Tour through Ontario's Cottage Country
Tour through Ontario's Cottage Country
As midsummer hit, I realized I had almost nothing to show for an adventurous summer, which triggered setting out on a 3-day bike packing trip. I was looking for a trip where I could ride about 200 km per day and stay in towns that allowed me to do a credit card style bike packing trip where I carried basically one very light change of clothes, cycling kit, and the necessary tools. I hope this is as informative as possible and gives you some inspiration to get out there and do something like this! I’d be down to join.
When planning the route, due to heavier traffic to the south, I wanted to stay north of Barrie and preferred to start and finish the adventure from my own home, door-to-door if you will. After a couple hours on Google and Strava it became evident to me that there was not many route options that fit my criteria for the 3-day adventure. See my top criteria below.
(Rig all packed up and ready to go)
Trip Criteria
- Daily route of about 200 km
- Hotel/housing with a restaurant in easy walking distance
- Routes that allowed me to avoid major highways
- Preferably towns that included a Brewery
With these criteria considered, it became evident the best 2 destinations was Huntsville and Bancroft. This gave me a nice looking 630 km loop through the heart on Ontario's cottage Country.
I confirmed the routes, got my Apidura bag packed and convinced my good friend Taylor Macdowell to join me for the journey on his 3 days off of work.
(Meet Taylor, he's always up for a good time)
(testing out the bags before the adventure began)
What's in the bags?
- Spare Conti GP4000 tire
- Tire levers
- CO2 cartridges x3
- Spare tubes x3
- Cycling bib shorts x2 (for each day)
- Cycling Jersey x2 (for each day)
- Rain jacket
- Knee warmers
- Tooth brush & paste
- Body wash
- Nike Fly knit shoes (they pack well)
- Lululemon shorts with liner
- Long sleeve tee
- Spare socks
- Digital camera
(aka the Mullet setup - Business in the front, party in the back)
We decided to pack light. Two bags each, which would allow us to average around 30km an hour. Weather was looking good, allowing for less clothing requirements. We planned on eating out for all our meals, buy ride food along the way, and stay in hotel rooms.
I decided to pack enough kit for all 3 days, because I am a heavy leaker (sweat) and have personally hadc fairly serious issue down under from re using worn kit after a work day (don't ask). If you wanted to pack even lighter, it would be very easy to hand wash and dry your kit in the hotel room each night. As well, I would recommend packing a light/packable recreational shoe.
A lesson from this trip, which would lessen the load further, ensure that there is no overlapping in the packing of tools/equipment with your partner.
Now lets get into the good stuff…
Daily trip recap
Day 1: Barrie - Huntsville - 193km
https://www.strava.com/routes/19624268
I left my house in Midhurst and headed out towards ridge road to pick Taylor up at his house in Oro Medonte. We met on Ridge Road and headed towards the popular cyclist cafe stop in Orillia called Mark Brothers Cafe. After some moist lemon cake, a hit of espresso and a quick stop at Cranked and Sprocket, we began our journey north bound.
(Mark Brothers Cafe in Orillia Ont.)
(Lemon cake's and a couple hits of espresso)
It wasn't long until we ran into our issue number 1, which was a “bridge” that happened to no longer be a bridge. This was just west of Severn Bridge in a Hamlet called "Hamlet" (do you research before hand...). The construction crew working on the bridge was boating back and forth on the river and I was confident we could get them to boat us across the body of water, fingers crossed anyways. So, I asked one of the guys (who looked to be the shuttle service for the workers) if he could boat us across the river, and he told me I had to ask his boss/foreman who was in his office. I went tip toeing into this two-story house, around the corner from the “bridge” and found his office. I walked upstairs where I slowly started saying "hello" on repeat and got louder the closer I got to his office. Unfortunately, I got all the way to his office without an answer, knocked on the door and he shot it open quickly and with some force. This guy had tribal tats coming up both sides of his neck and looked like he could be an offensive lineman on his Sunday afternoons. I was Totally in this guy’s kitchen, terrified. Despite the fact he looked angry, he was super nice and graciously told us his job is on the line if he gets caught giving us a ride across the river. None the less he was fired up on our journey and wished us all the best.
(Sans bridge)
Just as we were getting back on the road to turn around and back track south, a local boat mechanic named Ray appeared and was telling us about all the cyclists he sees coming up here and having to turn around because of the bridge being out. We started talking for a bit and he said he would try to get us across the river in his Pontoon but warned us that she hadn't been working so no guarantees but "I’ll try my best" said Ray. Ray tried to get this thing going for a solid 15 minutes and although I think Ray knew the whole time that it wasn't going to start, he gave it his all and brought an attitude that was second to none. Although Taylor and I had failed getting a ride across the river, our stoke level was high as everyone seemed to really want to help us out. So, we had to figure out a new route option.
(Ray's vessel. I hope he's got her all fixed and working now)
After a quick scan on Google Maps we came to the realization that our options included, crossing a train bridge, a short jaunt on Highway 11, or a long detour back around Orillia. Option 3 wasn't in the cards, and we decided on walking the train bridge. Looking back on this option that we decided was the safest, I’m not sure this was the case as trying to run on a train bridge with bicycle shoes isn't easy, and if a train was to come, we we're jumping right into the river. There was also nothing telling me exactly what I was jumping into down there. However, we lucked out, making it across safely and quickly jaunted through some trail and we we're back on track, heading north on Southwinds road.
(Rolling the dice on the train bridge.... We obviously had time for photos)
(Bushwaking back onto the planned route)
At the top of Southwinds Road we stopped at Pie for a lunch stop of za and then headed over to Clearlake brewing for a couple of pints. We quickly learned another lesson, as pizza and beer may get pretty much anyone's morale up, but I'm not sure if the next 100 km of pain afterwards makes it worth while. Anyway, we made it to Huntsville in good spirits and pulled into Knights Inn Hotel with lots of daylight left. After a quick shower we got back on the rigs and coasted into town for dinner. We had dinner at the Mill on Main , and then went over to Lake of Bay's Brewing Company for a couple of IPA's. After this, we coasted home and hit the hay.
(Taylor in front of Clear Lake Brewing Co)
Day 2: Huntsville - Bancroft - 234km
https://www.strava.com/routes/19664413
With a modest wakeup time, Taylor and I went into our hotel's continental breakfast and didn't even have to speak words before both of us decided Fruit Loops and white Wonder Bread wasn't going to cut it for the 200km task we had ahead if us. So, we kitted up and stopped downtown for a greasy egg and bacon breakfast. After this we headed out toward Algonquin Park and realized today was going to be a headwind for the first 100 km. The moral was low, so we stopped again early in the ride for a photoshoot and got some 10/10 baked goods at Henrietta's in Dwight. Just after Henrietta's, I was getting cranky for a quality coffee and told Taylor I'll be naming my first-born Dwight if there is espresso in Dwight. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a gas station with an "espresso" sign. Unfortunately, we were hit with a large case of false advertising… the joe tasted like stale cigarettes and was just about inedible. But again, if some good banter and shitty coffee is going to raise our spirits, ill take it, also stoked to be naming my first born Dwight. After this, we quickly made it to Algonquin Park, which I had never ridden in. Gate-to-gate the park was pretty much pristine pavement with a massive shoulder to ride in, it was a spectacular ride.
(Photoshoot/headwind break)
(Riding through Algonquin Park)
(Beautiful views in Algonquin Park)
After riding for hours together, it only becomes a matter of time before the rambling/getting excited about random happenings starts to take over the conversation. For me, it was obsessing over these small things/jokingly complaining about pretty much nothing makes the 100 km of headwind or the suffering in general much more tolerable.
The further we got out of civilization, we somehow started conversing about how unreal it's going to be to find some gas station apparel to memorate our journey. It quickly became evident that this was the little hope of excitement (obsessive conversation topic) that kept the spirits high on a drizzly day of headwind. We continued forward with our eyes peeled for anything resembling some kind of shop that would be appealing to the longhaul truckers.
Finally made it to a corner store in Madawaska, which we felt like we were properly in the middle of absolute nowhere, just about to head south towards Bancroft. This corner store also was an LCBO outlet, so we figured why not and grabbed a pint to go. At the store, I found a white logo T shirt with a largemouth bass taking up the whole back but unfortunately it was XXL, so the search continued.
(Quest for gas station T's continues)
Our headwind eventually ended, and we had a slight downhill tailwind into Bancroft and just as we were hitting the town sign, Taylor got his second flat tire of the day,(I think I may have heard a couple of new words that I've never heard before, come out of his mouth in this moment). Anyway, we made it to the Bancroft Bed and Breakfast and showered up before walking to dinner. We walked to Bancroft Brewing Co. for dinner which was bumping for it's local midweek wing deal. Just after arriving about 10 Dune Buggies, covered in mud came hauling up the Main Street. This crew ended up sitting down on the patio beside us. Somehow, we ended up conversing and they were all up from Pennsylvania to do this Dune Buggy trip and after they asked what we we're doing, they we're floored to find out our daily trip on bicycles was longer then their daily trip using engine powered vehicles. Anyway, this group was great to chat with and we all concluded that whatever they lacked in daily Km's, they made up for in smashing beers. After this Taylor and I made a quick pit stop at Dairy Queenbefore heading home. We both endulged in a Blizzard (These thing's will kill ya) which I was forsure paying for throughout the sleep and next day.
Day 3: Bancroft - Barrie - 234km
https://www.strava.com/routes/19664647
On day 3 our Bed and Breakfast host made us breakfast and wished us all the best as the hit the open road. We decided to ride north of town to stay away from busy highways and stopped at Trips and Trails which was a bicycle/outdoor shop in town. The owner, Clive was great and Taylor replaced his tubes before we set off for the final day which we quickly found out was going to be a tailwind.
(Taylor heading out for our last day)
It was going super well until Taylor flatted again, only about 30 km into the wilderness. So, the flat count moved to 3 nil for Taylor. We quickly went into a bit of a panic because Taylor rides 60mm deep wheels all the time (massive eye roll) and Clive in Bancroft only had 60mm deep valve stems for the tubes. Being proactive, we also bought a valve extender in case Taylor flatted, but of course that didn't work either. So, we were both on the side of the road getting a little (or very) frustrated, as we decided what to do next. The hand pump wasn't even close to working and we had already broken my tubes presta valve clean off. I decided we should try together with my C02 as sometimes even if there is no valve coming out of the rim you can still get air in the tube if one man pushes the tire down into the rim and the other pushes up on the C02 canister. Anyway, we gave it a go and got about 60 PSI into the tire as we both fist pumped and yelled in celebration on the side of the road. I'm super glad no one got to watch that whole process go down.
(Evidence of Taylor's Flat numero 3)
We kept going on the beautiful route through the hills of the Halliburton Highlands. We stopped in for lunch and Taylor stopped to pick up the proper tubes just in case he flatted again. I had also given him my spare Conti tire as I made the executive decision to retire the Clement rear tire that had already endured 3 flats.
After lunch we kept rolling and at each stop had continued to look for the prized procession of the best gas station t-shirt. We were rolling up to the last 100 km of riding and we're getting nervous the gas station t-shirt hunt was becoming a pipe dream. Thanks to the good people of Norland, Ontario that was not the case and we were able to each get a t-shirt. One with a black bear and the other with an eagle over our Nation’s flag. How fitting. We decided it wouldn't be right to not finish the final 100 Km of our trip in these fresh new tees. I’m not quite sure what kind of cotton was in the material, but I’m pretty sure we would have been failing doping control as we ripped a solid 35km an hour avg home with our fresh new tees flapping in the wind. "If it ain’t cotton it ain't performance". Oh, and during all that speed, Taylor obviously flatted again. On my brand-new tire........ Rider error... what? Anyway, we both made it home with a final day of 230km and an average speed of over 33km an hour, and fist bumped as we went our separate ways. What a day.
(Gas Station Tee #1)
(Gas Station Tee #2)
The finish (reflection)
This trip was something I've been wanting to do for a long time. Previously, I've spent most of my time on a bicycle with purpose-built training or stressing about how I feel leading up to a race weekend and I think a lot of people get so into that training process that it's super easy to forget the pure enjoyment of bicycle. I know this mentality doesn't apply to the working professionals in cycling, but those who make a living on the bike are few and far between. A trip like this really took me back a step with my outlook on bike racing. Don't get me wrong I still love getting into spandex and racing my bicycle in circles, but fck ya you can ride your bike fast with a cotton t-shirt, you can get really fit without Vo2 intervals, and most of all you can find a whole new love for 2 wheels doing a trip like this. If you are looking for a spark of motivation, struggling to enjoy training, or just looking for an unreal adventure weekend with your buddies I suggest signing up for something like this as surely it will bring memories that last for a lifetime.
Anyway, thanks so much for reading my recap / banter on Taylor and I's cycling adventure through Ontario's cottage country. If this is something that is interesting to you, don't hesitate to reach out, as the bigger the crew on another adventure like this sounds like a time to me.
Thanks again, & God Speed to all of you on your next adventure.
Eric Johnston
Trip Costs
Hotel 2 nights - 120/2 = $60
Food 3 days - $150 (you could do it a lot cheaper if you packed all your ride food and didn't eat out like we did)
Equipment and Misc. (T shirts) =$50
Overall the trip cost about $260 for 3 days which I would say is low cost for a 3-day trip away from home and could be done cheaper.