Julia on a bike

When I arrive at Larry and Chantal’s home near Halifax, I’m both early and late. Several days late. But an hour ahead of schedule. We’d been exchanging e-mails for three months – a correspondence that turned us into « penpals 2.0 ». He’e been taking part in my pre-departure preparations and during the trip he has always been ready to lend a technical hand. Not only is he passionate about dirt bikes and dual-sport motorcycles, but he’s also self-taught when it comes to mechanics. From afar, he’s even dug some research about my intermittent injector trouble, which has been with me from one end of the country to the other. Like Dan in Montreal, Larry became my co-pilot and behind-the-scenes technician, providing moral and physical support from the start to the end. And the story doesn’t end with the seven days I spent at his and Chantal’s home in the middle of summer.

Larry was born and raised in Nova Scotia but in his early twenties, he decided to move to Vancouver. A paradise for this explorer who doesn’t hesitate to set off at random, in search of the most difficult trails. This sometimes leads to unpleasant surprises. « I was on top of a ridge with a friend, in the mountains around Vancouver, and my front tire slipped. I was thrown several meters to the ground and broke my wrist, he recounts. We were too far from the truck to get back on one bike, so I had no choice but to get back in and rely on adrenalin to keep the pain at bay. Once we were in the car, heading for home and then the hospital, it was a different story! » Between training sessions, rides and enduro races in British Columbia and the United States, he stopped counting the broken bones. His own, but also those of his children.

As you can imagine, motorcycling often runs in the family. The McDowells are no exception. Chantal discovered this world, first as a passenger, then as a spectator, and finally as a driver. You’ll meet her at the handlebars of a Kawasaki KLX 140. A small, easy-to-handle model, perfect for getting to know this world. Their two children, Tristan and Zack, naturally followed in their parents’ footsteps. When others were learning to ride, they were already roaring away on their mini bikes. And not just at kids’ races! The advantage of sharing this passion with one’s parents and living in a country like Canada, where most people enjoy outdoor activities, is that you can devote many days to exploring the country’s trails. After British Columbia, the four returned to Nova Scotia five years ago. The walks have been non-stop, sometimes in Cape Breton, sometimes in the Halifax municipal area, sometimes near their new home, surrounded by woods.

If you don’t find him creating new tracks on his friend Kyle’s private property or cruising the Maritime province on his Kawasaki KLR 650, you’re more likely to find Larry in his garage, repairing equipment or assembling parts to improve the performance of his two-wheelers. Performance, or safety, like this headlight that makes his Husqvarna 701 more visible, especially in gloomy weather. Let’s leave aside the subject of weather in Nova Scotia. As I wrote before, and while I was still somewhere in Newfoundland, he began a series of searches to assess the possible causes of my injection error code. While we were unable to find an explanation, despite all the tests we carried out – including removing the full tank – this above all enabled me to observe a character trait that many motorcyclists have in common: his willingness to share his knowledge, whether of riding or repairs, and his desire to learn more and more, whether on the road or in the workshop.

Perhaps it was this sharing of knowledge that led him to co-found the Sunshine Coast Dirt Bikers Association, while still in British Columbia. With the association, he could not only promote the sport, but also participate in its development, in terms of audience (men, women, children) and accessibility. And it was without hesitation that I met up with him again, three months later, to begin a return trip as a duo. Two weeks worthy of the wildest epics, where technical glitches in no way detracted from the beauty of a crossing that is the stuff of dreams for every motorcyclist in the country. And abroad. The story of this unexpected friendship is still to be written since I’ve temporarily put my boots and helmet at the McDowell’s.