Bonus: Girlfriend smells of Eau Du Gasoline at end of day. Win win.
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Stuff I've been up to.
- Thread starter PrivatePilot
- Start date
Bonus: Girlfriend smells of Eau Du Gasoline at end of day. Win win.
Great report and pictures.
I spend 2 - 3 days in southern OH every June and travel through NY, PA, WV, VA and often MD over 2 - 3 days there and back. Amazing roads.
Next June we plan to trailer bikes down to OH via slab in 1 day, stay in a cottage for a week and do day trips. We'll miss some great roads on the way down and back, but we want to try the stay in one place, no daily packing and unpacking thing to see how that goes. If we don't like it then in 2026 we can always revert back to the ride down and back process we've used for the last 15 years.
My browser link to this site is set to "Home" vs "New Posts" and I drill down to the Forums I want to read and ignore the rest.
Not to be too picky picky....., the bike is a '03 or '07 ST1300, not an ST1100.
I spend 2 - 3 days in southern OH every June and travel through NY, PA, WV, VA and often MD over 2 - 3 days there and back. Amazing roads.
Next June we plan to trailer bikes down to OH via slab in 1 day, stay in a cottage for a week and do day trips. We'll miss some great roads on the way down and back, but we want to try the stay in one place, no daily packing and unpacking thing to see how that goes. If we don't like it then in 2026 we can always revert back to the ride down and back process we've used for the last 15 years.
My browser link to this site is set to "Home" vs "New Posts" and I drill down to the Forums I want to read and ignore the rest.
Not to be too picky picky....., the bike is a '03 or '07 ST1300, not an ST1100.
Thanks I appreciate those tips. Did you go all the way up to Long Point? I understand accommodations are limited but are they available enough that I don’t have to motocamp? I can make pretty quick miles even on gravel or bad roads so I was thinking of doing a hotel part way up for the first night then go up to Long Point and back down to another hotel depending on how far south I get on the second day. Would make day 2 a 10-12hr ride day most likely which I’m fine with.
We went across the dam road at the top of the giants staircase headed *to* Long Point but that was it - another long gravel section we just weren’t feeling. Heads up the bridge was under construction and not open to traffic normally when we were there so check ahead - we were lucky to have a construction guy who gave us a 10 minute window on the bridge to ride out, stop, and get photos before getting out of there.
We accomplished our “reached the water and touched Nunavut” moment at the shore west of Chisasibi with only a 9 or 10km each way gravel stretch (although it had been very freshly graded at some points which made it insanely squirrley in sections) so we didn’t feel the need to go up to Long Point. Again, 3 street bikes (2 of them 1000+ pounders) not really perfectly ideal for gravel to begin with.
There is accommodations at the 381 gas station, although we didn’t check them out. They looked utilitarian as expected but I understand they get the job done. I also understand they are quite expensive for what it is.
Radisson hotel was nice for the most part )not fancy but decent), but expensive as mentioned. The hotel at Chisasibi looked far nicer but we didn’t check it out.
Gas was actually reasonable at the 381 and the cafeteria Inside had some good meal options. We had, of course, poutine.
Gas in Chisasibi was actually the cheapest place on the entire trip, ironically.
As for *needing* to camp vs not? If you have reservations everywhere that are rock solid and you don’t have any issues reaching them (breakdowns or whatever) you should be fine I guess.
Personally I’ve heard of too many people having problems on the stretch up (the north section of the JBR from the 381 to the top will beat the living bejesus out of you and your bike) that one of our concerns was having reservations and then not being able to reach point B, and accommodations are all extremely tight up there I understand. Certainly not the type of place where you can just show up and expect to get a room. We were lucky to get our room a night early in Radisson and it was only because of a last second cancellation.
Being *prepared* to motocamp, even if you don’t in the end, gives you emergency options. Given the territory up there and the many realities of a trip like this, options are good.
Heck, I had an issue with my bike I could easily have been the end of the trip for me if my belt had broken vs just come off, and I would probably have ended up camping on the side of the road on the JBR for a night and then probably a few days at the 381 waiting for parts after getting towed back there somehow. **** happens and although the south section of the road was quite surprisingly smooth, the north section is definitely older and not so much. Although I want to go back again, I won’t until the north section has been redone - the ~250 km each way to and from the 381 to the top probably put 10,000 km of wear and tear on the bike, not to mention us.
Personally I’ve heard of too many people having problems on the stretch up (the north section of the JBR from the 381 to the top will beat the living bejesus out of you and your bike) that one of our concerns was having reservations and then not being able to reach point B, and accommodations are all extremely tight up there I understand. Certainly not the type of place where you can just show up and expect to get a room. We were lucky to get our room a night early in Radisson and it was only because of a last second cancellation.
Being *prepared* to motocamp, even if you don’t in the end, gives you emergency options. Given the territory up there and the many realities of a trip like this, options are good.
Heck, I had an issue with my bike I could easily have been the end of the trip for me if my belt had broken vs just come off, and I would probably have ended up camping on the side of the road on the JBR for a night and then probably a few days at the 381 waiting for parts after getting towed back there somehow. **** happens and although the south section of the road was quite surprisingly smooth, the north section is definitely older and not so much. Although I want to go back again, I won’t until the north section has been redone - the ~250 km each way to and from the 381 to the top probably put 10,000 km of wear and tear on the bike, not to mention us.
Not really, although the three of us haven't really tallied things up - we split our "group" expenses 3 ways in the end - groceries for meals cooked at the campsite, firewood, campsite fees, hotel/motel costs, that sort of stuff.
Gas, individual stuff/supplies, that sort of thing, we all pay for individually.
I don't follow it that closely but I'll get back here once we do tally the group costs. We certainly save a lot of "individual" costs by doing things like cooking at least 2 meals a day at our campsite. It's not that any of us couldn't afford to just do a hotel and eat out 3x a day for a week, but we just enjoy camping, cooking, campfires, and that whole experience. Saving money as a result is a bonus in the end.
Glad you to have you back and great to hear about your two bike trips. Both sound dope.
I really like that pic you posted of the giant staircase or whatever it was called. That alone is worth the ride out that way!
And the Virginia's are amazing and Elkins is a great base camp location. If you ever head back and are looking for a really nice place to use as a base, check out the Willville Bike Camp located off the BRP - super nice host and ample amazing day trips in every direction out of there.
What kind of fuel range do you get on a full tank?
All your bikes are enormous!
I really like that pic you posted of the giant staircase or whatever it was called. That alone is worth the ride out that way!
And the Virginia's are amazing and Elkins is a great base camp location. If you ever head back and are looking for a really nice place to use as a base, check out the Willville Bike Camp located off the BRP - super nice host and ample amazing day trips in every direction out of there.
What kind of fuel range do you get on a full tank?
All your bikes are enormous!
The pictures of the giants staircase don't remotely do it justice. I wish there was something in the photos that one could use for scale, but here's some good reading.
The Colossal Stepped Spillway of Robert-Bourassa Reservoir
"The spillway is shaped like a staircase almost 2 kilometers long and features 10 steps, each 10 meters high and 122 meters wide, or twice the width of a football field. It has a discharge capacity of 16,280 cubic meters of water per second, slightly more water than St. Lawrence River beside Québec’s capital city. This phenomenal capacity corresponds to an exceptional flood likely to occur once every 10,000 years."
Each one of the *drops* between steps almost 40 feet. The depth of the base of the steps is something like 100+ feet. A person standing in those photos would be tiny.
But aside from the views, the tour of the dam itself is epic. So much of the infrasturcture of LG2 is actually underground, but the scale once you actually get there on the tour bus is simply epic. It's hard to wrap your head around so much being basically inside a mountain. Cameras are strictlly forbidden however, so no pics. I found a few media pics online, but even they don't really relay the scale.
The new ride with a ~25L tank can go between 325 to 450 (maybe even 500km although I haven't pushed it that far yet) on a tank depending on speed. Travelling up the JBR doing about 100km on cruise control I arrived at the 381 gas station (about 385km or so from the last gas station) with about 4L to spare IIRC, so if we had been doing 80 on cruise on a backroad somewhere, something in the range of 500km would be easy. I was going around 350-380km between fills on my way home from WV.
Took off with the RV for 2 weeks out east on a whirlwind trip through NY, VT, ME, NH, and then NB and QC.
On the bike? Detailed in the first post. Here and there, but a trip to the ’Dacks, the JBR, and then WV have been the only biggies.
I think I’m going to do a certified Iron Butt ride in early October in memorial of a buddy who passed away last year around that time. He has an IBA ride in his name now and it only seems fitting to officially run it in his honour and get that certificate.
The new bike has a heated seat, adjustable power windshield, great hot-lava heated grips, and amazing air management with those big adjustable flaps, so riding season will be extended this year along with he heated gear for sure. I’m pretty sure I’d be comfy even below zero now.
You would probably really like the Manic Cinq tour then - this feels like a very similar scale and vibe. Thanks for that info - I'd like to go check this out.The pictures of the giants staircase don't remotely do it justice. I wish there was something in the photos that one could use for scale, but here's some good reading.
The Colossal Stepped Spillway of Robert-Bourassa Reservoir
www.amusingplanet.com
"The spillway is shaped like a staircase almost 2 kilometers long and features 10 steps, each 10 meters high and 122 meters wide, or twice the width of a football field. It has a discharge capacity of 16,280 cubic meters of water per second, slightly more water than St. Lawrence River beside Québec’s capital city. This phenomenal capacity corresponds to an exceptional flood likely to occur once every 10,000 years."
Each one of the *drops* between steps almost 40 feet. The depth of the base of the steps is something like 100+ feet. A person standing in those photos would be tiny.
But aside from the views, the tour of the dam itself is epic. So much of the infrasturcture of LG2 is actually underground, but the scale once you actually get there on the tour bus is simply epic. It's hard to wrap your head around so much being basically inside a mountain. Cameras are strictlly forbidden however, so no pics. I found a few media pics online, but even they don't really relay the scale.
View attachment 69844
The new ride with a ~25L tank can go between 325 to 450 (maybe even 500km although I haven't pushed it that far yet) on a tank depending on speed. Travelling up the JBR doing about 100km on cruise control I arrived at the 381 gas station (about 385km or so from the last gas station) with about 4L to spare IIRC, so if we had been doing 80 on cruise on a backroad somewhere, something in the range of 500km would be easy. I was going around 350-380km between fills on my way home from WV.
Thread has been cleaned up, please keep it on track.
The other discussion can be found here;
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Hey all. I'd like to say thanks (again) to all those who texted, PM'd, and reached out in the last many months since I stepped away here. Once again I'm flattered anyone cared or noticed I was gone. Yeah, I was sick and tired of all the politics threads. For a few days in a row I logged...
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