Ontario Pt. 5(6) - North Ontario-io

The ride from Wawa to Chapleau was really nice.  The shoulder is narrow, but there was much less traffic and we enjoyed a pretty quiet stretch. 

For lunch we stopped at a closed down provincial park campground that still had all the picnic tables in place and a short detour led us down to a beach area for a swim.  

We came a little short of reaching the town itself and set up camp in a power line clearing just a little bit before. Sophie had the most instagramzee tent spot as the sun set. 

The dirt road shortcut we took into town in the morning was really tough to ride and the 10 kilometres took us over an hour.  Chapleau was great though and we stocked up at a nice grocer and enjoyed a breakfast and coffee at the variety store / cafe.

Our day plan was daunting.  60km paved, and then 80km of gravel and we’d hope to find a camp site near where the gravel met the highway 144. 

The Sultan Industrial Road.  

Now, by this point in our adventure we know better than to just head off down 80km of gravel without asking around about it first.  We interviewed Bob about the shortcut as he had just driven in on it, and was also an experienced cyclist. 

Bob warned us that it would be difficult, but thought we could do it, and made sure we were fully stocked on waters and gave his number in case we had any trouble. 

We encountered a grader working on the road about 10 kilometres into the gravel section.  Now the road itself was not that bad, and we knew what we had signed up for. The going was slow, but we were prepared to grind it out to get to the highway on the other side. 

The grader driver called us over and stepped down to talk to us.  He was quite concerned and asked if we were planning to ride the all the way across.  In about 20 kilometres, we would be encountering the logging trucks, but not just them, people drive really really fast on this road. 

We thanked him for the caution, and we assured him we’d hop off the road if a logging truck was coming.  By this point we had not seen a single vehicle. 

About 10 kilometres further is when the traffic started. Pickup trucks were wizzing by without slowing down in both directions. The posted speed limit is 70kph but they were travelling way way above that. Semis and logging trucks we could hear coming from a long ways and we would squeeze to the side and stop to let them pass.  They were travelling at truly alarming speeds. 

The stopping and dodging was making for super slow progress. We were now stuck in a spot where it would possibly be after dark before we could get off this road, even if we turned back.  When we finally arrived at a small clearing at the side of the road we pulled off to have some lunch and assess our predicament.  As we were stopped there, at about 3:30pm, is when the craziest drivers went by. Pickup trucks, logging trucks, small SUVs, all going past at what must’ve been around 120-130 kph down this narrow gravel road.  This was easily the most traffic on the worst condition of road we had ever seen.  When the traffic seemed to lessen, we started up again.  With a good push we could still make it out of here before dark. 

A little red Mazda coupe went by us sideways, sliding along at insane speeds. A police car zoomed past us at the same speed, not slowing down for a second and not giving us any room. The police car might have been one of our closest calls actually.

Have you seen Mad Max?  The Sultan Road is like that. 

Getting closer to the #144 highway, and the rest stop we were targeting at the intersection there, is a mine, and the traffic leaving the mine now combines with the logging traffic and it gets even worse to be on this road.

A jammed derailleur on Andrew’s bike brings our progress to a halt, about 5 kilometres from the rest stop. The delay puts us after dusk and no amount of flashing lights made us feel safe for that last few kms. 

The story ends with all three of us safely into the rest stop JUST in time for closing, burgers and chicken fingers, and fresh water fills as the sun set. 

We would never ever never recommend anyone take a bicycle down the Sultan Industrial Road.  Actually, to be safe, we do not recommend anyone go to this area with any kind of vehicle. The inebriated drivers we witnessed pouring out of drivers seats at the rest stop made us queasy. 

A fox popped in to check for snacks. The Watershed 144 …..certainly has a vibe.

After a very cold night with our tents set up tucked in behind the transport trucks we set out to try and make it to Sudbury, about 150kms away.  

The rain started in on us at about noon and it was a specular amount of water. This was going to be a very cold and wet ride. 

We thought of Felix, sitting comfortably with a warm showers host, waiting out the rain. Aaargh!  

The front derailleur on Sherrie’s bike caught some chain on a shift and bent into a horribly contorted position.  We set the chain on the smaller of the chain rings so she’d still be able to climb the hills, but this was going to really slow us down until we could get to a bike shop and replace the derailleur. 

We stopped at a provincial camp ground to get under a shelter for a bit, and consider stopping for the night. The cold rain was certainly not stopping.  The provincial park wanted $65 for a tent site….with no services.  If they could make it stop raining maybe we’d have paid it, but yeah, no thanks to setting up a tent in the rain for an extortionate fee.  

We sat for a long time under the shelter.  The weather was behaving exactly as Felix had said it would.  Lots of rain.  Cold.  Not letting up until tomorrow am.  Aaargh! 

Sophie decided to make a run for it and headed off.  No way she was going to just sit there sobbing with us, she was going to make it to St. John’s and needed to get to Sudbury tonight, or at least close. Wow she’s tough. 

Ok out into the rain we went, lights flashing, headed for as far as we could do before dark. This is super miserable and everything is very wet now. 

We eventually caved and called ahead for a motel about 40kms short of Sudbury.  A difficult target at this point, but knowing we’d get a warm bed made it feel possible.  

Sophie got there first and we arrived about an hour after and filled the room full of wet stuff to try drying on the vents. It had been a very rough couple of days, but the shared misery and laughs made it bearable. 

The next morning Sophie again charged ahead. She was going to try and make it to North Bay, 172kms. Wow!

When we left the motel our North Ontario experience got even worse. While Sherrie hobbled along unable to shift the front derailleur, Andrew’s day came to a halt with a jammed up rear derailleur, and this time we could not get it moving on the roadside. We had made it to within 15kms of Sudbury and it was looking like we were going to be losing the whole day to a long walk. 

Phew! Dave stopped with a van and asked if we needed tools or help. We gladly accepted the ride into town, directly to the nearest bike shop.  It was still only about  noon.  Hopefully there’d be lots of time to get the bikes fixed up.

Then came the tale of two bike shops. 

Dave dropped us off at shop number one because it was the closest to the edge of town where we came in. The first guy we chatted with said it should be no problem to get both bikes fixed up and to leave it with them and to go for lunch. The mechanic said he’d be started on them in 20 minutes. Sounds good. 

After a few hours had gone by with no call we decided to pop back in and see what’s up. What an experience.  Easily the rudest customer service interaction we’ve ever had.  They had not and could not do any repairs on the bikes. They gave us a dressing down befitting a boot camp drill sergeant. Parts were missing that we had to ask for and were invited to sort through a box of random bits where they had been tossed.  

Picture all the uber-condescending bike shop managers you’ve ever met rolled into one giant turd of an uber-condescending bike shop boof behind the desk.  

The basic conclusion of it was that we would really have no choice but to limp these bikes to Ottawa, roughly 500 kilometres away, or buy new bikes. 

We left there very discouraged, with two barely operating bicycles.

We decided to look at the option of taking a train South to Toronto and continuing our trip from there. Surely Toronto would have a proper bike shop. We’d had enough of North Ontario.  Sudbury in the rain is a pretty miserable place and the weather system would be moving with us to North Bay and so on.  

We went ahead and got tickets for a train leaving Sudbury at 5am that would put us and our broken bikes in downtown Toronto at around 2 in the afternoon. The weather forecast for all along Lake Ontario was sunny, clear, and above 20 degrees, and we’d end up riding only an extra 60 kilometres to Montreal than we had planned on the northern route. Yeah, we’ve definitely had our fill of North Ontario. 

With some time to kill before heading to the station, we decided to check in with the other bike shop in town, ‘Adventures 365’. We walked in sheepishly expecting another “Sudbury Welcome” but the experience could not have been more opposite to the first bike shop. Everyone in the store came over to help out. They have a policy to drop everything for touring cyclists that are passing through town.  Incredible.  Kevin, the mechanic, brought over 3 or 4 derailleurs and said he’d get one working on Sherrie’s bike. An hour and a half later, both bikes were fully tuned up and working like new. Brakes, shifters, everything.  The whole experience was pretty emotional.  

Kevin, originally from St. John’s, said when we get there be sure to go to the baaaar on George Street.  We promised to call him from there!  

We headed for the train station to get out of the rain and got a huge rainbow over the tracks as the sun set. 

Though we’d had a great fixup at the second bike shop, we were super ready to get out of the North and try our luck at the centre of civilization, Toronto.

Our bags and bikes were loaded on by this little tractor and we passed out as soon as we got to our seats.  

Goodbye trees and rain and desolate highway, we’re gonna try a different ride to the coast!

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