Great Lakes Gold Ride

[crazykz]

Great Lakes Gold (Got an hour to kill. ;) Sorry it's a long read)

I wanted to do a big ride this year but was concentrating on a coast to coast ride in 50 hours. Then after talking to a fellow ironbutt rider who was planning a Great Lakes Gold ride I thought that would be perfect and easier for me since I live in Milwaukee. A 50CC is about 2350 miles and this was about 2450 miles so it is about the same distance but felt it was a little more difficult with running in the unknown of Canada. I started my planning only 5 days before I left so I needed to plan efficiently and use all my resources to form a solid plan and route. Didn't want to head into the unknown without a good plan.

I used all my resources to plan this quickly. I relied on talking with fellow ST owners on ST-Owners.com and people from the LD Riders list. Many people helped with route selection, gas stops, and tips on planning. Mike Tomsu, Don Arthur, Neil Dolson, Michael Hutsal and many from the St-Owner forum helped and I thank all of you because without their help I wouldn't have planned this in 5 days. I'm hoping that my write up will help others that might be planning this ride in the future.

I should mention now that I ran this route counter-clockwise after talking with Mike Tomsu who suggested it. I also saw that Don ran his route in the same direction so that was another good example of how to do this ride. There were at least three reasons for doing it this way. One, you won't have to fight morning traffic in Chicago. Two, you can then run all of North Bay to Thunder Bay in the daylight hours. Three, you want have to fight Chicago traffic right at the end of your ride. This was a key piece of advice and probably saved me from making a stupid mistake.

Leaving Milwaukee at 4:00 AM July 2nd started me out and the 24 hour Mobil by my house is perfect now for good receipts after updating their pumps. My first stop was only 50 miles away at the Lake Forest Oasis for my Illinois receipt. This quick stop allowed me to fix anything I didn't set up right and now I could run through all the tolls with my iPass without stopping, even for the Skyway that is now iPass ready although you still have to stop. Everything was going as planned until I lost my intercom unit. Ugh! This was going to be impossible with no audio. After some on the fly troubleshooting I realized that it must be the switched power to the unit. Either the relay or the T-taps for switched 12V off the tail lights has failed me. It was the T-Taps which required me to remove the rear fender. I decided to fix it at the toll on the skyway. I was not able to do anything about it other than try to jam it somewhere it would not move and still make a connection. This took two stops for a total of about 30 minutes. The Chicago fix lastest until Ohio and the Ohio fix lasted the rest of the trip. I knew it would fail but never had a single issue with it until this trip, of course. So I was off to a rough start to but tried not to let it shake me.

The next thing that would get to me is construction and tolls. There is construction sprinkled along the US leg of I-80 but the worst delays were the 2 tolls around Buffalo, NY. Then the wait at the border was about 30 minutes. I had my money precounted for all the tolls by finding the prices on the internet and putting the money in baggies which saved time in Indiana ($4.15), Ohio ($5.50), and New York ($2.60 and $5.35). Also needed $2.00 for the Thousand Islands Bridge to Canada. I thought buying an EZ-Pass for New York would help but now know it would only have saved about 10 minutes at two tolls because you can't get to those lanes until you're very close to the tolls unless you want to risk using the shoulder to get to the EZ-Pass lanes. The New York tolls took forever probably an hour between the two. Time to get the toll ticket and time to pay the toll. I didn't make this easier by doing this on the 4th of July weekend so traffic was heavy in spots but overall not too bad. Construction, traffic, and tolls I thought would be the biggest issue on these legs but it turned out gas mileage was also an issue.

I was getting miserable mileage from about 34 MPG to 38 MPG when I usually get nothing less than about 40. Luckily with the mandatory receipt stops it was not an issue but it really concerned me. Maybe there was a bad head wind but I couldn't really tell. Maybe it was reformulated fuel but I run that in Milwaukee and still get better than I was getting. Since I had to make a total of 16 stops on this route I made 80% of them less than 5 minutes a stop. I think my stops on average were about 8 minutes and most of those were when I had to go in and pay in Canada. Not a single pay at the pump in Canada until my last stop in Thunder Bay where I completely missed it and went inside anyway. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. I didn't make anytime on the US leg but I really didn't lose any either so I was still in good shape heading into Canada to make sure I made it to my hotel on time. There is a choice once you cross the border on how to get to Hwy 11 that will take you to North Bay.

In order to get to Hwy 11 in Ontario you have to decide whether to use Hwy 15 and 29 or to go up 401 to 416. Hwy 15 and 29 is a slow paced road with lots of little towns and is 76 miles. Going around the other way is 110 miles of mostly 4 lane. I would make the decision at Brockville. Branching off north before Brockville makes you use even slower and twistery roads to get to 15. Maybe the other way isn't worth the 34 miles but it is probably close to the same. If you want to move at a brisk pace I would take 401. If you want to enjoy some countryside then take 15/29 because the time difference is probably so close it doesn't matter. Most of the ride reports I've seen take 15/29 so I made it my choice also. Along this route I also realized I wouldn't have enough gas to make it to North Bay so I filled up in Arnpiror which would be a benefit as when I was leaving I managed to be following a car that was headed to North Bay at a good pace and it was starting to get dark. I was glad to follow someone because it was now dark and an extra set of headlights didn't hurt.

Continued on next post...

[crazykz]

...report continued

I arrived at the Days Inn in North Bay around 11:00 PM EST so I could sleep until 3:00 AM and then get back on the road. Took a shower and hit the sack. Didn't sleep a lot but got enough to feel refreshed and prepared to do two hours of darkness alone on Hwy 11 to Cochrane. This was the leg I wasn't looking forward to as there is a huge sign leaving North Bay that says Moose next 50km. I don't know why they say next 50km because it should say the next 5000km. There are moose crossings signs all the way from there to Thunder Bay. I made it through the darkness with only one fox to speak of the whole time. You can make out the skyline about 4:30 AM and you're in complete light by 5:30 AM so that made that leg easier. I got to the 24 hour gas at the Husky station south of Cochrane on time in a little under 3 hours. Planning for this gas station was important as 24 hour gas was key. I called their travel centre to find this station before my trip. I also made sure there was 24 hour gas in Hearst just in case I ran in there early and there is 24 hour gas at the Esso station in Hearst.

The leg to Hearst would allow me to see 3 moose. All were off the road a little ways which was fine with me. One was a male and a minivan on stilts came to mind. He had a very large felt covered rack that had to have a 5 to 6 foot span. Just walking these things cover a lot of distance quickly so look out if one is walking towards the road. You would figure with their size they would move like cows but after seeing one in action they move quicker and more gracefully like a horse. Another moose was just eating grass in the ditch and the other walked quickly back into the woods. I didn't see a single deer the whole time which was surprising to me but I wasn't dissapointed in that as I can see all the deer I want in Wisconsin. My concern was between North Bay and Cochrane but all the wildlife I saw was between Cochrane and Hearst.

This is all on Hwy 11 in Ontario which is the more adviseable route because the distance is about the same as the Hwy 17 route to the south but without all the tourist traffic that I knew would be high this weekend. Between Hearst and Longlac there is nothing. I was told this but now I know. It is nothing but pine trees. The entire highway has open fields and pine trees but they are cut back away from the road so you can see anything coming out to take a look. Although this is a better route for time you won't find much to look at to fight boredom. I stopped at the Petro Canada station in Longlac which is the only one, of two stations in Longlac, that carries premium gas. The fill up in Longlac would get me back to pseudo civilization in Thunder Bay where I needed a receipt. I made sure on this legs from North Bay to Thunder Bay to keep my gas stops close together and not try to stretch my gas out and risk running out in the middle of nowhere. It didn't hurt because I knew I was ahead of schedule.

Thunder Bay was no issue and was the only pay at the pump that I had in Canada. Out of Thunder Bay I made my way back to the US border which only took less than 10 minutes to get through. This led to another long stretch of Hwy 61 in northern Minnesota. There is really no way around taking this road and it is 120 miles of two lane road the has a lot of tourist traffic on it as you get further south. Enjoy the scenery because it will take a while to get down this road. Once into Duluth you can stop at the new Holiday station on the right side of the intersection where you turn left to get on the very start of I-35. I did not make this my stop and would regret it some because if you have a selection of gas stations take the newer one. I had to get 4 receipts in Superior before getting a receipt with the city and state on it. It was only by buying something in the ICO gas station with a credit card did I finally get the receipt I needed. There were other gas stations in Superior further down the street but you don't want to risk having to turn around. If you're planning this ride just get the receipt in Duluth.

Now after Duluth I only had one more stop in Tomah for gas then home. I didn't want to think I had the ride in the bag because anything can go wrong at any moment. I also wanted to keep alert for anything. Well construction around Eau Claire and the 53 bypass proved to be confusing because the GPS freaked out trying to route on a road that didn't exist and the maps were useless because the road isn't complete although the sign in Eau Claire says it is. Well maybe it is but it doesn't put you on I-94 which you would assume the by-pass would do but it does not. So going through town would only present more construction and poorly marked roadways to get to I-94. Once I did get to I-94 I turned the wrong way. This means that my concentration was thrown by all the construction and the distractions. I lost my focus and it cost me about 5 minutes to run up and back to get going the right way. It made me realize don't take anything for granted and stay focused. I was awake and alert but I could tell I was getting frustrated and irritated easily. I shook it off and made my way to Tomah and finally back to Milwaukee.

The leg to Milwaukee bored me as it was familiar territory but I knew I was almost finished. I made it to the Mobil station in 42 hours and 4 minutes at 9:56 PM July 3rd. The 4 minutes was spent turning around on I-94 in Eau Claire. Overall it was a good ride with lots of scenery but it was still a test of focus and patience. I didn't break any time records but all I really wanted to do was complete the ride in under 50 hours. I did that and was home in time unpack and get to bed a decent hour to enjoy my 4th of July. Hope everyone had a great 4th and thanks again to everyone that helped me plan this ride. Hopefully this ride will pass the Ironbutt inspection and I'll have a Great Lakes Gold certificate to add to my list of rides.

Thanks,
Curt

[LDMike]

Great writeup, Curt!! I enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks for all the gas and route info - I'll certainly use it this weekend.

Congrats on an excellent ride.

LDMike
Milwaukee

[crazykz]

Hey Mike,

If you need to talk about any details feel free to email me or call. Another tip is that 271 on the east side of Cleveland is 60 MPH and is a speed trap on the weekends. Lots of LWL's (LEO's with Lasers).

Curt