Awoke Thursday to a beautiful sunny morning. Loaded the bike on the trailer and hooked to my 5th wheeler we pointed the truck north ( well nearly ) and headed out to Manitoulin. I was going to the 5th Annual Ride Manitoulin Event, my 3rd attendance. Now what is an Adventure without a mishap. Entering Bala, I notice lights flashing behind me with a hand seemingly frantically waving out the window….so I pull over and he stops and says your bike trailer has a flat and he has chased me from Torrance….worried the trailer might flip. He asks me if I have a spare and I assure him yes, thank him and he is off. The tire is shredded, only the sidewalls remain.
Spare on, rather than turn back, I decide I will chance making Parry Sound 40 miles and pick up a new tire at CTC. The Spare which I put on was new but a size 80 with the flat a 75…….so I buy another 80 but they will only sell it with a rim….so 214.00 lighter, and the new rim and tire mounted ( by moi ) I am back on the road and make Green Acres at Shequinedah by 4.45pm. Park the Trailer, unload and pack the camping gear on the bike and ride over to Providence Bay where I camp until Sunday.
Friday dawns misty with a light drizzle……..I hang out at the snack bar at the Arena which is serving meals when I return to my site I spy a familiar bike.
Paul Hawgood has ridden up from Bracebridge. We ride into Manitoulin for some refreshments, returning to crack open his bottle of wine and a few beer. The band starts up around 8pm ( Blackwater is the feature Group ) and I must say they are awesome. Honda and Harley are 2 of the bike vendors this year and have ride outs all week end….the same Honda guys that attended our Hubb Event. The weather Friday has put a damper on attendance which is unfortunate for the organizers as so many more vendors are here this year.
Saturday morning is overcast when we start our adventure ride but soon turns Sunny 
and the rest of the day and evening is great with Blackwater putting on an excellent show until 1am……. not before the Biker Games which started at 6 and ran until 8.30 with Paul and a loaned female rider taking a Gold Metal and some cash for bite the weenie contest. To enter you required a female companion and another biker was kind enough to lend her mate…… For you old bike enthusiast notice the bike in the second last pic above with only the front showing to the left. This is a BARN FIND in Huntsville by a fellow from Guelph who was looking for snowmobile parts at Garage. He happened to see bike wheels under a tarp and asked what it was…. the old fellow said a bike his boss had given him in 95 but he never rode it as he didn’t have a licence…..asking if he could see it the owner pulled the tarp off and John’s jaw dropped…..it was a 95 BMW GS100 an early Adventure Series with that African Twin appearance. Though dusty, it appeared in pristine shape. Would you be interested in selling it, he inquired……sure was the reply. Will it run was the next question….well lets try….oil checked….appeared to be a gas smell in the oil but let’s hook a battery up….with fresh gas in the tank the button is pushed and it fires right up. How much is the next question….$ 3500.00….would you take $ 3200.00 he foolishly asks….no $ 3500.00….SOLD SOLD and he rushes to get his snow mobile trailer before someone else see’s it. The bike had 4500 kilometres on it.
Biker Paul…
See the competition he was up against.
notice the intensity and concentration it takes to be in this challenge.
The driver is disqualified if he puts his feet down….so look what he is up against in the finals…. though I believe he won this event as well. they gave the award to the Spider…..
She missed and Paul and loner won this event…..sorry Paul I missed the winning BITE.
This was the balloon water toss……Good Chance of getting wet if she misses the catch on the other side.
On my way to the trailer Sunday, notice this docked at Little Current…
A passenger ship on route to Montreal…..they were loading fresh water while the passengers where on a Bus Tour of the Island. About 8.30 pm saw it go past my beach camp site heading for open water…..
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