Getting my Full M Licence

One of the first things I did when I returned from the Big Trip was book my exit test to get my full M (motorcycle) licence. Today was the big day.

I read the ministry's motorcycle handbook this morning as a quick refresher. But there is no use studying for this test as it is all about riding. I knew beforehand that highway riding is part of the test, as is riding through both residential and business areas of a city.

I think over the course of the summer I'd put in enough practice and now it was time to find out if I had the skills needed to pass the test. All the test centres were booked and the closest one was in Stoney Creek. I wasn't going to wait and hope for more dates to open up, so I took the opportunity while I had it.

The first hurdle for me was riding over the Burlington Skyway. The huge bridge is sometimes closed because of strong winds, and that is the reason I'd avoided going over it. Today was another nice warm and sunny day, so I knew wind wouldn't close the bridge.

I arrived just in time for my 2:45 appointment. I filled out the required papers and then met the examiner who showed me how to hook up the ear piece in my helmet. Two examiners were going to follow me in their car and give me directions as I ride.

My only concern was the helmet that I'd picked up in Calgary. It meets European standards, which I understand exceed DOT standards. However, the helmet has not been DOT tested so it is illegal for me to wear in Ontario. I didn't want to show up for the test wearing a safer, yet non-DOT helmet and have them tell me I can't ride the test. As a precaution, I used several bungee cords to hold my first cheap, $80 DOT approved helmet to the back seat.

They didn't ask about the helmet and I didn't say anything, so off we went. The test was about half an hour long, and it covered highway, residential and business zones. I passed without a problem. So what's the difference between having an M2 and a full M licence? I can now drink and ride. Hmmm, there is just something so very wrong with this. The government should really re-think this system.

So, I received my M1 licence in June 2008, and my M2 licence on September 17, 2008. Because I took a rider training course back in June 2008, I was eligible to ride my m2 exit test in June 2010. Instead, I hit the road and took the test after I knew I would pass it with flying colours. What better training ground than riding through five provinces?

Ride through Huntsville

Kilometres: 547.3

Time: seven and a half hours, including stops

Weather: Sunny, 20 C at 10 AM

What a beautiful day for a ride. It’s sunny, warm and perfect riding weather. I had only a light jacket over my riding gear, but of course I had all my rain gear with me just in case.

I’d heard about the twisty roads up north towards Huntsville and headed east out of Toronto along the 401. It was a bit trafficy, but lighter than I expected. I rode from one highway to the next and finally put the speedy traffic behind me as I rode off the 115 onto 35.

Highway 35 was my destination, as I’d heard that it is really twisty the further north you ride. The area around Lindsay is dotted with pastures of horses and cows. There are also few farms, but the harvest, for the most part, has be brought in.

The ride from Lindsay to Coboconk was a bit twisty, but overall it was just a nice quiet ride. It felt good to be out of the city traffic again. After spending all of August on the open road, I discovered that I really missed just getting away from all the cars. This quiet ride is probably as good as it gets in Southern Ontario.

I’d been up this way a few times before, but never all the way to the top of 35. I just had to stop the Kawartha Dairy in Minden.That has to be the best hard ice cream I’ve ever had and I always stop there if I’m in the area. I washed down my homemade egg salad sandwich with a double scoop of chocolate cookie dough ice cream. I think I could feel the calories settling in as I continued to ride north.

The road north of Dorest had recently been paved, so I knew not to lean too much as I road. After the Rockies, this was a bit disappointing, but at least I was gliding through corners, moving my weight on the bike and doing some real riding.

Unfortunately, that section of the ride was too short and time was running out, so I didn’t have time to do it again unless I also wanted to retrace my ride back to Toronto. I opted for a new road, hoping for some more twisties.

The ride into Huntsville brought me back to civilization. I passed by Dearhurst Inn where the G8 Summit was held in June. No barbed wired now. I turned on my GPS just before getting to Huntsville. I really didn’t want to get turned around and lost in the town. There were so many tourists and cottage people (this means horrible Ontario drivers) there that I just wanted to get out as soon as possible - and without getting hit.

I quickly found Highway 11 and headed south towards Barrie. Highway 11 is typical two-lane highway, so that means there is little opportunity to take in the scenery unless I want to get run over. Just south of Hawkstone, I looked over at some pastureland. I was gobsmaked because there were bison grazing in the field. I’d been all over the Prairies; I’d run my hands through thick bison hides, I’d walked on bison rugs, but I had not been able to find one living bison. And here they are; not in Manitoba, where the bison is on the provincial coat of arms, but in Southern Ontario. There is something so wrong about all of this.

Highway 11 merges with Highway 400 near Barrie. As I road home I realized that I was riding the same road I’d ridden last Satruday, at almost the exact same time. Today, I was 15 minutes earlier than I had been last week. What a difference seven days makes. The weather is better today, but I must admit, I’d rather be heading out on another adventure than returning home.

But the season isn't over yet and I hope to put a few more good trips under my wheels before I have to put the 950 away for the year.

Blind River to Toronto

Day 30 – Saturday September 4, 2010

Kilometres: 569.4

Time: 7 and a quarter hours (including stops)

Weather:

Blind River: Light rain, 9 C at 9 AM

Barrie: Steady rain, windy, 12 C at 3 PM

Toronto: Overcast, windy, 17 C at 4:15 PM

I don’t think I will ever warm up. I heard that Toronto was in the middle of heat wave a few days ago. I guess I brought the cool weather with me all the way from Tete Jeuane.

But let’s start from the beginning of the day. Last night I had put the left over pizza in the fridge with the intention of have it for breakfast this morning. Unfortunately, I forgot to check the temperature in the fridge and discovered that the pizza was frozen solid. I packed up my bike, put on all four layers of clothing and hit the road.

I stopped at the Tim Hortons in Espanola for a quick breakfast. I must have arrived during rush hour, as it was quite busy. May of the people were heading south to catch the ferry to Manitoulin Island. I briefly thought out doing that too, but decided against. The ride through the First Nations’ hunting ground south of Tobermory is a really boring ride with hardly anywhere to stop if the weather turns bad.

The ride around Georgian Bay was uneventful. However, the rain was slowing becoming more steady and harder.

Around one o’clock I pulled into service centre. The rain was really coming down and I needed a bit of break. I was also hoping that the weather would improve after I had a bight to eat. I was so fortunate that there is a Lick’s Burgers at the service centre. I really have missed their nature burgers. Having the burger made me realize that I was back in familiar territory. The Big Trip was nearly over and I was now riding the roads that are in my backyard.

I started to look back on how different the people are, not only in each province, but also in different parts of the same province. The one thread that was common to everyone I met was their friendliness. Most people wanted to talk, help, offer suggestions, or just pass the time with me. Some people, like the woman who invited me into her car during the sever thunderstorm in Saskatchewan, went out of their way when they didn’t have to.

Everyone was friendly, which is something I am very grateful for.

Here are my observations about the some of the provinces.

Without a doubt, Ontario has the worst drivers. It’s not the speeding that bothers me, it’s the “me first” mentality that endangers everyone on the road.

I’ll always remember the Manitoba for the golden fields of wheat and sunflowers. Even though it’s a Prairie province, it’s not all flat. Although the roads are very straight in the forests in the eastern part of the province have, riding through woods was very tranquil.

If you want to buy an old car, go to the middle of Saskatchewan. Many of the farmers have old – think 1940s – cars just sitting there. I met a number of fans from Rider Nation, who were really nice people. Now I really understand how the word “fan” originated from the word “fanatic.”

Alberta drivers are all speed freaks. Not that they are bad drivers, they’re just fast drivers.

BC is full of friendly people, even in Vancouver. The roads were twisty through the mountains and I don’t think I can get back there soon enough.

I guess the north and the east coast are next.

After lunch, I jumped back on the bike and knew that I would only stop for gas and to unload the bike when I get home.

The further south I road, the windy it became. The rain came down really hard for about an hour after lunch, then it let up and the wind picked up.

The gusts of wind started pushing me all over the highway from about Barrie south to the 401. I just stayed hunkered over the handlebars for about two hours fighting the wind.

I made it home just after 4:15 PM. I rolled my bike into the underground garage, hauled my gear up to the apartment and was greeted my cat who had probably thought I’d abandoned her.

During my 30 days on the roads, I put 11,689.1 kilometres under my wheels.

I had a fantastic trip of a lifetime and am so looking forward to my next Big Adventure.

Schrieber to Blind River

Day 29 – Friday September 3, 2010

Kilometres: 675.6

Time: eight and a half hours (ride time)

Weather:

Scheiber: Heavy rain, 13 C at 9 AM

Blind River: Cloudy with passing showers, 20 C at 6 PM

Yet another day of rain and cold. I woke up in the middle of the night because the rain on the motel’s roof was so loud.. The parking lot was flooded when I looked outside this morning. (See pic.)

In an attempt to drain the water, the hotel plugged in a water pump, that is what the electrical cord in the pic is for. I turned on the Internet and looked at the forecast. More heavy rain and the temperature will drop to 8 C by the afternoon. Hmmm, how fast can I get out of Schrieber? I packed up the bike, had a coffee and was gone in half an hour.

It didn’t long before the showers turned into heavy rain and I had to slow down just to see the road ahead of me. The one good thing is that there aren’t as many trucks on the road today. I guess all the truckers have gone home for the Labour Day weekend.

Nonetheless, my two favourite rides in Ontario were not nearly as much fun as they could have been because at times it was just too dangerous to go above 80 kph on a road that I would normally do about 100.

I stopped in Wawa for gas and a quick lunch at Tim Hortons. There isn’t any gas between Wawa and Sault Ste. Marie, which is about 230 kilometres to the south. My bike can go about 300 before dipping into the reserve, but I really like to play it safe so I try to fuel up by 225, just as I had to with my old bike.

On a motorbike, the rider can very quickly feel the change in weather. Today I knew immediately when I finally broke through the cold front. Unless you’ve experienced it, you would think I’m exaggerating when I say that the change from cold to warm is almost instantaneous. It’s like going indoors to a warm house after being out in the cool fall weather. My thermometer on the bike shot up a few degrees really quickly, and my hands didn’t feel as cold. The downside to this particular change in weather was that the wind picked up.

I’d just reached Agawa when the change in weather occurred. For those not familiar with the region, it is right on the eastern shore of Lake Superior. The wind came rushing in straight off the lake, which meant it was cold and gusty. The gusts at times were strong enough to push my bike and I had to fight against it to stay in the blocking position, which has now turned into almost the centre of the lane. I quickly figured out that the trees were blocking the wind from the lake, so when there wasn’t a line of trees, I braced for a strong guest.

This stretch of road is in a provincial park. If you recall from my blog posting from day two of my Big Trip, I really didn’t know how to describe the landscape. After seeing much of Canada, the only place I can compare the park to is the foothills of the Rocky Mountains west of Rocky Mountain House. Those foothills went on forever when compared to the foothills leading into the Crownest Pass, and into Jasper.

This is also where I saw my second 18 wheeler overturned. The first one on my way out west and happened between Terrance Bay and Marathon. It had just occurred because the OPP went whizzing by me to get to the scene. By the way,on my way home I noticed that the that truck is still there and has yellow police tape around it. You’d think that someone, such at MTO or the trucking company, would have removed it. Anyway, I saw the second overturned truck today. It was an Atlas Moving truck. I don’t know if it was hit by a gust of wind, but it had cross over into the oncoming traffic and gone into the ditch. Some poor family’s household goods were thrown out of the truck. I saw a mattress and some furniture in the ditch or halfway out the back door of the truck. I really felt sorry for these people. A couple of other 18 wheelers were there. A couple of people were clearing up the household contents and loading them into another truck.

I was soon in Sault Ste. Marie, where I filled up with gas and immediately left. The weather had pushed me behind schedule. It was almost 4:30, which was much later than I had expected to arrive in the Soo.

I rode from Sault Ste. Marie to Blind River in about an hour and a half. It rained lightly a couple of times, the wind continued to blow, and the clouds always looked threatening.

Blind River is tiny. I pulled into the hotel and almost immediately asked about food, after noticing that the motel doesn’t have a restaurant. I’d noticed the Tim Hortons, but I can’t do Timmy’s twice in one day. The guy pointed to a street opposite the motel and said, “That’s our downtown.” It looked about two blocks long and there wasn’t a person in sight.

I unpacked the bike and walked, in the rain (surprise) to downtown, which was mostly closed. I noticed only three places open, a pizza parlous, a bar, and the liquor store. Now, I may be wrong, but I usually have a good sense for this sort of thing. There was no way I was going to go in that bar. It just looked like trouble. I kept walking and went into the LCBO, picked up a bottle of Italian red and then went to the pizza parlour.

Back at my motel room I taste tested the wine and pizza. The leftover pizza will be breakfast in the morning (I wonder how cold pizza and coffee go together?)

This is my last night on the road and I am thankful for it only because I just want to be warm and for the rain to stop. I haven’t seen the sun since last Tuesday in the Okanagan Valley.

Dryden to Scheiber

Day 28 - Thursday September 2, 2010

Kilometres: 584.2

Time: seven and a quarter hours (ride time)

Weather:

Dryden: Rain, 17 C at 9 AM

Upsala: Heavy rain, 12 C at 12:30

Schieber: Rain 16 C at 5 PM

I need only one word to describe today's ride: wet. If I were asked for another adjective, I'd say, "cold."

It rained all day from start to finish. What really bothered me was the temperature fluctuations. East of Upsala, it went down to 10 C and hovered there for too long. I was just frozen by the time I pulled into Thunder Bay around 2 PM.

I have now ridden on the most horrible roads imaginable. From Kekabeka Falls, which is about 15 km west of Thunder Bay, I rode on scraped, grooved pavement, gravel, and then for about half a kilometre I rode on dirt. Well, I'm sure it started out as dirt, but with all the rain it turned to mud. It was about 10 kilometres of hellish riding. To make matter even more interesting, it was one lane only - both east and west bound traffic were using the same lane. Groan. Signal people let traffic through at a snail's pace. Unfortunately, when the signal person says, "Go," the front car takes off and leaves me behind to hold up traffic. I can't drive too slowly or the bike will get caught in the groves and go over. If I drive to quickly, the front end starts to shake uncontrollably. I'm usually pretty good at 60 kph, but the cars behind me think it is way too slow.

The only good thing about all this is that if I do have an unplanned dismount, the construction people will probably pick my bike up for me as I can't lift the thing by myself. They don't want to hold up traffic on the account of an upturned motorcycle.

I went passed the Eastern/Central time zone marker, but I didn't stop. There was just no point in stopping because it was raining so hard. The same was true for the Terry Fox monument. It's also a scenic lookout, but I really couldn't see more than a couple of kilometres ahead on the road, never mind looking at Lake Superior.

I arrived in Scheiber, cold, and hungry. At least I was dry. Most of my stuff is soaked. I've even propped my helmet up on the motel's ice bucket so I can get some warm air under it to dry off the padding. I'm sure it will take a few days to dry out everything in my luggage once I get home.

Speaking of warm, I'm finally at a hotel where I have control of the heat. This is the first time since Edmonton that I've been warm. I hear that Toronto is still having a bit of heat wave. I hope it's there when I return home in a couple of days.

I have one more stop, in Blind River, and then the following night I will be home. I hope the weather improves for tomorrow's ride as I will be riding two of my favourite Ontario highway sections. Currently, Scheiber and the surrounding areas are under a heavy rain fall warning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will finally co-operate for the final two days of the trip.

Finally, today I passed the 10,000 kilometre mark on the trip. I think the bike deserves a good wash, an oil change, and a new air filter after such a long ride in 28 days.

Winnipeg to Dryden

Day 27 - Wednesday September 1, 2010

Kilometres: 355.0

Time: four and a half hours (ride time)

Weather:

Winnipeg: Mostly cloudy, 16 C at 10 AM

Dryden: Scattered clouds, 23 C at 3 PM

It was a rather uneventful ride today. I retraced the roads I ridden only a few weeks ago. There is more construction, though, which is challenging. In one section just east of Kenora, there was about 7 kilometres of scraped pavement, which is really dangerous for motorcyclist if the grooved pavement is deep. The wheels tend to follow the grooves and take control of the direction of the bike. Fortunately, only a portion of it was deep. Another part of the same construction zone reduced the road to gravel. It's not as bad as mud, but there were a few white-knuckled moments.

I know I'm back in Ontario when I have to share the road with dangerous drivers who should never have been issued a licence. So there I am, trying to negotiate a gravel road (that is a highway) and I'm doing the posted construction zone speed limit of 60 kph. I'm following good motorcycle safety procedure by riding in the blocking position, which is roughly a metre or so to the right of the centre line. Some idiot decided that I'm not going fast enough and that I shouldn't impede his speed. He drove on the gravel shoulder to pass me on the right.

This is the fourth time this has happened to me this summer. One idiot woman decided to pass me (in a school zone outside of the Toronto police college) by driving in the bicycle lane. Only in Ontario has this happened to me.

The best drivers are in Saskatchewan. They pull over and slow down to let you pass. They'll let you merge with traffic without trying to push your off the road. They follow the rules the road. Drivers in Alberta are all just speed freaks. The posted highway speed is 110, but to keep up with traffic you have to do about 130. Some go much faster than that. Red light runners are few and far between in the Prairies. I saw mostly yellow light runners in BC, but not one red light runner. I felt really out of place when I ran a yellow in Winnipeg. I was the only who did it.

After driving in many major cities in five provinces in the last month, I think Ontario drivers are horrible and GTA/Toronto drivers are downright deadly. Now I know why insurance rates are so high into Toronto.

On to a better subject, though. The weather finally improved ... but not for long. When I packed up the bike this morning it was sunny. Fifteen minutes later, it was cloudy and rain threatened. Fortunately, it didn't catch up with me. It even started to warm up. By the time I arrived in Kenora, I changed into my summer riding gloves and removed my polar fleece jacket.

It was a short ride today. I guess I planned it that way for a reason, but I can't figure out what the heck I was thinking. I finished today a bit after 3 PM, but I could have gone for another three hours without a problem. I guess there isn't a whole lot between here and Thunder Bay, which is just over 300 kilometres away.

The weatherman is calling for rain starting tonight and going into tomorrow. There is a possibility of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so I will get an early start.

I have an eight hour ride ahead of me tomorrow so I'm hoping that the forecast is wrong.