Ride the Rock 2014 - 10 days on an island trying to kill us

In August, 7 of the manliest men set out from various parts of Canada and the US to conquer Newfoundland. This is a tale of failure, success, bologna sandwiches and Newfoundland hospitality.

I'm working on getting a good GPS track up. I'll update this post.

The Inmates
Canuman (Tim) - Our Fearless Leader - KLR650
Applicant255 (Adam) - KLR650
jacob_ns (Jake) - KLR650
Poultriss (Patrice) - KLR650
ScottieVK (Scott) - DR650
MalayznSenzashn (Shamsul) - Some sort of KTM, it's unimportant
Matt - KLR650

I'll now open it up to the fellowship of seven to add what they see fit, but I'll leave you with an image that sums up the trip for me. There's more to come, stay tuned!

Your are a petty petty man...

More productive posts to follow from the man on the 2014 KTM 690 Enduro R.

Though, "10 days on an island trying to kill ourselves" would probably be more accurate.

Thinking of Newfoundland for 2015. After doing the NNEAT, I trust Canuman's nav skills. Thanks for doing all the hard work for me Now, don't disappoint

I'm in.

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Do so at your own peril!

That's it. I'm going with you guys next year. Don't even need to know where

The island wasn't trying to kill you. It pretty much stays where it is stuck, within a few mm a year. NFL is an objective place -- either you finish the ride, or you come home by other transport.

I was the guy in the rig with the flashing lights, and didn't finish the ride. I came back by other transport.

I have no regrets. What a splendid place this island is. What magnificent, generous people live
here. I was in a period of distrust for humanity. I'm over that.

I was born there. Need to come back some day and meet this seductress.

Uploaded 160 pictures last night. Have notes from each day for the ride report, but here's a few pictures for now.









nfld2014-148 by applicant_255, on Flickr

I have posted my pictures here:

http://s178.photobucket.com/user/xyawhatx/library/Newfoundland 2014

Adam, Your photos are amazing!! I really need to build up the courage to bring my SLR. I'm really glad you brought yours, wow....

I see a pic of DaMurph in the mix, so this is gonna be good. You can't beat riding in Newfoundland or the wonderful Newfoundlanders!

Thanks for sharing.

Peter

Sounds Like a good rr coming down the pipe. Can't wait to read it, yes b'oy.

Took my wife there for our honeymoon. What fine trip that was.

My gopro is from before they were HD. The batteries don't last, and it will not take a card larger than 2G. The rain and temperature also caused a lot of fogging, so my videos kinda suck.....

I hope the adventure storyline starts soon, I'm excited to throw in my two cents on our day to day exploits.

Okay, let’s get this show on the road!

Departure day!

Patrice and I rolled out of Halifax at noon on the 18th with intents to arrive in North Sydney to meet the required ferry check in of 2130h that night. We rode up via the eastern shore #7 highway of Nova Scotia to keep us off the highways as much as possible. This ticked our ride up to around 8 hours instead of the 5 on the highway but it was acceptable to us as we had a berth waiting for us. Starting the day after a decent sleep is something I’d recommend. Getting a berth is a must as the chairs leave something greater to be desired.



I knew Tim (Canuman) and Scott (ScottieVK) were enroute and that Shamsul (MalayznSenzashn)and Matt were already on the island. Adam (Applicant255) was MIA but we’d discover that he snuck in under the wire being literally the last vehicle to load onto the ferry before departure.



Once the warning order bells were sounded to prep for disembarkation everyone scrambled to roll out. There was some initial confusion as the ferry has a habit of letting the motorcycles loose before all the bikes are ready so our merry band became two smaller merry bands within the first 5 minutes. We all played hop scotch with each other until we finally met up for a great breakfast at the Irving restaurant an hour out of Port-aux-Basques.

Since Barbsironbutt was riding with us to the Hostel in Bonne Bay on a street bike, we decided to split up again and meet there later in the day. Tim and Barb hit the highway while Patrice, Adam, Scott and myself booked it through the rain for Corner Brook and a trail that would take us across Old Mans Pond eventually connecting us with the 430 just south of Bonne Bay.

This is the first time we really stopped for photos and Adam made a pretty interesting comment about this scenery being nothing to write about compared to what was coming.





Adam


Scottie


Patrice


The trails through this area were some of the best of the trip. Unfortunately I’ve lost a lot of photos from this portion due to a compact flash card failure so I’ll count on the others to post theirs. We took a detour to the Lomond Sinkhole which was quite an awesome sight. We all climbed down the very steep incline and spent an hour or two pouring over the rocks and the cave below and also had our first trailside meal of the trip. I’ve lost all of those photos as well so post what ya got boys.

After leaving the sinkhole, we worked our way to Bonne Bay.







Along the way we were stopped in construction and noticed an R1200GS plated in the UK saddled by two passengers. Since we had the time we decided to walk up and say hello! Boy was this a mistake. Apparently four geared up bikers are intimidating to two older folks. Adam telling them to give us all their money was just the icing on the cake! Whoever they are, I hope they had a great trip!

We rolled in just before dark, dripping wet and hungry. Here we met Shamsul and Matt and rejoined Tim and Barb. We settled in, hung the gear to drip and played a few rounds of hobo dice while drinking some Iceburg beer.

Ahem. From the first post on the tracks page:

"Attached are the tracks for our late August 2014 Newfoundland ride. The tracks on the western part of the island are solid -- either we ran them last year, or we had tracks from other riders who did in 2013. The eastern tracks are more speculative -- they look like they will go, but are not guaranteed to do so."

You guys are nucking futz! In some ways, I'm glad I checked out in Millertown, and those were my tracks!

125? Quad? I wouldn't have hiked that. I know when I'm outmatched.

That being said, it gives a nice "Road of Bones" flavor to the whole business, and you dogs now have massive ADV cred.

Before we get to day 2, I'll update with a few photos Scott took from day 1.

Scotts DR650






The descent into the Lomond Sinkhole.


A trailside meal.




Stinking up the place.



Day 2!

The day started bleak and dreary with cloud and rain dominating the scenery. We said our goodbyes to Barb to was on her way back to PAB for her ferry crossing to the mainland and mounted our own bikes and began our journey to Deer Lake with the fearless leader at the helm.

After a stop at Tim Hortons for breakfast and the chance to warm up, we headed for the trails where the weather finally broke for a few hours. Having the opportunity to strip the rain gear and dry off substantially was amazing. This is where the first KLR nap of the trip happened!



Not long afterward we had another couple of mishaps with a KTM going one way and a KLR going another. Neither direction with the rubber side down. Nobody was hurt and the bikes were fine!





We stopped in Howley for fuel and food before heading out onto the Gaff Topsails. This is where we ran into Floyd who would turn out to be our innkeep for the night. I had made a joke about packing a case of beer on the bike when suddenly Floyd appeared and gave us an offer we couldn't refuse: He and his wife were staying out on the Gaff in their cabin so he'd ferry out our beer and he had plenty of space for us to pitch the tents. Sold! We'd meet up with him later in the day.

The Gaff is quite a sight. It's hard to truly experience on a motorcycle though simply due to the trail. You have two small spaces about 6" in width in which to plant your tires separated by deep, thick gravel. Move in any direction too much and you're off into the brush.









Floyds cottage.


This was the best part of the day.


Toby, Floyds duck dog.


The skies were angry.


Shamsul enjoying the heat.




We spent the night drinking beer, eating moose sausage, sharing stories with Floyd and his wife Elizabeth and generally having a good time. Adam drank a bunch and disappeared into his hammock and we all turned in.

Our band of brothers just before leaving Floyds.


This is where the trip turned from happy go lucky to very serious. Tim, our spearhead, hit this washout hidden around a corner and over a hill... pulling a moto-mule trailer.



I went back up the hill where we had some semblance of cell service to contact emergency services while the others saw to providing first aid. After bouncing back and forth between the RCMP and air ambulance, my description of our location finally nailed down that air ambulance was unnecessary and that we were accessible by an ambulance from Buchans.



Tim looking none too pleased at the hospital after discovering his shoulder was broken.




The staff at the hospital arranged for us to stay at the Red Ochre Inn while we figured out a plan of action.


The room rate included a chef-made supper and breakfast for all of us, arranged at the drop of a hat. I expected nothing too fancy or flavourful but holy damn was I surprised. I sat down in front of a 2x pork chop plate with fries and veggies followed by a caramel ice cream cake dessert!


We spent the rest of the night sitting in the hallway planning and telling stories. Things could have been much worse and we were all happy Tim was there with us at the end of it all.