Lamonster
SpyderLovers Founder
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend this event with my buddy Harvey (SpyderPops). We both needed to get some wind in our face and this seemed like a great location and time to do so. I think they've been having this event for five years now and it's a grassroots event put on by local Spyder dealers and supported by BRP. The Ontario Spyder Ryders meet on Facebook and that is where most of the communication took place about the event. This year the meeting place was the Westin in Ottawa CA.
In typical Lamonster fashion I had all sorts of mods I wanted to get done before the trip. It seems I'm just not happy unless I'm taking something apart. That's almost as fun as riding to me. One of the main mods I wanted to get done was installing some new BRP saddlebags. They really look nice and the brackets and everything come off so it's a real clean install. The bags pop off too so you can take them in your room.
Here's the video on that.
Next was installing some fender lights from Tric LED. These take the stock reflectors and turn them into LED lights and they maintain the reflector backing. Really helps light up the front of the Spyder.
Lights off
Lights on
I had some heat management I wanted to play with too and Harvey was a big help in that area. We also installed some of the prototype steel swaybar links from BajaRon.
So now that the Spyder is all dialed in we were ready to head north and cross the border to see our Spyder friends there. The trip was just under 1000 miles so we decided to do about 700 or so the first day and have a nice easy day the next. The weather was great and other than a little wind and a little heat we were doing good.
Both Harvey and I were tracking out mileage and it seems the further north we got the better mileage we got. We were running 65mph to 75mph most of the way and towing a loaded trailer I was getting low to mid 30's and my best mileage was at 70mph and I went 103.2 miles and put in 2.8 gal. That was 36.85 mpg! That's not bad and we were getting that pretty consistently.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was crossing the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge to Canada. This thing was huge and the view from the bridge was awesome.
When we got to the border I was having trouble hearing when the customs guy was talking to me. So as anyone does who has trouble hearing I just picked out what I could and answered all his questions best I could but what I didn't hear was I was suppose to check in to the little room they had there so they could ask me more questions. I did pull into the inspection area waiting for Harvey and we were there a good 20 minutes or so and nobody came out to talk to us so I didn't think twice about it till I pulled out my passport later and noticed a yellow slip. That's when I was told that I was suppose to check in. Oh well what can you expect from a half deaf biker from America. Guess I'll find out how bad a thing that was when I cross next time.
We had some pretty major weather alerts for Ottawa and we were pretty lucky to get in just before the weather got ugly. Most of the riders weren't so lucky.
After registering we mingled with some of the owners and the first night we had dinner with Reggy and Joe and his wife. The best part about these events is being able to hookup with old friends.
This event was very well organized. They broke all the riders into groups and at registration you could pick the people you wanted to group ride with. They had nine groups I believe and we were in group eight. It's funny because they told you to be gassed up and ready to leave at 9:16, not 9:15. They had us all meet in groups on the roof. Like I said very well organized.
So while we were waiting for groups to depart I walked around and took a lot of pics of the Spyders and of the people. I was standing next to a local celebrity and didn't know it at the time. Late one of the guys came up to me and asked if I knew Mike Holmes, sad to say I didn't know him by name but I had watched a couple of his home improvement shows. Turns out he's a big Spyder guy and pretty active in the group. Pretty cool.
This is his Spyder. He had a sound system in his trailer that would blow you away. He provided the music for the main event from his Spyder.
This is SpyderLover StanTheMan new RT. He's the guy that was on the front page of last years SpyderLovers calendar with his Monster theme RS. This year he had a killer Star Wars theme RT. The paint on this bike was some of the best I've ever seen. He did win best of show too. You can see all the pics of this Spyder and more by Clicking Here
We had a nice ride to a park on a lake for some BBQ. There was a good group of folks there and plenty of good food to eat and the view was fantastic.
That afternoon we rode back to the hotel and got ready for a catered dinner and an awards ceremony. It was really a good time and the food was out of this world. I gained 7 pounds on this trip, no joke. You could tell this is a really tight knit group much like we see at our owners events. As always a lot of people put in a lot of work for free just to make sure we had a good time and I would say mission accomplished.
So we said our goodbyes and once again enjoyed the company of other Spyder Ryders and added some more stories to our Spyder adventures. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Spyder people are just good people, I love hanging out with them and love going to events like this. I'm sure there are plenty more Spyder adventures for us to look forward to in the near future.
To see all the pics from the event that I took go to this link
2013 Ontario Spyder Ryders Roadster Rally
In typical Lamonster fashion I had all sorts of mods I wanted to get done before the trip. It seems I'm just not happy unless I'm taking something apart. That's almost as fun as riding to me. One of the main mods I wanted to get done was installing some new BRP saddlebags. They really look nice and the brackets and everything come off so it's a real clean install. The bags pop off too so you can take them in your room.
Here's the video on that.
Next was installing some fender lights from Tric LED. These take the stock reflectors and turn them into LED lights and they maintain the reflector backing. Really helps light up the front of the Spyder.
Lights off
Lights on
I had some heat management I wanted to play with too and Harvey was a big help in that area. We also installed some of the prototype steel swaybar links from BajaRon.
So now that the Spyder is all dialed in we were ready to head north and cross the border to see our Spyder friends there. The trip was just under 1000 miles so we decided to do about 700 or so the first day and have a nice easy day the next. The weather was great and other than a little wind and a little heat we were doing good.
Both Harvey and I were tracking out mileage and it seems the further north we got the better mileage we got. We were running 65mph to 75mph most of the way and towing a loaded trailer I was getting low to mid 30's and my best mileage was at 70mph and I went 103.2 miles and put in 2.8 gal. That was 36.85 mpg! That's not bad and we were getting that pretty consistently.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was crossing the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge to Canada. This thing was huge and the view from the bridge was awesome.
When we got to the border I was having trouble hearing when the customs guy was talking to me. So as anyone does who has trouble hearing I just picked out what I could and answered all his questions best I could but what I didn't hear was I was suppose to check in to the little room they had there so they could ask me more questions. I did pull into the inspection area waiting for Harvey and we were there a good 20 minutes or so and nobody came out to talk to us so I didn't think twice about it till I pulled out my passport later and noticed a yellow slip. That's when I was told that I was suppose to check in. Oh well what can you expect from a half deaf biker from America. Guess I'll find out how bad a thing that was when I cross next time.
We had some pretty major weather alerts for Ottawa and we were pretty lucky to get in just before the weather got ugly. Most of the riders weren't so lucky.
After registering we mingled with some of the owners and the first night we had dinner with Reggy and Joe and his wife. The best part about these events is being able to hookup with old friends.
This event was very well organized. They broke all the riders into groups and at registration you could pick the people you wanted to group ride with. They had nine groups I believe and we were in group eight. It's funny because they told you to be gassed up and ready to leave at 9:16, not 9:15. They had us all meet in groups on the roof. Like I said very well organized.
So while we were waiting for groups to depart I walked around and took a lot of pics of the Spyders and of the people. I was standing next to a local celebrity and didn't know it at the time. Late one of the guys came up to me and asked if I knew Mike Holmes, sad to say I didn't know him by name but I had watched a couple of his home improvement shows. Turns out he's a big Spyder guy and pretty active in the group. Pretty cool.
This is his Spyder. He had a sound system in his trailer that would blow you away. He provided the music for the main event from his Spyder.
This is SpyderLover StanTheMan new RT. He's the guy that was on the front page of last years SpyderLovers calendar with his Monster theme RS. This year he had a killer Star Wars theme RT. The paint on this bike was some of the best I've ever seen. He did win best of show too. You can see all the pics of this Spyder and more by Clicking Here
We had a nice ride to a park on a lake for some BBQ. There was a good group of folks there and plenty of good food to eat and the view was fantastic.
That afternoon we rode back to the hotel and got ready for a catered dinner and an awards ceremony. It was really a good time and the food was out of this world. I gained 7 pounds on this trip, no joke. You could tell this is a really tight knit group much like we see at our owners events. As always a lot of people put in a lot of work for free just to make sure we had a good time and I would say mission accomplished.
So we said our goodbyes and once again enjoyed the company of other Spyder Ryders and added some more stories to our Spyder adventures. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Spyder people are just good people, I love hanging out with them and love going to events like this. I'm sure there are plenty more Spyder adventures for us to look forward to in the near future.
To see all the pics from the event that I took go to this link
2013 Ontario Spyder Ryders Roadster Rally
