Three Wheeled Movie Fun, and Winter Arrives

I was at my daughters hockey game last night sitting with my friend Rod who also happens to be a biker, and runner, he just completed his first marathon and if it all goes well maybe we will be doing a 50 miler next year. Anyway, he said, the blog has been quiet, no new bikes?

 Of course, I have been stewing over a new blog entry, and I continue to lust after a new bike, because  one is never enough, and I have yet to find the perfect one, however the Vstrom is damn close. It does everything but trail ride, and get me through the winter. So my mind keeps coming back to the good ol' Russian three wheeler. The Ural.

So in my obsessive search for all knowledge on Russian sidecar motorbikes I stumbled upon a couple of good independent films. One I linked to a couple of months ago, Sit, Stay, Ride It's a documentary about two of my loves, sidecars, and dogs. It's one of the reasons I really want a sidecar, so I can take both the dogs with me. Share what you love to do with man's best friend. Plus with the two-wheeled drive option of a Ural, the recent snowfall wouldn't slow me down or stop me in my tracks. Turn up the heated jacket a notch and keep going.

I just downloaded this movie, and have yet to watch it, but the trailer looks really good. If you are a fan of bikes and dogs go to Vimeo and check it out.




Sit Stay Ride: The Story of America's Sidecar Dogs - Trailer from Ristau & Liimatta on Vimeo.

Yes Molly, you could be this cool

Molly and Abbie sharing a different kind of ride with me

I really think a new Ural will be in my not-to-distant future, spring of 2015. What's that mean for the 250 rally/ADV build? Not sure. However the Ural will make a great rally, off road film platform, sweep bike. Plus it will be perfect for our upcoming CMG/Bigland documentary on riding off road around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I have yet to tell anyone about that on the blog. That will be in the next update. But it's gonna be fun. A Newfie in Ural, and an Englishman on a KLR, and a bunch of maritimers on dirt, ADV bikes. What could go wrong?

Before I move on to the next film, I just want to say I do not have a drinking problem, in fact I rather enjoy it, and can pound back a few-to-many beers with no issue. Being a pilot and traveling the world, you get to frequent a lot of different bars while trying to kill time between flights. (we do have a 12hr bottle to throttle rule, so don't worry I'm not the guy Denzel Washington portrayed in Flight, I have yet to snort cocaine to get me ready to fly) So the idea of traveling on sidecar across a country checking out every cool bar along the way is an awesome idea. May even be a future documentary that will go well with my 50th birthday plans of riding around Ireland. 

The Best Bar in America

I haven't watched this yet, but I am looking forward to it. It's not a documentary like Sit, Stay, Ride, but has that edgy, Easyriders feel to it. Might be a Saturday afternoon, lid down on the couch kinda movie.

The Best Bar in America - Trailer from The Best Bar in America on Vimeo.

A whiskey-fueled writing assignment takes one man on an epic motorcycle road trip through the bars and taverns across the American West. Riding a 1960 BMW R60/2 motorcycle with a sidecar, Sanders (Andrew Rizzo) is a down-on-his-luck writer on a mission to chronicle every watering hole along the way. With help of fellow traveler and dharma bum, Northway (David Ackroyd) and a variety of other colorful characters along the way, Sanders learns the way of the road and the zen of the bar.

Motorcycling the West, sleeping on the ground, chasing mermaids, and drinking in America's most legendary taverns, Sanders experiences firsthand the brotherhood of the bike and bar. Along the way, he gets advice from Ernest Hemingway and Jim Harrison on writing, drinking, and living life to the fullest. The Best Bar in America is a classic road movie for the modern age.

So yesterday we received our first real brush with winter.  Snow blanketed the ground, and my hopes of a late winter were crushed under the weight of a wet, ten centimetres of the white shit. The roads stayed bare for the most part, and I was once again hopeful that the salt trucks would stay parked, but alias as we drove home from my daughters hockey game the mercury had plummeted below freezing and a fresh coating of rock salt covered the road. The good news, rain and ten degrees on Wednesday, which should wash most of the evil, corrosive stuff off the road. The rest of the week will be cool with temps near freezing but I hope to still get some rides in.

 Yes, I could be tearing it up in the snow with the dogs, enjoying the winter beauty on the logging roads of New Brunswick.

All the summer toys put away for the winter. The long wait to live again begins.











Next update........I'll bring all of you up up to speed on the CMG/Bigland documentary planned for next year. It's gonna be dirty, fun, educational and enlightening.