If you are South African you may know that I’m talking about
my brother-in-law. In Afrikaans the word for heavy and brother-in-law are homophones
‘swaar’ and ‘swaer’, so many the joke that mistranslates this word. This
particular heavy is jetlagged and not yet recovered from a 40 odd hour journey
across six time zones that included a plane ride from Johannesburg, train ride
from New York, visit to Niagara Falls and the drive to Newmarket, nonetheless
he is riding behind me on Helena’s 883 Harley Davidson. Peter is a very
experienced and keen motorcycle rider, but I hadn’t expected him to come on a ride
the morning after arriving, yet he was game for ‘a shortish ride’. As it’s just
an ice breaker I take us on one of my favorite evening rides, Orangeville via
Beeton, Loretta and Hockley Valley, a feast for the eyes with great curves.
(Why does that just not sound like a motorcycle ride?)
Hi & Lo
We stop for coffee at Hockley General Store, a popular spot
for motorcyclists, as it’s a really nice day they are out in force, the place
is pumping. I guess that this is a fabulously profitable little business, and
they make a decent cappuccino. Peter is 6 ft. 4 and his height is mostly in his
legs, so he does look ever so slightly comical riding Helena’s 883 SuperLow, a
little like a kid that’s outgrown his bicycle and knees come up to ears when
peddling. I had of course gallantly offered him the Boulevard, being short of
leg I fit perfectly well on the SuperLow, he declined. Peter normally
rides a Harley 1200 Custom which actually has the same frame as the SuperLow, with longer suspension and he has forward controls whereas Helena’s has
mid. At the Hockley General Store we get a chance to look at everyone else’s
motorcycles, always a fun activity if you like that sort of thing, which of
course we do.
The ride through the valley is as always exhilarating with
its many tight turns, but today I have an extra pleasure, I get to see the
valley almost as if I haven’t seen it before. It’s as if I am seeing it through
Peter’s eyes, noticing things that I no longer notice when I ride this familiar
old route, the sparkling, bubbling river that pops into view every so often,
the hills covered in forest, ferns and flowers growing next to the road and the
neat little farms. At Orangeville we exchange motorcycles and head back the way
we came. Peter does look more comfortable on the Boulevard, I’m fine on the
Harley even though the mid controls cause my slightly arthritic hips to cramp
every time I pull away from a stop. It
is a rather different ride and takes some getting used to, I seem to get
through the gears very quickly, then look for an extra gear when already in
fifth, the Boulevard’s fifth gear is almost an overdrive and on roads like
this its mostly in third or fourth. The 883 handles well on the corners, can
take them a little tighter than the Boulevard, and has plenty of power for the
job. We turn south at Airport Road then take Highway 9 for a mad dash home.
I certainly enjoyed riding the Harley 883, but must admit
that I enjoy the Boulevard more, probably a case of what I am used to and
therefore more comfortable with. Forward controls, definitely more comfortable
for me, floorboards instead of pegs also. The handle bars make for a different
riding style, the Boulevard has handle bars that you lean your weight on, whereas the 883 you more or less hold on rather than lean… better for the
posture I’m sure, but I don’t ride for the sake of my posture. Peter has a
similar point to make, but in reverse, he prefers the 883, it handles and is
configured more like his 1200 Custom. As they say, ‘whatever blows your skirt
up’, I’m not going to argue, riding on the ‘wrong’ side of the road is
difficult enough so if the bike is more familiar then that’s going to help.
Geese on Lake Simcoe
I’ve taken the week vacation so Peter and I are trying to
get as much riding in as we can manage, while Helena and her sister, Dalene,
get to spend as much time chatting as they can, suits us guys as that frees up
the motorcycles! The weather, however, is not entirely playing ball, this is
the rainy season and is panning out to be wetter than usual, El Nino or
something. Nonetheless, we have managed a few decent short rides, Musselman’s
Lake and Simcoe shore around Jackson’s point.
The Not-so-Easy-Rider looking somewhat uneasy - Lake Simcoe
Today we left just after midday.
I had planned a good solid ride, through Beaverton hugging the east shore of
Simcoe, then head north-east to Kinmount, up county road 503 to Gooderham, south
on the 507 to county road 36, alongside the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.
The idea was to then head to Bobcaygeon, Fenlon Falls and home.
First stop is Kinmount for coffee and discover that one of
my favorite little stores is going out of business, the proprietress is
retiring. It’s a little general store that serves excellent coffee, wonderful picked
eggs, Kawartha Ice Cream (naturally) and great carrot (and other) cakes, pies
and sandwiches. The shop sells a fascinating mixture of junk and good stuff, not
sure which category I find more interesting. Right now it’s closing down sale, but
at least we get to have some coffee, eat cake and pickled eggs, buy some stuff
at knock-down prices, not much as we are on motorcycles. Pity, they have a
collection of T-shirts in bad taste that cries out to be owned…not actually
worn though and a pair of Wellies my size for $8…damn just don’t have space. A
wander around town and we do the 20 minutes of tourist stuff that Kinmount offers,
then go north up road 503.
Heavy in Wonderland (Kinmount tourist attraction)
This is one of my favorite rides, about four and a half to five
hours, very scenic and a little on the edge, seriously good curves, but right
now the 507 is in less than pristine condition with still too much gravel on
the road for comfort. Peter has been raving about how beautiful the area is,
and he is quite correct, I have said it many times, Southern Ontario, in the
right season, is gorgeous. Home for Peter right now is not the pettiest of
places. It’s where I grew up, the Transvaal Highveld in winter is bone dry,
grey as ash, dusty and the air is sometimes thick with the smoke from millions
or coal stoves. Of course Southern Africa has its beauty and I wrote at length
about it when I was visiting Namibia in December and January (see several
earlier posts). It is a very different type of beauty to this, Arrakis vs Caladan
to use a Frank Herbert analogy.
We are stopped at the gas station at the intersection of
roads 507 and 36, the best part of the ride is over and it’s still only mid-afternoon.
It seems a pity to waste the good weather and there is a more scenic, albeit
much, much longer route home. I twist Peter’s rubber arm, it is great to have
someone like Peter that loves to ride like I do, to ride with. We go back the
way we came to Gooderham, this time we can take it a bit faster with a better
idea where the gravel is, or at least so we convince ourselves… what a ride,
what a ride. From Gooderham we go north to Haliburton on county road 3 and
eventually provincial road 118. I realize what a privilege it is to have this
somewhat un-spoilt forest to ride through so close to home. The thought leads
me to a Chautauqua that has been brewing in my mind…perhaps it’s more of a
rant.
Two things came up in the news this week, the one was silly
and sad, so made it to international news feeds, the other was important, but so
common that it made it to the local free sheet only, on the face of it, it is a
local issue, though actually a symptom of a much wider issue. The first was a
black bear that was shot and killed by police in a backyard of a home in
Newmarket (my home town) and the second was an article about a proposal to
‘Loosen the Green Belt’, or reading between the lines, to destroy many acres of
protected forest around our city in the name of corporate profits. As to the
first, I will ignore the incompetence of the police and the wildlife agencies
who could have captured this creature alive and released it into a less (human)
populated area, the presence of a black bear in the area had after all been
reported 24 hours before the police shot it. It is profoundly gratifying to
know that there are actually populations of black bears, a magnificent
creature, living close enough so that one of them could actually manage to
wander into someone’s back garden. Secondly, this is an indication that the
forest around here are viable enough to not only support squirrels, raccoons,
skunks and coyotes, but also bears, not to mention thousands of other species
of little creatures and plants that we barely notice in our headlong rush to
fuck-up the entire planet on the altar of corporate quarterly results. There is
plenty of already degraded land available that is not forest and greenbelt that can be bulldozed over and
developers can plant as many cookie cutter houses on tiny lots and develop as
many ‘Smart Centers’ as they feel like. Why the hell is it necessary to do this
on green belt land? The forests will not stay viable for long if we ‘Loosen the
Green Belt.’ The developers claim they need these lands to create employment,
when I hear this pleading my BS detector goes off. I have worked long enough
with corporates to know that providing employment is not ever a corporate goal,
corporate goals boil down to one thing only and that is making profits. Nothing
wrong with that goal, just the rest of us, especially regulators, need to
understand this fact and deal with it accordingly.
I want to have a police
force that are equipped and trained to deal with black bears, because this is
something that happens from time to time, because there are forests close by
that are home to black bears. I want those forests to be protected completely
and whole heartedly. I want people to understand that when the forests are
gone, and the bears are all dead, all those corporate profits and increased
stock values will mean absolutely nothing. In the words of Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow
Taxi:
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
We stop at Haliburton to have something to drink and take
photos. It’s getting a bit late and we are far from home, butts are getting
sore, it’s been a fabulous ride, however maybe we have bitten a bit more off
than we can chew. Peter is still a bit jet lagged, but we have no choice other
than to ride on, he’s an old biker and knows the score. A small bottle of Coke each and we’re back on the road. From Haliburton we ride the 118 to just before
Bracebridge, one of the nicest roads to ride around here. The blacktop is in
near perfect condition, twists and turns, forest and lakes and today the
traffic is super light, really perfect. We hit highway 11 and turn south for
home. This is a real balls to the wall ride, one of those roads that separate
the quick from the dead. It’s a four lane motorway, but it isn’t quite a
motorway with odd little roads and driveways coming into the highway with T-junctions. Shops and gas stations right next to the road, sometimes barely ten feet away
from traffic whizzing along at 130 km/h... 90 limit be damned. It’s riding on the
edge, but to quote the old cliché, if you’re not, then you are taking up too
much space. Its little scary, but I enjoy every second. From Bracebridge to home is 144 km, we do it
in less than an hour and twenty minutes.
The whole ride has been about 500 km,
not too shabby for an afternoon ride.
