Bungie Gets Lost AGAIN!

[yamafitter]

Some time last week there was a post from Bungie about showing up at the Parry Sound Sportbike Rally. I have been to Parry Sound but never when the rally was on. There was nothing pressing I had to do so I told Bungie I would meet up for lunch. Bungie replied back that we should meet at the Whitfield Inn so there was a plan in place.

Parry Sound is pretty much in Bungie's backyard so you would think he has some idea of where to ride but I wasn't going to take any chances. I stopped at a church just south of Orillia to pray for the Garmin gods to keep me safe from the meanderings of Bungie ...

Praying helped since just as I was about to turn onto Rama Rd by the casino an unmarked cop car pulled in front of me. I was planning on doing some 'sporty' riding in this section so this was indeed fortunate for me. I road a short piece up Hwy 11 and then I turned onto Mukoka Road 13. That's right .... lucky 13. Great twisties but the pucker factor is high due to sand on the road, stumps coming up through the pavement, unmarked sections where someone stole the pavement and high probability of forest rats.

This is also the land of the Canadian Pre-Cambrian Shield. That means the rocks and boulders are harder than FredW's head. Making a mistake on this road comes with some very high consequences and your a long way from help so the 8/10th rule applies. Even with all the 'diversions' it's still a fun road ...

I was now well into Cottage Country when I took a bio-break in Bala. It was starting to get hot and the lake looked very inviting ...

I also took the time to check out the outfall from the small hydroelectric dam ...

By now I wanted to get moving so it was time to continue north and I rolled into the Sportbike rally grounds with time to spare. There weren't very many folks milling about ...

Nor were there many vendors. Most of the folks were either out riding or over at the Airport doing speed runs on the runway while the local detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police put the radar gun on them. The funniest part of that was that the airport wasn't shutdown to airplane traffic so when a plane wanted to take-off or land someone would yell 'Plane!!' and everyone would have to clear the runway. Sort of like playing road hockey and having to get the nets off the road when a car comes along.

It was now close to noon so I headed over to the Whitfield Inn. Bungie & his buddy that was riding a big Suzuki cruiser were already there and we had a few sodas while we waited for IBR finisher Pete to put in a guest apperance. Pete rolled in on one of his bikes from his personal fleet, a big Beemer. Time to order some food ...

The fish & chips were a disappointment after the seafood I had out at CFR on the East Coast but if you use enough catsup anything is edible.

Steve (Bungie) is giving me the evil eye while Pete wolfs down his food. Pete hadn't eaten in 11 days of the IBR and was making up for lost time ...

OK, this is where it all goes wrong. After paying the bills we load up and the plan is to go over to Rally headquarters. The headquarters has been in the same location every year. This is Bungie's backyard. The headquarters is less than 5 kilometers away. There was some talk about going downtown first so I thought this was where our hero was headed but NOOOOOOO, Bungie pulls off to the side of the road, looks at his Zumo as if it has lost its mind and then Steve proceeds to pull a U-Turn and go in the proper direction. I almost fell off my FJR laughing.

I told Steve I wasn't going to mention this but he made fun of the run-away tether for my video camera on facebook ...

OK so it looks a little cobbled together and a bit of a hack job but I was not about to lose my Contour HD. There's beauty in function.

When we got back over to the rally one of the vendors had done up an Adventure bike with all kinds of goodies.

Bungie thought this was a GS. Dummy ... anybody can see this is a Turnip Triumph Tiger that I'm checking out ...

 

[Bungie]

Go ahead fun boi, dig yourself in good and deep.

 

[madmike2]

Hmmmmmm....that Tiger looks like F U N! :yahoo:

 

[yamafitter]

Parry Sound Bike Rally Continued

 

There wasn't much going on at the rally headquarters but Owen and Charlie from the forum showed up. We mentioned that we were thinking of going over to the airport to check out the speed runs. Owen asked me for directions. I told him I thought it was south of town and then just follow the airport signs. I got out the paper map I had received from the rally organizers to confirm this. Owen also looked at the map. We confirmed that the airport was indeed south of town. So Owen then says, 'So I go north right??'. I should have sent him to Bungie for directions.

 

I've been told you can tell an Englishman from a mile away but once they get any closer you can't tell them a thing. This incident did nothing to disprove that IMHO.

 

So once we get Owen & Charlie pointed in the right direction it was off to the airport. I had plans to videotape a pass of my superior Gen II AE over the doddling prodding of Steve's Gen I but alas it ws not to be as too many folks were in line and sign-in had been cut off. We will just have to wait till next year.

 

I was feeling a little bad about the ribbing I had given FredW over the Bruins since the Bruins had won the Stanley Cup. We were in the hometown of the greatest hockey player & Boston Bruin to ever put on skates ... BOBBY ORR. I only felt it proper that we go and do pentance at the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame.

Steve (Bungie) wishing he was riding my superior Gen II AE ...

 

 

Here I am about to perform my pentance ....

 

 

I wanted to get FredW a gift to say I was sorry for doubting his Bruins ...

 

 

I wasn't $125 sorry though...... I did find a fridge magnet for a loonie. Then I thought what would FredW do??? FredW would never feel sorry about anything so I left emptyhanded.

 

Parry Sound attracts a large number of Bruins fans from New England every summer as part of pilgrimage of sorts. Locals have discovered that Bruins fans being a rowdy bunch cannot be approached like normal folk so they have a catch and release program ...

 

 

Once hockey season starts the authorities transport these fans back to Boston Gardens were they are released back into the wild.

 

Bungie had to leave to put some polish on the Big Nickel for the tourists back in Sudbury so we said our goodbys and I was on my own again.

I had some time to play so I headed over to Hwy 518. Big fun was in store ...

 

 

Here is another contender for Lame *** Video of the Year Award starring trees & road but man ... what a fun road ...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EENsQvb9PuI&hd=1

 

At Sprucedale I turned south at the roadhouse and ran a fun cottage road that took me the back way into Huntsville ...

 

 

Once I made it to Huntsville l dodged the OPP patrolled Hwy 11 and skipped over to the Deerhurst Canal Road for more twisty fun ...

 

 

From there it was an uneventful ride back home. We ended up just under 700 km on the day. I would have to say the most fun riding was the first part of the trip home. From the start of the twisties on the 518 it was over 100 km before the road straighten out again. It was a HOOT!!!

 

It was also great fun to hear firsthand some of the stories from the IBR from Peter. His story about the last half hour in LA traffic hearing the directions from the Zumo but being so tired he had no idea what the Zumo was telling him was a good one. There were other great stories but I'll let Peter tell them.

 

Thanks Bungie for putting this together but I'll never follow you again ... unless I'm looking for a laugh

 

 

[Bungie]

I gotta add my 2.5 cents here.

I was WAY disappointed in the turn out for the rally. Their was a time, not long ago, it attracted about 5000 bikes. But sport bikers being squids also brought out a heavy police presence. Net result, stick a fork in it, the rally should be put out of its misery. 50 bikes at the fair grounds, perhaps another 50 at the radar runs (btw, fastest bikes were BMW 1000RR ticking over at 260km/h on the short runway) My lady friend Karen on the C14 made two runs. The first run she didn't know where the strip ended and ended up shutting the bike down at the first timing mark for 191km/h. Second pass she was so flustered she blew a shift, went up two gears.. and basically abused that poor C14.

Anyway.

I've been to the Whitfield a bunch of times. I've been to the actual rally once, and that was 4 years ago. All the other times I've gone down for 'it' I've blown it off and gone riding instead, that time it was IN Parry Sound. All I knew was that the fairgrounds were on Rankin Rd to the south of the fairgrounds. I figure it would be a major intersection. Nope, just a little side road with a hand painted sign about 8x10 that said 'rally' on it. I can hardly be blamed for blowing past it. Hell, my GPS wasn't even on. BTW, nice U-Turn with both feet down Bill - guess I've had more practice at it huh.

So we go over to the airport down Rankin Rd - fun road, but the tar strips were fresh and it was hot. No pace. Very squirrely.

My buddy Jim needed gas so I punched that into the Garmin, it said 5km to an Esso. Well, we found the gas bar, but it was about kilometer before where the GPS said it was. Unfortunately, it was closed, this being a beautiful Saturday in cottage country (!) Back on the hwy north so Jim could get some gas.

Then funboi whips out a map to find the Bobby Orr shrine or temple or some ****. He picks out the hockey arena figuring it made sense. Get there, and its definitely an arena, but no shrine to the god of hockey to be found. So hop-a-long goes an asks two women out walking their dogs. One site of Bill in his Rukka Skidoo suit and they nearly ran away. Bill did his best to chase them down and all he could get out of them was a shoulder shrug.

Out comes the maps again. Down to the waterfront.

Nice place with a wedding going on (you know your in Canada when you get married at a hockey shrine). Lots of 'scenery'. The couple has a LOT of good looking friends. Anyway, grabbed an ice cream and Jim tells me he's got to be back for 5 or so. Their goes my plans for a fun ride with Bill.

After saying our good-byes Jim and I make with the giddy-up. I saw Jim squirming around behind me trying to get comfortable (relief) from his big Suzuki. So we stopped for 10 minutes at Key Marina at the half way point. Back on the bikes for the final dash home. I decide now would be a good time to blow some of the carbon out after following Bill on his quest for the grail or whatever the feck it was we were doing.

BTW, an 04 FJR absolutely annihilates an M109R Suzuki. I think I had 10 bike lengths on him at the top of 2nd gear. At the first set of lights on entering Sudbury, Jim says "HOLY CRAP THAT THINGS FAST!"

"Ya"

The rally was a big disappointment, but it was great to Bill on kielbasa hauler, and listening to the stories from Peter about is IBR run on the deck over the water at the Whitfield. We need to get together more often.

 

[Old Michael]

Fun reading and looking at this one 'fitter.

Best photo -----

I sorta remember Orr.

Can't believe they've a shrine for a friggin' defenseman.

Didn't he hitch a ride to some Cups with Esposito?

Bungie, you seem to regularly frustrate your riding companions.

fjrob1300 was telling me about the time .......

 

[Bungie]

Bungie, you seem to regularly frustrate your riding companions.

fjrob1300 was telling me about the time .......

I gotta do something to keep these yahoo's on their toes.

 

[Bugnatr]

Thanks for the pics and report. Man I loved the "somebody yells Plane" part :lol2: :lol2:

 

[rushes]

Poor Bungie.

Why do you give him ****?

He seems like a good ol boy.....

 

[Bustanut joker]

Go ahead fun boi, dig yourself in good and deep.

Poor Bill... I'd have thought he'd have known bedder.. :blink: Steve gets lost on his way to his toilet.

 

[yamafitter]

I gotta add my 2.5 cents here.

I was WAY disappointed in the turn out for the rally...

That was pretty sad.

All I knew was that the fairgrounds were on Rankin Rd to the south of the fairgrounds. I figure it would be a major intersection. Nope, just a little side road with a hand painted sign about 8x10 that said 'rally' on it. I can hardly be blamed for blowing past it. Hell, my GPS wasn't even on. BTW, nice U-Turn with both feet down Bill - guess I've had more practice at it huh.

With your sense of direction I would have thought you would have had the Zumo surgically implanted.

Yes I do need to work on my U-Turns. I still don't fully trust my artifical knee.

Then funboi whips out a map to find the Bobby Orr shrine or temple or some ****. He picks out the hockey arena figuring it made sense. Get there, and its definitely an arena, but no shrine to the god of hockey to be found. So hop-a-long goes an asks two women out walking their dogs. One site of Bill in his Rukka Skidoo suit and they nearly ran away. Bill did his best to chase them down and all he could get out of them was a shoulder shrug.

The ladies were from South Carolina and were wondering where the snow was. I had to take the time to punch in the address on my Zumo to find the Hall of Fame.

Down to the waterfront.

Nice place with a wedding going on (you know your in Canada when you get married at a hockey shrine). Lots of 'scenery'. The couple has a LOT of good looking friends. Anyway, grabbed an ice cream and Jim tells me he's got to be back for 5 or so. Their goes my plans for a fun ride with Bill.

You guys left too early and missed out on this one. The wedding party was in a HUGE panic. The minister / priest never showed up and the staff were scrambling to find a judge or judgist of the peace at 3PM on a Saturday. I think everyone was out on the water or out riding.

Fun reading and looking at this one 'fitter.

Best photo -----

It looked better than it tasted.

I sorta remember Orr.

Can't believe they've a shrine for a friggin' defenseman.

Didn't he hitch a ride to some Cups with Esposito?

Bungie, you seem to regularly frustrate your riding companions.

fjrob1300 was telling me about the time .......

And you have the nerve to call yourself a hockey fan. Obviously all that sun out there in LaLa Land has fried brain.

All Esposito did was park his carcass in front of the net and have his team mates bounce the puck into the net off his empty head.

I like riding with Steve. Being an Adventure Rider (I suffer from AO) I like the adventure of not knowing where we are going.

Poor Bungie.

Why do you give him ****?

He seems like a good ol boy.....

You ask WHY? and I say WHY NOT!

 

[Bungie]

No **** about the wedding!

I was a little perturbed that Jim had to be back in Sudbury for dinner <makes whipped noises>. This was actually a test run for him with me. He wants to come down to SE Ohio with me soon. Well, he's good for about 100km from fresh before he needs and *** break, and his bike needed gas after just 200km. Hell, I went to Parry Sound and back on a tank! Given that I need to get to SE Ohio in a day, theirs no way I'd make it in that time frame with him in tow. Maybe he could leave the day before and I'll catch up (and pass) him. Good guy though!

Ya, I understand about the knee. I'd do the same.

Time for <ugh> work...

 

[beemerdons]

Nice Report Bill, Thank You! Maybe for NAFO/CFR 2012 in Castlegar, British Columbia we can have Rally T-Shirts made up that read: "I'm with Bungie"! jes' sayin'

NOTE: Your video is blocked here in Estados Unidos. When I tried to play it, just got a message that the music audio you used is copyright protected in the USA.

 

[mattster31]

Nice report Bill!

Bungie.......Where did you buy that GPS??? LOL. Was that the second time it's led you astray??? Must be some kind of "Rally" virus that messes with your receiver

Aren't you riding the Rendezvous-rally?????

Be afraid.............. h34r:

 

[beemerdons]

Nice report Bill!

Bungie.......Where did you buy that GPS??? LOL. Was that the second time it's led you astray??? Must be some kind of "Rally" virus that messes with your receiver

Aren't you riding the Rendezvous-rally?????

Be afraid.............. h34r:

You know Matt and Bill, we should just all contribute to a fund to buy Steve a "Magic Etch A Sketch Screen" for his FJR in a color that matches his moto.

It would work just as well as his GPS's do for him and I think that he would have a lot more fun with an Etch A Sketch!

 

[Bungie]

Aren't you riding the Rendezvous-rally?????

Yup, that's going to be fun, not only will the roads be strange, the signs will be too!

 

[Bungie]

It would work just as well as his GPS's do for him and I think that he would have a lot more fun with an Etch A Sketch!

It's gonna be a ***** to turn it upside and shake to erase the screen after its mounted on the bike.

 

[beemerdons]

It would work just as well as his GPS's do for him and I think that he would have a lot more fun with an Etch A Sketch!

It's gonna be a ***** to turn it upside and shake to erase the screen after its mounted on the bike.

ionbeam and Fred W will engineer something to shake the screen. Bustanut joker, odot and RadioHowie will also have suggestions, but I don't think you'd like them!

 

[Bustanut joker]

I bet Scooter has some ideas on how to flip it.. :lol: