Labrador highway.

Motorcycle Mike

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
My Location: N 53°31'56.41", W 64°0'46.27"

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:53.53234,-64.01285

I'll start this thread now, and update it with route info later, but I'm currently sitting in Churchill Falls, Labrador, in a tent because all hotels were full.

I took the scenic route to get here; via Bancroft to avoid the 401, Renfrew to avoid Ottawa, Mont Tremblant to avoid Montreal and stayed in Sainte-Emelie-des-Energie at a hostel. Shared a room with a French guy on a gs1200 who's been on the road for 3 years, and was flying back to France from Montreal today.

Day 2 I routed through Alma to avoid Quebec City and stayed in Forestville.

Today left at 430am and made it to Churchill Falls before calling it quits. I might have pushed on to happy valley goose bay if I didn't waste so much time figuring out where the hotels were and finding out they're full.

Tomorrow I'm shooting for blanc sablon, then l'anse aux meadows, gros more, gander, st johns, back via Cabot trail, Charlottetown, then through Maine, Vermont, etc.

Edit

Here is the route I took:
bcEVLLo.png


And video of the gravel road, although this isn't the worst of it:
[video=youtube_share;saQr-GTfYFY]http://youtu.be/saQr-GTfYFY[/video]

For the pictures and write up, see my blog entry: http://visrun.blogspot.ca/2014/08/labrador-highway-and-newfoundland-run.html
 
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You will love Gros Morne. Check out 'Western Brook Pond', it's incredible and we'll worth the hike in.
 
What a hell day I just had; I conquered the Trans Labrador highway, but it nearly conquered me.

I rode from Churchill Falls to Blanc Sablon, which Google maps says is 888km, however, probably 788 of that is gravel. 300 of that gravel was rough - either washboard and potholes or fresh gravel.

The absolute worst was this stretch of about 60km somewhere past Port Hope Simpson. They are doing construction in this part and the gravel is very loose and dusty. Since the trucks don't have an issue, they go roaring by creating huge dustclouds.

Anyway, twice I almost ate dirt. First time a truck came over a hill forcing me over on very loose gravel with some fist size stones. I hit the stones and I started into a tank slapper. 15 minutes later I hit some deep loose gravel and my front went squirrely again. I recovered from both by gasing it a bit so I could recover then slow down. I did the rest of that bit at 50kph being passed every 5 minutes by huge dump trucks covering me in dust, sometimes enough that I had to come to a complete stop until I could see.

I tell you, if I could have quit then I would have, it was horrible.

Anyway, I made it. Now on to Newfoundland.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that when I checked in to my hotel at blanc sablon the owner said they get a lot of crashes here, and a lot of people going back in casts. There were also a lot of crosses/memorials along the side of this highway.
 
Thats crazy. I've always wanted to do this ride, but am not a good gravel rider and do not like the feeling of big trucks blowing by me.

What tires are you running on the bike? Do you air your tires down or were you running them at full pressures?

Keep safe.
 
Port Hope Simpson to Red Bay was a bad stretch for gravel when I did it a couple of years ago. I was also having an off moment when I did the fire Lake bit as well, the Curves back and forth over the tracks?

I remember getting so much dust in my helmet that all I saw was dust, inside and out.
 
shanekingsley said:
Thats crazy. I've always wanted to do this ride, but am not a good gravel rider and do not like the feeling of big trucks blowing by me.

What tires are you running on the bike? Do you air your tires down or were you running them at full pressures?

Keep safe.
Click to expand...
I have a tourance rear and a shinko 705 front, with pressure reduced. The shinko actually works well, as yesterday I encountered minor gravel on some curves, but the shinko with the big sipes had no slippage at all.

Today's gravel though was a bit much for my setup. It'd be easy on a crf450 with full knobbies and the light weight to keep the front up, but I would not do that road again with this bike.
 
Diesel said:
I have a tourance rear and a shinko 705 front, with pressure reduced. The shinko actually works well, as yesterday I encountered minor gravel on some curves, but the shinko with the big sipes had no slippage at all.

Today's gravel though was a bit much for my setup. It'd be easy on a crf450 with full knobbies and the light weight to keep the front up, but I would not do that road again with this bike.
Click to expand...
I felt the same when I did it in my van, that's brutal road. Did you make a list of everything you wanted to see in Labrador? If not, I recommend having a look online because the road signage sucks, all the advertising for Labrador sights is found in Newfoundland!!

Ride safe!
 
Yeah, 100km before lab city sucks, and so does 100km before port hope Simpson all the way until the pavement starts again 50km from blanc sablon.
 
Hmmm difficult even on the Strom.....nasssssty.
How you getting back? I assume you are NOT doing a repeat of Trans Labrador :D
 
The Strom that I was with had Heidenaus fitted front and rear, and was still a bit sloppy on some of the loose stuff. The GS1200 had TKC-80 tires front and rear riding two up with camping gear, and he found at over 80kph it rode the best, but speeds under that were more of a struggle for traction.

I had Kenda 270 on my heavily loaded KLR, and resolved that if I did it again I'd go with a more aggressive front tire like a Track master 2.
 
I went with a full knobby on the KLR in Aus and no more washouts even in difficult stuff....front end went where I pointed it.
My super experienced buddy went down on the track tho he was not riding his regular bike.
Was just after we got side swiped by a Cat 5 cyclone and what is normally a walk in the park forest track turned nasty ( tho not muddy just treacherous and rutted )

Kenda was iffy from the get go.
My refreshed KLR thanks to a buddy - seriously good direction control now - climbs right out of ruts.

KLRmakeoverJPG_zps5efa2928.jpeg
 
Diesel said:
What a hell day I just had; I conquered the Trans Labrador highway, but it nearly conquered me.
Click to expand...

Awesome!

Good that you're going now, they've been talking about paving the TransLab for years. A tender just got put out by the province to pave an additional 140kms by the fall of next year.

In a couple of years, even the Harley guys will be wearing "Conquered the TransLab" T-shirts... ;)
 
Totally envious, sitting here on my couch. Might have to look into this. Keep posting, and shiny side up!
 
Can't talk, sightseeing in rainy gross morne.

One bit of advise, book ferries early. I booked the port aux basques to north Sydney yesterday, and the earliest I could get is Monday, everything else full. Guess I'm drinking on George St this weekend.
 
Getting screeched in? :D
 
One bit of advise, book ferries early. I booked the port aux basques to north Sydney yesterday,
Click to expand...
Did you talk to them?...I bet they could fit a bike in....use your best wheedle ;)
 
MacDoc said:
Did you talk to them?...I bet they could fit a bike in....use your best wheedle ;)
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The ferry system is messed up here, you'd think it would be easy to squeeze a bike on, but two riders behind me got turned away at blanc sablon, and I know there was space for their bikes. I think there is a disconnect between their idiotic administrative procedures and reality when they load the ship.

Anyway, my original plan was to leave Sunday, but leaving Monday gives me more time to see st johns and get screeched in. I'm starting with a friend too, so a day means nothing.
 
Diesel said:
What a hell day I just had; I conquered the Trans Labrador highway, but it nearly conquered me.

I rode from Churchill Falls to Blanc Sablon, which Google maps says is 888km, however, probably 788 of that is gravel. 300 of that gravel was rough - either washboard and potholes or fresh gravel.

The absolute worst was this stretch of about 60km somewhere past Port Hope Simpson. They are doing construction in this part and the gravel is very loose and dusty. Since the trucks don't have an issue, they go roaring by creating huge dustclouds.

Anyway, twice I almost ate dirt. First time a truck came over a hill forcing me over on very loose gravel with some fist size stones. I hit the stones and I started into a tank slapper. 15 minutes later I hit some deep loose gravel and my front went squirrely again. I recovered from both by gasing it a bit so I could recover then slow down. I did the rest of that bit at 50kph being passed every 5 minutes by huge dump trucks covering me in dust, sometimes enough that I had to come to a complete stop until I could see.

I tell you, if I could have quit then I would have, it was horrible.

Anyway, I made it. Now on to Newfoundland.
Click to expand...

That sounds both exciting and terrifying. I know the feeling--riding is awesome, let's do it, yeah--oh piss, this is really thick fog/heavy rain/frosty roads--this is NOT awesome and there's another 200 km to go! Good luck.
 
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