The summer of 2010 happened to be my best riding season by far. In previous years, I mostly did rode in the GTA and surrounding areas with the farthest destination being Niagara (from my house in Richmond Hill, Ontario)...and I considered this to be far at the time. The adventurous side got the better of me and I wanted to see more of this great country that I've been living in all my life. Many weekends of 2010 were spent riding the twisties of Muskoka, Haliburton, Parry Sound and I had a blast. The concept of long distance riding was pretty new to me at the time and I always brought riding buddies along should unforeseen inconveniences happen. However, my ride to Calabogie happened to fall on a weekday as it was one of the few days I had before starting the school year and everyone else was working or busy. Ride to Calabogie alone? No biggie, lets do it!
Having heard great things about Calabogie, I just had to see it for myself. But where should I start?
Consult: The great big map of riding roads in Ontario! http://shanekingsley.com/Two%20Wheeling/ontario_bikeroads.jpg
Found some interesting roads, anything along the way was a must do! River Road (Peterborough), 620, 504, 506, 509, 514, and of course Calabogie Road. The resulting map:
Unfortunately I dont have the original google maps waypoint and pulled this off my GPS so its is pretty lossy. Anyhow, it gives a rough idea of the route that I took.
On the day of the ride, I wake up at 7am, eat a quick breakfast of eggs and ham, pack a bottle of water, some primitive tools, and I'm on my way. What? 7am?....That's the earliest start to my day of the whole summer! It sure would be worth it though.
I've got about 120kms of highway to cover, I would have taken the backroads but since I wanted to get back home before dark, that wasn't an option. Traffic moved along well considering it was the start of rush hour but I was heading away from the city so that helped.
The first stop I make is in Peterborough. You can't visit Peterborough and not visit a lock or dam. Photo-op!
Can't waste too much time here, got lots of pavement to cover. Moving on.
I head North and make it to a small town called Apsley. I'm kind of hungry at this point so in my search of a cheap and fast place to eat, I found a convenience store that sells pizza out of a little section in the back of the store. I can't say I've ever ordered pizza out of the back of a convenience store but I wasnt too picky at this point. It makes me wonder, is this a common practice in small towns?
Sitting on the bench outside the store gave me a different perspective on small town life. Everyone who walked by said hi and asked how I was doing. Some were curious where I was from and where I was going. With the Asian population of Aspley probably being close to 0, I stood out like a sore thumb.
Finished my pizza and headed out. Hit the 620 and 504, approximately 40 kms of twisties and I enjoyed every second of it. There was no traffic at all being in the middle of no where on a weekday. I could get used to this. Made my way up to a gem of a road called Lower Faraday. This road was a lightly travelled paved road that ran through a heavily wooded area. Again no traffic besides some construction vehicles digging up something in the ditch and the road to myself. :)
As I make it to and past Bancroft, the environment around me starts getting a lot more hilly and mountainous. This was pretty cool, I havent experienced these kind of roads in the GTA and I'm really enjoying my ride. Up, down, and between the mountains I go. Every crest in the road was accompanied by breathtaking scenery. I had to stop and take a picture, put it on my online photo album and look back at it to one of the great riding destinations in Ontario. And that I did.
At this point, I look down at my instrument cluster....crap I'm running out of gas so I looked up the closest gas station to my current location. Its 50 kms away, and I had about 50kms of gas left in my tank. The "fun" riding was over and I was looking to ride as efficient as possible. 80km/h the whole way until I found my next gas stop.
According to my GPS, I have arrived at my gas stop...but where is the gas station?
Ahh, I see. A gas station, LCBO, Beer store all in 1. Gas in back eh?
I was a little confused on how to pump my gas. The pump looked ancient! Analog dials and a storage container on the outside. I didnt even know if it was in operation or not. Standing beside the pump reading the instructions made me feel like I've never used a fuel pump before, luckily there was no one around to witness my embarassing ordeal.
When you planning trips based on places you haven't gone to before, you never know what the road conditions or surfaces are until you actually get there. Some roads are under never ending construction and some were never paved in the first place as I found out.
Good time to practice my dirt riding. Smooth inputs -> Smooth outputs. I rode approximately 50kms of dirt roads throughout the whole trip so I became accustomed to the lack of traction. This road was one of the better groomed ones. I later encountered a dirt road with very loose sand and gravel which lead to a lot of fishtailing fun.
I finally hit Calabogie Road. A long winding road marked the half way point of my ride. Left, right, left, right, left...what the heck? As I approached the next left sweeper in a semi-aggressive lean, I see a series of frost heaves the size of small speedbumps. To add to the complexity of the situation, I see a stop sign with sand strewn across the road at the end of this turn. Grab the front brakes and I'm going to lowside, try to straighten out and I ride straight into the ditch. My only option, very light trail braking. In a split second, I thought back to my riders training course that I took 4 years ago. Look where you want to go. Commit and believe. I feel the handlebars wobble as I ride out the bumps that could take me out any minute. I made it. Thank god for my steering damper which saved me from a major tank slapper and of course Riders Training Institute who I took the MSF course with.
I'm at the half way point of my trip and I take a break and cool off at the end of Calabogie Road.
The rest of the trip consisted of riding various dirt and paved roads. My favorite out of the whole trip was highway 509 which consisted of no traffic never ending sweepers.
My fun ended when I re-entered the 401 in Napanee to start my long 3 hour highway ride back home.
Summary: Started my ride at 8am, got home at 8pm. ~1000km. A solo ride I won't forget :)
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