Across Canada for the Green Party

But also just the beginning. Tyson’s back in Kingston after finishing off here in Nova Scotia. I know we’re all pround of his achievement and are all probably at least slightly jealous that we weren’t able to do the journey with him. lol. I know I wish I could’ve gone the distance with him.

We’d like to thank everyone for the support of the website, and the green party and of Tyson on his route. Both for the people that knew he was out there doing his thing, and for all of those strangers who opened their doors for Tyson, making his journey and story that much more heart-warming.

Well I’m not going to go on forever, so I’ll let Tyson tell the ending in his own words:

———————————————————————-

Day 49, Quebec City, Rest Day (to have my rear wheel rebuilt with with new spokes)

———-

Day 50, Quebec City to Riviere Ouelle, 125km

It’s hard to beat an early rise and a slow ride through old Quebec City, pre the hustle and bustle of the day, as a way to start your day. What a city! It is so amazing that I made up my mind to make it my post trip celebration spot in order to really soak up its ambience. I then hopped on the ferry which shuttled me across the St. Lawrence and talked with a friendly local and fellow cyclist who was commuting to work. He gave me some interesting details of the city and told me that the view I was witnessing was ”la meilleur qu’on peut voir de la ville” (the best view of the city). Once I reached the other side it was like a scene from a movie. Right before my eyes there was taking place a crazy cop chase. It was incredible because as I was casually trotting along a bike path there was in front of me a man with no shirt bolting across my path in full sprint and then maybe 10 seconds later three police men dashed by making their best efforts to catch up. I watched for awhile but I’m sure that even though the cops were much much slower runners they would have caught the man eventually because they outnumbered him severely. After the morning mayhem it turned out to be a beautiful day of riding with gorgeous scenery, a nice wide paved bike path, and quaint villages to pass through all along La Fleuve St. Lawrence. To cap it all off I hung out on the banks of the majestic river and watched a glowing sun gently tuck itself behind a nice vista of mountains on the other side, if words could only describe!

———-

Day 51, Riviere Ouelle to Trois Pistol, 110km

I was quickly falling in love with the province of Quebec; beautiful fields, rolling hills, tasteful houses with amazing gardens, quaint villages, incredible wild flowers, bicycle lanes, the St. Lawrence, and perhaps my most favourite of all, the most savoury smelling boulangeries (I rarely passed by one without stopping in for a pain au chocolate). On top of all that, the people I found to be incredibly friendly. In fact, on this morning, as I was cruising along, I was caught by a local who was going for his daily ride and he decided to accompany me for roughly 12km. He was like my own personal tour guide, he was great, he was extremely patient as he listened to my groggy French and he pointed out all there was to know about the region and the two little towns we passed through, just a genuinely great guy. It was another nice day, so in anticipation for another marvellous sunset I set up camp again close to the banks of the massive river. I was not disappointed, yet another glorious moment to remember for years to come, just two words – awe inspiring.

———–

Day 52, Trois Pistol, Rest Day

Some rest days you cannot plan, this was one of them. A nasty storm hit with vicious winds and rains which kept me tent bound the whole day. I slept for probably close to 20 of the 24 hours and arose only really to have a spare can of cold beans that I luckily had brought along.

———-

Day 53, Trois Pistol to Sainte Angele de Merici, 100km

It was a hazy day, not only because of the weather but it was for me mentally too, I think I must’ve still been groggy from all the sleep I had the day/night before. Around lunch time the strangest thing happened, I went into a cafe, had a nice bite to eat, but when I came out my bike had a flat. Very strange because it was full before I ate, there were no puncture holes from somebody slashing it, and from the hole in the tube it was clear that someone didn’t just deflate the tire. Very odd but that’s how it goes on a bike trip. I rode much slower on this day so by evening I was happy to call it quits in the little village of Sainte Angele de Merici at a private campground which was basically a backyard. The woman running it was very friendly and asked whether I’d like to party with her later and she even offered me some wine and a joint. I kindly declined as I was already feeling drugged from all the sleep I had had the night before.

———–

Day 54, Sainte Angele de Merici to Campbellton, 150km

A beautiful day with stunning scenery. Given the opportunity, I highly recommend anyone to travel along this route (highway 132) which follows la Riviere Matapedia, it is fabulous as it is very remote with wonderful nature scenes. But, as is often the case, along with scenery comes the hills. A very hilly day with at times a headwind made it a very challenging day for me both physically and mentally to get through. This adversity only made for a more satisfying feeling as I crossed over into New Brunswick and the town of Campbellton and settled into their comfy hostel which had been converted from an old light house.

———-

Day 55, Cambellton to Bathurst, 105km

Another gorgeous day with more fantastic views, I was really lucking out with the weather. Just South of Dalhousie there are some really great shots of the Gaspe Peninsula. I stopped at yet another very tasteful cafe (tastefully decorated, but also tastefully tasty) and filled up on breakfast burrito. I was finding New Brunswick really fascinating to travel through because I would stop in a small village and it would be primarily English, and then I would travel along a little further, sometimes only 10km, to the next little town where it might be primarily French. It kept me on my toes but and I certainly didn’t have the knack for guessing whether the town was French or English because I usually started off in the wrong language. Then again, this didn’t really matter because everyone that I ran into was bilingual, New Brunswick is a true model for the rest of our Canadian provinces. During the night at huge thunderstorm rolled through and for the first time of the trip I made the grave mistake of pitching my tent in a low lying area. I was fortunate that the lightening didn’t give me any trouble but after a strong down pour my tent had filled up quickly to become part of a massive puddle which formed in and all around my tent. Sometimes you just live and learn.

———-

Day 56, Bathurst to Black River, 95km

A beautiful but very hot day. A fairly remote stretch through what seemed to me as the classic New Brunswick type of landscape, beautiful forested rolling hills with the odd farm or house. The challenge of the day was the 17.5 kilometres of construction zone where the road was all gnawed up in preparation for paving, probably one of the slowest 17.5 kilometre stretches of the trip so far. Upon reaching the smooth surface again, my hands felt like they had been holding a jackhammer for the entire amount of time, but I won’t complain too much because everyday should have a little bit of adversity right? I called it quits early in the day and ducked into a campground so that I could have a lot of time to dry out my soaked gear from my camping in a puddle episode, and because the campground had a pool so I thought I would live it up and lounge for the rest of the afternoon. Nothing like a swim on a hot day.

———–

Day 57, Black River to Cap Pele, 125km

One way of measuring your progress on a coast to coast trip is by observing the reactions of the people who ask you where you started from. I found it to be down right funny sometimes as some people seemed to be mystified by the large distance on a bicycle, very amusing. Although I found myself almost to the other coast I began to feel the days getting harder and harder mainly because of anticipation. I suppose it is natural to anticipate the end but I was finding it particularly hard to control. So on this day by biggest challenge was not the weather, my bike, or my body, it was instead my mind as it constant wanted to drift off and imagine being finished and comfortable in Halifax. A gorgeous sunset in the evening while dipping my toes in the Atlantic helped to bring me back down to earth.

———-

Day 58, Cap Pele to Charlottown, 105km

An exciting morning because as I travelled down the road from Cap Pele I could see the grand Confederation Bridge connecting to PEI from many miles away. I had to take a shuttle across the bridge because there was no bicycle/pedestrian lane because apparently, as the shuttle driver says, it would be far too dangerous to attempt to cross it with the force of some of the wind gusts that blow through the Northumberland Strait. Now in PEI I thought I would gently cruise into Charlottown as I had only heard that it was flat terrain. Wrong again, some more monster hills, but very beautiful at the same time. PEI is known as the gentle island, and even with it’s hills, I can certainly understand why, it just has a very peaceful and laid back aura to it, I am now a big fan of PEI. I was a little surprised to learn that the Charlottown hostel was full and that in peak season you need to book two weeks in advance to get a bed, but since it was a lovely summer evening I didn’t mind at all nestling into my tent in a campground across the bay from the downtown. Another egg fu young did the trick and then it was early to bed as I was planning for an early rise.

———-

Day 59, Charlottown to Bible Hill, 120km

Once, while on a canoe trip in my youth, we decided to do a voyageur rise, which basically means rising, packing camp, and being on the lake as the sun begins to make it’s climb to start the day. Well, it wasn’t quite a canoe trip that I was on, but I thought it might be fun to give it a try anyway. I was up at 3:30am, had packed and eaten and was on the road by 5am. It was still dark until roughly 5:40am but I had some lights with me and the traffic was light. Had I known how wonderful an experience it would be to exercise in the cool and fresh air while watching the day being born, I perhaps would have made it part of my regular routine. I experienced an incredible sense of aliveness as I listened to the chorus of an array of birds, and as I simply observed the natural world, I spotted seven red foxes in the span of an hour and a half. It was really amazing and I’m so glad that I did it before the end of my trip. It was a beautiful morning and I relished in it as I sat on the 75 mintue ferry to Pictou, Nova Scotia. Once in Nova Scotia I was flooded with a rush of excitement as it was familiar terrain again for me (I studied at St.FX University), and I soaked up the feeling as I rode my way to Bible Hill. That night I felt spoiled as I stayed in a cozy dorm room in the Nova Scotia Agricultural College but I made sure to really enjoy it as it was to be, ‘if all goes well’ (a must say line when attempting to plan your day(s) on a bike trip), my last night of the trip.

———-

Day 60, Bible Hill to Haliax, 105km

After spending three years in Nova Scotia I figured it was fitting to awaken to pouring rain. I had planned on another voyageur start to the day but because it was raining so hard I thought that I would at least wait until it was light out before I began the last leg. Even though it rained most of the day it didn’t stop me from enjoying this incredible last stretch. The scenery was yet again beautiful, but I must admit, I was not entirely focused upon it while riding for the day. Instead I was caught up in my mind swimming in a sea of memories. It had been nearly two months to the day since I began the trip so there were many experiences to reflect on, so, for most of the ride, that is exactly what I did. It was really fantastic to relive in my mind some of the highs and lows that I had been through and to take away some of the great lessons that I had learned from them. I felt that, like with all great adventures, it was exciting to be so close to the end, but at the same time it was a little bit saddening because I knew how special this trip had been it for me. I was also filled with gratitude to have made it safely to where I had, as well as also for simply having had the opportunity to embark on such a grand adventure. I also further contemplated on how even though I would soon be rejoining a typical everyday lifestyle again I was only half convinced that that was what I wanted. I think such sentiments simply reconfirmed how amazing my trip had been and how important of an event I considered it to be as part of my life. Despite my reluctance over the trip soon coming to an end, I nevertheless plodded along into Halifax where I was happy to cross the ‘finish line’ but more thrilled to see Mom who came out for the grand finale. She gave me a huge congratulatory hug and we later went down to the wharf to take the finish line photo. It was bitter sweet but man oh man what a trip!

As a side note, I would like to offer my thanks to anyone who had the curiosity to follow along with the blog. I must say however, although the blog offers some highlights and a light recap, it pales immensely in comparison to the real experience. In fact, for me a least, the real voyage was internal, and what I feel I learned about myself I believe to be invaluable, however, I will keep that voyage just for myself. This is why I strongly recommend, if ever the opportunity arises, not to pass it by, because I feel a crossing the country adventure is sure to add depth to anyone’s life. Thanks again and bonne voyage!

No intro to this one folks… just wow. 

Day 41, North Bay to Mattawa, 60km

I had a late start leaving North Bay as I took advantage of all the luxuries that staying with my former billet family provided. A comfy bed, a slow breakfast, and another good chat, meant not hitting the road until roughly 11am. I had been so fortunate the entire trip for not having any major bike inconveniences yet and I was beginning to wonder if it would last the whole way to Halifax. Unfortunately it didn’t, 10km outside of North Bay, wamo, a broken spoke. It was also unfortunate that I left on this trip with having acquired the skill of changing spokes, so, with my broken spoke and severely warped tire I pushed my bike to a campground that was just a few hundred meters away. The owner was incredibly friendly and helpful and I owe him a big thanks because he took the time out of his day to throw my gear in his truck and drive me back into North Bay and to a bike shop for me. The bike shop was very accommodating as they realized my situation, squeezed me in immediately, and had me back on the road within 45 minutes. By this time however, it was too late to put in any big kilometers so I settled for a great campground right on the Ottawa River in Mattawa.

—————–

Day 42, Mattawa to Deep River, 105km

For some reason I was really tired this morning so I slept in and got off to a little late. I didn’t think it was a big deal though as I thought the day, with nice sunny weather and a tailwind, would be smooth sailing. Little did I know I would soon run into some serious hills. I had been warned about the Rockies and the Lake Superior stretch but I was totally caught off guard by the size of some of these hill on this day. Nevertheless, with hills comes scenery so it made for a spectacular day of sight seeing, and without doubt the highlight of the day was having a lunch right on the banks of the Ottawa River in Driftwood Provincial Park. The view from my picnic table gets my vote for my favorite nature scene yet, just gorgeous. I carried on in the afternoon to the little and very quaint town of Deep River. There, I took advantage of the school season having recently ending and set up camp in a school yard. I joked with my folks later on that that night was the best time I’ve ever spent at school.

—————

Day 43, Deep River to Arnprior, 130km

Another gorgeous day with many more great views. I am probably biased (I’m from Kingston Ontario) but the geography in South Eastern Ontario has so far been my favorite on the whole trip. I was also glad to see that the weather gods were beginning to repay all the other cyclists and myself for all the cool and overcast days that we had to endure through most of the prairies, it was a beautiful warm sunny day. Once again to folks decided that they wanted to come on up and spoil me again with more great luxuries such as a motel and a good meal. We met up later that day in Arnprior and discovered all together that Arnprior is a beautiful little town, definitely worth seeing if never having been there before.

————–

Day 44, Arnprior to Ottawa, 70km

When my mom told me in the morning that she was going to ride with me for most of the day today, I thought, great, I’ll have my mom’s company and it’ll be a nice leisurely ride. Little did I think that my mom would take off like a bullet and leave me only to have to draft her for much of the morning. On way to Ottawa we fell upon Carp’s weekly farmer’s market, so we had a yummy breakfast croissant and enjoyed some good live music. Later in the day we cruised along Ottawa’s riverfront bike path, went to Mountain Equipment Coop for some odds and ends, had a delicious veggie burger, and then carried on to my cousin Toby’s place where we stayed the night. That night we we toured the market area in downtown Ottawa and had in my opinion the best meal of the trip so far at a great Indian restaurant. Today was bicycle touring at it’s finest and I think it has given my mom, who was the champion of the day and rode all 70kms with me, the bicycle touring bug, I wouldn’t be surprised if I see her cruising around with a nice new set of panniers on her bike pretty soon.

——————

Day 45, Ottawa to Rockland, 35kms

When on a bike tour there are three factors that play a role in your riding day, you, your bike, and the weather. Today it was my bike’s turn to have a grumpy day. Two of my Dad’s good friends John Glasgo and Gord Muir, were incredibly great as they, both from Kingston, decided to come on up to Ottawa and ride out of town with me. we didn’t end up leaving until 1:30pm because I had many little things to take care of in the morning. One of them was my Dad had to take my wheel into a bike shop to get a new tire on because the new tires I had picked up we too thick to put on without a special trick or tool. Nevertheless, we took off at a wicked pace, much quicker than I normally go but it wasn’t strenuous riding because I had the luxury of sitting in the two man draft team that John and Gord had so generously made up for me. Just as we were cruising well, and about 30km into the ride, bango, another spoke blown. This time,  although the wheel was badly warped, I could still ride it 10 km back to a bike shop. The staff were great again at the bike shop and I was back on the road within an hour. By this time it was around 5pm and I had only made about 20kms of progress so I wanted to push a bit with the daylight I had left. No more than 5kms later however, and I was weaving around dangerously because of a flat tire (incredibly it was just my first all trip). The problem was, however, that we had just put new and really thick tires on my bike. So thick that it took me probably close to 25 minutes of fiddling just to get the tire off, another 20 to realize that I couldn’t get it back on, and then another 20 to put my spare on instead and get back on the road. By this time it was getting too late to put any kind of big millage in so I rode another 10kms and called it a day at a little campground I came across. After a day like this I have now learned that it is not important to set a goal for the distance of the day because your bike can ultimately have the final say.

————

Day 46, Rockland to Saint Sophie (North of Montreal), 125km

Another stunningly beautiful day and although it was very hot and humid, I was relishing in it because I had not yet seen weather like this. In fact, I find I really enjoy the hot weather because the hotter it gets the more ice cream stops I make. I made two on this day. A pleasant day of riding as there were no bike problems and I entered Quebec! I was eager to experience Quebec as I have not yet really explored it, but at the same time I was hesitant as I was realizing how rusty my French had gotten. I decided to school camp it again that night but I unfortunately picked a bad spot to pitch my tent as later in the evening I realized that it was about 20 feet away from the picnic table that was the teenage hangout of the town. They were all very nice though and just let me be without any hassles. Nevertheless, not the most restful sleep that night.

————–

Day 47, Saint Sophie to Trois Rivieres, 135km

It was another really hot day and I was really beginning to enjoy Quebec. One reason was for the fruit stands and snack shops along the road where you can get your fill of ice cream, another two cones for me today. It’s been nothing but great riding in Quebec so far as I have experienced nice widely paved shoulders and designated bicycle lanes. For the night I found a campground on an Island in Trois Rivieres where they have a fantastic beach so I gleefully took advantage and went for a great dip in the refreshing St. Lawrence after what was a very sweat day, I think I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time I was in the water. 

—————

Day 48, Trois  Rivieres to Quebec City, 130km

In 10 years time if I think back and reflect on this trip, I probably should remember this day. It was an epic day, filled with many lows and highs, and many trials and joyful moments. Just an incredible day and I know however hard I try to explain it it won’t do justice to the internal sentiments that I was experiencing. Nevertheless here is a brief recap. I began the day by packing up camp just in time for a major thunder storm to roll on by. I watched its’ majesty under a canopy on the edge of the St. Lawrence. An hour after the show I hit the road. It was raining most of the morning and I think I didn’t eat enough for breakfast because I was feeling pretty low by lunch. This affected my spirits and at that moment the trip was starting to feel really long. Just as I was trying hard to pick myself up, I turned the corner and came across the most amazing little French cafe and bistro. Just and incredible place with lovely paintings, music, and warm tasty French soul food. I owe so much to the woman who runs the cafe because she was such a ball of life and, her, along with her soup, sandwich, salad, and cozy atmosphere completely rejuvenated my body and spirits for more tripping, I left grinning with joy. After another few hours of riding, cracko, another spoke blown, this time 30kms from Quebec City and after 5:30pm. Some of the neighbors were very open to helping and made several phone calls to local people who may have been able to help. In the mean time, a cyclist on his way by stopped to check in and was very kind and helpful and showed me a trick to get me back on the road so that I could at least ride my extremely warped wheel. It took me another two and a half hours to ride my sad looking bike into Quebec and by then it was down right dark and the streets were flooded with people as Quebec (especially this summer, Quebec’s 400  birthday) is a bumping place. I made it to the first hostel at 9:30pm and I was starting to worry as the owner said they were full and that they have a waiting list for weeks ahead already. I weighed my options and decided I was going to head out of town and perhaps pitch my tent somewhere or try Laval University. What happened after that was amazing as one man seemed to come out of nowhere and insisted that he help me. He seemed to have a particularly good feeling about trying the only other hostel in town and he utterly convinced me to try it even though I was by now set on heading out of town and didn’t want anymore distractions because it was getting really late. Sure enough, when I went to the other hostel, even though there is a line almost to their door of people registering, I managed to get the very last bed in what is Canada’s largest hostel. I was amazed. What was just as coincidental was when I was standing in line waiting and a young Chinese girl tapped me on my shoulder and said hello as she remembered me from when I was in Lake Louise. In Lake Louis she had been working at the local bakery and had I bought some cookies off of her, she remembered everything, it was wild. Now she had quite her job and was traveling, and here we were in Quebec and we meet again randomly, crazy. Just a wild day that will stay with me for much time to come. Although it may not sound that incredible there were certainly many significant lessons that were learned on this day. I met a girl in BC who said “I’m not religious, but if anyone doesn’t believe in a higher power then all they need to do is go on a bike trip”, that’s what kind of a day it was for me, incredible how things worked out and fell into place.

At this point in the journey, Tyson actually passed through a few places where I used to live in Northern Ontario. Hopefully some old friends and family caught a glimpse of him as he sped on by (also, anyone else notice that he’s nearly doubled his distances in a day since he started?)

Day 38 Sault St. Marie to Blind River, 140km
 
A beautiful day made today a perfect day for riding, but I had a late start and didn’t leave until 11:30am. The late start, along with having two long drawn roadside chats with fellow cyclists, meant not strolling into town until 7:30pm, but it was all ok though as my parents decided to spoil me yet again as they stuck around for one more day and put me up into a motel that night. In the same motel there were two American cyclists rooming next door, two German cyclists a few doors away, and JR a cyclist heading to Halifax who I ran into and chatted with on the road earlier in the day and had originally met way Back in Revelstoke BC. Not only that, but at the same restaurant we went to we saw Greg yet again, so that put the total up to a number of 5 people/groups doing a major bicycle tour all staying in the tiny town of Blind River. What a cyclists’ haven!
 
 
Day 39, Blind River to Whitefish, 130km
 
After a nice breakfast at a restaurant I said goodbye to my folks for good as they were then heading back to Kingston and wouldn’t be sticking around for anymore last minute spoil-their-son moments. It was another gorgeous day so the riding was great but the highlight had to be when I turn onto an old country route and as I looked down the road I saw a beautiful red fox standing in the middle of the road, and then as I looked further down, just behind it there was a descent sized black bear heading in it’s direction. Both of them where frightened off though when a big truck came roaring along. Nevertheless though that puts my fox sightings at 1 and my bear sightings at 4. No restaurant near my campsite meant peanut butter sandwiches and cold oatmeal for dinner, to say the least, I was already missing having the folks around. 
 

Day 40, Whitefish to North Bay, 150km
 
Today was a trip down memory lane as I entered the North Bay region because I spent 1 year living and playing hockey in the city. A nice tailwind pushed me along for most of the day, and in the afternoon I ran into JR, the Norwegian cyclist, so we rode together and chatted as we rolled into North Bay. I spent the night with my former billet family and they spoiled me with a great meal, laundry services, and a pleasant evening of conversation. Thanks Ken and Lynn it was great to catch up.

Hey Folks, 

Just want to throw out an apology for the lapse in updates. I’ve been dropping the ball. Tyson’s been sending me them and doing a great job, they’re all being thrown up now. Three huge emails worth, so sit back with a nice cup of joe and enjoy. 

The reason for the delays is that I was quite suddenly hired by the Ministry of the Environment here in NS, and so had to do a quick move to Halifax and all of the figuring just swamped me up to this point. Anyway, we’re back on a regular basis again. So that’s enough of me jabbering, enjoy Tyson’s adventures. 

Day 32, Nipigon to Terrace Bay, 104km
 
The people who gave me advice about the Northern Ontario strip certainly were not lying when they said the bugs are bad and that it is hilly. Today was the first day I hit some real hills (since the Rockies), and after a few days of camping up here I feel as though my legs are just one giant mosquito bite. But people were also not lying when they said the scenery is beautiful. I had a wonderful warm sunny day, which made relishing in the terrain an easy task. Terrace Bay was a nice little town that I set up in for the night and I had yet again another great Egg Fu Young Chinese dish.
 
Day 33, Terrace Bay to White Like, 125km
 
This day had it all. It was a fascinating day because in the morning it was cold (breeze off Lake Superior), rainy, I had a headwind, and it was hilly. These conditions made it a very tough morning but it was incredible because in the afternoon, as soon as I passed by the town of Marathon, the winds changed so I had a tail wind, the weather cleared so it was sunny, and the hills disappeared so I had flat riding. I felt as though I literally had all types of riding conditions on this day. A strange day but I nevertheless felt it was time to check into a motel that night A) because nasty thunder storms were on there way, and B) because I felt I just mentally needed it to get my mind out of trip mode for just one night. It turned out to be a great decision because after I watched the movie The Departed and had a good meal I felt as though I was rebooted for more tripping. I’m realizing now that every once in awhile I need not only a physical but also a good mental break.
 
Day 34, White lake to Wawa, 130km
 
A hard day today, with off and on rain and a constant headwind, but also an exciting day as this was the day my parents and I had arranged to meet up in Wawa. Certaintly knowing that I’d see them at the end of the day and and that we’d have a good meal together was a great motivating factor for riding through a tough day. I don’t think my smile could’ve gotten any bigger as I saw my Mom’s car coming towards me to meet me on the road just outside of Wawa with a big water bottle of fresh orange juice. That night we enjoyed catching up over a great meal at a Polish restaurant, certainly a place I wouldn’t have gone alone (for financial reasons), so I was already enjoying the luxury of having my folks around. Thanks guys.
 
Day 35, Wawa to Agawa Bay Provincial Park, 80km
 
I was again looking forward to the luxury of having my parents helping hands around for today’s ride, but I think they were a little green to the whole thing because they made a few early rookie mistakes. The first one was that we had planned to meet about 20km into the ride in order to hand me a few new water bottles full of gatorade made out of the powder. Well, they succeeded at the gatorade part of adding some scoops of powder to the bottles, but unfortunately they failed to remember to fill them with water. Nevertheless, a funny roadside moment and not a big deal as they could easily travel by car to go get some water. That night we cooked our own food at a gorgeous campsite right on the Beach of lake Superior. Its imaging the affect that the mammoth Superior lake has on temperatures though as this evening was without doubt the coldest temperature I have yet had to contend with along the whole trip. Good thing my folks are tough and made it through the night without a complaint.
 
Day 36, Agawa Bay to Pancake Provincial Park, 60km
 
A great day of riding. Not only was it an ideal sunny and hot day, but my parents, who brought their bikes with them, each hopped in and joined in a different leg of the ride. Mom rode the first 20km with me, and impressively handled what I would say was the longest and toughest climb yet of the Northern Ontario stretch, and Dad rode the next 20km and was equally impressive on the hills after just recovering from his second major knee operation after a serious motorcycling accident just nine months prior. It was great inspiration to see the folks out dominating some of these so called mountains. That night we enjoyed a delicious buffet at an Austrian resort located right on the Lake. It’s amazing how my Dad (born in Germany) doesn’t seem to miss a single sign advertising anything to do with something resembling German food. It was a great find, thanks Dad.
 
Day 37, Pancake Provincial Park to Sault St. Marie, 80km
 
A wet day with a headwind detered my folks from again riding with me, but nevertheless, by now they had improved, and were providing good gatorade handoffs. As I arrived in the Soo I again had to visit a local bike shop for a tire replacement, and after a few hours of running errands and mingling in the shop who did we run into? You guessed it, who else would it be, but Greg. We arranged to meet for dinner and as Greg had long been desiring a good dish of pasta (he had been talking about finding one ever since Moose Jaw and had not yet found it) we dinned at a great Italian restaurant. We shared stories and the lasagna lived up to Greg’s high pasta standards, all around a very cool day.

Well I hope on his journey Greg gets a chance to hit an internet cafe and give this a read too. Over the course of Tyson’s journey, a fellow biker named Greg, and him, tend to cross paths. Which I think is pretty sweet. It’s always good to know that around the next bend there might be a familiar face, even if it’s just in passing.

Off the road Tyson’s meeting all sorts of interesting people as well, passing the word, not only of the Green Movement and of political parties but also friendship and comraderie amongst people you just randomly meet along the journey. I’m sure Tyson would agree that the people he’s meeting make this journey that much more fantastic and rewarding.

Anyway, without any further adieu, here are the words from the man himself over the last few days:

Day 29, Ignace to Shebaqua Corners, 180km
 
Once again I was on a really remote stretch in Northern Ontario. On these types of days you certainly have to plan out your day, as far a food and drink goes, little more more carefully. It was initially supposed to be a shorter day as I thought I would spend the night in Upsala but when I arrived there in the early afternoon I decided to push on in order to set myself up for a light day to Thunder Bay where I could spend my afternoon getting some bike maintenance done. I eventually arrived in a tiny place called Shebaqua Corners 180km later, and all the town was was basically a motel/restaurant/convenience store all in one….and no campground. The owner of the place was really nice, however, and offered me a spot on his lawn, although, he did warn me, as he mentioned that morning he had to pick up some droppings from what sounded like a mischievous bear the previous night. After a 180km day, I took my chances.
 
—————
 
Day 30, Shebaqua Corners to a Hostel 30km North East of Thunder Bay, 100km
 
Today was a bit of a celebratory day for myself because, trying my best to estimate from the map, it looks as though Thunder Bay is, give or take some days here or there, the half-way point of my journey. With this in mind, I kind of moseyed on into Thunder Bay and probably stopped and talked with more friendly locals along the way than I normally would have. I pulled into a bike shop in the downtown of the city around 12:30pm to get some work done on the bike and they said it wouldn’t be ready until 5:30pm, so to kill time I ended up having a nap on a park bench, having a conversation with a homeless man about life up in the North, and watching the Netherlands vs. Russia game of the the Euro Cup. For the night I was planning on staying in the Thunder Bay Hostel, which I assumed was somewhere in the city since that is typically the case with most hostels, but when I arrived back at the bike shop they told me it was ohh about roughly 30 km from there. This news was a bit of a shocker to me as I was expecting to stroll down 4 or 5 blocks tops. This news, along with getting lost along my way and riding probably close to an extra 9 to 12 kilometers, made me a very frustrated man on my way. I nevertheless made it to the hostel, which was basically a few extra rooms in an older couples’ house where their living room, kitchen, bathroom, you name it, was all shared with their guests. Two lovely people though, and they made you feel as though you had been friends with them for many years the moment you walked in the door. The older gentleman even took me for a drive 4km down the road to get an ice cream. Thanks for the awesome stay guys!
 
————–
 
Day 31, Hostel to Nipigon, 80km
 
The hostel was so great (I had my own room with the comfiest double bed) that I decided to sleep in, linger, and have a late breakfast. I didn’t end up hitting the road until 11:30am because I figured I would only ride 80km. Little did I realize that I would have off and on showers, and a dead in the face strong headwind that forced me to ride at about 14.5km/h for the day. A tough day but the weather cleared up once I pulled into Nipigon. I headed into town to grab a bite (another awesome chinese restaurant – it’s amazing how you can often find great authentic Chinese cuisine in the tiny and remote rural towns), and on my way back, I hear faintly from a distance my name being called. I almost looked over to see who it might be but then realized that I was in Nipigon in Northern Ontario and kept going, but I heard it again, looked over and sure enough, yet again it was Greg. It turned out he rode a moster day, 165km into the wind, I was impressed. He was yet again planning another huge day the following day so we decided to leave it to fate (since fate had been good at bringing us together) to see whether we’d meet up the following day. I wasn’t in as much of a hurry because I am trying to plan my steps so that I can meet my parents (yes they are great indeed as they have decided to drive way up North for a little vacation and a visit) in Wawa.

28 Days on the road, Tyson has powered through four provinces and is cutting his way through Northern Ontario towards Thunder Bay. Being a native of Ontario, I know that just driving up to Thunder Bay can be quite the accomplishment, so I can’t even imagine the mindset it must take to bike through all of that. He’s hit some nice weather, and i think especially the posts from these last two days remind us that we sometimes need to slow down and take in the beautiful scenery that this country has to offer.

Anyway, here’s what Tyson has had to say over the last couple days:

Day 27, Kenora to Dryden, 130 km
 
So today was the type of day (weather conditions) that I had been waiting for for what seemed like eons and had finally arrived. It was honestly was the first crystal clear, not a cloud in the sky, sunny day I’ve had all trip, not only that but it was 23 degrees, not to hot but not too cool. Fantastic weather, along with fantastic Northern Ontario lake and forest scenery, made for fantastic riding. I had a great morning of riding and then when I pulled into a restaurant parking lot to take a quick break, who do I see arranging his bike, but Greg. What a coincidence, after seven days apart we meet again, and it was great because as we rode together again for the afternoon we could share all of our pent up stories of our experiences that had happened to us the previous seven days. We shared some good laughs and some good stories, and with the weather and scenery, it was a joy of an experience to ride on this day. In the evening I found a campground and then met up with Greg for a dinner and then said goodbye (or more like see ya later because who knows where we could meet up again) because Greg was planning on a rest day and I was going to continue on. What a cool day.
 
————-
 
Day 28, Dryden to Ignace, 110km
 
Another crystal clear, calm, and warm day felt great as I carried along through Northern Ontario. So far, from most of the stretches of the TransCanada that I seen, this one (and apparently continued to Thunder Bay), is one of the most isolated and remote ones yet. It’s really cool though because you feel very close with nature. I arrived into Ignace pretty early in the day and normally would have carried on but decided not to as the next little community was likely to far out of reach. Nevertheless, it’s always nice to have a relaxing afternoon and I was able to go for my first lake swim of the year and do some long overdue laundry. Hopefully the weather realizes that cyclists love these conditions and decides to stay the same for a nice long while. 

Hey Folks,

Tyson is in his home province of Ontario. Hopefully he’ll meet up with friends and family and get a few days to really recharge his batteries before taking on Quebec and the Maritimes. I’m getting stoked to meet up with him on the Nova Scotia border and ride that last leg with him.

Day 24, MacGreggor to Richer, 185 to 200 km (odometer malfunctioning)
 
Another great day for riding, a nice push from the wind and, although a cool day at 12 degrees, a pleasant riding temperature. Great weather conditions but I must say the road conditions on the Trans-Canada through Manitoba (in certain pockets) are not as well maintained as the road in other provinces. A bumpy road and no sholder meant being run off the road twice on this day by transports. Nevertheless, I made good progress as I bypassed Winnipeg and pushed on to a town called Richer. I ended up pulling into the camprground around 8:30pm so there was not much time other than to set up camp, eat a can of beans and apple sauce, and call it a day.
 
———————–
 
Day 25, Richer to Kenora, 150km
 
A very interesting day as I entered my home province of Ontario. In the span of a day of riding I felt as though I left the praries and entered cottage country, it’s a crazy geography swing after the hundreds of kilometers of similar landscape that I passed through in the prairies. Just before the Ontario boarder I met up with two cool riders, Jay and Joe from London Ontario, and as we got yaking while riding Jay told me about an amazing guy he met who was walking across Canada. No less than five minutes after that, on the side of the road we see someone else who looks as though he’s doing the same thing. It turned out that he was from France (he didn’t speak much english which was cool because I could practice my rusty French, and also begin to repay the numerous French that had to speak english to me while I spent time in France) and that he was walking from Alaska to Quebec City and had been doing so since last July, even through the winter with temperatures of -65 he said. An incredible man whose company I enjoyed for the 45 minutes we spent chating on the side of the road. Then in Kenora I came across a man, Dave, who was riding his home built three wheeled recumbent bicycle. After a nice chat he offered be his bed and a shower. I felt bad taking his bed so I set up in his backyeard. Regardless a very nice offer and a cool character.
 
————————
 
Day 26, June 17th, rest day, Kenora.
 
Happy Birthday Dad!

Over the next few days of his journey, Tyson was blessed by the Biking Gods, who seem to have been blessing him with all the right stuff this trip:

Day 21, Moose Jaw to Regina, 70km
 
A cold and wet day and feeling especially slugguish after a rest day I decided to make it a short day and only go as far a Regina. I was still with Greg for the morning but since he was feeling better than I he decided to head on a little further in the afternoon, so, after five days of travelling together Greg and I finally parted ways (at least for now, the strangest occurances seem to happen when on the raod). In regina I checked into their hostel, toured around, slept, and ate the rest of the afternoon.
 
———————–
 
Day 22, Regina to Moosomin, 225km
 
I left the hostel at 8:30am and it took me 30 minutes to exit Regina, but once I was out in the open I realized I had a monster tailwind. It was fantastic, I must have had a smile on my face the whole day while I rode because I was cruising. At around 6pm I pulled into Moosomin 225km later but still feeling great and as if I could’ve kept on riding, it was an approaching dark rain cloud that scared me into setting up for the night. A great day on the bike and I said my prayers that night to the biking Gods that there be another the next day.

—————–
 
Day 23, Moosomin to Macgreggor, 230km
 
My prayers must have been heard because yet again I had a wonderful push from the wind, and having just set a personal record for distance the day before, I broke it today with a day of 230km. The day was a slightly harder ride, however, as I spent about 8 and a half hours on the saddle. I seemed to fall upon Macgreggor and to my delight it was a really nice little town. I enjoyed a chinese dinner with a more than helpful local named pete who later drove home and back to the restaurant just to get me a little WD40 because my chain looked as though it could use some. Thanks Pete!

We’ve got some photos up, and Tyson is just motoring through these provinces. It’s truly amazing. He’ll be back to NS in no time flat. But you don’t come for my commentary, so here’s some word from the man on the road:

Day 12, Canmore – Rest day

—————————–

Day 13, Canmore – another and even more restful day (with several naps)

————————————

Day 14, Canmore to 20km South of Calgary, 142km

Back on the road. The weather was nice in the morning, cool, but nice, but it quickly changed in the afternoon to scattered showers as I left the Rockies and headed into the foothills. Beautiful scenery and other than a vicious side wind it was nice riding. I lost my map somewhere along during the day so when I detoured around Calgary (too much traffic to head through it) I stopped into a gas station to see where I was and I cool guy named Greg Dycke offered me his back yard to camp in for the night. it turned out that Greg is an avid cyclist so needless to say we shared a good chat.

—————————————

Day 15, South of Calgary to Brooks, 180km

I didn’t plan on having a monster day on this day but it just turned out to be one. Throughout the first half of the day I had side winds and a slight headwind at times but by afternoon I caught a tail wind that must’ve been blowing at about 30km, what a joy tailwinds are! You can set a comfortable pace at around 35km/h and if you want to you can push at about 40. It was a great afternoon of riding and I made it to Brooks. Growing up around farms I’ve smelt my fair share of cow manurer, but I must say the stench that the Brooks packing plant produces takes the all time cake (who knows though, it might’ve been partly me after two days without showering).

——————————–

Day 16, Brooks to Irvine, 150km

Rainy and cool most of this day, but at a quick rest stop along my way I ran into another cyclist, Greg, who is heading to Newfoundland. Greg said he was heading to Medicine Hat for the day and I said that I’d like to push on a little further so we split our separate ways. Once in Irvine I found a little park to camp, after speaking with some locals, however, I discovered that the park is owned by a group of Harley motorcyclists (apparently some were at one time members of Hells Angels) and that they like to use it to party on Tuesday and Saturday night. It, by chance, was Saturday night. I thought I’d take my chances though as it was raining pretty hard so I thought they wouldn’t show. Sure enough though around 2 in the morning a few guys came strolling down with flash lights and hung out for probably 30 minutes and then left with noticing me camped out in the corner of their lot. I was a little nervous because as I was learning not all areas of Alberta are filled with people who are overly welcoming to Green Party supporters. Needless to say I awoke the next morning a little deprived of sleep.

——————————————————————-

Day 17, Irvine, to Gull Lake, 145km

After packing up I hit the road around 8am. No more than 30 seconds after I turned East onto the Trans Canada I looked in my review mirror and, who is there, but Greg, swiftly gaining on me with a big excited smile on his face. We both welcomed each others company because it meant having a riding companion for the day which meant a little bit of relief from what was becoming a little monotonous prairie landscape. I turns out that Greg is from Montreal, is older than I (although I won’t mention is age), and runs a successful transporting company. He says he has been working too hard the past few years and has needed to disconnect from the world for a few months so he has decided riding across Canada would be the appropriate way for him to do so. Riding together seemed to make the last few kilometers in Alberta and the first few in Saskatchewan fly by. After setting up camp in Gull Lake and on my way to the grocery store I ran into yet another cyclist heading to Halifax. After a brief chat with Allain, from Belgium, I invited him to dinner with Greg and I. We enjoyed a nice meal of greasy pizza and great cycle touring conversation. Allain, however, was taking a different route the following day so decided not to join Greg and I as we had planned to ride again together.

——————

Day 18, Gull Lake to Morse, 118km

Although it was very cool and overcast yet again, it managed to hold off from raining on us all day. Greg and I decided throughout the day that whoever said that Saskatchewan is a flat province obviously hasn’t toured it by bicycle. The whole day it seemed we were traversing rolling hills, beautiful scenery though. I found a quaint little campground in Morse, and then later that evening Greg and I sat down to what I would vote the best piece of Apple Pie I ever had (sorry Mom) in the Morse Cafe.

————————-

Day 19, Morse to Moose Jaw, 111km

This was an epic day. We had intentions of riding all the way to Regina today but early into the day Greg and I realized that it was not a realistic possibility. Headwinds! The fiercest of them yet. South East winds at 37km/h with gusts up to 50km/h meant an average speed of 12.9km/h and 8 hours and 40 minutes on the saddle. Grueling day, definitely a character builder. After arriving in Moose Jaw, we split on a Motel because the following two days are to be equally as windy except with rain and a temperature of between 6 and 8 degrees, no thank you. Rest day tomorrow it is. Nevertheless a great last six days of riding. Over all I have come across 10 other bicycle tour riders/groups, have managed to speak with 8 of them, and 4 are also heading across Canada. I wonder what surprises the next twenty days of riding will bring.

—————————

Day 20, Moose Jaw, Rest day

Well folks, he’s biking faster than I can update. haha.

If you can believe it Tyson has been on the road for about a month now and has already gotten through the Prairies. Not bad, considering they’re pretty flat. He is excelling from when we last saw him traversing the Rockies and figuring out his way into Alberta.

As I had posted sometime earlier, Tyson has added to his challenge because he is also a vegetarian, and as any vegetarian knows, it can be difficult to get meals on the road. I asked him what his inspiration for going veg was, and this was his reply:

To answer your Q’s I’ve been a veggie for 11 months now and the reason I made the switch was for a mix of all reasons, the animals issues (killing animals, and how we raise them, treat them, and then kill them), health (I feel really good eating a lot of greens), evirnmental reasons (why clear cut forests to run cattle farms when we down need to eat meat?), and any others, but mainly these. All the best bro, and I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to get this off to ya, but that’s how it is on the road. take care, Tys

He is busy on the road, but coming up right after this is a whole slew of pictures along with some posts from the last approximately 20 days on the road.