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My Hobbies Page

Here are a couple of my interests and hobbies. I am very interested in learning more about my First Nation's culture. I like to go to sweats, pipe ceremonies and pow wow's when the opportunity presents itself. I also have a motorcycle I enjoy riding, a Suzuki RG 500 gamma. It's a 93 horsepower, 400 pound bundle of two-stroke joy. Hang-on when this baby comes on the pipe!!

Here is a dyno chart from my actual machine that shows a peak output of 93.9 ponies!!!

Look carefully, the lower dark blue line is the hp. You get a real kick in the pants at about 7,500 rpm when the power valves close.

Here's a shot of me on the rg after getting it rebuilt in Victoria, B.C. by Bob Truelson. I highly recommend his work. It was taken in the mountains on the way to visit my brother in Banff.

Little tours I've been on lately include the run to Victoria in May of '97' to have Bob rebuild the bike. I started out in Regina where I was going to university and went to Edmonton, 785 km away. I stayed a few days there at my Moms place and then headed to Banff via Rocky Mountain House to catch some scenery. I met Lannie on the highway where he peeled a u-turn and nailed it to catch me cause I was going the opposite way to him! I stayed at my brother Gordon and wife Yukaris place that night for a total of 529 km that day. In the morning I continued on to Vancouver, 820 km distant, via the Coquihalla Highway. Awesome stretch of highway that Coquihalla. I stayed at friend Curtis' place for the next couple of days then dropped the bike off with Bob at the Victoria airport and caught the next flight back to Edmonton. The bike stayed with Bob the next four months to have a major overhaul done. Towards the end of August '98' I flew out to Victoria to meet Bob at the airport who was waiting with the bike. The first leg of the return trip to Regina, took me through Kelona and Sicamous to Banff, 925 km away, for the night. The final leg from Banff to Regina included a stop in Calgary to see Lannie and get the bike on a dyno where the above chart was recorded. That afternoon I continued on to Regina and settled in for the school year for a total of 896 km that day. Total highway miles in '98' was 3955 km, or about 2452 miles, which is not exactly the Iron Butt Rally but was lots for me!

Click this link to learn more about the RG 500. http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Rob.Koopman/rg500.html

I also ride mountain bikes. My wife bought me this full suspension mountain machine for my birthday. It's a Cannondale Super V 700.

Click this link to learn more about the Super V 700 at the Cannondale site: http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/usa/97bikes/97_superv700.html

Here is an ancient picture of me and a couple of friends of mine.

That's me standing in the back, Alan "Lannie" Donaldson seated on the gear of the old tail dragger, and our pilot, Mike Blossom who currently flies for Central Mountain Air in BC, by the prop. The plane is a 1948 Stinson 108-3 (the 3 is important Lannie tells me!) with a 165 horse Franklin engine. The picture is circa 1987.

This next pic is another oldie taken at "The Point" in Alberta.

Pictured L to R are friends Johnny Mulyk, Mike Blossom, Lannie Donaldson, and my brother Gordon Tait.

Now here is myself, Lannie and Mike on our KZ 750's somewhere around 1980.

It was taken outside my Mom's place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Many thanks to Lannie for all the jpeg's.

Here is a picture of me in the Parks Canada airboat.

We were tooling around the Peace Athabasca Delta in Wood Buffalo National Park scouting locations for a couple of Ducks Unlimited guys.