Life with a Kawasaki Z900 RS in Canada: My first 1000 km solo ride

Hope to go on more rides like this in the future.

BHPian Sangwan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

1000+ Kms solo ride

Alright, so finally I had a day all to myself. It was a Friday and it was a off day at my job and my wife had work, so she asked me to go have fun and ride as much as I want and boy, ride I did.

There is a place called Port Hardy, it’s the last northeastern town on the Vancouver Island and that was my destination. I had already been to Port Hardy in 2023 but I wanted to go there on a motorcycle. I was also doing it solo, and this was the longest ride I ever did solo. Prior to this one, on the longer rides I had either a friend or a family with me.

I didn’t sleep well, a little bit because of excitement and a little bit because it was an unusually hot night and I kept waking up every couple of hours and finally at 3:42 AM I was already on the saddle. Instead of just gunning directly to Port Hardy I made two checkpoints to relax and enjoy the beauty British Columbia had to offer. The highways and Victoria were mostly deserted when I started, and it was cold in the morning, I mean I wasn’t shivering or anything, but it felt cold, and the motorcycle was showing 9 degrees Celsius while I was on the move.

My first stop was at Comox and it’s called “Goose Spit Park” and I LOVED it. What a great place and I missed the sunrise otherwise that would have been epic. There is a similar place in Victoria too but this one is much nicer. 232 Kms already done. I plan to bring my wife and kid to this place in our car in the near future.

Next stop was this tiny town called Sayward which is off the highway, and it was nothing, like in one single lane the whole town ended and there was a small pier where 8-10 people were fishing, I stood with them and relaxed and enjoyed the nature.

After spending some 20-25 mins over there I was back on the Z900RS and headed towards Port Hardy. Empty highways, some winding roads and cool weather, the only damper was it being a cloudy day otherwise it was a blast. Reached Port Hardy, relaxed around the place and started back.

It was mostly empty until Campbell River but there were occasional stints where I was overtaking cars and with this motorcycle it was effortless.

1037 Kms done and I was stuck in this nasty jam when I was near Victoria. I wasted almost an hour to whole thing but by 6:30 PM I believe I was home.

More than 12 hours of riding and more than 1000+ Kms but what a day! And on top of that 3000 Kms mark already crossed, looking forward to the 4000.

Some observation about how the Kawasaki performed:

1. The high beam throw is great at night.
2. There is so much windblast but the more I am spending time on the saddle the better I am getting at.
3. Everyone is different but I was okay for almost 7-800 kms but in the last 100s, my “behind” was screaming enough and standing on the pegs while riding helped.
4. This thing drinks fuel when you’re pushing 120-130 Kmph for hours and the fuel was low when I started and was low again when I ended and I refueled 5 times that day.
5. It is a great conversation starter and turns head wherever it is parked. What a beautiful looking machine.
6. Sometimes the gearshifts are butter smooth and sometimes its just violent and its not like I am doing something idiotic, its just the way it is.

Having a friend or another motorcyclist would have been great but the convenience which being solo gives is undisputable.

Some clicks on that day:

Resetting meter to ZERO. (Yes its 3:42 AM)