CYCLE TOURING CANADA
CROSS CANADA
*PART 1-The Journey Begins*
NANAIMO TO FORT ST. JOHN, B.C.
Cycling across Canada is something we dreamed of doing, but we were not in a
position to take the months away from work, and life, to do it all at once. We
had dreamed of having four or five months to just ride, but reality said no.
Yes, I know that someone has ridden it in something like 27 days, but in my
world that is not touring. Its an accomplishment, but not a way to see and
experience this great country.
So, we decided to see our country by bike, from coast to coast, but using our
three week vacation for several years. This is very much a work in progress
still, as we have really only gotten halfway across Canada to this date. This
method has both advantages, and some big drawbacks. The biggest advantage is
that you can keep your job, and in turn, your home and other assets(you know,
the things we all need to pay for). There are a few disadvantages, such as the
cost, and hassles, of travelling to your starting point each year, and of course
getting home again afterwards. Another drawback is the fact that we really only
seem to get into our best "riding shape" just before we have to pack up the
bikes and come home again. I guess that means that we should be training more
before the trip begins.
This is just a brief run-down of where we've gone so far. We are currently
attempting to sell our house, and our trip notes seem to have been packed away
in the frenzy to clean up before the realtors began parading people through our
little home. Its a little nutso, and we even moved the bikes from the living
room to the garage!
Stage one of our trip was our first "major" bike tour, meaning more than 4 or
5 days. The plan was to ride right from home, to visit my family in Fort St.
John, B.C., about 1350 km (850 miles) away in the northeastern portion of the
province. It felt a little less intimidating because it is a route that Marilyn
and I have driven previously, and I had been over several times in my life, and
felt comfortable with. A friend had produced a great map with roads, and
idstances , etc.. My plan was to "ride to Hope, and turn left", which is
basically what we did. In what is something of a theme for us, we began the trip
by getting up at 3am to finish packing the bikes, leaving late for the 30km ride
to the ferry at Duke Point, and getting to the ferry terminal with seconds
remaining to get the 5:15am boat to the mainland. Nice relaxing start to the
trip.
ABBOTSFORD CAMPGROUND
The route we followed was , as much as possible, minor roads from Tsawassen
to Abbotsford, where we spent the first night, and then cross over to Hwy 7
(Lougheed Hwy) and follow that to Hope, where we spent the second night. From
Hope we went on Hwy 1 through the Fraser Canyon. Although we had read that no
"sane individual" should try this, we found it to be a beautiful ride. The thing
that I remember most vividly is the remarkable change from the flat farmlands of
the Fraser valley, to the forests of the Coastal mountains at Hope, and then the
transition to the arid desert-like interior as you reach the Thompson river. You
see the different places and landscapes from a car, but you never experience the
transition from one to another. The climbs going through the canyon were not as
hard as I expected-you do not have one big climb for the day, but spend all day
going up and down. The trucks we were told to fear were very considerate, giving
us as much room as possible. The few times they were unable to pull around due
to traffic, they always honked so we could pull off into the gravel. My personal
opinion is that truckers understand cycle tourers better than auto drivers,
because truckers run through all the gears, just like we do, and understand the
effort of getting up a hill. There was very little car traffic from Hope
northwards, right to the end at Fort St. John.
FRASER CANYON
You emerge from the Fraser Canyon and find yourself at Spences Bridge, a
lovely little town from the gold rush days (and it still retains the look and
feel). Cache Creek is next on the map, and I must say its a town I've never been
fond of. Highway 1 (Trans Canada) turns east at this point, towards Kamloops. We
continued our northward trek along Hwy 97. Not far north of Cache Creek you
begin a long (and innocent looking) climb that, in the heat seems to last
forever. As you pass Clinton you are entering the timber country of the Cariboo
Country. The highest point of our trip came at Begbie Summit (elevation 1237
meters, or about 4020 feet), with no mountains around, but a lot of mosquitoes.
We visited relatives at Lac La Hache, and then continued through Williams Lake,
and Quesnel to Prince George, where we stayed with my oldest brother Brett for a
couple days. It gave us time to visit, rest, and dry off our stuff from the rain
we hit the last two days.
We left Prince George well rested and ready to make "big miles" only to have
me dump my bike in loose gravel on the road about 5 minutes into the ride, and
ripped up my knee pretty bad. So I rode the next 5 days looking like Tyler
Hamilton with bandages on my knee. We were not sure what to expect from the Pine
Pass (it's not hard to drive in a car!), our route through the Rocky Mountains.
It is a breathtaking ride-rolling along beside rushin rivers, looking at the
peaks with patches of snow, and the brilliant green of new vegetation, and
practically no traffic. One little hill, and you get to the Summit, at only 944
meters elevation (about 3070 feet)! An easy ride. You come out of the mountains
into Chetwynd (more relatives), and then we turned off towards Hudson Hope. The
ride out of Chetwynd (its a long climb) seemed to do Marilyn in. We rode to
Dinosaur Lake, at the Peace Canyon dam, and camped and boated with my parents
who drove out to meet us. Our last day riding took us from Hudson Hope to Fort
St. John, a VERY hilly route along the Peace River valley.Growing up
around there, I would have said you were nuts to ride it on a bike. We rode with
no luggage, as my parents hauled it for us, and had a tailwind all the way. It
was a beautiful ride to end the trip, even if I did get the one and only flat
tire of our whole journey.
PINE PASS
At the end of the trip we had ridden 1350 km in 14 days of riding, for an
average of about 96km per day. We flew home (actually to Victoria, where we
planned to ride from), and shipped our bikes ahead to meet us by Loomis. We
figured that this would be a good way to ensure they were there waiting, and the
cost was less than the airlines also. The Loomis person in Fort St. John assured
us "No problem" when we asked about getting them delivered in time. When we
called from Vancouver airport on our stopover, they were not there, and "on a
truck" somewhere, and the person who wrote up the waybill had not
specified the date they were to be delivered, so too bad. Just a little
pissed off that we did not get to ride from Victoria home. Luck was on our side
when we got to the Victoria airport. It was pouring rain, so Marilyn's parents
had driven down to at least carry our stuff home in their car. So we just piled
in and headed home. We got our bikes a few days later. The boxes were pretty
beat up also, but the bikes were basically intact. We were feeling like we
should have just flown with them. Oh well, live and learn.That was really the
only negative experience of our whole trip.
KISKATINAW BRIDGE
CROSS CANADA
*PART 1-The Journey Begins*
NANAIMO TO FORT ST. JOHN, B.C.
Cycling across Canada is something we dreamed of doing, but we were not in a
position to take the months away from work, and life, to do it all at once. We
had dreamed of having four or five months to just ride, but reality said no.
Yes, I know that someone has ridden it in something like 27 days, but in my
world that is not touring. Its an accomplishment, but not a way to see and
experience this great country.
So, we decided to see our country by bike, from coast to coast, but using our
three week vacation for several years. This is very much a work in progress
still, as we have really only gotten halfway across Canada to this date. This
method has both advantages, and some big drawbacks. The biggest advantage is
that you can keep your job, and in turn, your home and other assets(you know,
the things we all need to pay for). There are a few disadvantages, such as the
cost, and hassles, of travelling to your starting point each year, and of course
getting home again afterwards. Another drawback is the fact that we really only
seem to get into our best "riding shape" just before we have to pack up the
bikes and come home again. I guess that means that we should be training more
before the trip begins.
This is just a brief run-down of where we've gone so far. We are currently
attempting to sell our house, and our trip notes seem to have been packed away
in the frenzy to clean up before the realtors began parading people through our
little home. Its a little nutso, and we even moved the bikes from the living
room to the garage!
Stage one of our trip was our first "major" bike tour, meaning more than 4 or
5 days. The plan was to ride right from home, to visit my family in Fort St.
John, B.C., about 1350 km (850 miles) away in the northeastern portion of the
province. It felt a little less intimidating because it is a route that Marilyn
and I have driven previously, and I had been over several times in my life, and
felt comfortable with. A friend had produced a great map with roads, and
idstances , etc.. My plan was to "ride to Hope, and turn left", which is
basically what we did. In what is something of a theme for us, we began the trip
by getting up at 3am to finish packing the bikes, leaving late for the 30km ride
to the ferry at Duke Point, and getting to the ferry terminal with seconds
remaining to get the 5:15am boat to the mainland. Nice relaxing start to the
trip.
ABBOTSFORD CAMPGROUND
The route we followed was , as much as possible, minor roads from Tsawassen
to Abbotsford, where we spent the first night, and then cross over to Hwy 7
(Lougheed Hwy) and follow that to Hope, where we spent the second night. From
Hope we went on Hwy 1 through the Fraser Canyon. Although we had read that no
"sane individual" should try this, we found it to be a beautiful ride. The thing
that I remember most vividly is the remarkable change from the flat farmlands of
the Fraser valley, to the forests of the Coastal mountains at Hope, and then the
transition to the arid desert-like interior as you reach the Thompson river. You
see the different places and landscapes from a car, but you never experience the
transition from one to another. The climbs going through the canyon were not as
hard as I expected-you do not have one big climb for the day, but spend all day
going up and down. The trucks we were told to fear were very considerate, giving
us as much room as possible. The few times they were unable to pull around due
to traffic, they always honked so we could pull off into the gravel. My personal
opinion is that truckers understand cycle tourers better than auto drivers,
because truckers run through all the gears, just like we do, and understand the
effort of getting up a hill. There was very little car traffic from Hope
northwards, right to the end at Fort St. John.
FRASER CANYON
You emerge from the Fraser Canyon and find yourself at Spences Bridge, a
lovely little town from the gold rush days (and it still retains the look and
feel). Cache Creek is next on the map, and I must say its a town I've never been
fond of. Highway 1 (Trans Canada) turns east at this point, towards Kamloops. We
continued our northward trek along Hwy 97. Not far north of Cache Creek you
begin a long (and innocent looking) climb that, in the heat seems to last
forever. As you pass Clinton you are entering the timber country of the Cariboo
Country. The highest point of our trip came at Begbie Summit (elevation 1237
meters, or about 4020 feet), with no mountains around, but a lot of mosquitoes.
We visited relatives at Lac La Hache, and then continued through Williams Lake,
and Quesnel to Prince George, where we stayed with my oldest brother Brett for a
couple days. It gave us time to visit, rest, and dry off our stuff from the rain
we hit the last two days.
We left Prince George well rested and ready to make "big miles" only to have
me dump my bike in loose gravel on the road about 5 minutes into the ride, and
ripped up my knee pretty bad. So I rode the next 5 days looking like Tyler
Hamilton with bandages on my knee. We were not sure what to expect from the Pine
Pass (it's not hard to drive in a car!), our route through the Rocky Mountains.
It is a breathtaking ride-rolling along beside rushin rivers, looking at the
peaks with patches of snow, and the brilliant green of new vegetation, and
practically no traffic. One little hill, and you get to the Summit, at only 944
meters elevation (about 3070 feet)! An easy ride. You come out of the mountains
into Chetwynd (more relatives), and then we turned off towards Hudson Hope. The
ride out of Chetwynd (its a long climb) seemed to do Marilyn in. We rode to
Dinosaur Lake, at the Peace Canyon dam, and camped and boated with my parents
who drove out to meet us. Our last day riding took us from Hudson Hope to Fort
St. John, a VERY hilly route along the Peace River valley.Growing up
around there, I would have said you were nuts to ride it on a bike. We rode with
no luggage, as my parents hauled it for us, and had a tailwind all the way. It
was a beautiful ride to end the trip, even if I did get the one and only flat
tire of our whole journey.
PINE PASS
At the end of the trip we had ridden 1350 km in 14 days of riding, for an
average of about 96km per day. We flew home (actually to Victoria, where we
planned to ride from), and shipped our bikes ahead to meet us by Loomis. We
figured that this would be a good way to ensure they were there waiting, and the
cost was less than the airlines also. The Loomis person in Fort St. John assured
us "No problem" when we asked about getting them delivered in time. When we
called from Vancouver airport on our stopover, they were not there, and "on a
truck" somewhere, and the person who wrote up the waybill had not
specified the date they were to be delivered, so too bad. Just a little
pissed off that we did not get to ride from Victoria home. Luck was on our side
when we got to the Victoria airport. It was pouring rain, so Marilyn's parents
had driven down to at least carry our stuff home in their car. So we just piled
in and headed home. We got our bikes a few days later. The boxes were pretty
beat up also, but the bikes were basically intact. We were feeling like we
should have just flown with them. Oh well, live and learn.That was really the
only negative experience of our whole trip.
KISKATINAW BRIDGE
Cycling across Canada is something we dreamed of doing, but we were not in a position to take the months away from work, and life, to do it all at once. We had dreamed of having four or five months to just ride, but reality said no. Yes, I know that someone has ridden it in something like 27 days, but in my world that is not touring. Its an accomplishment, but not a way to see and experience this great country.
So, we decided to see our country by bike, from coast to coast, but using our three week vacation for several years. This is very much a work in progress still, as we have really only gotten halfway across Canada to this date. This method has both advantages, and some big drawbacks. The biggest advantage is that you can keep your job, and in turn, your home and other assets(you know, the things we all need to pay for). There are a few disadvantages, such as the cost, and hassles, of travelling to your starting point each year, and of course getting home again afterwards. Another drawback is the fact that we really only seem to get into our best "riding shape" just before we have to pack up the bikes and come home again. I guess that means that we should be training more before the trip begins.
This is just a brief run-down of where we've gone so far. We are currently attempting to sell our house, and our trip notes seem to have been packed away in the frenzy to clean up before the realtors began parading people through our little home. Its a little nutso, and we even moved the bikes from the living room to the garage!
Stage one of our trip was our first "major" bike tour, meaning more than 4 or 5 days. The plan was to ride right from home, to visit my family in Fort St. John, B.C., about 1350 km (850 miles) away in the northeastern portion of the province. It felt a little less intimidating because it is a route that Marilyn and I have driven previously, and I had been over several times in my life, and felt comfortable with. A friend had produced a great map with roads, and idstances , etc.. My plan was to "ride to Hope, and turn left", which is basically what we did. In what is something of a theme for us, we began the trip by getting up at 3am to finish packing the bikes, leaving late for the 30km ride to the ferry at Duke Point, and getting to the ferry terminal with seconds remaining to get the 5:15am boat to the mainland. Nice relaxing start to the trip.
ABBOTSFORD CAMPGROUND
The route we followed was , as much as possible, minor roads from Tsawassen to Abbotsford, where we spent the first night, and then cross over to Hwy 7 (Lougheed Hwy) and follow that to Hope, where we spent the second night. From Hope we went on Hwy 1 through the Fraser Canyon. Although we had read that no "sane individual" should try this, we found it to be a beautiful ride. The thing that I remember most vividly is the remarkable change from the flat farmlands of the Fraser valley, to the forests of the Coastal mountains at Hope, and then the transition to the arid desert-like interior as you reach the Thompson river. You see the different places and landscapes from a car, but you never experience the transition from one to another. The climbs going through the canyon were not as hard as I expected-you do not have one big climb for the day, but spend all day going up and down. The trucks we were told to fear were very considerate, giving us as much room as possible. The few times they were unable to pull around due to traffic, they always honked so we could pull off into the gravel. My personal opinion is that truckers understand cycle tourers better than auto drivers, because truckers run through all the gears, just like we do, and understand the effort of getting up a hill. There was very little car traffic from Hope northwards, right to the end at Fort St. John.
FRASER CANYON
You emerge from the Fraser Canyon and find yourself at Spences Bridge, a lovely little town from the gold rush days (and it still retains the look and feel). Cache Creek is next on the map, and I must say its a town I've never been fond of. Highway 1 (Trans Canada) turns east at this point, towards Kamloops. We continued our northward trek along Hwy 97. Not far north of Cache Creek you begin a long (and innocent looking) climb that, in the heat seems to last forever. As you pass Clinton you are entering the timber country of the Cariboo Country. The highest point of our trip came at Begbie Summit (elevation 1237 meters, or about 4020 feet), with no mountains around, but a lot of mosquitoes. We visited relatives at Lac La Hache, and then continued through Williams Lake, and Quesnel to Prince George, where we stayed with my oldest brother Brett for a couple days. It gave us time to visit, rest, and dry off our stuff from the rain we hit the last two days.
We left Prince George well rested and ready to make "big miles" only to have me dump my bike in loose gravel on the road about 5 minutes into the ride, and ripped up my knee pretty bad. So I rode the next 5 days looking like Tyler Hamilton with bandages on my knee. We were not sure what to expect from the Pine Pass (it's not hard to drive in a car!), our route through the Rocky Mountains. It is a breathtaking ride-rolling along beside rushin rivers, looking at the peaks with patches of snow, and the brilliant green of new vegetation, and practically no traffic. One little hill, and you get to the Summit, at only 944 meters elevation (about 3070 feet)! An easy ride. You come out of the mountains into Chetwynd (more relatives), and then we turned off towards Hudson Hope. The ride out of Chetwynd (its a long climb) seemed to do Marilyn in. We rode to Dinosaur Lake, at the Peace Canyon dam, and camped and boated with my parents who drove out to meet us. Our last day riding took us from Hudson Hope to Fort St. John, a VERY hilly route along the Peace River valley.Growing up around there, I would have said you were nuts to ride it on a bike. We rode with no luggage, as my parents hauled it for us, and had a tailwind all the way. It was a beautiful ride to end the trip, even if I did get the one and only flat tire of our whole journey.
PINE PASS
At the end of the trip we had ridden 1350 km in 14 days of riding, for an average of about 96km per day. We flew home (actually to Victoria, where we planned to ride from), and shipped our bikes ahead to meet us by Loomis. We figured that this would be a good way to ensure they were there waiting, and the cost was less than the airlines also. The Loomis person in Fort St. John assured us "No problem" when we asked about getting them delivered in time. When we called from Vancouver airport on our stopover, they were not there, and "on a truck" somewhere, and the person who wrote up the waybill had not specified the date they were to be delivered, so too bad. Just a little pissed off that we did not get to ride from Victoria home. Luck was on our side when we got to the Victoria airport. It was pouring rain, so Marilyn's parents had driven down to at least carry our stuff home in their car. So we just piled in and headed home. We got our bikes a few days later. The boxes were pretty beat up also, but the bikes were basically intact. We were feeling like we should have just flown with them. Oh well, live and learn.That was really the only negative experience of our whole trip.