Backcountry Discovery Routes

If you haven't heard of BDR you should check out their website: https://ridebdr.com/

To date, all their routes have been in the Western USA and not readily accessible for us. They just released their first East Coast route - the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route - which crosses Virginia and Pennsylvania and should be quite accessible for Ontario riders. Here's their brief description of the ride:

Their GPS routes are provided at no charge and they offer really good paper (waterproof) maps at a reasonable price.

I'll be looking into this over the winter and see if it will be possible to organize a group from ODSC to do the ride. It's quite long and the organizers suggest allowing 7-9 days if you do 150 miles (250 Km) per day, but this seems to be the easiest of the BDR Routes so I think we may be able to do it in 4-5 days - i.e. mid-week.

If anyone might be interested in checking this out further, start a discussion below.

Bob
DR350SE
MX-5 (May just use this instead!)

Interested. I haven't scheduled vacation time yet this year, so it's very helpful to see this well in advance.

very interested.

Bob;

Put me down as interested. I like riding that part of the Americas, except for the politics.

And as an extra thought, why don't you become involved in the Southern Ontario route planning version of their next product? Can you imagine the fun out Bancroft way?

Bruce

They only seem to cover the USA. From the BDR website:

(Click in box to expand)​

A factor with a 'Trans-Ontario" Route is that it's not logical to go anywhere near S. Central Ontario, but it is practical to go through Bancroft while looping to the south of Algonquin Park. Some routes I've seen actually stay north of Algonquin.

There is a Canadian version of this already in progress - Gravel Travel Canada? Here's the Ontario pages: Quebec to Bancroft, Bancroft to North Bay, North Bay to Timmins, Timmins to Thunder Bay.



Bob

The eastern BDR route is very similar to the old Puppy Dog route that connected into the TET. Great scenic assortment of roads, but not very technically exciting. You can probably ride a Goldwing though as long as you are careful. The TCAT is much more entertaining/challenging. Great to see the BDR effort extend East though!

If you mean this ride - then, no, I haven't finalized it.

If you mean the real BDR ride - then check here.

Bob

Both my comments were about the MABDR.

The Trans Ontario was a side issue not really related to this thread, which is only for BDR routes.

Bob

Hey Bob, Count me in for sure.

Hey Jammer!!!!! Where you been

There's a group of 6 already finished planning and have booked dates/accomodation/etc.

I'm not going any further with it as a Bike Ride, but I expect to do a Miata Trip on the closest paved/gravel roads to the actual BDR route sometime this summer.

Bob

It may seem that way, but it wasn't really. The group of guys have been doing long rides together for a while and had this trip in planning before I even started this thread.

Please feel free to take over and get a group together - there definitely is interest in such a ride.

Bob

I did the Pennsylvania portion north-south with two other guys 2 weeks ago. Great riding. Perfect for bigger ADV bikes. There was one rocky section and one with stiky clay, everything else was nice gravel. Gas might be an issue on smaller bikes if you don't really focus on it.

I was thinking of trying to squeeze part of this in before the snow starts to fly but I may be running out of time. I'd be interested if there is a crew going down next spring/summer.

I'm likely going to do the MABDR first or second weekend of October, but I'd be going one-way, leaving the bike in the US and flying back. If anyone interested, happy to ride together.