Friday Oct 9 Gravel Rip -- Big bike friendly. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Friday Oct 9 Gravel Rip -- Big bike friendly.

Motorcycle Mike

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
And second in the Motorcycle Mike Fall Series is another long, 500 to 600km of gravel, fall colours dual sport rip.

Date: Friday, October 9th
Meeting spot: The Esso at the corner of road 8 and 32, right at the end of the 404: Esso 22766 Woodbine Ave Keswick, ON L4P 3E9
https://goo.gl/maps/A7SynhDgJrK2

Time: 10am

This will be a long day riding on gravel roads. There are no trails, so it is very big bike friendly although I suggest dual sport tires unless you are experience and confident in riding on loose gravel with street tires.

There will be few breaks and long stretches between fuel stops... so make sure you have the endurance. We will very likely be returning in the dark (but should be at or near populated areas by that time)

The route encompasses rail trail (possibly -- to be investigated), gravel roads, fire access roads, logging roads, and some unmaintained roads as part of the Bethany Big Bike ride.

Route:
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Nice!
 
I will probably take the day off to ride the Oct. 3rd/4th run and then see about this one. If this was on Thursday I wouldn't need book work off, but I understand most people are available Fridays.
 
I could easily switch it to the 8 th as that also works for me, but I think it doesn't work for demon pig.

I'll go with the date that works for the majority.
 
DemonPig said:
I can only do the 9th.
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I'll be keeping it on the 9th, I think... it works better for me than the 8th.

Sorry Supernam... I guess you'll have to choose which day off work you want to take to attend one of these rides.
 
No worries. Don't change any dates on my account, my plans change all the time and I am not reliable. ?
 
Count me in for either date.
 
Alright, the date is nearing and the weather is looking okay.

Who is still coming? If it is just Chase and Jacob, we can meet in Mississauga at that Shell on Eglinton near the 403 and ride from there... is anyone still meeting at the Esso at the end of the 404?

Also... do you guys mind if I shorten the ride so there is still time to do things in the afternoon? The original ride was looking like 10+ hours of riding not including breaks or mishaps, so a very long day indeed.

What I am proposing is:

Option A: Would still be a fairly long ride at an estimated 9 hours according to MapSource calculations, and has significant slab at the beginning and the end. If we left at 9am and minimized breaks and have a fast food lunch we could be back in town by 7pm... so still not a very short ride and will not leave time to do much or anything afterwards:

wPYePEV.png


Option B (which is my preference): Is only about 4.5 hours of riding, and primarily we'd investigate a rail trail that I have spotted in the past, and then do a portion of the Bethany Big Bike run.

For this one we could leave Mississauga at 10am and be back at around 3pm or so, therefore (hopefully) missing most of the heavy traffic for both times we need to cross the city.

VAPC0lM.png


Thought? Opinions? Anger to spill? Joy to spread?
 
I'm still in.

I'm perfectly fine with the shorter route. Gives me time to work on my car a bit afterwards. Making some weird noises.

We can do the big route next year always. I'm hoping we'll get more people interested in dual sport riding. Was thinking about maybe even starting a Meetup. It's a solid platform for group rides.
 
Sounds good... the forecast I saw looked decent, but weather this time of year is subject to change. If it rains that day or has a high possibility of rain, I would likely cancel. I don't mind riding in the rain if I need to go somewhere, but running a lot of gravel in the rain is not my idea of fun.
 
Did a little gravel today. Any tips?
 
Baggsy said:
Did a little gravel today. Any tips?
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Yeah... watch when cresting a blind hill. Twice this season I crested a hill only to find a farmer parked just on the other side and more or less in the center of the road. The last time my rear wheel was all over the place as I was trying to stop in time, I ended up having to pass the car on the right because he was too far in the center for me to get by on the left.

Friggin idiots... if it was a cage coming over the hill there would have been an accident unless the cage was doing far lower than the speed limit.
 
DemonPig said:
We can do the big route next year always. I'm hoping we'll get more people interested in dual sport riding. Was thinking about maybe even starting a Meetup. It's a solid platform for group rides.
Click to expand...

Alon and his friend Torsten showed me around Creemore today, what an awesome place to ride a dualsport. I don't have a proper dual sport, but my CB500X was able to handle it. No chance for me to keep up with their 530's though if they don't wait for me.

So far I've only ridden with Mike, Alon and Torsten and they're all good guys I will ride with again.

Have fun on the ride Fri, if I didn't have to work I would go.
 
Motorcycle Mike said:
Yeah... watch when cresting a blind hill. Twice this season I crested a hill only to find a farmer parked just on the other side and more or less in the center of the road. The last time my rear wheel was all over the place as I was trying to stop in time, I ended up having to pass the car on the right because he was too far in the center for me to get by on the left.

Friggin idiots... if it was a cage coming over the hill there would have been an accident unless the cage was doing far lower than the speed limit.
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That goes for paved as well. I always move toward the shoulder when cresting hills. That way if someone's passing on the hill, I might have time to get out of the way.

I encountered a modern tractor today, or some other type of farm equipment, you could almost ride under it, and it took up a lane and a half. It would probably take your head clean off if you tried though.
 
Nam is being humble - he kicked *** and never complained once even when I led him down shale rock downhills, potato rock ascents, sand, twisty narrow trails and some rutted mud crossing (Nam, let me know if you've got that footage of me crashing in that mud crossing). His bike was surprisingly capable (except for going over logs as it's got zero ground clearance) even when he scaled a section of large slick granite and he's a courageous rider, it was a pleasure, can't wait to get you out again - I still think you'd love a proper dual sport bike) :)

As for Friday, it looks like I now have a business meeting at 8:30 and probably done by 10:00 and then back home by 10:30. Depending on this ride's final routes and timing, I'll do my best to join but if you're riding the Creemore area, maybe I'll just hitch up my little bike and meet you guys out that way and ride the road allowances and trails with you. I've got the Ontario Backroads maps loaded on my GPS so I can see each and every trail type anywhere in Ontario.

Supernam said:
Alon and his friend Torsten showed me around Creemore today, what an awesome place to ride a dualsport. I don't have a proper dual sport, but my CB500X was able to handle it. No chance for me to keep up with their 530's though if they don't wait for me.

So far I've only ridden with Mike, Alon and Torsten and they're all good guys I will ride with again.

Have fun on the ride Fri, if I didn't have to work I would go.
Click to expand...
 
alon said:
Nam is being humble - he kicked *** and never complained once even when I led him down shale rock downhills, potato rock ascents, sand, twisty narrow trails and some rutted mud.
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I think Nam is Super as well. ?


Sent from a Samsung Galaxy far, far away using Tapatalk
 
So all the forecasts I've seen call for rain tomorrow morning ending around 9am. If that is what really happens I'll arrange to meet Chase and Demonpig in Mississauga.

If anyone else wants to ride and you're in the west end you can meet us at the shell on eglinton near the 403 at 10am, but pm me your number so I can text you if plans change at the last minute.

If anyone in the east or north want to ride, be at the esso at the end of the 404 extension around 11am. We'll stop in there briefly to see if anyone is there, if not, we'll keep going.
 
Supernam said:
Alon and his friend Torsten showed me around Creemore today, what an awesome place to ride a dualsport. I don't have a proper dual sport, but my CB500X was able to handle it. No chance for me to keep up with their 530's though if they don't wait for me.

So far I've only ridden with Mike, Alon and Torsten and they're all good guys I will ride with again.

Have fun on the ride Fri, if I didn't have to work I would go.
Click to expand...

The CB500X is a highly capable bike... Check out this series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72k-mV7why4 with the Rally Raid CB500x.

They take it across the Simpson Desert... possibly one of the hardest areas to ride! ;)
 
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