A Ride up North - James Bay | Page 10 | GTAMotorcycle.com

A Ride up North - James Bay

Iceman said:
I just went to Vancouver and back in 7 days, left downtown Vancouver Sunday morning and slept in my own bed Tuesday night.
In fact I left on Mar 27, was back home on April 4. Left again on April 7 and home on the 13.
Car or bike, I can put down the miles.

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Love it! That's awesome:)
 
@Iceman That's big miles. Was that on the S1000R?

I don't think anyone needs to be an iron butt veteran to do this trip. Have a reliable bike, be familiar with it. Be prepared to push yourself a little if you're not used to high mileage days, and you'll be fine.

Having a plan and sticking to it makes it a safer ride too. Running late and making up time with speed or riding in the dark makes things riskier in an area that you definitely don't want an emergency extrication

@PrivatePilot I don't mind camping just about anywhere. I find if I arrive late and leave early, 'No Camping' is just a guideline
 
slowbird said:
That doesn't really work on the JBR.

...and my rides are solo. Specifically because I don't want to be rushed, or held back by others. I've dabbled in group rides many times in the past but only a few have been a pace that I enjoyed.



Agreed. But I think my point still stands. As I said before, no one should hold up the group, but timetables should have some flexibility to them. There needs to be a happy middle ground between the militant schedule nazi and the slow as molasses dilly dallier.
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Everything you've said is valid and that's why I would be very hesitant to go an extended trip with folks I don't know. I believe we have the happy medium or I wouldn't do trips with them each summer.

The golden rule is ride your own ride. When you find a group who all have the same mind set things tick along good.

As for the JBR with a 600km straight run it's then the fall back of "I haven't seen that that headlight in my mirror for bit, time to pull over"
 
jeff96 said:
@Iceman That's big miles. Was that on the S1000R?

I don't think anyone needs to be an iron butt veteran to do this trip. Have a reliable bike, be familiar with it. Be prepared to push yourself a little if you're not used to high mileage days, and you'll be fine.

Having a plan and sticking to it makes it a safer ride too. Running late and making up time with speed or riding in the dark makes things riskier in an area that you definitely don't want an emergency extrication

@PrivatePilot I don't mind camping just about anywhere. I find if I arrive late and leave early, 'No Camping' is just a guideline
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No, I don't own an s1000r. I ride a yamaha tenere 700.
But the two trips to Vancouver were solo in my car. First one I was towing an 18 foot Highfield RIB.
Snowstorms in the prairies are unlike anything I've ever seen.

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Iceman said:
It is. But I'm sorta hoping none of my friends need any "favours" for a bit lol.
20 000km in 3 weeks is a big favour.

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Now that’s a good friend to have! I’ve always wanted to do that run and tried to buy a car in BC and drive it home....I quit before that happened lol
 
No response to my email as of yet. I suspect we're in "We have far more important stuff to worry about" territory right now...or "We know what' happening down there in Ontario right now and don't even want to consider this right now" territory.

At this point I'd say this is something to back burner until probably July. See how things look Covid wise at that point and approach it again for an August / September goal.

I suspect we'll be welcome back to the USA before we're welcome in the far north again unfortunately.
 
If the JBR doesn't happen.....I might do Pickle Lake again this year but with a big loop - up to Thessalon, north on 129 (Ontario's Tail of the Dragon) for a few shots back and forth and then back down to the soo and up (That's a nice stretch, not worth missing - 129, once you're north of the dragon is dead boring in comparison), shoot out to Pickle Lake and then back, but split off at 11 on the way back and go across the top over to Kirkland Lake / Temiskiming and back down through North Bay. Did pickle lake last year but whatever, I need a destination again for something if the JBR and the USA remain off limits. The trip up and over 11 was just a nice long stretch of highway that I kinda enjoyed in a "lots of miles" way.
 
PrivatePilot said:
If the JBR doesn't happen.....I might do Pickle Lake again this year but with a big loop - up to Thessalon, north on 129 (Ontario's Tail of the Dragon) for a few shots back and forth and then back down to the soo and up (That's a nice stretch, not worth missing - 129, once you're north of the dragon is dead boring in comparison), shoot out to Pickle Lake and then back, but split off at 11 on the way back and go across the top over to Kirkland Lake / Temiskiming and back down through North Bay. Did pickle lake last year but whatever, I need a destination again for something if the JBR and the USA remain off limits. The trip up and over 11 was just a nice long stretch of highway that I kinda enjoyed in a "lots of miles" way.
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Not a bad idea at all but I'd rather do 101 to 144 south than 11.

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Hwy 11 is one of the most boring roads I've been on. I think it's the straightness and the monotony of the scenery which does it. The first 50 kms or so north from Nipigon is very nice but after that it'll put you to sleep. If you haven't yet, try the 631 through hornepayne. A lot of fast sweepers and elevation changes from what I remember. If we're forced to stay in Ontario this summer, I might do a loop to Kenora and back that incorporates highways 622 and 502, haven't been on those yet.
 
PrivatePilot said:
No response to my email as of yet. I suspect we're in "We have far more important stuff to worry about" territory right now...or "We know what' happening down there in Ontario right now and don't even want to consider this right now" territory.

At this point I'd say this is something to back burner until probably July. See how things look Covid wise at that point and approach it again for an August / September goal.

I suspect we'll be welcome back to the USA before we're welcome in the far north again unfortunately.
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We will be very lucky to get our ride in late June at this rate.We all have time cleared off so we will probably do a Northern Ontario ride if we cannot do our planned Northern Quebec ride.
 
Not sure who you have been trying to contact, but if you are emailing people in Radisson, good luck. Even without COVID I had no luck reaching anyone there, even by phone. Unless you know French you may have better luck. I booked in Chisasibi because someone answered both by email and by phone, and they followed up, and fortunately they all speak English there.
 
You have to lock your bike in the school gym for safety if you stay in Chisasibi ...caveat emptor.
This was according to the local constable.
We took a wild sunset ride back to Radisson instead......at speed...was much fun.
The power dam tours are suspended - shame to go up there and not take the tour. Kicking myself for not doing it when we went.
www.hydroquebec.com

Robert-Bourassa generating facility | Free tours | Hydro-Québec

Discover the Baie-James region and visit the world’s largest underground generating station and the interpretation center! It’s free!
www.hydroquebec.com

Will make up for it with a Snowy Mountain Hydro tour next month. Visit - Snowy Hydro
 
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danp said:
Hwy 11 is one of the most boring roads I've been on. I think it's the straightness and the monotony of the scenery which does it. The first 50 kms or so north from Nipigon is very nice but after that it'll put you to sleep. If you haven't yet, try the 631 through hornepayne. A lot of fast sweepers and elevation changes from what I remember. If we're forced to stay in Ontario this summer, I might do a loop to Kenora and back that incorporates highways 622 and 502, haven't been on those yet.
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I’m open to suggestions. 631 looks interesting but the spits you back out at the TC again so there’s be a duplicate stretch of road on the way back….and I’ve ridden that stretch a bunch of times in the last few years around the shoreline.
 
Iceman said:
Not a bad idea at all but I'd rather do 101 to 144 south than 11.

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I commute b/w Sudbury and Timmins along the 144 every week. It's a nice highway to do once, but gets old really fast. It's a long way out of the way for me, but Hwy 11 is more fun.
 

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www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca
Oh boy... I remember doing cross canada last year, and when some places had dine in options I would try hard to make sure they didn't know I was from out of province. As much as I love BC and dream of moving there, in my many trips there, I have found they have a hate for anyone outside their zone, esp Alberta.

I imagine this year, out of province travel to be interesting.
 
Lightcycle said:
Truth.

I had to switch my Ontario plates to BC toot sweet to prevent my truck from being keyed.
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why are they so arrogant? I know this hate was all before Covid too, now it just gave certain people a reason to be aggressive

Albertans were super nice, so many saw the Ont plates and started a conversation, said positive things, and went out of their way to help.

Even my ex's family in Vancouver had nothing good to say about Ontario, always put it down, and the people. The funny thing is, they had never even been here or seen the place! I found this with alot of BC people
 
ScorpionT16 said:

why are they so arrogant? I know this hate was all before Covid too, now it just gave certain people a reason to be aggressive
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It's because the BC Interior is treated like a vacation spot for Alberta oil money.

There are a lot of seasonal residents who live and work in Calgary, who own summer properties by the lakes in the Okanagan, and these "outsiders" are seen as not having any stake or investment in BC. They're perceived to be loud and boorish, polluting the lake with power toys, etc. Never mind that in reality, most people doing all that are locals...

The economy in BC outside of Vancouver is hurting. Unemployment may not be high, but all the jobs here pay close to minimum wage and most locals are unable to keep up with the rising cost of living. Alberta money is seen as contributing to these rising costs, as real estate has been gobbled up by rich Albertans. People who live and work in the the interior can't afford rent, meanwhile properties owned by Albertans are left sitting empty 8 months out of the year. So there is an element of resentment there as well.

Very similar to the animosity against Chinese money chasing after Toronto real estate.
 
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