Zwanzigelf - Unser Jahr in Bildern

JANUAR

Ein frostiger Jahresbeginn

Der neue Ausblick

FEBRUAR

Wir werden Kanadier.

Wintereinbruch

MÄRZ

Urlaub auf Maui

Ein Besuch bei Elvis in Memphis

APRIL

Vespa-Reiter

MAI

Wir wählen

Road-Trip: Washington - Oregon

JUNI

Ausritt nach Bowen Island

Audi Testfahrt durch die Küstenberge

JULI

Ein feines Geburtstagsgeschenk

AUGUST

Chateau St. Michelle

Unser Vespa-Trip durch Washington

SEPTEMBER

Jazz Festival in Whistler

Meilenweit: Unser Road-Trip durch den Südwesten der USA

Am Grand Canyon

OKTOBER

Cranberry Ernte

Ein Wochenende in Kelowna

NOVEMBER

Portland, OR

Herbstlaub

DEZEMBER

Mal wieder Seattle

Wintertag

Frohes Neues Jahr!

Bob's right!

Almost two years ago I left a well paid assignment in the wintry prairies for a somewhat mediocre and underpaid job on the unreasonably expensive We(s)t coast. Oh well, it's not all about money in life, isn't it?

One of the first things that Bobskoot said to me when I made my decision public was:
"We didn't get any snow this year. Most years you can ride 48-50 weeks a year, except for a few days of frost."

And Bob was right, there was almost no snow to be seen in the almost two years since I moved here. (There was lots of what they call 'liquid sunshine' over here, though.)

2011 wasn't a bad year for motorcycling. Although work and screwed up schedules prevented me from going on major road trips I logged in about 1,600km on Nella, my F650GS, which I sold in July, 1,800km on Rover, my then acquired Sportster, and 5,400km on Paolo, my trusty Vespa Granturismo.

Most of of the scooter mileage was gathered in commuting to work, which I did from April when I got it until Daylight Saving time stole morning and afternoon light of me in November. As I don't like riding in darkness and torrential rains, Paolo was going to be reduced to weekend take outs.

Actually from April onwards weekends became a wonderful treat since my commuting better half (he is still working in Calgary) got in to scooter riding this year, and was often able to join me on Bella, his Vespa GT250. 

Life is good! 

Ride safe, ride often, and see you on the road in 2012. 

HAPPY NEW RIDING YEAR!

So kann es bleiben!

Da soll doch mal einer sagen, in Kanada waere es kalt. Gestern gab es die wahrscheinlich waermsten Temperaturen im Dezember seit Wetteraufzeichnung.

Ursache des Ganzen soll der sogenannte Pineapple Express sein, ein Jetstream, welcher nasse und warme Luft aus Richtung Hawaii bringt. Fuer die Bewohner der nordamerikanischen Westkueste bedeutet dies milde Temperaturen und massenhaft Niederschlag.

Kurios ist jedoch, dass auch aus Yukon, Alaska oder Manitoba ueber zu warmes Wetter berichtet wird, die vom Ananas-Express eher weniger betroffen sind.

Global Warming?

Virtual Factory Tour

In my line of profession I have had a lot of opportunity (and obligation) to attend factory and facility tours. Actually it has always been the most fun part of my job as I find assembly lines and production logistics strangely intriguing.

Just recently BMW has started in Berlin with the production of the new scooter line. I had expected a fully automatized production facility (something along the line of German efficiency etc.), and was surprised how much manpower is being put into assembling those bikes. They build about 80 of those per day in two shifts with no more than fifteen people per shift. Fascinating.


One different kind of a tour is being presented by Dougie Lampkin, British trial world champion at Renthal. Hmmm, nobody ever offered my to bring my own vehicle...

Dougie Lampkin tours Renthal Ltd from Renthal Ltd on Vimeo.

It is good to see that not everything gets off-shored to cheap labour countries, and some pretty good stuff is still getting manufactured in good ole Europe.

Viel zu warm!

Unser Weihnachtswetter... es ist zu warm in Kanada!

Whistler im Miniaturformat

Ein wunderschönes Video über einen Tag im Skigebiet in Whistler, BC:

'Tis the Season again!

The spousal unit had suggested to spend a weekend in Seattle. Purely by coincidence it was also the weekend of the motorcycle show, this year at the Washington Convention Center, which happened to be five minutes away from our hotel. There wasn't much to get excited about except for this Norton:

And yes, yet again probably for the umphtiest time I drooled all over certain Triumph models.

There were a few pretty vintage bikes such as this Honda CB and a Metisse.

And this BMW C1 scooter certainly won the price of the weirdest two wheeler on display.

Also, a handful of bloggers happened to be around at the same time, and so we had our own little convention going. Here we are at Cyber Dogs having lunch.

There was Bob and Mrs Skoot, Troubadour and Trobairitz, and Orin.

And later on for dinner we got to hook up with Chuck again. We had a great time.

The weather was kind, and it was warm enough to actually spend the day outside.

Even Mt. Rainier was showing off.

The Space Needle is always an eye catcher, and seasonally decorated.

We walked through the night enjoying the sight.

Downtown was dressed up all festive.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmukkah! Wishing you a wonderful motorcycle season 2012! Ride safe and ride often.

Wir bringen uns in Weihnachtsstimmung

Was wäre besser dazu geeignet, die Gattin in feierliche Stimmung zu bringen, als die alljährliche Motorradmesse in Seattle. Also machten wir uns Freitag nach der Arbeit auf den Weg, rutschten ohne Verzug über die Grenze und verbrachten einen netten Abend im Il Fornaio, bevor wir uns dann im um die Ecke gelegenen Downtown Hotel zur Ruhe betteten.

Vor Ort trafen wir auf Brandy und Bradley, Yvonne und Bob, Orin und Chuck, welche Sonja über das WWW bzw. ihren Mopped-Blog kennen gelernt hatte.

Das Wetter war uns hold und so verbrachten wir den Samstag Nachmittag an der frischen Luft. Es war so warm, dass die Leute in den Strassencafes sogar draussen sitzen konnten.

Ein seltener Anblick: In der Ferne konnte man sogar Mt. Rainier ausmachen.


Es ist schon Tradition bei Vital Tea Leaf zwecks Tee-Probe vorbei zu schauen. Als wir den Laden mit dem Bauch voller flüssiger Köstlichkeiten verlassen, sind wir um 80$ ärmer und um Jasmin-, Pu-Erh, Lychee und Ginseng Oolong Tee reicher.

Hier könnte Sonja einziehen: ein Laden ausschliesslich für Reiseführer und Landkarten.

Den Abend liessen wir bei einem fantastischen Abendessen im Bahn Thai Restaurant mit der oben genannten Blogger-Truppe ausklingen.

Trotz allem konnte uns das feierlich geschmückte Seattle nicht zum Einkaufen verführen. Es blieb beim Tee... was der Grenzbeamte auf dem Rückweg kaum glauben konnte.