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John Thomas, left, Denis Lambe and Daniel Coulombe with the motorcycles they ride in Iqaluit. - photo courtesy of John Thomas

IQALUIT
The paved roads might be limited in Iqaluit and the weather is a little cooler than in the south, but this is not stopping a group of residents from riding their motorcycles in the streets of the territorial capital.

John Thomas, who has lived in Iqaluit since 1988, rides his Kawasaki Vulcan Classic from May until early October.

"If you ride a motorcycle and you love riding, you will ride no matter how much road you have or how little road you have. You ride because you want to ride," he said. "It might be a little cooler but it's not a very short season."

The more one rides, he said, the more they build up their skills. During the last three years, Thomas said he has seen more motorcycles on the roads of Iqaluit, whether they are roadsters, dirt bikes or hybrids.

"When I first bought my bike here almost four years ago, there was hardly any motorcycles on the road," he said. "You would see one or two, once in a while. That was it. Now you are seeing them all over the place."

Thomas and fellow motorcyclists Scott Wells and Denis Lambe said their biggest concern here is sand on the pavement.

Wells, the owner of a mid-size Suzuki, started riding in Iqaluit about four years ago. He has had a motorcycle all his life, he added.

"It's much better since most of the town has been paved," he said. "It's not perfect because our pavement is not perfect and I find at a lot of intersections, there is sand left around from the winter."

Wells said operating his motorcycle from June to September is "very cheap."

"You always have to have a jacket on, of course, with the wind. Even on a nice day, the wind seems to be cool up here," he said.

When the bugs are out, a helmet with a face screen is a must, he said, adding the few weeks around the end of July and early August are particularly bad.

As for Lambe, he started riding his Kawasaki Vulcan in Iqaluit last year although he's had rode motorcycles since he was a teenager. With the addition of asphalt streets to Iqaluit over the last few years, the door opened to doing some Northern riding, he said.

He also keeps a motorcycle in Ottawa, where the quality of riding remains superior to that in Iqaluit.

"There is lots more stopping and starting (here) than you would get down south," he said.

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