What is a Good Motorcycling Road

My inspiration to write this was from reading an old post on a motorcycle forum, where the question was the best way to reach Baie Comeau, Quebec by motorcycle for the scenery. The obvious answer would have been to take route 138 up the north shore of the St Lawrence, starting at Quebec City, passing Montmorency falls, going up through the highest mountains in eastern Canada, following 138 all the way except for the even more scenic 362 loop at Baie St. Paul.

Probably the most baffling (at first) advice I read was from a resident motorcyclist in Baie Comeau who advised to take the south shore highway for the scenery, then cross on the ferry to Baie Comeau. At first glance this seemed wrong, as the south shore is flat and more populated, and the ferry costs money and is slow if it is running at all, compared to the free ferry on the north shore.

But then I realized, probably the worst person to ask for this advice would be someone from Baie Comeau. I was born there and lived there on and off for 30 years. When I moved to southern Ontario, I had no concept that there was such a thing as a boring road. But then after about 5 years in Ontario I started to notice them all around.

Don't try to tell me that traffic has nothing to do with how boring a road is. The less traffic the better as far as I'm concerned. I get pretty tired of following a line of cars, with the constant threat that one of them up front is going to come to a stop to make a left turn into a driveway.

Next I would say curves and hills beats flat and straight. Which is kind of the opposite of what I thought when I was a kid. And especially on a motorcycle. Between where I live now and Port Dover, Ontario, a distance of 100 km, there is really only one fun curve on the road - it is an S bend going down a hill, which I can take at 110 on my Kawasaki Vulcan without scraping the floorboards. Sport bikes are not really needed around here. Baie Comeau is more or less surrounded by curvy roads, the road 389 going north has a sign as you leave town - "warning, curves next 211 km." Simple and to the point.

Sadly, route 138 is becoming more boring year by year. More traffic, and more police speed enforcement. I feel kind of discouraged when I travel there and see yet another new stretch of road carved out of the scenery, sometimes you can see the old road snaking along through the trees, but now abandoned.

I will admit that the road is becoming safer all the time, so I guess by definition a good scenic motorcycling road is probably unsafe.

So my votes for the most fun and scenic motorcycling roads in North America? I like the 138 I just mentioned, and I like Mexico Highway 1 from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas down the Baja peninsula. Although it's warm and dry and desert scenery, otherwise the Baja road is still a lot like 138 used to be.