TRANS - CANADIAN CONVERT

After travelling fifty miles that morning, I didn’t fancy turning around to retrace my ride back. But floodwater had washed away the gravel which formed the road bed, leaving a metre-wide gulch on either side. Riding across wasn’t possible. I looked around and noticed that a four-wheeler had made an impromptu track around the base of the culvert, so I parked the bike and took a little walk. The track dived down a three foot gravel bank, traversed the soggy stream bed – mercifully now with little more than a trickle – then dived back up a cobble bank to the road. Could I do it?

I was pleasantly surprised by how easily the Convert dealt with this tricky spot. One of the great advantages of the automatic transmission is that no matter what the circumstances, you are always in the right gear. If you need more power or speed, just twist the throttle. I trickled down the first bank, carefully eased across the old creek bed then gunned it up the second rise, the Convert bellowing as the rear tyre