James Bay August 2008 - A journey to asphalt's end (and beyond) writeup

[Vlad]

This thread is the after-ride report for the James Bay on August long weekend thread. Please post your comments and impressions about this amazing ride here. Welcome back!

The gang of six at Giant's Staircase:



Left to right:

Omar, a.k.a. "five-plug"
Kari, a.k.a. "super-no-visor"
Chris, a.k.a. "fume-burner"
Vlad, a.k.a. "4th-gear-4ever"
Jonathan, a.k.a. "jerry-shaker"
Dave, a.k.a. "catch-up"

The photo album is here

[Vlad]

Who:The above mentioned (and pictured) group of long distance craving misfits.

Where: To the middle of nowhere and back.

Chisassibi is the farthest you can get to on a paved road in this part of the world (and surely among the most remote places in the world that is road accessible). It's about 685Km and only two gas stations away from the start of James Bay Road in Matagami. Our final destination, the shore of James Bay, Arctic Ocean and Nunavut, is another 30Km on gravel road West from Chisasibi. BTW, the CAA standard road map of Ontario ends about 150Km north of Matagami. Not that one really needs a map, there's only one paved road up there - the Route de la Baie James .

When: August 1 to 5 2008

According to my account there were two 13 hour riding days, two about 8 and one "only" 4-5.

How: On motorcycles dummy, what else?

Busa, Bandit 1200, VFR 800, V-Strom 650, Katana 600 and a GS500. Everything from entry level to crotch rocket was represented and all the machines performed flawlessly and got us where we were going and back, from the loose gravel of Route Transtaïga to the mud of Baie James .

Why: Because that's as far as the road goes, because we've never been that far before, because very few people were, because it's a challenge, because we like to push our limits, because we love... I can't find better words to describe that "why" than these from Billy Joel's "River of dreams":

In the middle of the night
I go riding in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To the river so deep
I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night (break)

I’m not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That is runnin' to the promised land

In the middle of the night
I go riding in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We're all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night

[Vlad]

Work in progress

Statistics, lessons learned and other tidbits:

Total distance traveled: 3609Km
Time spent on the move: 35 hours (average 7 hours a day)
Moving average speed: 103Km/h
Maximum speed: What's the Canadian equivalent of US fifth amendment?

Roads

All roads we travelled from GTA to Chisasibi are well engineered and maintained. They get progresively more interesting and less traveled by as you move up north.

- 400? No comment

- Orillia to North Bay. A very nice road with few intersections. Can be ridden hard and fast if the traffic is sparse and there are no speed traps.

- North Bay to Amos (11, 101, 117). Fast sweepers most of the way, some great scenery around Temagami. Passing through a few towns, so slow down there.

- Amos to Matagami. Pretty straight with a few right angle turns. Make sure you gas up in Amos because there is no gas station until Matagami, 160Km away. There's only one sign to inform you of that and it's out of town, so you'll have to return to Amos if you forgot.

- James Bay Road - Matagami to Radisson (~620Km). First 200Km or so (approximately until Rupert River) is quite wavy with a lot of dips and few bumps that will put your suspension to a test. Most serious dips are marked by small orange square signs on both sides of the road - one, two or three in a row. These marks are put there mostly for trucks and cars and I found that my bike would be less upset on some but more on the others. The unmarked dips and bumps are mostly clearly visible due to the different color pavement. I found that I can cross most of them at about 130 or so, although I had my center stand bounce off the pavement once. The bumps are pretty much the only thing that limits one's speed on this road, the heavy load, bike limitations and and rider's experience notwithstanding.

That said, dips become less deep and more further apart as you move up north. The last 70Km or so (roughly from the intersection with Trans-Taiga to Radisson) is a blast.

The entire length of JBR has only one gas station, at kilometer 381 from Matagami. Be very careful when estimating your fuel consumption and bring more gas than you think you'll need. My economy went from thoroughly tested 5.5L/100Km (fully loaded with aggressive riding on Ontario back roads) to 7L/100Km on JBR. As a basic rule of thumb, test your range the best you can, and then reduce it by about 50% to get an idea how much fuel you'll need.

The posted speed limit on JBR is 100, but it's not enforced. This is a private road owned by Hydro Quebec and you are strongly encouraged to register both in and out of it. There are emergency phones strategically placed along the road - get the map and other free info at the checkpoint.

- Radisson to Chisasibi (~120Km). This is a very well engineered and maintained road with a lot of fast sweepers and no unpleasant surprises. I haven't noticed any of the dips that are common on JBR and there are no other obstacles to a limit-free ride.

-Chisasibi to James Bay shore (~30Km). Starts as wide loose gravel road and ends with some pretty rough washboard and rocks. Not too terible if you take it easy. Don't park too close to the water if the tide is low or you may end up stuck in deep mud (it's not easy to detect either).

DISCLAIMER: All of these observations and recommendations are based on my personal experience on my motorcycle. They may not apply to other people, especially not he inexperienced and/or car drivers. Take them for what they are worth and ride your own ride.

[sadrik]

It was an awesome journey. Thanks for taking care of the plans and reservations, Vlad.

I'm going to be thinking about this trip for a long time. So many memories.

[Vlad]

After enduring the worst downpour of my entire motorcycle career (I'm not exaggerating) I finally got home around 9:30 tonight. It was raining so hard for about 100Km around Huntsville that I practically rode by the sense of smell. The rain suit held well enough to keep me fairly dry (except that I was drenched in sweat ), and heated grips helped a lot when it became a little uncomfortable. My tires gripped exceptionally well and aqua-planning, if there was any, was unnoticeable (road was literally a stream in several places). All in all - a great experience.

I hope all of you got home safe and in good shape. I am amazed at how much saddle time my butt can endure . The writeup, pictures, links, etc. will be in the first three posts when I get to sorting it all out. Stay tuned, there will be interesting stuff for everyone. Thank you all very much for making this great ride such a wonderful experience. It set a standard by which all my future rides will be measured. Cheers!

[Vlad]

Holy crap, almost 900 pictures and videos in 1.7GB! That will take forever to upload/download - we may need to find another way to exchange them. My USB HD comes to mind, but we'll see.

[Vlad]

It was an awesome journey. Thanks for taking care of the plans and reservations, Vlad.

It was my pleasure, truly. I'm especially glad that I picked the right accommodations, especially in Radisson. That caribou steak was fantastic and all other service was excellent and friendly as well. Although I may take Michel, the local guy that offered his bread and breakfast, next time to save a buck or two, Auberge Radisson definitely gets my recommendation.

I'm going to be thinking about this trip for a long time. So many memories.

It's unbelievable how many strong impressions one can accumulate in only five days. I will remember riding into that pack of wolves as long as I live.

[sadrik]

After enduring the worst downpour of my entire motorcycle career (I'm not exaggerating)

Yeah, that rain was exceptional. As I was rolling through Sundridge, the rain was flooding the sides of the street and the trucks were kicking up 8' walls of water. At one point I sat up and the rain water pooling in my elbows streamed straight into my gloves, convincing me to finally stop and put on rain gear under some shelter. From the looks of it though, the rain even defeated my rain gear.

I got home shortly after 21h00 and immediately started looking at Aerostitch suits.

[farmerjoe]

I think I saw a few of you headed into the city. I left Gravenhurst in the car around 7pm last night and hit some incredible rain. Saw a few riders enduring the worst of it! It was a hell of a downpour.

I've ridden through similar rain in isolated storms but those only lasted a few km's - th erain last night just kept coming!

Glad you all made it back safe.

[Vlad]

I think I saw a few of you headed into the city. I left Gravenhurst in the car around 7pm last night and hit some incredible rain. Saw a few riders enduring the worst of it! It was a hell of a downpour.

It made the last few hundred Km of our trip quite interesting, that's for sure . As Sadrik mentioned, those trucks are brutal - it took a lot of guts to pass them. I ended up using my GPS as a heads up display (as much as I could see it through the rain) because I couldn't see the road ahead. Challenging, to say the least.

If this happened on the first day it would not be a good start, but since I was close to home I actually had considerable pleasure in braving the elements and ignoring mother nature. I'm just glad it wasn't windy as well - that would probably force me to pull over.

I've ridden through similar rain in isolated storms but those only lasted a few km's - th erain last night just kept coming!

I never rode through anything like it before in my quarter century in the saddle. By my rough estimate it was between a 100 and 150Km of non stop downpour. I won't be much afraid of any rain after this. I know I have the guts and knowledge to just keep plowing through it!

[oomis]

FYI guys, I did make it home alright. I'll post up my ride report as soon as it's done, but as it turns out, Vlad, that other tire didn't fit on my rim, so we ended up plugging it with a mushroom plug from the inside and I limped home from Huntsville. I made it in alright and I'm sourcing a new tire today.

Perspective is everything. Before this trip, being stranded anywhere south of North Bay would have seemed disastrous. However, MY particular experience really put things in perspective....more to come!

O.

[Vlad]

FYI guys, I did make it home alright. I'll post up my ride report as soon as it's done, but as it turns out, Vlad, that other tire didn't fit on my rim, so we ended up plugging it with a mushroom plug from the inside and I limped home from Huntsville. I made it in alright and I'm sourcing a new tire today.

Glad you got home OK Omar. In the end none of us had any serious incidents and we all got home unscratched and ticket-free. I consider that an incredible achievement because between the six of us we covered more than 21,000Km of unknown (and some unpaved) roads! We certainly learned some lessons but the cost was very low because it was all in the process of having tons of fun in great company.

[zrx1200]

Hi guys,

Glad you all made it home !!

Yes, the rain was something to reckon with eh.

Can't wait to hear the stories unfold.

[speedygonzales]

Wow, sounds like you guys had an awesome experience. I've been
following the other thread and this one from the beginning and I'm
looking forward to more pics and posts from you guys. Hopefully
I'll be doing this trip one of these days.

[karigotu]

Ok we are NOW HOME, that downpour was insane Chris & I were in it for hours,pretty much hit rain soon as we crossed the Ontario/Quebec boarder. Having my visor ducktaped to my lid (after it blew off @km 2384 in the ride)was extremely useful (Thanks Vlad) got totally soaked and called it a night in wonderful Bracebridge (that in itself is another story).

Total KM'S clocked 3,622
Total Photos taken 552
Memories of this ride............... will last a lifetime THANKS ALL!!!!

[zooropa_chris]

That was the longest and coolest trip I have ever done on a bike. There are no enforced speed limits above Matagami. Everything north of there is owned by Hydro Quebec. We ventured down some gravel roads, once to travel down the Transtiaga, once to go to Fort George, and then a little more to get to James Bay.

After riding over 600 kms without passing a town (only a couple Teepees), watching the trees get thinner and smaller, you know your in the middle of nowhere. This trip was a memorable experience that I will never forget. Thank you Vlad for making all the arrangements, and thank you to everyone else on the trip for making this such a great time.

[Vlad]

Having my visor ducktaped to my lid (after it blew off @km 2384 in the ride)was extremely useful (Thanks Vlad)

You are welcome Kari. I wish I was clever enough to tape mine, even if it wasn't broken. The rain was so heavy that it got under my visor, so I had drops on it even in those rare moments when I caught some dry stretches that helped the outside dry up. Fun, all the way

My pictures and videos (all 851 of them) uploading as I write this, should be over some time tonight. I see Jonathan's stuff, expecting others as soon as you dry up and get a good night sleep. A relatively small web album is being set up for other people to enjoy, I'll post the location soon.

[karigotu]

Vlad can you pm me the password, I forgot it.

[Vlad]

I sent it via e-mail, my PMs are disabled. E-mail me if you didn't get it for any reason.

My upload is still running (download should be much faster for you). I'll post when it's done.

[Golluk]

Those drops of water going down the inside of my visor were very welcome to me. They cleared up parts of my visor which was fogging up badly.

I'm still not done with the uploading just yet, I had 1.3 gig myself.