carry that. You carry all the siphon hose? Oh, okay. And

1:18:23

now I did the one with the little thing

1:18:25

that you shake. Yeah, it's got that little

1:18:27

marble or something at the end. Right.

1:18:29

So it's like a little metal part in there with the marble. That's

1:18:32

right. And it saves

1:18:34

you sucking on the hose and getting it most of the time. Exactly.

1:18:37

I did too much of that when I

1:18:39

was young and it was leaded gas

1:18:41

then Jim. Oh yeah, that explains that for sure.

1:18:44

You're not old enough to remember the, you

1:18:47

would access the fuel cap

1:18:49

under the license plate. Do

1:18:51

you remember those cars? Yeah, I do. Yeah,

1:18:53

yeah. Yeah. My dad was very

1:18:56

generous and come

1:18:58

to think of it, I don't think I told him about it,

1:19:01

but that's where how we would get

1:19:03

gas. I see for your

1:19:05

bike you mean. Yes. When

1:19:07

I was very young. Right, right. That's

1:19:09

what you're just saying. So you carry the siphon hose with you all the time.

1:19:12

That's handy. Yeah, even day

1:19:14

trips, just in case, I've

1:19:16

run across people out in the bush

1:19:18

out of gas. So instead of tipping

1:19:21

your bike over to try to put in

1:19:23

a water bottle or

1:19:26

unhooking a fuel line, I

1:19:28

just get- Which is difficult on a new bike. It

1:19:30

is. Yeah. Where is it even? Exactly.

1:19:34

Yeah. So I get my bike a little higher

1:19:36

than their tank and it's easy

1:19:38

to siphon in.

1:19:40

Yeah, that makes sense.

1:19:41

Anything else you can think of?

1:19:43

That is it in my toolbox. It

1:19:46

all fits in a helmet

1:19:48

bag,

1:19:50

but not the cloth helmet bag. This is

1:19:52

a very substantial one. I

1:19:54

use it as a carry-on bag on the

1:19:57

plane, not with my tools in it. That's

1:19:59

usually- dipped with my bike, but

1:20:02

it's, I think it's a Klein bag, but

1:20:04

it's really sturdy zippered, has

1:20:07

pockets and side zippers. Oh,

1:20:10

that's what's in the side zippers Jim, I just remembered.

1:20:13

I've got twist ties,

1:20:16

I've got safety wire. Twist ties,

1:20:18

you zip ties you mean?

1:20:19

Yeah, zip ties and a lot of

1:20:22

safety

1:20:22

wire for

1:20:26

crash damage repairs or, you know,

1:20:29

a rock strap.

1:20:30

I've got two rock straps spare

1:20:33

in case I have to bungee

1:20:35

cord something onto a bike. Yeah.

1:20:39

Okay, so, so safety

1:20:41

wire, and then when you say safety wire, this is your,

1:20:43

your, what is it? It's like 16

1:20:46

gauge wire or something like that, solid wire. Yeah,

1:20:48

there's all kinds of different gauges,

1:20:51

but the stuff I use, the kind of

1:20:53

wire that road racers would

1:20:55

use to drill through their oil drain bolts

1:20:58

or the rad cap. So use

1:21:00

a very fine wire, that's the wire I carry

1:21:02

with you all the time. I guess you'd think of it as a

1:21:04

snare wire, like that sort of stuff, but probably

1:21:06

not the same wire. Exactly, no. And

1:21:09

you just have to be careful not to twist

1:21:11

it too much because it will break

1:21:14

off and you have to do it again. Okay,

1:21:16

anything else you can think of that you're carrying with you on a

1:21:19

regular day trip? That's everything in

1:21:21

there. Okay, all right. So

1:21:23

you mentioned the bag, now your tools

1:21:25

and everything, are your tools and everything in that bag

1:21:27

or how do you disperse the stuff on you and

1:21:30

your bike? The tools are all

1:21:32

in that bag, easily accessible,

1:21:35

and it's pretty substantial Jim, it weighs 38 pounds.

1:21:39

Ooh, wow. So it sits

1:21:42

on the seat behind me. So

1:21:44

on some of my bikes, I have a

1:21:47

seat for me and one for a passenger.

1:21:50

I take the passenger seat off,

1:21:53

which drops my 38 pounds

1:21:55

of tools down onto the frame

1:21:58

a couple of inches lower. because

1:22:00

I want the weight down low as

1:22:02

close to the foot pegs as possible.

1:22:05

So I don't put tools or heavy things

1:22:08

in top cases, probably

1:22:10

because I don't own any top cases. I

1:22:12

don't like riding with them. So

1:22:16

that's where my tools are secure and

1:22:18

I put them so that I can use

1:22:20

them as a backrest that tool bag

1:22:23

if I need it. You know on a long long

1:22:25

trip. So

1:22:27

you do this for everyday trips as you go out on you take

1:22:29

that bag. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

1:22:32

And you strap that on behind you. Yeah,

1:22:34

just in case, especially adventure riding,

1:22:37

you know, on the side of the road, you

1:22:39

probably means if it's paved

1:22:42

in an urban environment, you've got

1:22:44

cell phone, you can call a friend, you can

1:22:46

call a tow company, but

1:22:49

when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, where I

1:22:51

love to go, there

1:22:53

may not be an

1:22:55

opportunity for somebody to come and

1:22:57

get you. So the more

1:22:59

self-sufficient you are that

1:23:02

you can help others and

1:23:04

yourself.

1:23:05

Right. And some of this stuff, having said that some

1:23:07

of this stuff here will, I'm

1:23:10

not sure everyone would carry because I mean, if you

1:23:12

can't do anything with it, if you're not mechanically inclined,

1:23:15

because you obviously are very mechanically

1:23:18

inclined, you can fix anything. So you carry

1:23:20

stuff with you to take care of sort

1:23:23

of anything that happens. But the closest

1:23:25

you can come to this, the average listener

1:23:27

can come to this, the better

1:23:29

for them.

1:23:30

You would probably recommend that most people should

1:23:32

be able to fix a flat tire, correct? Yeah,

1:23:36

but it is a very rare skill.

1:23:38

I can visit people on these trips,

1:23:41

not in a mean spirited way, but I say,

1:23:43

hey, has anybody ever seen a

1:23:46

tire change down the side of the road? If you're

1:23:48

interested, I'm going to do one

1:23:50

tonight in the underground parking garage.

1:23:54

And quite a few people came down because

1:23:56

they'd never seen it done.

1:24:00

One buddy on this tour,

1:24:02

I say buddy because he's been on three

1:24:05

or four trips that I've been on, John.

1:24:08

And he has, I think, more

1:24:10

tools than I have and

1:24:13

has gone to the effort to take

1:24:15

a basic maintenance course

1:24:18

for adventure riders. It's one that

1:24:20

I created. So he now knows

1:24:23

how to use the tools. But the

1:24:25

first trip to the Yukon, when

1:24:28

someone crashed damage or something,

1:24:30

he goes, hey, I think

1:24:32

I got one of those tools that will fix

1:24:34

that. He didn't know how to use them, but

1:24:37

he still carried them. And that's

1:24:39

a point to make that maybe

1:24:42

someone else could help

1:24:44

you using your own tools

1:24:47

or you can share tools. That's

1:24:49

the beauty of riding in

1:24:51

a group is there's a vast amount of

1:24:53

experience and

1:24:56

a plethora of different

1:24:58

tools. That's a very good point.

1:25:01

You could be sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire and

1:25:03

not be able to do anything with it. And somebody rides up

1:25:05

on a different bike with a, they don't have tools

1:25:07

for your bike. But since you do, next thing

1:25:09

you know, you've got your repair done because

1:25:12

somebody had it. No, that's great. Okay.

1:25:15

Well, that's good. That's great. Nice

1:25:18

to know what you're carrying as well. I

1:25:20

have a question for you because I know you

1:25:22

wear glasses. I wanted to talk

1:25:25

about, we had somebody actually sent an email and

1:25:27

not too long ago there. This question is always stuck

1:25:29

in my head because it's not something that's a full topic. But I

1:25:31

thought I'm going to ask Clinton this. What

1:25:33

do you do? How do you manage glasses while riding?

1:25:36

Like there's all kinds of problems with fogging,

1:25:38

with putting them on and off. What's

1:25:41

your tips for wearing glasses? I

1:25:43

think, especially if you're new to the sport,

1:25:46

you should appreciate that your

1:25:48

glasses that you wear, getting

1:25:51

them in and out of a full face helmet,

1:25:53

bends them. So it's

1:25:56

going to cost you more money, but

1:25:59

manufacturers know. make glasses that

1:26:01

you can almost pretzel the

1:26:03

frame and it's not gonna snap

1:26:05

off. Because most metal, that's

1:26:09

how you break little thin metals.

1:26:11

You bend it back and forth enough until it snaps,

1:26:13

right?

1:26:14

Well, you don't want

1:26:16

that hockey player look with

1:26:18

the black electrical tape holding

1:26:20

your glasses together. That's

1:26:23

very passé now. So

1:26:25

my glasses that

1:26:28

I definitely require for

1:26:30

driving, it's

1:26:32

on my license, a requirement. They're

1:26:35

very, very expensive, but

1:26:37

they're thin looking. I'll send

1:26:39

you a picture of them. Well,

1:26:41

I'll try to take a picture because if I don't

1:26:43

have them on, it's gonna be hard, Jim, but let

1:26:47

me try. And they're very,

1:26:49

very thin metal, but I can bend

1:26:52

them in half and they don't break.

1:26:55

So the actual arm of

1:26:57

the glasses, and this is relevant

1:27:00

to, like listeners may be bored because

1:27:02

they have 2020 vision. I

1:27:04

hate you, but you have it, but

1:27:07

maybe you wear sunglasses. I

1:27:10

have arms that are on a spring

1:27:12

on my glasses. So

1:27:15

they'll twist and bend. They're kind

1:27:17

of like those fancy clutch and brake

1:27:19

levers, Jim, have you seen those? You can twist

1:27:22

them all around and they won't break. No,

1:27:25

I don't think I've seen those, no. Oh, they're very

1:27:27

cool. They're awesome for

1:27:29

a guy like me that falls over a lot because

1:27:31

you can't break the lever. They bend up out

1:27:33

of the way. They're all on springs. And

1:27:37

that's how my glasses are.

1:27:39

So that's the ones I have on

1:27:42

when I'm walking around. But

1:27:44

then I have a separate pair,

1:27:47

a second one that I use for actual

1:27:49

riding. And they're a company

1:27:52

called Switch. They're

1:27:54

designed for adventure

1:27:56

and they have rubber

1:28:00

parts that go next

1:28:02

around your eye socket. So

1:28:05

they're almost as good as

1:28:07

wearing goggles. So in really

1:28:09

dusty conditions, I

1:28:12

don't get irritants or bugs

1:28:14

in my eyes because

1:28:16

there's a very tight around

1:28:19

my eye socket fit

1:28:22

from the inside design of these

1:28:24

glasses. So they're my

1:28:27

prescription. There also

1:28:29

is the term photo ray. They

1:28:31

get dark in the sun. Oh,

1:28:33

yeah. And I walk. Yeah, you walk indoors

1:28:36

and they go bright again. They are

1:28:39

crazy money. They're $500. Jim.

1:28:42

Oh, wow. You know, I've bought many

1:28:45

motorcycles less than

1:28:48

these glasses are worth, but

1:28:50

I rationalize it is. I

1:28:53

can't protect my eyes.

1:28:56

My livelihood and enjoyment in

1:28:58

life is going to be altered dramatically.

1:29:02

And I like riding sometimes with

1:29:04

my visor up. And

1:29:06

if you do that with an exploit exposed

1:29:09

eyeball sunglasses

1:29:12

reading or your vision glasses do

1:29:15

not protect you from dust and bugs.

1:29:17

They'll get in behind it. So

1:29:20

if you don't ride with goggles and

1:29:23

a visor, then this

1:29:25

system that I'll send pictures of called

1:29:27

switch works perfectly for me. I

1:29:29

just love it. So it's kind of goofy

1:29:31

looking. So the key

1:29:34

is the type of glasses and they're just extremely

1:29:36

flexible and they take the abuse of being shoved

1:29:38

in by down the side of the helmet. OK, absolutely.

1:29:41

And are you wearing a flip up helmet or just

1:29:43

a regular motor? I do

1:29:46

have a flip up at home, but I

1:29:49

wear an awry helmet

1:29:52

normally, but I'm on

1:29:54

a BMW event right

1:29:56

now. So I have a BMW helmet

1:29:59

about a couple of years.

1:29:59

ago because one wants to look the

1:30:02

part. You know, you got to fit in.

1:30:04

Yes. So both

1:30:06

the awry, they don't believe

1:30:09

in flip up construction and technology.

1:30:12

But I do have one that is sometimes

1:30:15

helpful for teaching because

1:30:17

with a full face helmet in front of your mouth, it's

1:30:19

kind of marbled and you can't really enunciate

1:30:23

clearly to the customer. So the flip

1:30:25

up is good. Okay. So

1:30:28

what about fogging? How do you deal

1:30:30

with that? Yeah. Um, both helmet

1:30:33

visors and glasses, you're

1:30:35

susceptible to it. So

1:30:37

a good helmet will have good venting.

1:30:41

And if your visor starting to

1:30:43

fog, you can crack it open,

1:30:45

you know, a finger width to let

1:30:48

air in underneath. Cause

1:30:50

the fogging is generally like

1:30:52

a car on the inside. Uh,

1:30:55

one of our instructors at home has a pair

1:30:58

of goggles. I don't know how much

1:31:00

they are. I never asked them, but they

1:31:02

have little battery operated

1:31:05

propellers, things inside

1:31:07

them. Jim, it's a defroster

1:31:09

fan inside his goggles. And

1:31:14

a lot of, uh, snowmobilers

1:31:16

will have a plugin, heat

1:31:19

advisor to defeat

1:31:22

fogging up, which is far more prevalent

1:31:25

from your breath when it's cold out. Right.

1:31:28

And I guess the problem with that is harder to deal with because it

1:31:30

freezes. Yes. And

1:31:33

every time you get it on and off the snowmobile,

1:31:35

you've got to unhook your electric visor.

1:31:38

So I haven't seen a motorcyclist

1:31:41

use a heat advisor. Listeners

1:31:43

could correct me, but I've never seen anybody

1:31:45

do that. But that concept would work.

1:31:48

If you're always in a Northern climate,

1:31:51

you know, it's almost winter,

1:31:53

fall, spring conditions with

1:31:57

very cold temperatures, you're more prevalent

1:31:59

to fog up. What about your glasses? Are

1:32:01

you using any sort of coating on them or any sort of

1:32:04

Chemical learning you're putting on them to stop them from fogging? Years

1:32:07

ago at a consumer show, I don't know

1:32:09

if you've seen them, but there'll

1:32:11

be Gentlemen selling its

1:32:14

pink wax in a small pill

1:32:17

sized plastic bottle and

1:32:20

it's supposed to present

1:32:23

fogging and it minimizes

1:32:25

that But it leaves

1:32:27

kind of a waxy coating On

1:32:30

your glasses, so they're not fogged up,

1:32:32

but you can't see through the wax So

1:32:35

the key then really is ventilation

1:32:37

and you're saying if you buy a good helmet, it's got good ventilation

1:32:39

It's gonna deal with it

1:32:41

absolutely and Goggles

1:32:44

if they fog up will stop

1:32:47

Take them off swing them

1:32:49

around

1:32:50

that air flow from you swinging

1:32:52

them in a circle Will defog

1:32:55

them in seconds, right? That's

1:32:57

a good trick Okay Well,

1:33:00

that's good stuff Clinton. Thank you very much And

1:33:02

I appreciate your time I hear that of

1:33:04

your your tough job of riding the

1:33:06

motorcycle around through the British Columbia Mountains right

1:33:09

now Yeah, how lucky am I Jim

1:33:11

if you hear me complain, please slap

1:33:13

me son. So lucky While

1:33:16

you enjoy the rest of your trip Clinton. Thanks

1:33:18

so much. Take the time to talk

1:33:20

all the best. Bye. Bye now I

1:33:48

Was speaking with Clinton smelt from

1:33:50

smart adventures while he was away at the

1:33:52

stunning Sun Peaks Resort in British

1:33:54

Columbia And another one of his adventures his

1:33:57

website if he works anymore smartadventures.ca.

1:34:03

That link of course is in the show notes as it

1:34:05

always is for this episode on our website

1:34:07

Adventure Rider Radio. Okay,

1:34:17

I just want to remind you that this episode has been brought to

1:34:19

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1:34:23

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1:34:27

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1:34:31

and we'd really appreciate it if anytime you're dealing with these companies,

1:34:33

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1:34:49

Well, that about wraps up another episode of Adventure

1:34:51

Rider Radio, and we sure hope you enjoyed listening to it

1:34:53

as much as we did making it. Special thanks to our

1:34:56

producer Elizabeth Martin and of course you for being

1:34:58

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1:35:00

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1:35:02

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Anyway, get out there and ride your bike if you can. My name is Jim

1:36:05

Martin. Thank you very much for listening and I will

1:36:07

talk to you next week.

1:36:14

I'm

1:36:17

Steph Jevons and you're listening

1:36:19

to Adventure Rider Radio.