Well, one thing I keep telling people, and it's been true from the start, is that you can't really sum up a bicycle tour across Canada. You see, do, and experience so much that there's just no way to capture it all in words. Or maybe that's just where my writing ability meets its match. Regardless, I will try to summerize as much of my summer as possible, giving general impressions and thoughts regarding my trip and also offering advice and some zen quotes I came up with for anyone considering a similar trek.
First things first. Canada is fucking big. It is a huge country. To cycle across is a major undertaking. It took me 122 days (4 months) from start to finish, including travel days and rest days. However! It should be mentioned that I was not attempting to cross at all quickly. As you will likely know from reading the blog, I took many sidetrips (mostly to breweries) and also budgeted in a fair number of rest days in Western Canada. Not to mention, it took me almost 3 weeks just to get to Victoria, where most Cross Canada cyclists begin their trip. For the budget and time conscious cyclist, I would say that the trip can easily be done in less than 3 months, even allowing the occasional rest day or short detour.
Which brings us to our next point: fitness and preparation. You may be reading that time estimate and thinking, "but I am not the greatest cyclist" or, "I don't know if I can plan out a long trip that easily".
Well, let me tell you something that I learned on this trip.
You don't need to have any idea what you are doing to cycle across Canada. I will admit with a small amount of ego, that I am a fairly strong cyclist. However, this trip was my first experience bicycle touring. At the start of the trip I did not know if my bike was strong enough, or if I packed enough clothing, or even if I would be able to make it to Skagway (a day and a half from my starting point). Despite my experience bicycle racing, I could barely even pedal my loaded touring bike around my neighbourhood on day 1. But I loaded it up, filled my water bottles and hit the road. And you know what? I figured it all out along the way.
And that is one of the most important things I can say about long distance bicycle touring; you will figure things out as you go. Do not stress out too much about preparing for the trip, as it is impossible to plan out every eventuality and detail of a several month tour. Don't worry about your fitness level (unless you are morbidly obese or have a severe medical condition). Just get on your bicycle and go. You'll figure out your own way of bicycle touring.
I met the entire range of touring cyclists on this trip. I met children touring across Canada with their parents, I met 70 year old Grandpas touring (and they beat me to the other side...), I met people with decades of cycling experience and I met people who had barely ridden a bicycle before they left.
We all had our own methods. Some of us rode 120 km a day and some of us rode 60 km a day. Some of us paid for camping, and some of us wild camped every night.
Everyone has their own way of bicycle touring, but we all made it across Canada (I think).
That being said though, I should mention that while cycling across Canada is doable for nearly everyone, it is by no means easy. As I'm sure you can tell from my blog posts, there are many things to complain about on a Cross Canada tour.
At this point, I would like to bring up the two most hurtful lies you will hear from people when they find out you are a bicycle tourist:
1) "The wind blows west to east during the summer"
VERY WRONG. The wind blows wherever the hell it wants. Statistically, it blows a bit more often from the west. However, this is by no means a guarantee that you will have lots of tailwinds going west to east. After leaving Calgary, I estimate that I spent about 75 to 80% of my time on the bike going into a headwind. I did talk to some other Cross Canadians who had the opposite (mostly tailwinds), but be aware that the possibility exists that you will spend most of your trip in a headwind. Sometimes for days at a time. My longest stretch of continuous headwind was 11 days (more than 10% of days I spent cycling!). And to add insult to injury, I was constantly told by people I met that I was lucky to be cycling west to east, because the wind would always be at my back.
2) "(insert region) is totally flat"
Also wrong. Canada is not flat. There are hills EVERYWHERE. There are hills in Saskatchewan, there is at least a couple hills in Manitoba, and you better believe that there are a ton of hills in Ontario. If you desire to cycle across Canada, you will encounter many, many hills. There is no way to avoid them, although looking back I think that I went out of my way to do the hilliest routes possible at times. Locals will also try to advise you on upcoming vertical terrain features, but they are almost always misinformed. Sometimes this is good, as I had a few cases where someone warned me about a major bad hill coming up, only for me to spend the rest of the day wondering where the hill was until I set my tent up for the night and realized I went over it at some point without noticing.
Other times it is not so good. This is the essence of lie #2. Someone (or several someones) will tell you not to worry, that the next stretch of road to XX town is "totally flat". Only for you to discover an astounding number of hills, or spend 2 hours slowly climbing a 2% gradient. My best advice is to only trust the word of someone who has cycled your projected route before. Motorists have no clue about hills. Actually, it's better if you just get used to hills early and assume that there's a monster climb lurking around every corner. That way your surprises will be good ones.
Other sources of distress on a long distance bicycle tour:
Saddle sores. The unspoken plague of every cycle tourist. Most people don't like to openly talk about it, but there's really no way to avoid them on a long tour. Even with the best saddle and chamois, spending hours on the bike, in heat and humidity and rain will cause unfortunate chafing in some very sensitive parts of your body (your crotch). Even worse are the even more taboo affliction of constant sweat and sitting: hemmorhoids.
I was struck with both saddle sores and hemmorhoids at various parts of my voyage. The only thing I can say about managing them is to make sure you have a good saddle that fits your body, and pack some sort of ointment or lotion. Vaseline works alright but a specific hemmorhoid ointment will be worth it's weight in gold when the time comes. I did not bring chamois butter or any other cycling specifix ointment with me. I found that the combo of vaseline and preparation H was enough to keep me on the saddle.
For additional suffering references, I suggest reading the Cross Canada Grandpas blog on Crazy Guy on a Bike.
In terms of gear, I reiterate my point that you shouldn't stress out too too much. However, I will talk about some gear options that I feel are important or that worked out really well for me.
The most important thing on a bicycle tour is your bike. The most important thing to look for in a touring bike is this: can it hold enough stuff (via racks and panniers, handlebar/frame bags, or with a backpack) to get me where I want to go?
Aside from that, the rest is just details. As long as the bike can hold you and your gear without breaking down, you can theoretically tour on anything. I actually did my tour on a fairly light gravel racing bicycle, complete with carbon fork.
With that in mind, there are a few things that will make your tour much happier if included in your bike choice.
1) Bike fit: picking a bicycle that fits your body size is important. You can wiggle around handlebar and saddle adjustments to fit onto an unoptimal frame but it will be less efficient and comfortable. If you are unfamiliar with bicycle geometry and how it relates to your body, I would suggest talking to your local bike shop and possibly getting a bike fitting done before your trip to ensure maximum comfort. Be sure to mention that you will be doing long distance touring and want a fit aimed at comfort.
2) Gearing: on a long distance bicycle tour, more gears is almost always better. I ran a triple chainring up front with 9 gears in the back, for a total of 27 gearing options. I would recommend a minimum of 18 gearing options (2 in front, 9 in back). Anything less than this will mean you may run out of easy gears on climbs and may have to spend a lot of time pushing your (heavy) bike up hills or that you will not have any big gears to get into on tailwind days or downhills, limiting yourself to low speeds. That being said, it is 100% possible to go across Canada on almost any gearing, even a single speed (please don't do this) but it is my opinion that your trip will be massively more enjoyable with a wide gear selection.
3) Tires: For most bicycles, your choice of tire will honestly be the most significant factor in your speed and comfort on a bicycle tour. Your frame choice will limit you on how wide of tires you can fit. Wider tires will have a lower pressure, and offer better shock absorption and slightly better traction, but will have more rolling resistance. I recommend an absolute minimum of 28mm wide tires, but highly advise you to go for something in the range of 32 to 40 mm if your frame allows. Anything less than 32mm will result in a very uncomfortable ride, especially with all the gear on your bike. I personally tried 37mm and 32mm on my trip and vastly preferred the 32s, as they were slightly faster and didn't deform as much when cornering.
Another factor to consider is tire toughness and tread. Using road racing tires with minimal tread will reduce your traction in wet and sandy road conditions. Using super knobbly offroad tires will make you slower on paved surfaces and will wear faster.
If you buy a touring specific tire, the tread will likely be an inbetween option and perform well in a range of road and weather conditions.
Touring specific tires should also be a bit more puncture and wear resistant. Most people will recommend you use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. These tires are somewhat expensive, but are super puncture proof when run at proper pressure, and can last over 10 000 km without wearing out. I talked to several cyclists running them who said they did not get a single flat all the way across Canada on Marathon Plus.
However, Marathon Plus have an insanely strong wire bead. This means that they can be VERY difficult to install onto your wheel rim in the event you do run over a nail. I personally ran Marathon Plus on my bike a few years ago, and after one or two flats, decided that it was not worth the effort required to get them on and off my wheels.
My suggested tire is the Continental Sport Tour. It is just as flat proof as the Schwalbe, but is much, much easier to install. I can easily seat the Contis with just my thumbs. They also come in a wide range of widths, and have an excellent tread pattern for shedding water and dealing with light to medium gravel and dirt. The downside to the Contis is that they have a shorter life expectancy than the Schwalbes. I found that I was wearing a set of tires out every 3500 km or so. I ended up using three sets of tires of my trip. However, this is not so bad, as the Conti Sport Tours only cost between 23 and 27$ a tire. Compared to the Schwalbes, which cost 50$ minimum per tire and the total cost is comparable. In my mind, the Contis are the superior choice for touring, as long as you will be passing through cities now and then to replace them.
In terms of non-bike gear, it's really up to personal preference. I would highly recommend bringing a good tent with a solid rainfly, that covers the entire tent. It will rain a lot on your cross Canada trip and after a long, wet day on the bike, crawling into a wet, smelly (wet things smell really bad) tent is the worst.
Luckily my tent was amazing, and I only had a few days of perpetual rainy weather that it began to get overwhelmed. Having a rain fly that forms a vestibule in from of the entrance is also nice, as you can store your gear in it overnight and potentially cook in it during inclement weather (make sure your vestibule is well vented and large enough first though!).
Speaking of cooking, I highly recommend bringing a small, single burner stove. I took one that just screwed into the top of a butane/propane canister. If you go thus route, carry a backup canister at all times, as you may run into trouble finding replacements in the prairies and some parts of rural Ontario/Maritimes.
Well, if I ever want to get this last post published, I think I'll wrap it up here with some quotes by yours truly that held true for the length of the tour:
"You will simultaneously despise Google Maps and wonder how you ever lived without it"
"You will never be disappointed to see a Tim Hortons on the horizon"
"There is always going to be another hill"
"Life is short, try as many new things as you can"
And finally, the most important quote:
"Don't worry. Bicycle touring is something you figure out as you go."
And that's it! (for now)
If any future bicycle tourists want to reach out to me with questions or input, or if you are someone I met along the way who wants to get in touch, you can email me at: umbohmer@gmail(.com)
Remove the brackets, obviously.
Happy Trails!
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