Is It Time to Leave the Sport? Honestly… I’m Starting to Wonder.

'Go ride the Kootenays and then decide if y'oughta give up riding...:)

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Gaoler said:
'Go ride the Kootenays and then decide if y'oughta give up riding...:)

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Good idea, but to be honest, it just takes a good hard look in the mirror to know if it's time.

The thing about good hard looks in the mirror though, is that there's no one else to look at and blame, you're the only one there to point fingers at. Some people aren't ready for that.
 
adri said:
Good idea, but to be honest, it just takes a good hard look in the mirror to know if it's time.

The thing about good hard looks in the mirror though, is that there's no one else to look at and blame, you're the only one there to point fingers at. Some people aren't ready for that.
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That's the thing with Artificial Intelligence. It will generate reams of nicely formatted text with bullet points, different font sizes and bold and italic highlights about any topic you want, including why you should quit motorcycles because Zoomers prefer buying a new smartphone every year instead of playing guitars and owning cars...

But knowing whether you should post that kind of content on a motorcycle enthusiast forum and not get flamed for it?

Well, that requires just a little bit of common sense. Or what we call in the industry... Natural Intelligence...
 
@Lightcycle where do you guys live? We're researching potential retirement places and BC came up. I however had interviews at school and a parent told me they moved here because of all the rain and dreary, sunless days. Is it really as bad as he said it is? I've never been out west and I'm hoping to get away from the snow.
 
ifiddles said:
@Lightcycle I however had interviews at school and a parent told me they moved here because of all the rain and dreary, sunless days. Is it really as bad as he said it is?
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The coast can be/is moist... the interior, not so much.
I have connections to the Okanagan Valley... summer is long, dry and hot. The winter... not too harsh at all.
IIRC precipitation levels meet the criteria to be considera desert.
 
ifiddles said:
@Lightcycle where do you guys live? We're researching potential retirement places and BC came up. I however had interviews at school and a parent told me they moved here because of all the rain and dreary, sunless days. Is it really as bad as he said it is? I've never been out west and I'm hoping to get away from the snow.
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It's a common perception that BC as a whole is rainy and dreary, when the reality is that the coastal rains only drench the western slope of the coastal mountains, which only accounts for around 20% of the province.

It's like people saying, "Ontario is so crowded and congested, the traffic is awful and you feel so anonymous, nobody is friendly" and meanwhile the guys living in Porcupine, Arnprior and 90% of the rest of ON are like, "huh?"...

Just like there is so much more to Ontario than Toronto, it's the same in BC - we're not all Vancouver.

Here's a handy precipitation map if you want to avoid the rains:

precip.jpg

We live in the Central Okanagan Valley in a town called Kelowna (marked by the red arrow). The region is in the "rain-shadow" of the coastal mountains and is classified as semi-arid. It suffers from drought and severe wildfires in the mid-to-late summer due to low precipitation and soaring temperatures (the mercury regularly tops 40C in August). We live about 1.5 hours north of Canada's only technical desert.

Although the Okanagan gets above-average sunshine hours per year (over 2000, making it one of the sunniest places in Canada), it would be a lot more sunshine if it wasn't for the smog and wildfire smoke that gets trapped by the valley towards the end of the summer. The region is dis-affectionately nicknamed, "The Smokanagan"...

Because of this, we've made it a point to leave the Okanagan at the end of each July till early September because of the high temps and forest fires, taking annual road trips to Ontario or further east for relief.

Winters are mild in the valley, rarely dipping below -10C, average temps hover around 0C during the day in the dead of winter. Unless you live up in the mountains, snow doesn't stay on the ground longer than 48 hours before it melts. It's not Vancouver-warm, but I get out on my motorcycle 12 months out of the year.

The Okanagan is the worst kept secret in Western Canada. Everybody from Calgary to Victoria knows it is *the* best place climactically and geographically for recreation and retirement. As a result, there's a lot of Vancouver real estate money and Calgary oil money flowing into the Valley with respects to non-local property ownership, with a lot of out-of-towners owning vacation cottages and second homes. As a result, it is a *VERY* expensive place to live in. It's ranked 6th most expensive city in Canada slightly cheaper than Toronto (4th) and more expensive than Calgary, Ottawa and Halifax.

If you are thinking of coming over, give Vernon and Penticton a look. Only 45-60 minutes away from Kelowna, located north and south within the valley. They're a bit less expensive, but you still get a taste of the weather and geography, all you're missing is some of the bigger city amenities like culture, ethnic cuisine, transportation and healthcare, which admittedly aren't that great in the valley anyway, when compared to real cities.

We do live in the fruit belt of the country with vineyards galore as well. So if you're into that, you'll be in heaven with all the fresh strawberries, cherries, peaches and wines, which we export globally.

Let me know if you're coming for a visit, I can show you around and give you the low-down on the area.
 
Best activity play ground in Canada is the Okanagan Valley. Very healthy living/lifestyle out there.

Water, mountains, wine, trails, roads, hike, bike, Powersports etc.

Salmon Arm (hiking) and Osoyoos (wineries) are a couple of spots we enjoy. For vacations, we make Kelowna our base and head north or south depending on what we want to do.
 
Wingboy said:
Cousins daughter owns Magna Bay resort.
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That's north west of Sicamous I think...

Beside Mara Lake on one of my rides out there
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'Small world...
I was once telling a co worker about some story about a trip out to the Okanagan visit my fam... He tells me "oh, my wife and I go there all the time... My sister owns such and such restraunt"...
 
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nakkers said:
Best activity play ground in Canada is the Okanagan Valley. Very healthy living/lifestyle out there.

Water, mountains, wine, trails, roads, hike, bike, Powersports etc.

Salmon Arm (hiking) and Osoyoos (wineries) are a couple of spots we enjoy. For vacations, we make Kelowna our base and head north or south depending on what we want to do.
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Fond memories. As a Teen I swam across Lake Okanagan

At some point after the after party, I ended up taking a dive into a vat at the local winery. I was sober enough to choose the white variety... my buddy wasn't so lucky as he chose the red.
 
Ditto on best play ground. Motorcycling in 3D!
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You can fly a sailplane to 30,000' in the Canadian Rockies
1764946826370.pngMountain wave flights
Here in Alberta we are lucky to experience a particularly favourable condition for soaring called mountain wave (Lee wave - Wikipedia). Many members take advantage of wave conditions to travel long distances and to high altitudes. All club gliders are equipped with oxygen systems to enable flights above 12500′. Cowley fall camps often have flights exceeding 20000′ with a few flights exceeding 30000′ (most recently October 2017), all driven by mountain wave.
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About Gliding at Cu Nim – The Cu Nim Gliding Club

www.cunim.org www.cunim.org
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