Pete Cordell's Page

Pete sends us some wonderful shots...............so good, in fact, we think he deserves a page of his own

Beautiful action shot from Pete . It originally featured a car, which completely spoiled the picture, but this has been cleverly edited out by Michael.

The top box is a 33litre Givi Monoloc.

Pete has now parted with the first bike, and now has..................


...........................the second one.

'Ode To Triumph' - such a cool registration number Pete

The man himself

About this picture, Pete says: 'Took a 120 mile ride in the rain, mist and fog today to an area called the Nantahala Gorge in far western NC. Got back off the beaten path and did a little dirt road exploring...no tourists, no campers, no white-water rafters...had the whole forest to myself. The W is the perfect bike for this kind of stuff. It loves pottering around on a dirt path or idling along a quiet woods road. It's also supremely easy to ride in the rain...the balance and just-right power add up to one of the nicest foul-weather mechanical companions I've personally ever experienced.'

Fair enough Pete....................but what about all that polishing afterwards?

Below, is the bike now fitted with Raask rearset footrests

.....Pete says they work just fine, but you can't use the kickstart unless you remove the two mounting bolts on that side, and swing the whole assembly out of the way. Your passenger, if you carry one, needs to have tiny feet too! One nice thing is, when you stop, you can put your legs straight down, close in to the bike, and not have to worry with fouling your shins when paddling around etc.

Pete writes: 'Over the last 5 years, elk have been re-introduced to western NC, and so far, the program has been very succesful. They are native to these mountains but had been completly hunted out 150 years ago. Total number now is about 30. I've made a number of trips over here, hoping to get a glimpse of one when they come out of the woods to feed in the evening, but up till now had not been so lucky. So imagine my astonishment when, rounding a curve on my way out of the Park, I came up on a herd of about 15 or so. I quickly cut the ignition and coasted to a stop, and just sat there and watched them for a good half-hour or so. The distance to the closest ones was only about 50 yards. Some of the younger calves seemed curious about the W, and made some tentative steps towards me, but the head bull snorted and quietly lowed in their direction and they wouldn't proceed further. As it got darker, they slowly eased their way into the treeline.'

one sunny winter day here in North Carolina, USA. Cold though, only
about 45F, but no wind and, even better, very few people.
Went over to Catalochee Valley on my day off last Thur
to re-visit the wild elk transplanting project. 3 new calves this year, according to a Park Ranger,
bringing the herd total to about 60. They are beginning to become somewhat used to
humans though as when I left one young bull resolutely stood
his ground by the side of the road as I idled by him on the W.

I rode about 30 miles just in the immediate area, mostly on dirt. In addition to the elk I also
saw grouse, turkey, a fleeting glimpse of a small black bear, lots of trout in the streams and, best of all, thousands of
acres of quiet, dignified woods and forest.

A refreshing day out!

Pete has a long history of motorcycling. This is him and his wife when they were dating in the fall of '83. They had just got back from a day trip to Cape Cod on his '81 R65. He was 33 and she was 23 years old. Pete didn't own a car and his future wife had no problem doing everything on the back of the bike! Out of all of Pete's bikes, this was her favourite.

These two pictures were taken from the vantage point of Pete as he rode to and from work one day in January. The left image shows the remnants of earlier snowfalls as Pete heads off to work in the early morning. On the right, you can see he was making the most of the beautiful late afternoon sunshine as he travelled homewards.

A Sunny Day in April

Had a nice day out with friends today. We got in some 260 miles, which included Deal's Gap and the Cherohala Skyway, and some new roads over in Tennessee which I had never been on before. The weather was chilly (50-60F) with mostly overcast skies and a brisk wind blowing all day. Every once in a while the sun would peek through the clouds but, overall, it was the kind of day where your face ends up a bright, ruddy red - even under a full-face helmet.

I was surprised at the many. many bikes we saw today. Sport, touring, full dress, nakeds - there seemed to be at least one of each brand and style. I honestly could say - for the first time in my life - that there was at least as many bikes on the road as there were cars....at least on the roads we were on.

Anyhow, we rode. We talked. We saw some great scenery. We talked some more. We enjoyed! Hope you all had a nice day too.

9/5/03, and Pete says:

Yesterday I did the 'Saddlesore 1000' Charity Iron Butt ride, to raise money to give a little boy a much-needed operation. Check out his story here.

We had 20 riders show up out of an expected 24 and raised a little over $12,000 towards his up-coming operation. Got a big send-off from his whole school and some terrific coverage from the local media. The weather really co-operated too, as it was about 70F, with bright, clear blue skies, which was amazing when you consider that for the last few days here in the southeast it's been nothing but violent rain and lots of flooding.

The riders divided into groups depending on how fast they wanted to run and I went with the 'speedboats' (as we came to call ourselves) which consisted of the W650, a FZ1000 Yamaha, and 4 big Harleys, all configured differently.

We got away at 10am and finished up this morning back here at the police station in Waynesville at 0525 for a time of 19 hours and 25 minutes. Actually ended up with 1027 miles as recorded on a GPS. We had to make gas stops every 125 miles and also had a long, leisurely break down in St. Augustine, but our cruising speed was right at 80-85 with quick bursts to 90+ for passing and such.

The Ws gas mileage dropped to about 35mpg but otherwise ran like a charm and only my wrist was a little sore towards the very end from running at WFO in the wee hours. The Dub was the smallest bike out of all who entered and also the only one without a windshield or fairing. Anyhow, quite a few of the 'Big Dogs' commented that it was a pretty cool little bike for a Jap machine...

It's funny too, because yesterday at almost every fuel stop I had some stranger walk over and begin with the line 'Oh man! I thought that was an old Triumph like I used to own....' I've never had that happen before till yesterday.

All in all, a great day of riding for a very worthy cause. Pictures below - Pete apologises that they're not quite up to his usual standard, but he was feeling, understandably, a wee bit groggy!

sign says 'Thank you riders'

Winter comes to Waynesville

This is one of the signs you see when you enter North Carolina on any of our state or federal roads. In my mind I always picture a bunch of motorcyclists standing by a burning, smoking pile of molten glass!

It seems we have our own bridge! See the 'W's'?