I've done the summer solstice ride for a number of years and a couple buddies have been with me on almost every one, but for one reason or another, they could never complete it. One year it was stinking hot, another time some random guys joined the ride with their small gas tanks and fishing lines, a couple of other attempts someone's bike took a nap and so on. So in 2024, I did it solo and finished the whole thing - 1600km of mostly twisty roads from sunrise to sunset. That was a pretty gruelling ride that I said I would never do again, because riding roads that are that twisty for that long has a very small margin for error..
My two buddies wanted to see if they could ride 1600km/day as well, and since none of us have any interest in paperwork or certifications, this is not a formal Iron Butt ride. They had never been along the north side of Lake Huron, so I planned out a less twisty than normal, but equally enjoyable ride for us this year - the Scenic Butt.
Those guys are riding a Suzuki GSX-1000F and a KTM 390 Adventure. My 2002 FZ1, ready to go with with around 102k on the clock.
Both of them have cottages up north - one near Bracebridge and another near Rosseau on Skeleton Lake. So we decide to start the ride form the cottage up in Muskoka. Two of us leave work early and ride up to the Bracebridge cottage for dinner and on the way we hit up Southwood, which was in amazing shape. After having a family cottage for 30 years, which my Mom sold recently, I can truly say that I love spending time at other people's cottages. The Bracebridge cottage with a super quiet lake.
The cottage on Skeleton Lake is boat access only, so I have to leave Bracebridge and be at the marina by 8pm. I don't often get a chance to ride Muskoka roads that late in the day and it's amazing to be out there when the roads are totally empty. Boat access cottages are even more awesome when they are owned by someone else.
The next day we wake up at 4am! We needed to leave by 4:30am to take the boat to the marina and meet our buddy at 5am.
The weather was pretty cool at around 12deg and zero wind - which meant the bugs were next level and the skeeters were getting drunk on my city slicker blood.
It was cool enough that my heated gear was on and cranked full blast for the first few hours of riding. All three of us now ready to go at 5am - on schedule!
We head up towards Sudbury and then scoot across the Trans Canada over to Espanola and down the 6 towards Manitoulin Island. We just wanted to ride the 6 in both directions and see if we can get lucky and see the swing bridge in action down at Little Current. If you have never ridden the 6 between Espanola and Little Current - it's really beautiful - one of the nicer rides in Ontario. Note that the swing bridge runs on the hour, every hour, for 15 minutes. We arrive there at 9:25am and just missed it, so we turn around and head back up the 6 towards the Trans Canada. A ride like this is pretty intense, since breaks have to be carefully timed with gas and washrooms, so most of our stops are at gas stations with Timmies attached.
Next up is the loop around Elliot Lake, which is something I've always wanted to do, but always skipped in favour of the 129 or the north shore of Lake Superior. The 108 before Elliot Lake was nicely paved and had a decent amount of traffic. The 108 after Elliot Lake was a little bumpy and had no centre line, but pretty twisty and hilly, so I'd still recommend it if you are up that way. The best part about it was that it was totally deserted - as in zero vehicles on it for 50km.
Then we turn left and hit the 546. I really liked this road as well - a little bumpy in spots, but again completely desolate, and very twisty and hilly. The 108/546 combo is a worthwhile ride for sure. And I finally got one of the missing signs from my collection of twisty roads signs - been waiting a long time to get this one!
These guys have never ridden or even traveled across the Trans Canada or up towards Lake Superior, so we snag this pic near Thessalon - it's as close as they are going to get to the big lake today.
Then we head up the 129 towards Aubrey Falls. It's often referred to as Ontario's Tail of the Dragon, since it's the same number as US129 in North Carolina / Tennessee, but if you've been down there before, you know this is nothing like the real Dragon. However if you have never ridden Ontario's 129 before, it's a great one to check out for the first 100km and in amazing shape right now. The first 50km is recently paved and essentially flawless, with very fast smooth sweepers. The next 50km is more twisty and hilly and had a fair number of potholes that have been recently patched up - maybe in the last week or two, so it's in very good shape to have a ton of fun. The scenery is great for that southern 100km and it's a pretty technical road. After Aubrey Falls the road straightens out and so I'd rather treat it as an out n back instead. Note that both the Aubrey Falls gas pump and the one at the Tunnel Lake Trading post further south are getting their pumps redone, so the nearest gas stations are in Thessalon or Iron Bridge. For us the ride up and down the 129 is 200km from Thessalon. Most of the day I'm riding nicely in top gear and getting around 300km/tank, but here I drop down to 3rd and drain the tank in just over 200km.
Now it's time to start making our way back, but since we took a bit too long on some of our breaks and there were a few road construction delays that took about an hour away from us, we are a bit behind schedule. We were originally going to ride the 533 and loop around Mattawa, but we figure we can skip it do it another time.
It was an amazing day on the bikes with great people who accomplished their goals, the weather was perfect and we all got home safe. These guys still hit their 1600km mark and it was 1575km for me for the day! And my 24yr old bike still rides like a champ
Final stop!
My two buddies wanted to see if they could ride 1600km/day as well, and since none of us have any interest in paperwork or certifications, this is not a formal Iron Butt ride. They had never been along the north side of Lake Huron, so I planned out a less twisty than normal, but equally enjoyable ride for us this year - the Scenic Butt.
Those guys are riding a Suzuki GSX-1000F and a KTM 390 Adventure. My 2002 FZ1, ready to go with with around 102k on the clock.
Both of them have cottages up north - one near Bracebridge and another near Rosseau on Skeleton Lake. So we decide to start the ride form the cottage up in Muskoka. Two of us leave work early and ride up to the Bracebridge cottage for dinner and on the way we hit up Southwood, which was in amazing shape. After having a family cottage for 30 years, which my Mom sold recently, I can truly say that I love spending time at other people's cottages. The Bracebridge cottage with a super quiet lake.
The cottage on Skeleton Lake is boat access only, so I have to leave Bracebridge and be at the marina by 8pm. I don't often get a chance to ride Muskoka roads that late in the day and it's amazing to be out there when the roads are totally empty. Boat access cottages are even more awesome when they are owned by someone else.
The next day we wake up at 4am! We needed to leave by 4:30am to take the boat to the marina and meet our buddy at 5am.
The weather was pretty cool at around 12deg and zero wind - which meant the bugs were next level and the skeeters were getting drunk on my city slicker blood.
It was cool enough that my heated gear was on and cranked full blast for the first few hours of riding. All three of us now ready to go at 5am - on schedule!
We head up towards Sudbury and then scoot across the Trans Canada over to Espanola and down the 6 towards Manitoulin Island. We just wanted to ride the 6 in both directions and see if we can get lucky and see the swing bridge in action down at Little Current. If you have never ridden the 6 between Espanola and Little Current - it's really beautiful - one of the nicer rides in Ontario. Note that the swing bridge runs on the hour, every hour, for 15 minutes. We arrive there at 9:25am and just missed it, so we turn around and head back up the 6 towards the Trans Canada. A ride like this is pretty intense, since breaks have to be carefully timed with gas and washrooms, so most of our stops are at gas stations with Timmies attached.
Next up is the loop around Elliot Lake, which is something I've always wanted to do, but always skipped in favour of the 129 or the north shore of Lake Superior. The 108 before Elliot Lake was nicely paved and had a decent amount of traffic. The 108 after Elliot Lake was a little bumpy and had no centre line, but pretty twisty and hilly, so I'd still recommend it if you are up that way. The best part about it was that it was totally deserted - as in zero vehicles on it for 50km.
Then we turn left and hit the 546. I really liked this road as well - a little bumpy in spots, but again completely desolate, and very twisty and hilly. The 108/546 combo is a worthwhile ride for sure. And I finally got one of the missing signs from my collection of twisty roads signs - been waiting a long time to get this one!
These guys have never ridden or even traveled across the Trans Canada or up towards Lake Superior, so we snag this pic near Thessalon - it's as close as they are going to get to the big lake today.
Then we head up the 129 towards Aubrey Falls. It's often referred to as Ontario's Tail of the Dragon, since it's the same number as US129 in North Carolina / Tennessee, but if you've been down there before, you know this is nothing like the real Dragon. However if you have never ridden Ontario's 129 before, it's a great one to check out for the first 100km and in amazing shape right now. The first 50km is recently paved and essentially flawless, with very fast smooth sweepers. The next 50km is more twisty and hilly and had a fair number of potholes that have been recently patched up - maybe in the last week or two, so it's in very good shape to have a ton of fun. The scenery is great for that southern 100km and it's a pretty technical road. After Aubrey Falls the road straightens out and so I'd rather treat it as an out n back instead. Note that both the Aubrey Falls gas pump and the one at the Tunnel Lake Trading post further south are getting their pumps redone, so the nearest gas stations are in Thessalon or Iron Bridge. For us the ride up and down the 129 is 200km from Thessalon. Most of the day I'm riding nicely in top gear and getting around 300km/tank, but here I drop down to 3rd and drain the tank in just over 200km.
Now it's time to start making our way back, but since we took a bit too long on some of our breaks and there were a few road construction delays that took about an hour away from us, we are a bit behind schedule. We were originally going to ride the 533 and loop around Mattawa, but we figure we can skip it do it another time.
It was an amazing day on the bikes with great people who accomplished their goals, the weather was perfect and we all got home safe. These guys still hit their 1600km mark and it was 1575km for me for the day! And my 24yr old bike still rides like a champ
Final stop!
