I was out riding with my friend David Powell this weekend and we stopped for a break near Iona Beach. He parked his Honda CB500X next to my F650GS and we sat down on the grass to admire the view across the marsh, watch the birds flit around and scan the horizon for jets taking off from Vancouver International Airport.
We talked about our upcoming plans for summer rides and discovered a common obstacle: the looming threat of road closures due to wildfires. There are already several wildfires going in British Columbia. But last year I was booked to go riding to Likely and Quesnel Lake when, while checking the provincial wildfire status, I noticed two of the roads I would travel were blocked and many of the surrounding communities were being evacuated. It wasn’t likely I was going to Likely. So keeping closer to home I decided to explore communities and good motorcycling roads closer to home (see my article When Roads Converge in Motorcycle Mojo magazine for more on this). I explored the Fraser Valley and got a great motorcycling weekend out of it.
It seems that here in British Columbia, concern over the wildfire threat is a real deterrent on making travel plans. What to do? Well, keeping tabs with the British Columbia Wildfire Service (Twitter @BCGovFireInfo or https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status) for updates during the summer close to departure is a good idea. But what else can you do if your way is blocked? Well, you can’t fight Mother Nature. Why not choose to ride closer to home and do some short range exploring? Here in the B.C. Lower Mainland there are plenty of roads to travel in the Fraser Valley and off the Sea-to-Sky Highway. A few weekends back the Westcoast Ride to Live had me taking a wrong turn down Old Dewdney Trunk Road and I found myself travelling some of the most scenic farm roads that I discovered completely by accident.
Sometimes making a change of plans can lead to pleasant experiences. They may be unexpected ones is all. I have a tendency to over-plan. It comes with being an anxious guy by nature. What I have to remember is, when exploring, the unknown has to play a part. It wasn’t the ride down Highway 3, which I have travelled many times, that I was talking about when I got home. I was telling my wife, telling other motorcyclists, about the road I found with the gorgeous mountain views off the Old Dewdney Road, the road I had never travelled on before. I also spoke about Mission Speedway, one of the stops along the ride, where the incredibly loud engines of drag racers roared behind me. It’s the new experiences that I retain after the ride.
So maybe it’s best not to focus too much on what you can’t do because of a wildfire or other natural obstacle, and look at what you can do. After all there are a lot of roads out there. Splay out a map on a table and rethink it.
Where do you want to go?
