Bungie
FrostBack #2 - IBA # 44620
Canada Day, its a day when all Canadians have a civic holiday and not much is open. Today dawned sunny and cool but promised to warm up to the low 20's (70-75F). Lets see, I've got a cool bike and some friends were looking for something to do. Throw in a rural highway that I've had my eye on for years and well - the plan is hatched!
Highway 533, one of the infamous Ontario 5 series highways. I've wanted to run it for years. Google closeups looked promising, running parallel to the Ottawa River for part of its length. Those of you who spent the night at Chris's for CFR remember the Ottawa River. Same river, just 250 ought miles upstream! Big river!
So Bob, Kryssia and I pulled out of Sudbury around 11. Not much to say except these guys are completely unable to pass a Country Style Coffee Shop without stopping. No big whoop. Its a sight seeing day.
Next stop was the lovely town of Mattawa on the far side of North Bay. I don't know why, but Mattawa is a special place. Lots of history and very scenic with the river and the mountains on the far side. This town really celebrates its heritage sporting many wooden statues along it's relatively short length. All of them carved by a local artisan with a chainsaw. Sady, the artist passed away shortly after completing his last statue of Big Joe Muffraw
While THEY were stopped for gas (my bike is running fantastic I did the entire trip one tank of gas 58mpg!) two TRex's pulled in on their way to the New Liskeard Biker Reunion being held this weekend.
The first is powered by Goldwing 1500 engine, the owner having driven it from Cornwall Ontario (about 400km away)
The second was towing a trailer and loaded down with camping gear for 5 guys. The special thing about this one? He built it specifically to race on the Bonneville Salt Flats to set a land speed record for the class! Powered by a HEAVILY leaned balanced and blueprinted 355ci Chev small block! Judging by the rump this thing was making at idle, I don't doubt his claims of it being capable of 175mph.
Girls have all the luck, the owner just walks up to her and tells her to hop in!
Kryssia styling for the camera. She's a very good air brush artist as well.. gonna have to talk to her about that...
We finally got out of their after what seemed an eternity. You know what enthusiasts are like, once you get them talking about their stuff, they won't shut up! Glad FJR owners aren't like that! B)
Turning onto Highway 533 you come across the crown jewel of statues, Big Joe Muffraw which is probably 20' tall and can be found in many lists of cool big **** on the side of highways.
Highway 533 had the potential to be one of the best roads in Northern Ontario. Instead, its probably the worst 'designated' road I've ever been on. Its a patchwork of, well, patches. I've never seen pavement have washboard before! We got about 8km in and decided I didn't want to beat my bike up that bad and pulled a U turn. Problem was the road is quite narrow. I dropped the front wheel off the pavement onto the shoulder which looked pretty firm. Wrong. It was designed specifically to suck the front wheel down so fast you'd think their was a blackhole under it. My pristine, never dropped Gen 1 hit the deck like Terry Tate got a good run at it. Lucky for me, it was in sand. First bike I've dropped in about 8 years. ****. No damage though.
The middle portion of Hwy 533 was almost a wet dream. Near perfect pavement and twisted nicely, but either end is just atrocious. It would've been better had they just gravelled it.
From there we turned onto Hwy 63 (Trout Lake Road) which was nearly 100% resurfaced in the last month or so. Heaven after 533. We rode back and stopped in Sturgeon falls for another Country Style and gas (again!). I said piss on it and headed back to Sudbury with plans made to go to the Keg for a good steak. I've never ate there before, so I took their word for it. 10oz top sirloin with peppercorn seasoning and a twice baked potato with Sour Cream, Chives and Bacon.
URP! Best $25 steak I've ever had!
So here I sit, waiting for the sun to drop and the fireworks to start. We saw a little Northern Heritage with the tribute to the Voyagers, some cool vehicles and a pretty damn good ride.
Happy Birthday Canada!
Highway 533, one of the infamous Ontario 5 series highways. I've wanted to run it for years. Google closeups looked promising, running parallel to the Ottawa River for part of its length. Those of you who spent the night at Chris's for CFR remember the Ottawa River. Same river, just 250 ought miles upstream! Big river!
So Bob, Kryssia and I pulled out of Sudbury around 11. Not much to say except these guys are completely unable to pass a Country Style Coffee Shop without stopping. No big whoop. Its a sight seeing day.
Next stop was the lovely town of Mattawa on the far side of North Bay. I don't know why, but Mattawa is a special place. Lots of history and very scenic with the river and the mountains on the far side. This town really celebrates its heritage sporting many wooden statues along it's relatively short length. All of them carved by a local artisan with a chainsaw. Sady, the artist passed away shortly after completing his last statue of Big Joe Muffraw
While THEY were stopped for gas (my bike is running fantastic I did the entire trip one tank of gas 58mpg!) two TRex's pulled in on their way to the New Liskeard Biker Reunion being held this weekend.
The first is powered by Goldwing 1500 engine, the owner having driven it from Cornwall Ontario (about 400km away)
The second was towing a trailer and loaded down with camping gear for 5 guys. The special thing about this one? He built it specifically to race on the Bonneville Salt Flats to set a land speed record for the class! Powered by a HEAVILY leaned balanced and blueprinted 355ci Chev small block! Judging by the rump this thing was making at idle, I don't doubt his claims of it being capable of 175mph.
Girls have all the luck, the owner just walks up to her and tells her to hop in!
Kryssia styling for the camera. She's a very good air brush artist as well.. gonna have to talk to her about that...
We finally got out of their after what seemed an eternity. You know what enthusiasts are like, once you get them talking about their stuff, they won't shut up! Glad FJR owners aren't like that! B)
Turning onto Highway 533 you come across the crown jewel of statues, Big Joe Muffraw which is probably 20' tall and can be found in many lists of cool big **** on the side of highways.
Highway 533 had the potential to be one of the best roads in Northern Ontario. Instead, its probably the worst 'designated' road I've ever been on. Its a patchwork of, well, patches. I've never seen pavement have washboard before! We got about 8km in and decided I didn't want to beat my bike up that bad and pulled a U turn. Problem was the road is quite narrow. I dropped the front wheel off the pavement onto the shoulder which looked pretty firm. Wrong. It was designed specifically to suck the front wheel down so fast you'd think their was a blackhole under it. My pristine, never dropped Gen 1 hit the deck like Terry Tate got a good run at it. Lucky for me, it was in sand. First bike I've dropped in about 8 years. ****. No damage though.
The middle portion of Hwy 533 was almost a wet dream. Near perfect pavement and twisted nicely, but either end is just atrocious. It would've been better had they just gravelled it.
From there we turned onto Hwy 63 (Trout Lake Road) which was nearly 100% resurfaced in the last month or so. Heaven after 533. We rode back and stopped in Sturgeon falls for another Country Style and gas (again!). I said piss on it and headed back to Sudbury with plans made to go to the Keg for a good steak. I've never ate there before, so I took their word for it. 10oz top sirloin with peppercorn seasoning and a twice baked potato with Sour Cream, Chives and Bacon.
URP! Best $25 steak I've ever had!
So here I sit, waiting for the sun to drop and the fireworks to start. We saw a little Northern Heritage with the tribute to the Voyagers, some cool vehicles and a pretty damn good ride.
Happy Birthday Canada!
