It’s tempting to admire the ad agency’s forthrightness for using a photograph of a quintessential Ontario roadway. Had I been in charge—and knowing the roads we crave—I’d have suggested one of a half-dozen corners that, in the right light, with a lens of significant focal length and with the camera in exactly the right position, could have made Ontario appear a motorcycling mecca. But since obfuscation—not illumination—is the currency of advertising, the campaign’s apparent honesty is simply ignorance. I suspect the minds behind the ad have never ridden a road that dipped in and out of low-lying fog along a descending river valley in an Adirondack or Appalachian Mountain range. Nor, I’d wager, have they flogged a dirt bike on a British Columbia fire road or ridden a circuitous route from Palm Springs to Borrego Springs.

The absence of great roads necessitates an imagination (any ride in the cool of morning is better than in midday’s heat) and alternatives—vibrant racing scenes must be influenced by the paucity of on-road thrills. But not all is lost. Experienced Ontario riders toss this old chestnut around—Question: Where’s the best place in Ontario to ride? Answer: Pennsylvania. And two hours riding from my home—give or take—will put you on the doorstep of the keystone state.