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A Noble Quest Targets Kids Cancer |
May 28, 2007
We've made it to Mexico, and just want to put a quick reminder about the NobleFest party on Saturday afternoon. I encourage you all to join us at the Capri Hotel parking lot, there will be live music (local bands!), food, bar, and entertainment for the entire family. All proceeds will be donated to the Kids Cancer Care Foundation.
Hope to see you there!
May 7, 2007
Our bikes have arrived in Ushuaia, and we hope to have them together and packed soon so that we can get over Garibaldi Pass while the roads are clear. Im sure most of you have noticed that we have moved our daily updates from the news page, over to our forum. We encourage you to follow along there and reply often to let us know what you are thinking.
April 9, 2007
Okay, so maybe the blog isn't coming along as easily as I'd planned. Still, I promise promise i'll have an update
by the end of this week. In other news, check out this coverage of us in the University
of Alberta's student newspaper. Additionally, thanks go out to Whistlers
Guest House for sponsoring a tire pump! Stay tuned for some a TV spot, courtesy Shaw Communications.
March 9, 2007
Exciting news! First blog post made to our forums!
March 6, 2007
Sean and Rob had an interview with Greg and Erin from 95.5 CKGY. It went well and we are looking forward to more
interviews in the future. The last of the luggage showed up and we managed to sneak it onto the ocean crate before
it left Calgary.
March 5, 2007
Allan Cooper helped Rob and Sean drive the bikes to Nippon Shiiping where we met up with Ryan. We covered the bike crates
in tarps and strapped all the loose accesories onto a crate to be loaded into the 20' shipping container.
March 4, 2007
Rob Evans from the Alberta Dual Sport Motorcycle Club came down and helped Rob and Ryan install all the farkles onto the
bikes. He was a big help and we couldnt have done it without him, he was a lifesaver, we had run out of time since
the bikes needed to be in Calgary Monday morning for shipping to Ushuaia.
February 24, 2007
Justin got home from the States with a load of accesories and luggage. Justin and Rob had several mid-terms the next
week and we were unable to get the bikes set up and all the accesories installed.
February 20, 2007
We placed an order with Adventure Motostuff based out of Carson City, NV. They
run a tight ship and had the products to our Grandmothers house in Utah so Justin could pick it up and get it home.
February 17, 2007
THE BIKES ARE IN!!! Turple Brothers received our bikes today. Rob and Sean picked them up and they
are all home in our garage. With only three weeks until we have to ship them out of Calgary we have much to do to get the
bikes ready. Registration, insurance, accessories, break-in, re-crating and getting the bikes to Calgary by March 5th is
going to take a huge effort. Break-in looks likes it's going to be on Highway 2 if we can only catch a couple of days
of above zero temperatures. Many thanks to the support of the staff at Turple Brothers. I think Brenda and Chelsea
were just about as excited as we were ... just about! Mike and Erik Sorensen were a big help in getting the bikes
safely on to the garage floor. This makes the whole trip seem so much more real! Check out the
photo gallery for pictures of us bringing the bikes home.
February 16, 2007
The radio interview was awesome, as are Gerry & Jodi of CJay92. I managed to
grab a recording of our interview, here in ogg or
mp3! The bikes arrived in Alberta. They are on their way to Red Deer.
February 6, 2007
Good news! We've got an appearance on the CJay92 morning show with Gerry Forbes
and Jodi Hughes on Friday, Feb 16 at 9:20am! I'm (Ryan) just a little bit nervous.
January 29, 2007
Sue Dyell, co-host of Classic Rock Q107's Morning Show, had a live interview with Sean via cell phone. We'll see what
we can do about getting a transcript or a recording of it.
January 25, 2007
Chris Gerritsen from the Calgary Sun, Page Six, had this to say about us.
January 19, 2007
We're all taking turns manning the booth at the Red Deer Motorcycle Show all this weekend.
Come on down, say "Hi" and register for the Ride-Along.
The Calgary Herald wrote an article about our trip.
January 18, 2007
Ryan and Sean met with the Calgary Herald this week. We anticipate an article in by tomorrow!
Dianna Unruh, a teacher at West Park Elementary School in Red Deer, spearheaded a fund raiser for our venture that
raised over $1,000.00 for Kid's Cancer Care. Sean is taking the bike to the school to show the students next
Friday where they will present him with a cheque.
Our participation with the Reno V-Strom rally has
changed slightly and we will now be starting our staging site in Las Vegas instead of Spanish Fork, Utah.
We'll ride along with the other V-Stromers to Ely, Nevada where they will turn left to Reno and we turn right
to Salt Lake, Utah.
January 9th, 2007
We have added the ability to register online for the "Ride Along." So one and all come on and
join up. The more the merrier and the bigger the rally will be.
Sean got his seat back and it gets his short legs almost two full inches closer to the ground.
January 4th, 2007
Justin finally got home and the first bike is now together and running. Everyone is frustrated with Sean because he stole
the seat to get some of the foam cut out to accommodate his short legs. The seat won't be back for two weeks! Hopefully
it will be here in time for the motorcycle show!
We met with John Moldowan, the Amsoil dealer. John is finalizing the package of
products and clothing Amsoil will be providing us for the trip.
There are a couple of new features on the website. Take the time to use our guestbook to say
hi! Check out our photo gallery in its infancy with many more photos to come.
We've got our "Ride Along" registration forms ready to go. Email us and we'll e-mail one back so you can fill it out and
get ready to ride!
December 28th, 2006
Many thanks to Brenda Neufeld of Turple Brothers and Greg Lamb, the Western Canada
Suzuki Representative. We have just received details regarding the levels of support Turple Brothers, in combination
with Suzuki Canada, will be providing NobleQuest. It is a VERY generous contribution and we would particularly like
to acknowledge Brenda's efforts on our behalf. Needless to say this contribution lends a significant boost to our
efforts in bringing this dream to fruition.
We will be picking up the first bike tomorrow and Brenda promises she will do all she can to assure we receive the other
three in time to prep the bikes and ship them off to Argentina. There is some possibility Brenda will have to supply
us with the non-ABS version of the bike if she can't get delivery of three more ABS units but that remains to be seen.
Currently we have the ONLY ABS unit in Western Canada.
Christmas 2006
Santa (Kathy, Tanya & Natalie) left many items under our tree relevant to this adventure. We now have full rain gear,
undergarment wear, a water filter, first aid kits, Platypus water packs and RINO GPS/Intercom units. One of the bikes
has a crash guard, a 16 tooth counter sprocket (for improved mileage) and lowering links (for Sean). Another bike is
equipped with a higher windshield (for Ryan).
December 22nd, 2006
ONE OF OUR BIKES IS IN!! Brenda Neufeld from Turple Brothers gave us a call yesterday
to inform us one of the bikes is in. Sean, Rob and his fiancée Tanya swung by to see it. It is still in it's crate and
we should be bringing it home today or tomorrow once they've taken care of the paperwork. Then its up to Justin to set it
up and get it ready for break-in. The bike is apparently the only 2007 ABS in western Canada. We are awaiting the other three to be
shipped from Japan. This is great news. Now we've got one of the bikes, it really makes us feel like the trip is
coming along.
December 19th, 2006
We are pleased to announce that we will be meeting up with other V-Strom riders in Spanish Fork, UT. This will be part
of a pre-gathering as V-Strom riders from all over North America meet in Reno. We hope to meet with riders in Spanish
Fork, as we ride up from Phoenix on the 30th. We will then ride with them on the 31st but must depart along the way
so that we may make it to our own Rally on June 2nd in Red Deer. Check out the
webpage for this great event.
December 16th, 2006
I have added a Weather page. This will allow you all to see the current conditions of the
areas we will be riding through. Hopefully mother nature will be nice to us.
December 13th, 2006
Our flights to Ushuaia -Fin del Mundo (End of the World) are officially confirmed. We will fly out of Buenos Aires on May
3rd early in the morning and will be in Ushuaia just after Nine in the morning. That will give us a few days to make sure
the bikes were shipped safely, set them up properly, and perhaps even do a bit of sightseeing.
Ryan has finally applied for his passport. It should arrive shortly after Christmas.
December 10th, 2006
Brenda Neufeld of Turple Brothers has told us one of the bikes will be in by December 15th. The other three bikes should
arrive shortly thereafter. We hope to have at least one all decked out for the Motorcycle Show. In other news, all four
of us went for our first round of immunizations today.
December 8th, 2006
We have made arrangements to have a booth at the upcoming Red Deer Motorcycle Show
at the Westerner Park on January 19-21, 2007. This is a huge event and there will be a lots to see and do. There will be lots of
bikes on display, plenty of great deals and a lot of people. Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta will be there with us. We will
be handing out pledge sheets so people can start collecting early for the big ride event on June 2nd on our way through to Alaska.
December 1st, 2006
The Kids Cancer Care Foundation is looking into getting some people to help us out
with the rally we are going to have on June 2nd at the Capri Hotel parking lot in Red Deer. They are also going to set up a webpage
specifically for us to help collect donations, rather than through general donations as it is currently set up. Thank you to
all who have already donated to the Kids Cancer Care Foundation on our behalf, or on anyone's behalf for that matter.
Well, it's December and the bikes haven't arrived at Turple Brothers yet, hopefully they will show up so so we can get them
outfitted, broken in and ourselves used to them.
November 26th, 2006
Suzuki has promised our bikes by the end of November. Breaking them in at -25 degrees is going to be a challenge. Rob has prepared a detailed city by city
route in Google Earth.
November 25th, 2006
Met with Don Galloway, a owner of Cycle Works in Edmonton to discuss sponsorship of the bike accessories.
November 24th, 2006
Zoom Video and Film have sent out a production proposal to the Outdoor Life Network.
November 16th, 2006
John Moldowan from Amsoil has agreed to sponsor our oil and filters for the trip.
November 11th, 2006
Thanks to Ajoy Joseph owner of Milano for Men. His company has offered to sponsor all of
our outer wear including jackets, pants and boots. They are purchasing Joe Rocket Ballistic 6.0 jackets, Ballistic 5.0 pants
and Big Bang boots.
November 2nd, 2006
Gave a presentation today to the Sunrise Rotary Club of Red Deer.
The Red Deer Rally at Turple Brothers is going to scheduled for June 2nd. We are hoping to have a large group of riders meet us at
the border and ride with us up to Red Deer where Joleen Losness and Natalie O'Connor are planning a big event.
October 28th, 2006
We have officially changed the name of our venture from Way too Far to NobleQuest.
October 23rd, 2006
The Red Deer Advocate printed a news article about our ride. Read it here.
They have also offered to print several more articles as the ride day grows near.
October 4th, 2006
Sean had a meeting with CKGY on Monday - good news! They're beginning coverage of our trip in
mid-April with some pre-trip interviews and promotions, which will include produced ads as well as on-air promos. They're
guaranteeing on-the-road coverage a minimum of five days a week. They're going to be setting up a live broadcast at our Red
Deer rally at Turple Brothers, plus post-trip interviews to review our adventure(s).
We now have something to offer our sponsors. We're looking for three primary sponsors - one national, and two local (Alberta).
There will be some significant advertising available with a sponsorship spot. We're accepting sponsorships at the following
rates: $12,000 to $15,000 for a local sponsor, and a national sponsor spot will be available for $40,000.
As for our bikes - what kind are we getting? We're actually not too sure - we know they're going to be 2007 Suzuki DL-650
ABS V-Stroms. Unfortunately, Suzuki has not released any colour schemes for the 2007 models, and the American advertisements
only portray blue-coloured bikes. If history proves true, there'll only be two different color schemes available for the bikes,
so we may be looking for a sponsor to offer custom paint jobs for our bikes. Any takers?
September 19th, 2006
Fydo of fydo.net has come up with some
really cool logo
ideas.
September 19th, 2006
Sean has obtained a theme Teddy Bear promoted by the 'Sunrise Rotary Club' of Red Deer, name of 'Monte the Bear'. Last year,
Monte joined a couple on their 50th anniversary cruise, but this year, Monte has a much more challenging trip in store for him.
We'll be taking Monte with us on our Pan-American journey - but don't worry, we'll make sure he's securely and comfortably
fastened to our motorcycles. In other news, Sean has been invited to present our fund-raising trip to the Rotary club's regular
meeting to solicit some sponsors, and Jen & Greg from CKGY Radio have shown interest in our story, and have submitted their
proposal to their promotional department.
September 11th, 2006
Website's in initial stages of construction, being produced by Ryan with nano.
WAY BACK NEWS
July 12th, 2006
Ryan officially started the webpage when he bought the domain name waytoofar.ca
February 17th, 2006
Our first letters went out asking for support from companies and endorsement from the Kids
Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.
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