There was a post a few weeks ago either here or on TNO about a group of chiroprator students cycling across Canada. They have a web sit that shows the route. If I get a chance I'll see if I can find the post and the link. They are starting on the West coast and heading East.

I suspect it will really be just sticking to the TransCanada Highway. He will only detour off the TransCanada Hwy when he nears big cities like Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.

Pretty simple route.

He (or she) will likely need to pace themselves accordingly through BC. There are some wicked climbs through the rockies.

---

________________
Adrian in Vancouver

Here's the chiro students. My dentist also rode from Vancouver to Winnipeg as part of an organized tour, but he's moved so I can't get the details for you.

http://www.unleashcanada.com/index.asp

Be careful about planning your route through Northern Ontario (Kenora to North Bay). The distances are long, and the highway is very, very sparsley populated. There really is no one living between the small towns the cling to the highway. Make sure your friends can fully support themseves (ie carry more then just one tube).

Also, the route along Lake Superior (Highway 17 from Thunder Bay - my old stomping grounds - to Sault Ste Marie) is spectacular, but really, really rugged. Lots of very steep hills. My brother is a truck driver, and says that a couple of the hills are so steep he's down to his last gear trying to make it to the top - says it's harder then driving in the mountains out west. Not sure about that, but the point is made.

Cheers,

EKB

I am a big fan of Adventure Cycling. They offer a wide range of routes with detailed maps for sale at reasonable prices. One caveot, I am not sure if they cover Canada.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/index.cfm

Members of the Canadian Signals Corps of the Canadian army did the ride 2 years ago the celebrate their centential. They may have information for you. They biked from Vancouver to St. John's

I would like to thank everyone for their replies. It's much appreciated!

There are a few good travelogues on the net. Here's some of the better ones.

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/...wtn/canada/bike.html

http://www.marktanner.com/bike/biketrip.html

http://www.mvermeulen.com/canada/

I've toured lots out West and on the East coast. If you have any specific questions let me know.

Cheers!

Trevor

i rode across Canada about 10 years ago. That and IM are the two most fulfilling achievements in my life, without a doubt (I'm not including my marriage, child, etc of course). We went coast to coast... kind of. We gave up on the Northern Ontario route. It was dangerous. It was hilly. It was full of annoying bugs. It was kind of dull. And it was looooooooooooooooooooooong. So we rented a car and drove for 1000km or something. It was hilarious - after riding for 2 months at 25km/hour, the car terrified me. My girlfriend (now wife) was urging me on. "Faster, faster". But 60km/hr just seemed way too fast. The whole trip is amazing but if you want my advice - plan on taking a little longer from the West Coast to Calgary and from the East Coast to the Ontario border. Those are the "life can't get any better than this" zones (assuming you get incredible weather like we did). The Trans-Canada is what you'll ride often but make sure to look for those smaller highways that are parallel to it - that's the way to do it. Enjoy! God, I wanna come with you all of a sudden. It's truly an incredible trip.

[reply][size 3][font "Times New Roman"] I have a friend who would like to bike across Canada this summer. I was wondering if any of you have any sources for this type of endeavor such as routes that have been used previously, websites of individuals/groups that have traversed Canada, etc. Along with this, does anyone have a list of bike/tri clubs in Canada? Thanks for any help that you can give. [/font][/size][/reply]

Hi,

I have done bike tours in Canada from Toronto to New Brunswick, a tour around Nova Scotia and into Newfoundland, as well as some touring around BC and down the coast to San Francisco. A good book for planning routes is "The Complete Guide to Bicycling in Canada" by Elliott Katz, which should be available on amazon.com

In terms of advice I would say plan to spend more time in the coastal provinces and if you are goind to skip any sections think about Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario. These are relatively "boring areas" which will consume more than half of your mileage if you ride straight across. The rockies in BC and Alberta are phenomenal and its worth a bit of a side trip to go up into Jasper National Park along the Icefields parkway (some of the greatest riding I have ever done!) In eastern Canada QUebec and New Brunswick are very scenic and if you have time an excursion along the Cabot Trail and across to Newfoundland and into Gros Morne National Park is well worht it. http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/activ/activ2e_e.asp

In terms of bike/tri clubs the ATA link page has links to most tri sites http://www.triathlon.ab.ca/links.htm
The ABA has some decent links to get you started as well. http://www.albertabicycle.ab.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web_Links&file=index&req=viewlink&cid=2
Hope that helps

Seth