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| Mapping it old-school in Calabogie. Having to stop and do this throughout the day resulted in a much more enjoyable ride. |
The 417 out of Ottawa at noon on Sunday was thrumming along at 130+kms/hr. I kept to a steady 120 on the inside lane and was passed with regularity. When we were in Alberta in July I noted that the speed limits are set reasonably without clinging to 1970s limits designed to generate revenue and justify more police. The 110kms/hr on the highway had everyone moving at about 110kms/hr. The 100 limit on country roads was the same with no one blowing beyond as has become common on our backroads. Ontario's artificially low limits (and then the intentional ignoring of them until the police and insurance industry feel like making it rain) produces a kind of cognitive dissonance in Ontario drivers. They know the limits don't mean anything and tend to drive however fast their vehicle feels good at, which in a modern vehicle with advanced tires, anti-lock brakes and computerized suspension and engines is much faster than the limits set for woody wagons in the '70s.
Once off the madness that is Ontario's 400 series highway system things settled down and I fell into a nice rhythm on the 508. I usually have to ride miles to find a corner (and corner) where I live in the tedious S.W. Ontario agricultural desert. Speaking of which, I was struggling to understand why my visor wasn't plastered in bugs while riding through Eastern Ontario woods, but it's the lack of factory-farmed livestock. Those closely packed animals generate more flies than meat. When you're not always passing by fowl (sp!) smelling chicken manufacturing facilities or cow paddy strewn fields, there aren't the kinds of flies that knock your lid off. I didn't have to stop and clean my visor once on these rides, and being able to ride roads where the corners keep finding you instead of the other way around is like water after days in the desert. Since all the OPP are on Highway 7, there wasn't a one of them on any of the roads up this way (speed traps aren't about safety, they're about income generation - there's no money in setting up speed traps on quiet roads).
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It was another sun drenched day, though the shadows from the trees takes the sting out of it, unlike the concrete oven than urban areas turn into. I got the map folded to where I was and markered out a route that took me on the twistiest roads I could find over to Bancroft where I would spend the night.
I hadn't figured out how to hot-key the 360 camera to auto-fire shots so there are no photos from this glorious day, but perhaps this is as it should be. Google didn't know where I was and I had to engage my atrophied brain to remember the route, but the map was only a stop away. Instead of constantly aiming at the next waypoint and having the phone barking directions and corrections and other information that I didn't need (while tracking my progress to offer timely advertising), I was untethered.
I stopped for a drink and to review next steps at the end of 71 at Calvyn's Takeout. I wish I wasn't so soon from a big breakfast or I would have stopped, it smelled fantastic. The next bit had some arterial highways then onto smaller back roads. 41/28/514/515/512 was another great mix of twists and turns on pretty much empty pavement (I don't think I passed or was passed by anyone over the next hour and this was on an August Sunday with lovely weather). I stopped in Quadeville to update the mental map and pressed on when the mosquitos prompted me back into motion. A thin film of mozzies was the only thing on the visor, unlike the plump livestock flies that'll take an eye out down south.
By now I was hours deep into the woods. I can appreciate the diversity and cultural richness that population offers, but the manic nature of time in these places exhausts me. Out here you tick along at the speed of the breeze, and when you see someone else you make a point of giving them a wave because you're not tripping over piles of people all day.
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| Never underestimate the citiot's ability to trivialize anything that doesn't exist to support their all-encompassing urban lifestyle. |
62 was another beautiful Eastern Ontario road with views through the hills in the lengthening shadows on winding, though higher-speed roads. I made good time and after about 350 kilometers, most of which were on twisty country backroads, I was ready to hang up my boots for the night.
The Bancroft Inn & Suites is just the sort of place that would wind up someone from the city. It's basic, but clean and doesn't offer fancy coffees or fancy anything else; it was the perfect stop for the end of this analog day. It was about as far as I could get from the neon-disco GLO hotel I'd stayed in the night before, but that jived with the thematic point.
By now I'm 3 days into a ride and far away from where I'd been starting to have PTSD anxiety dreams about work. There is nothing like breaking out of a routine to clear your head and offer you some perspective. My only regret is that I kept wanting to share moments with my partner but she was booked solid back home. I've never done more than a 4 day trip on the bike, and I think that's a goal now. Getting into the rhythm or riding along unfamiliar roads to a new destination is incredibly energizing. I need to do this for more than 4 days at a time in order to get lost in the ride more completely.
The Kosy Korner in Haliburton is what you'd expect from a $10 country breakfast: 2 eggs, bacon, toast and tatters and bottomless coffee. The service was incredibly quick (less than 5 minutes from ordering to eating), but it was getting full of locals so I decamped to the Upper River Trading Co. where I got a nice Balzac coffee and people watched while going over the map for the day.
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| Cathedrals of stone... |
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| The animals here be prehistoric! |
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| A ride down a near empty Hwy 118 is something to look forward to. |
