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by CGISpy.com
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During the summer of 2001, I embarked on an ambitious solo cycling trip across Canada. My starting point was the Yukon Territory in Canada's extreme northwest. My ultimate destination was St. John's, Newfoundland - the most easterly point in Canada. Between the two, I planned to follow the most northerly route practical while traversing portions of all ten provinces and the Northwest Territories. The total distance travelled was over 11,000km. I met a lot of great people along the way. Some offered food or shelter when I was in need, others gave me words of encouragement to keep up my spirits. I owe all of them a hearty thanks for the part they played in helping me to accomplish my goal.  Click on photo to enlarge. Here I am geared up and ready to roll. Have you ever seen a bike so heavily loaded in your life? A full set of panniers (sidebags or saddlebags to non-cyclists) plus a loaded trailer in tow. I brought everything except the kitchen sink. In honour of the trip's starting and ending points, I decided to name my bike "Yukon St. John". It's a very dignified sounding name for a bike, don't you think? The trailer is just called Bob (the Manufacturer's name - apparently an acronym for “Beast of Burden”). Of course, all vehicles pulling trailers must check into the weigh station for inspection. I tipped the scales at 150 kilograms. Yikes! That's 350lbs total. I only weigh 140lbs so the bike weighed over 200lbs with all the gear I had loaded on it - 60lbs more than me!  Click on photo to enlarge. As I said, I endeavoured to take the most northerly route possible while crossing the country. I figured there's a whole lot of Canada that most people never see while living and vacationing in the southern 10 percent of the country. I would have even tried for Inuvik if there were any roads going there. Where possible, I stuck to paved roads but the pavement didn't always last.  Click on photo to enlarge. The route often involved cycling on secondary roads rather than main highways, but I prefer the backroads when travelling. In the more remote areas, the roads were more like trails. Some didn't even have dirt or gravel. Here is one such route where it meets a railway crossing.  Click on photo to enlarge.  Click on photo to enlarge. Here are links to various trip reports from my cycling odyssey. I've added photos to some, but I'm still working on scanning and uploading them. Some of the trip reports are overdue for some editing too, but all things in their time.
06/21 - Watson Lake, YT  |