Traveling from Moffat, ON to Banff, Alberta | GTAMotorcycle.com

Traveling from Moffat, ON to Banff, Alberta

mikeherdes

Well-known member
I've started my almost cross country trip today from Moffat to Banff, Alberta. I'm doing the trip solo on my FZ8.

I'll be posting pictures at fz8adventures.blogspot.com

Any suggestions on places to stop or roads to ride?
 
I've started my almost cross country trip today from Moffat to Banff, Alberta. I'm doing the trip solo on my FZ8.

I'll be posting pictures at fz8adventures.blogspot.com

Any suggestions on places to stop or roads to ride?

The Terry Fox Memorial at Thunder Bay.

Take a few minutes and think about how that one-legged hero made it all the way there from the Atlantic Ocean.
 
The Terry Fox Memorial at Thunder Bay.

Take a few minutes and think about how that one-legged hero made it all the way there from the Atlantic Ocean.
I did a ride along the north shore with the sole purpose of stopping there and turning around to come back home. Classy memorial.
 
Take the lower route and also stop at Atikokan. If it's warm and sunny that day it's the closest thing to a Mexican town Northern Ontario has to offer.
 
I did a ride along the north shore with the sole purpose of stopping there and turning around to come back home. Classy memorial.

The memorial really is spectacular
 
Take the lower route and also stop at Atikokan. If it's warm and sunny that day it's the closest thing to a Mexican town Northern Ontario has to offer.

Atikokan had the best sign ever, bar had 'stripper on duty' not plural. I think she waited tables between songs.
 
Lots of rain this morning, left sault st marie around 6:45 am hoping to beat the rain but no luck. Really glad I bought the Icon waterproof jacket cover, so far it's held up.

Should be in Thunder Bay in a few hours, I'm at a wawa tim hortens now.
 
Yesterday was so brutal I think it changed me as a person...

I've been soaked through before, but I've never gone on to ride 300+ km after. Being close to the water didn't help either, the wind gusts were unbelievable and the temperatures were as low as 5°.

My original plan was to make it past thunder bay, but as soon as I got there I knew I needed to stop. So glad I did... probably took me 3 hours to return to a normal temperature
 
I hear you brother. Rain changes everything despite the naysayers. I got soaked all the way to Terrace Bay one year. Totally washed away that exotic Adriatic coast feeling that sends me there. Good luck with your journey. If you can spare the time go south of the Trans Canada when you hit the Manitoba. I wish I had.
 
Just did a cross country and was soaked 5 out of 6 days. I feel your pain. Keep pushing on pushing and dont give up.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk
 
My first trip out of southern ON was from TO to BC to LA to TO. 2 letters is all you need....lol. Have fun, staying dry helps. I had a great suit that lasted a few decades after. Unfortunately no suit since has lasted as long or gone thru as many adventures.
 
Yesterday went much better. Started off with grey and gloomy skys, but cleared up by 2pm and finally the sun came put just before crossing the MB boarder.

Ive had two deer cross the road right in front of me so far, one was about a 100m from a deer crossing sign that had been temporary put up (it was held up by sandbags).

Today's forcast is calling for rain and thunderstorms along my route, but there's a motorcycle dealership right beside my hotel so I'm going to look into better waterproof pants and maybe boots. However it should be much warmer this time so being soaked shouldn't be as bad.

Driving through winnipeg was an experience.... it's as if the paved over a lake when it was windy out.
 
I'm really enjoying these snippets of life on the road. Subscribed.
 
Great updates so far!
I'll be doing the ride through Manitoulin and out to Thunder Bay in the beginning of July so please give me any tips for my trip.
 
Made it to Brandon, MB quite quick this morning. The highway is being repaved and down to one lane for what seemed like 100km. There were a few patches of rain, but no where near as bad as Wednesday.

The last 50km to Brandon were dry, so I stood up and attempted to wind dry myself. It's hard to keep your speed down on these roads!

I'll try and post more updates while on the road, now that I can come off the bike and still feel my fingers it shold be easier. I've started putting my gloves between the engine and the rad everythime I get off to warm them up!

My #1 piece of advice for anyone doing this is to have rain gear and try it out before you go. Last thing you want to do is find out it fails after a few hours of riding.
My forcast for the week was good weather in all locations when I expected to be there... and I looked into that the day I left...

#2 is to set mini destinations along the way and stop when you need to. Don't think about the total km left. On the sunny days I've had no problem going until my tank is empty, but when it's raining I prefer to stop ever 100km or less.

#3 ... ear plugs. My bike has an aftermarket exhaust so this is even more important. If you don't want to loose your hearing ear plugs are a necessity.
 
My preferred route from southern or southwestern Ontario is.
401 to 402 at London, cross at Sarnia.
I-75 north to just south of the Sault. Michigan 28 and US 2 across the upper peninsula.
South of Lake Superior through Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Once past Duluth, start cutting northwest to Manitoba.
It's about 12 hours shorter than going north of Lake Superior.
 
Day 4 complete... 1,014km through MB, SK and finally into Medicine Hat AB.

Not a single speed trap (besides the photo radar), so I was able to get through the prairies at a good clip.

Had a few spots of light rain again, but mostly good weather.

I bought a mechanical throttle lock a while ago and finally put it to use on this trip, worth it for the prairies, but it takes some getting use to.

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