Issue #238 Country Roads | Through, Were, Ride, Roads, Road

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Issue #238 Country Roads

Written by Nancy Irwin
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
It’s that time of year when every ride may be the last, so we go on as many as we can. But sometimes a conflict occurs. I found myself booked for two group rides on the same date and was forced to choose between one Fall Foliage Tour and another. I chose the one I hadn’t been on since 1999, which was the last time Al Johnson of the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group planned a vintage trail tour. I decided that the rather informal riding group I belong to, the Amazons, wouldn’t miss me as I headed north instead of west. We were to meet at the Primrose Campground, just east of Shelburne, Ontario and a stone’s throw south of the Highway 10 and 89 intersection. Al informed us we would have to pay $20 for insurance because of a county policy regarding group rides using trails—ours was called the Terra Nova Vintage Trail Ride, a day shared with the Terra Nova Enduro event, sanctioned by the Canadian Motorcycle Association and staged by the Halton Off Road Riders Association. Traditionally held the weekend after Thanksgiving so as not to disturb hikers out in warmer weather, the enduro is 160 klicks through forests, over fallen trees and through rivers. It required 70 volunteers and had 16 check points. Our ride was 130 kilometres but would be trails and tracks, gravel and paved roads, all secondary or less with our only stop for lunch. I found my way to the Primrose family campground, which is set on rolling, beautifully-treed terrain, with a forest floor that was covered in the red, pink, yellow and gold coloured leaves of autumn that weekend. Out back was an open field filled with lines of parked trailers and pickup trucks loaded with dirt bikes. This “family campground” also contains a motocross track, where the kids were really making the most of it. I located Al and the others at a trailer toward the back. We paid our 20 dollars and got a copy of the goods, which included a map with directions printed in standard and metric—Al really did his homework. I lusted after a Panther that took off ahead of us, but joined a group of five, where I found myself comfortably situated in the middle for an hours-long tour that would leave us splattered in mud. Turning north from Primrose on Prince of Wales Road, it got interesting almost instantly. We passed through the towns of Whitfield and Kilgorie and ended up on River Road where a sign said it wasn’t maintained in winter. That turned out to be an important clue and anywhere we saw similar signs the terrain proved interesting. The route was amazing, I couldn’t believe the “roads” we found. Mind you, our route took in the hilly Oak Ridges Moraine, as well as the Niagara Escarpment region—much different than the flat lake basin that contains Toronto. The secondary byways we travelled were more like long country driveways than roads. My eyes wandered from the picturesque stone and dirt tracks of the single car road to the beautifully multi-coloured paradise that the hardwood forests of Ontario become in fall. This was like a walk in the woods without the walking, because the roads were like gently rolling trails. Every now and then driveways indicated people actually lived here. I wondered what it must be like in winter and how people managed to drive in and out when the landscape is covered in a blanket of snow. Unlike city denizens, they’d need big trucks with four-wheel-drive capability. What it must be like to live in such a paradise, tucked away in the forest, far from your nearest neighbour, apparently alone in the wilderness, and yet only five or 10 kilometres from the nearest small town—and within commuting distance to Toronto! Amazing. But we didn’t spend the entire time in the forest. We passed through the town of Terra Nova, from which the Enduro event takes its name. We hit a fast clip along hard gravel sideroads until we broached Nottawasaga Sideroad, just past Avening. There, we rode alongside a forest where Enduro competitors had passed through before us. I saw the directional signs— black arrows on green or red backgrounds—the same I’d noted had marked other trail rides. This proved to be the most difficult stretch of our adventure. Puddles that we had managed to navigate in the forest lanes weren’t nearly as slippery as this place turned out to be. Al told us over lunch that it was nowhere near as difficult the day before, when he pre-rode the route. Clearly, the competition riders preceding us had taken their toll on the terrain. We took a lunch break in the Old Mill Pub in Creemore, home of the Creemore Springs Brewery. Most of us had met one another at vintage rallies, bike shows and what not, so the lunch stop was convivial. But before long I was anxious to get going; the day was sunny and we were barely half way through our ride. We went through Glen Huron, turned down Concession 11, then jogged through the Noisy River Provincial Nature Reserve. There again we found ourselves on roads that were more like tracks through the forest. It was unbelievably beautiful and the trails were perfect for motorcycles. We went up and down hills and then emerged at Lavender on Centre Road, where we continued south toward a loop that included River Road. This time I noticed a marvelous granite fieldstone abode that bore the name, Flintstone House—I’ll have to go back and look at that place more closely another time. We took 20th, then jogged down to 15th Sideroad to Horning’s Mills before we found ourselves on the beginning of River Road—a favourite for sure. This was amazing terrain for a street ride. It really was the next best thing to a full-on dirt ride that I’ve ever been on. Overall, it had been a truly special day riding in the company of a 1969 Triumph Tiger, two ‘70s-era BMWs and a 250cc 963 Motobi Pesaro. The trick here, I learned, is knowing which back roads to take and where to find the ones that are not maintained in winter. I wish there were books that would highlight just that, because the road maps sure don’t. I’ve already told the Amazons we have a new ride for next year. It’s an excellent day trip from Toronto and I encourage anyone with an interest in taking back roads and trails, but who doesn’t have a “real” dirt bike, to find these roads or get lost trying. Al’s Terra Nova Vintage Trail Ride is something I’ll remember fondly for years to come. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.