2017 The Cabot and Fleur-de-lis Trails - Ride Report | GTAMotorcycle.com

2017 The Cabot and Fleur-de-lis Trails - Ride Report

Rotten_Ronnie

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Cheticamp River, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

I've been looking for a job after graduating from college recently, and put any riding plans on hold until I saw a facebook post announcing that the Canadian Superbike CSBK was at Shubenacadie this coming weekend! It spurred me into thinking that I had to dust off the bike and get it out of the garage in time to attend at least one day of the race, then head up to Cape Breton Island and do the Cabot Trail for the 3rd (and best) time.

I already had one of my cases loaded with camping gear, so all I had to worry about was some spare clothes, electronics, food and water, so Saturday afternoon I let out the clutch and headed out to the track via Confederation Bridge and towards Atlantic Motorsport Park via the most direct route that my Garmin plotted.

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The Grand Tour

I only had a loose plan formulated limited only by my desire to ride and the cash in my wallet, about $240 dollars. Let's see... I had to hit Meat Cove, Fortress Louisbourg (it was free this year), and I sort of wanted to see Halifax and ride round the Southwest side of it, but it was a bit too ambitious to fit all that in on this trip, so something would have to be cut.

Day 1 - Borden - Carelton PE to Atlantic Motorsports Park, Shubenacadie NS

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The trouble was that Garmin didn't really have a clue where the park was located, and when I plugged in the address, it provided me with a route off the highway that looked like it would backtrack around for about thirty kilometres before I arrived at the racetrack, and by the time I was close, of course I was down to about two bars on the fuel gauge which leads me to think that I can do about 50 more kilometres before getting really nervous. To make matters worse, I was looking for signs on the highway that advertise the track, and as a result I shot past a couple before I twigged to the fact that I'd ridden well past the coordinates that I'd plotted as the end point. *sigh* Doubling back I headed for the town of Shubenacadie NS, where to my relief I saw signs for the track in the town itself, and managed to find my way down to the track after some a few kilometres of gravel, arrived at the gate where I got my wristband and found a spot inside the track to set up the tent.

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Have tent will travel

That ground doesn't show you how soft it actually is... My newly installed "big foot" wasn't up to the task of keeping the loaded bike on an even plane, so I had to resort to placing the kickstand puck down as well to keep the bike from falling over onto one of the sidecases.

I found that my friend Zac was on his way to the track to cover the event for Canada Moto Guide and we back and forthed a bit on messenger, then late that night he walked up with a mutual friend, Eric from the Fundy Adventure Rally and we talked for awhile about bikes, the scouting for the upcoming rally, friends and my plans for the trip, with Zac giving me some great tips for the ride I'd be doing following the races that would end Sunday afternoon around five...

Sorry for the teaser, lots more here:


http://rottenxxxronnie.blogspot.com/2017/07/2017-cabot-and-fleur-de-lis-trail-part-1.html

http://rottenxxxronnie.blogspot.com/2017/07/2017-cabot-and-fleur-de-lis-trail-part-2.html

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MacKinnon Cove, Cape Breton Island NS



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Fortress Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island NS

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The road to Meat Cove... It's all downhill from here.

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Found the moose! Where is the squirrel?!

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Looks like there is a lot of construction on the Cabot this year. No worries for the Versys!
 
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Thanks for making the effort. Looking forward to the read.

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Np, I hope you enjoy it almost as much as I enjoyed riding it. Writing it. Whatever. :D
 

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