coast to coast across Canada!

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Hi, i'm student in guelph, ontario. right now i'm planning a trip across canada starting in vancouver at the beginning of may. so i'm looking for a partner to cycle with, preferrably someone in ontario so we can meet and plan the trip. i'm an easy going guy, and quite flexible on the details. you can drop me a message if you're at all interested at seumas@uoguelph.ca

Hey Seumas! Neat, didn't think there was anyone on these forums from UofG. I'm a student there too, 3rd year. I'm doing a bike tour of Europe this summer with a friend, so I wouldn't be able to accompany you, but I'd love to hear about your trip! Are you doing this kind of extended tour for the first time? Most people I speak to don't believe that two girls can manage 8000 km in 4 months...



Hi, i'm student in guelph, ontario. right now i'm planning a trip across canada starting in vancouver at the beginning of may. so i'm looking for a partner to cycle with, preferrably someone in ontario so we can meet and plan the trip. i'm an easy going guy, and quite flexible on the details. you can drop me a message if you're at all interested at seumas@uoguelph.ca

thats very cool, hey dont thing being girl/guy has anything to do with cycling. i think its awsome your doing 8000km with your friend. where are you planning on touring through? do you have much experience. i've only really done a small trip from ottawa to guelph last summer with couple friends. im planning on leaving may 1st because i have to finished by end end of june to work! it turns out i might be doing it solo because my buddy i was going with had to drop and no-one has really sent any replies to my postings. so what made you want to cycle around europe? im really obsessed with the idea cycling in tibet/himalayas some day, thats what i really want to do. but i want to get some experience and as well as see beautiful canada this summer.

Ottawa to Guelph sounds like quite the shakedown tour – definitely more than our weekend-long trip around the Rock Point Prov. Park area… Oh wow, the Himalayas would be awesome, wouldn’t they? You’d have to have quads of steel though, which are hard to develop in flat-as-a-pancake southern Ontario (the Niagara escarpment doesn’t really compare to a mountain range). BC should be pretty hilly too – what kind of training are you doing?
The four-month plan is to take about three weeks in northern France to take it easy, get in shape. Then Belgium, Netherlands, and south through Germany to the Czech Republic and Slovakia. By that time we should be in good enough shape to tackle a couple of mountain passes in Austria and Switzerland, then down through Italy’s boot through the Dolomites and along the coast. If we make it that far, we’ll decide between Greece or Portugal/Spain before taking the plane back to France. As for the “why” question? I guess to get our adventure in before we become tied down with student loans (oops! Too late :eek: ), mortgages, jobs etc… Time to get out of our North American, clock-obsessed, type-A personality bubble and see the world from a different perspective. I’m beyond excited at this point…
Good luck going it solo across Canada. I envy your BC experience, always wanted to see those mountains… What kind of bike are you taking? There’s an old Italian guy just outside Guelph called George Vettor that puts together “custom” bikes for about $350 - $400. They’re from overstock parts (mostly Raleigh) and definitely not Trek Madones of course, but they’ll do. If you want directions, let me know. Good luck with getting through the next few weeks – I’m really wondering how our respective tours will turn out:cool:.