Better to be innocent instead of freaked out?

Came across a blog by a French 20-yr. woman who is excited to cycle across Canada in 40 days...with 10 days of exploration. :eek: With her own stuff. That's over 5,000 km.

She's starting in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the east coast. (Better to start in Vancouver BC...)

You know sometimes it's better not know in great detail how tough the journey will be ahead of her. But it makes one wonder who fed that type of hype to her.

In speaking with some European tourists a few months ago, they were a bit freaked out how big Canada was. One of them, a Belgian said to me: "Just driving 100 km., we are in foreign country". Well, that may be true it you live close to the Canada-US border.

Is this woman insane in the most truest sense?! I have 2 friends pedaling across the US right now...they're planning for it to take 3ish months. And this woman is pedaling against typical wind patterns...?

I have no idea how well she can ride distances, she could be a young Seana Hogan :) i'd have to take more time but hey she would be doing it a lot slower than some women solo RAAM riders who have done close to the same mileage (3000 miles) with 170,000 ft of climbing in 9 to 12 days. Hogan and Muffy Ritz have both done it in 9 days.....of course there are very FEW Hogan's in this world :)

i hope she has an enjoyable time!!!!!

I reread her blog..it's 2 months. Still it's pushing it, physically. She's not doing the RAAM.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

I reread her blog..it's 2 months. Still it's pushing it, physically. She's not doing the RAAM.

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5000km in 60 days with 10 days off is just 100km a day. a few women here could do that. interesting write up on wind patterns. i was just using raam as a comparison mileage/time wise :) would you post a link to her blog or pm it to me? i'd like to read it.

Honest to cycle daily, for 100 km. for 60 consecutive days...would be mentally tough. Sure, there are at least 4 mountain ranges to pass through between Alberta and British Columbia. The 3 Canadian provincial prairies can be deadening on the brain...my partner who is a happy hermit cyclist (he did cycle from Vancouver to Toronto twice, 4,800 km. one way...lst time in 45 days with his own gear). He was happy to even see a tree or a truck on the horizon..

I'm not trying to be negative...but Canada and US are huge countries. There are huge tracts of unhabited land and space that is different from more tighter areas of Europe. Especially wilderness with no services for 100-150 km.

When we cycled only 1,000 km. in the Maritime provinces, I lost 7 lbs. I had not anticipated the strong ocean breezes and poorer road grades....Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia do not design their roads with more gradual grades. (So says my civil engineer partner).

Interesting link. I think psychologically it might be easier to tackle the mountain ranges first, in the West.. Then the Canadian east coast would be a nice book end. The history, flora /fauna and culture on Canadian west and east coast are quite different.

But everyone is different about cycle touring. My preference is not to breeze through an area and collapse into bed after supper. I like to stop, enjoy and learn about the local area also.

I think you can attribute her zeal and general lack of understanding to youth... and maybe lack of really understanding the geography of Canada.
I like to overplan every bit of a cycling route, whether it's a day ride or a multi day one. It's not that I don't stop and smell the roses (I do), but I feel uncomfortable with the unknown when riding, so I try to do a lot of preparation up front. I always end up enjoying most of what I've planned, but there have been a few times on supported tours where I think, "I would not have taken people through this intersection, road," etc. This attitude has bode well for being a group ride leader, as I obsessively think about safety and all of this when planning local routes. I know this is different than a tour, and I would not, ever go off and ride across any country (even a small one) on my own, but generally I think there are people who do stuff like this all of the time, and others who don't.

I think the only thing she MIGHT not have down is access to food and water once she starts getting further west. If she's mentally okay with being away from home for such a long period of time, there really isn't anything physically different about that, than about being out for a week or two. After the first four days your body's in shape for the mileage, particularly at her age. But she may not be prepared for areas where it could be 50 miles or more between convenient stores.


I was even more clueless, and about the same age, when I set out on my first solo tour. But I was never anywhere that I couldn't buy food or pay for a campsite that supplied water.

There were sections where my partner was forced to cycle for 220 km. in 1 summer hot day in a mountainous region in British Columbia because there were no camping spots, no services. Then some days only cycling 70 kms. vs. other days @ 160 km. So 100 km. per day is just a ballpark...gear down on certain days but be strong enough in very rural wilderness areas to cycle long and hard for a long distance, partially for your own safety and lack of safe/acceptable camping area.

We are forgetting something.... North America is one of the few areas that has a lot more large, roaming and sometimes dangerous wildlife. A lot of Europe no longer has big bears, elk, cougars, etc. roaming around unfettered and wild big/ocean fishing. That's why some LOVE our wilderness. That's the tourist attraction for them. For us, it is the tourist attraction, but we may be more attuned to their danger and unpredicted sitings.

My partner's relatives from Germany (they live in a suburb of Dusseldorf) spent time in British Columbia for 3 wks., primarily Vancouver and Vancouver Island. They wanted to get away from a lot of people, they loved the wilderness. This was just 2 wks. ago they left Canada.

When I was in Switzerland, I wondered why the mountain grass looked lawn mowed. Dearie reminded me that there are cows, sheep that have grazed for hundreds of years....

To me, the forests in Germany....well, look genteel.

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Originally Posted by zoom-zoom

Is this woman insane in the most truest sense?! I have 2 friends pedaling across the US right now...they're planning for it to take 3ish months. And this woman is pedaling against typical wind patterns...?

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From British Columbia through Alberta and perhaps the westernmost part of Saskatchewan, it's mostly prevailing from the west. Once you get into the middle of Saskatchewan, it can come either direction, but we get it somewhat more from the east. I don't know what it's like from Manitoba onwards.