Topic: One of the Best Driving Roads in Ontario is a Well-Kept Secret - AutoTrader.ca

[No H2O]

https://www.autotrader.ca/editorial/20230721/one-of-the-best-driving-roads-in-ontario-is-a-well-kept-secret/

I've driven by but I have not driven it. Somewhere to go next summer to see how good it is. But looking at Google Maps and zooming in, it looks pretty straight to me, coming from someone who has driven a lot of very twisty roads in the Alps.

But I get a chuckle about so many articles and forums that list the Tail of the Dragon with its 318 curves in 11 miles. Not being one to believe everything they read, I had to ask and I asked the owner of the Tail Of The Dragon web site a log time ago. Well it does not have 318 full curves as he put it. Everytime the radius changes within a curve, we call it another curve, so you might have two (or more) curves in what most people call a full curve.

Another good site that most motorcyclists know about is the Great Ontario Bikeroads. Maybe there are others.
http://bikeroads.atspace.com/

[ktm525]

We had some paved transit sections in Costa Rica that were absolute bananas. Not only hairpin after hairpin but the grades were crazy, to the point of me mumbling "there is no way you can pave that..."

The six days 250 2 stroke was great as it was so tossable but a small duke on stickier rubber would have been incredible. Had to keep you wits though lots going on traffic wise.

[BWII]

In MB (at least this part) the curves all come from trying to avoid the 8"+ wide 12' long+ 10" deep "cracks" in the cee-ment, or the multi-shaped 12 sq ft 10" deep caverns some might call pot holes but they're more like fox holes.  Problem is they're every 10-20' apart so even trying to miss them by "making curves"...is mostly futile.  I do NOT recommend this as a motorcycle destination...at least not if you're leaving MB to go to North Dakota...coming in?  Oh man!  FINE smooth sailing...but leaving?  It's a big fack you, thanks for coming!  The "3rd World" roads Itchy Boots is riding on in India way up in the mountains are paved (with actual hand laid bricks, too!!) better than what shi# we get... 

Yeah...otherwise curves here are hard to come by.  Have to drive for hours to find something decent from where I live. 

[No H2O]

We had some paved transit sections in Costa Rica that were absolute bananas. Not only hairpin after hairpin but the grades were crazy, to the point of me mumbling "there is no way you can pave that..."

Don't great roads bring a smile to your face.

I had a look on YouTube for rides going up the 129 from Thessalon to Chapleau that that article talked about. All I saw were straight roads that they raving about; yes with a slight bend here and there. In any case I'll ride it next year just to get away from heavy traffic. Funny thing is I went right by there in the early 90s over the bridge in the Sault into northern Michigan.

2022 and 2023 I had my girlfriend along in the Alps and with all the gear and a fully gassed up motorcycle, we were sitting at 1000 pounds. No big deal but I told her while riding the inside of a hairpin (around a 45 gallon drum) with a 20% grade, don't swing your body left or right while I am doing 5 kph (I'd need a Beta for that). Normally you would swing wide into the opposing lane and then cut in, but with traffic that you cannot see coming from above, that is next to impossible. Well we did 48 passes and some of them were ultra tough that I have taken countless times solo, I never dropped it. Then I pull into a Shell gas station in Winterthur, Switzerland and as usual, I fall over and always at 0 kph. Go figure.

Nahh, after 27 years of riding some 220+ different passes countless times there over the years, time to ride more here in my old age and drive less technical roads. I'll miss the cheaper vacations in Europe though. Motels and hotels here are a rip-off!

Some of the roads I took many times...not my videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFMwV74FjqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKZ3LN9XBY

Ian B has some good videos.
Strada della Forra. Took this in 2022 and 2023 (a James Bond road). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2eEvGwTPZc
SS46 Italy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-TH0Wie-w
Maniva Pass took that in 2000. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOywqUnsuF4

I see more motorcycles in a day there than I see back home in a year.

[No H2O]

Yeah...otherwise curves here are hard to come by.  Have to drive for hours to find something decent from where I live. 

One of the guys at work once told me "it is so flat in central Canada that when your dog runs away, you can still see him 3 days later"

[Fobroader]

The only good thing about the prairies is that your radar detector is effective from a really, really long distance due to lack of obstacles and line of sight. The only good driving road around here is Groat road, which is a curvy chunk of pavement near downtown Edmonton. Only problem is its usually packed with slack jawed CUV types, mombies and ubers doing 4km/h because theres a few corners. I've always said they should close it down for a hill climb a time a year or two but this city is far too pearl clutching for anything like that

[No H2O]

The only good thing about the prairies is that your radar detector is effective from a really, really long distance due to lack of obstacles and line of sight.

Not that I use or own a radar detector, but the praries are good for making up time to get to the Rockies likety-split. Anything from Kenora to Calgary.

I've been spending hours the last few days looking at YouTube videos of motorcycle tours in Ontario and Alberta, but damn I would have expected some curves in Alberta. One of the video tours had me going over the Highwood Pass, supposedly the highest pass in Canada and the road might as well be an Interstate, flat and straight.  Not what I am used to seeing. Let me see what BC has.

[ktm525]

The only good thing about the prairies is that your radar detector is effective from a really, really long distance due to lack of obstacles and line of sight.

Not that I use or own a radar detector, but the praries are good for making up time to get to the Rockies likety-split. Anything from Kenora to Calgary.

I've been spending hours the last few days looking at YouTube videos of motorcycle tours in Ontario and Alberta, but damn I would have expected some curves in Alberta. One of the video tours had me going over the Highwood Pass, supposedly the highest pass in Canada and the road might as well be an Interstate, flat and straight.  Not what I am used to seeing. Let me see what BC has.

There are no good paved roads in Alberta. I can show you a plethora of gravel and dirt roads though. BC has some great paved roads but they are usually choked with traffic. Some gems there though.