It’s was a really great riding year. A couple trips across western Canada, down into southern Oregon and many point in between. After spending time on the roads in the southwestern US, it’s pretty hard to get motivated to ride through the areas this side of the Rockies – so not a lot of Alberta trips this year. Lack of money didn’t seem to slow me down much this year as I put on as many kilometres as most riding years.

My final odometer reading for 2009 was 55,810 kilometres. I rode 14,244 kilometres this summer, even with a late start and dismal weather this spring.

As always it’s a sad day when I have to cover my l’il red Honda up and tuck it in for the winter. I must say, with 55,000+ kilometres on my bike in just three years, I’m glad to see just how reliable Honda bikes really are. This bike should easily make it to 100,000 kilometres with little or no physical cost for parts. Next year I’ll have to bite the bullet and have the valves checked – a $1200 hit.

I’m hoping to save enough money to buy a professional tire changing machine. This will save money on my own tire changes (at least once a year) and pay for itself in about 3 years. I’ve also toyed with the idea of opening a small shop to do motorcycle tire changes. There appears to be a gap in the Calgary market for this type of simple maintenance. We’ll see what winter brings….

5 more months to plan next year’s marathon journey. With a bit more money and some free time next summer I’ll have to venture to new points unknown.