Ballycanoe Revisited Oct. 29 2026

[guzzirider]

I could not let the good weather go to waste so I did one more last ride of season (maybe)
Left home at 9:30 at 12 degrees and sunny.
After the bank and getting gas I stopped at the Jiffy Cafe in Odesa
for coffee and see if anybody was going to join me.
I was side stand up at 10:30 and off to Athens.
The temperature was climbing so I shed a layer from under my jacket.
Lunch was at JJ's Country Diner.
After lunch I headed South West around Wiltse Lake.
All the roads in the area are dead ends so I had planned a 8 km stretch of non pavement to get me back to where I wanted to be.
Then life got interesting !!!!
I am practicing riding non-pavement for the covered bridge tour in Quebec before or after the OGR Rally in 2027.
The 8 km stretch looked not bad according to the street view from 2023.
It looks like the water level in the bogs have risen (da%n beaver)
Also the 4 wheelers have pounded out the road bed so you have holes full of water.
Some of the hole bottoms are below the level of the water beside it so they are never going to dry out.
Started out looking not bad but got worse.
I say to myself it can’t get worse!
WRONG !!
I finally made it back to pavement.
Unfortunately I forgot to turn the cam back on after lunch so no video.
I am glad I have been doing the upper body strength training.
The ride home had me riding into the wind that had picked up.
Life gets interesting when you are set up for a corner and the wind shifts to the other side of the bike.
There is not much to see in Ballycanoe as most of the original village is gone.
Even the church was torn down as is the fate of many early Ontario settlements
I got home just as the clouds started rolling in.
That may have been the last ride of the season but then the weather report is calling for 16 on Monday.

I have some footage from earlier in the day that I will edit and post on Facebook with a link.



The following 4 shots are from 2023 and the "road" is in a lot worse shape.







All that is left of the church at Ballycanoe.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

I could not let the good weather go to waste so I did one more last ride of season (maybe)
Left home at 9:30 at 12 degrees and sunny.
After the bank and getting gas I stopped at the Jiffy Cafe in Odesa
for coffee and see if anybody was going to join me.
I was side stand up at 10:30 and off to Athens.
The temperature was climbing so I shed a layer from under my jacket.
Lunch was at JJ's Country Diner.
After lunch I headed South West around Wiltse Lake.
All the roads in the area are dead ends so I had planned a 8 km stretch of non pavement to get me back to where I wanted to be.
Then life got interesting !!!!
I am practicing riding non-pavement for the covered bridge tour in Quebec before or after the OGR Rally in 2027.
The 8 km stretch looked not bad according to the street view from 2023.
It looks like the water level in the bogs have risen (da%n beaver)
Also the 4 wheelers have pounded out the road bed so you have holes full of water.
Some of the hole bottoms are below the level of the water beside it so they are never going to dry out.
Started out looking not bad but got worse.
I say to myself it can’t get worse!
WRONG !!
I finally made it back to pavement.
Unfortunately I forgot to turn the cam back on after lunch so no video.
I am glad I have been doing the upper body strength training.
The ride home had me riding into the wind that had picked up.
Life gets interesting when you are set up for a corner and the wind shifts to the other side of the bike.
There is not much to see in Ballycanoe as most of the original village is gone.
Even the church was torn down as is the fate of many early Ontario settlements
I got home just as the clouds started rolling in.
That may have been the last ride of the season but then the weather report is calling for 16 on Monday.

I have some footage from earlier in the day that I will edit and post on Facebook with a link.

View attachment 80582

The following 4 shots are from 2023 and the "road" is in a lot worse shape.
View attachment 80583

View attachment 80584

View attachment 80586

View attachment 80587
All that is left of the church at Ballycanoe.
View attachment 80589

Since you're close by you could also try the Arcol Rd/Barry Lake Trail that runs from Oompah to the 511 (just south of Calabogie). There's nothing "trail" about it as it's basically just fire roads with a touch of doubletrack. It also allows you to be as adventurous as you want as there's plenty of actual trails that run off of it to explore for experience/fun.

 

[guzzirider]

Link to video Woodburn Rd/Joyceville Rd to Athens.
Note quality is kept bad so no one accuses me of using AI.
Link

 

[guzzirider]

Since you're close by you could also try the Arcol Rd/Barry Lake Trail that runs from Oompah to the 511 (just south of Calabogie). There's nothing "trail" about it as it's basically just fire roads with a touch of doubletrack. It also allows you to be as adventurous as you want as there's plenty of actual trails that run off of it to explore for experience/fun.

I have no interest in trail/adventure riding.
I will ride non pavement if it gets me where I want to go.
The V7iii is simply not an off road bike.
If I was to go trail riding I would get something a lot lighter and smaller such as a ISDT bike.
As to the covered bridge tour next year it is less than 200 km non pavement over 5 days and 1800 km.
Of the 200km all but one 2km stretch is well travelled and maintained non pavement.
As long as there is no heavy rains it should be no problem and even that has flexibility to dates.
I have done MX, Enduros and Ice Racing in the past.
In my younger more foolish days I used to ride gravel roads at 100kph on my 1972 CB450 with clubman bars passing dirt bikes.
Now I find minor injuries at my age just take too long to heal.