The Making of a Cross Canada Route

[Dan Alexander]

Yeah, making the route will be the biggest adventure of the whole thing.

Ted, please get a new camera. Yours makes me look old and a few pounds too heavy

[tarzan30]

Originally Posted by Dan Alexander

Yeah, making the route will be the biggest adventure of the whole thing.

Ted, please get a new camera. Yours makes me look old and a few pounds too heavy

LOL

Photos dont lie... but they cant see your great young spirit and happy go lucky demeanor!

[shipwrek12001]

ok I'm in............. rallying doesn't seem to be very economical $$, seems way too over rated too,, LOL.......... adventuring seems less stressful... with like minded individuals.

not sure how badly my wings are clipped yet, as wifey wants her turn at me... especially after the last couple of months... I don't have the nerve to ask for a weekend pass to go biking.

[Deadly99]

Originally Posted by shipwrek12001

ok I'm in............. rallying doesn't seem to be very economical $$, seems way too over rated too,, LOL.......... adventuring seems less stressful... with like minded individuals.

not sure how badly my wings are clipped yet, as wifey wants her turn at me... especially after the last couple of months... I don't have the nerve to ask for a weekend pass to go biking.

Gidday Sean...long time no see, the Dacre rally didn't work out too well for you I hear :). We'll have to hook up for a recon weekend this summer and explore a few trails that have been recommended in Quebec ..... Or a longer trip if you want to travel on your little 400 .....

[Deadly99]

Originally Posted by Dan Alexander

Yeah, making the route will be the biggest adventure of the whole thing.

Ted, please get a new camera. Yours makes me look old and a few pounds too heavy

You'll notice I've left out the unflattering pics of myself :). Time to get a camera Dan.

[2wheelherman]

Subscribed !!!

Keep up the good work. Huge commitment you are undertaking. I can see that this RR and the maps are going to be epic.

[juames]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

You'll notice I've left out the unflattering pics of myself :).

Yes I noticed that...but you made sure to include the one with my bike on top of me!

[Dan Alexander]

Originally Posted by tarzan30

LOL

Photos dont lie... but they cant see your great young spirit and happy go lucky demeanor!

I though the tv saying was that the camera adds ten pounds.

I'm thinking Ted's is adding about 25

But, thanks for easing the pain!!

[Dan Alexander]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

You'll notice I've left out the unflattering pics of myself :). Time to get a camera Dan.

I was thinking that on my way to work this morning

I'm going to bring my DSLR with the telephoto (and wide angle) lenses next time

[Dan Alexander]

Originally Posted by juames

Yes I noticed that...but you made sure to include the one with my bike on top of me!

At least he wasn't at the bottom of the hill where I was, sitting there on the ground with all the gear on, sweat dripping down inside my helmet, while I contemplated giving up.

That passed thankfully and I hit those water hazards with a new found confidence. When the going gets tough, the tough go ... ok there was nowhere to shop so I had to ride

[misteroldschool]

i wish there were roads like that around here

[Deadly99]

A few quesions for the inmates.
Being as how we are creating this route for others to ride, and I suspect that almost everyone who will ride this is a member or lurker on this forum, it seems appropriate to get your opinions and thoughts.

First is a name for this route. TCT (Trans Canada Trail) is the logical name but it's used by a hiking trail across this country. Anyone have any suggestions ?

Second..... We were thinking that this route or parts of it would be provided in a roadbook format. We want navagation to be a part of this as oppossed to just following a green line on your gps. For the more road orientated sections a gps file would be available as having a roadbook that says follow this road for 2000 km's didn't seem to make sense. Are we off here? Would you rather it just be in gps or does the combo make sense ? It's you folks that'll be riding it after all so what would you prefer ? We ran into issues with making a route for gps's as they only seem to work well for roads that are on a map. Tracks work well but not everyone has a gps that accepts tracks (me included).

One last question for now....how much pavement is too much ? Staying away from pavement has been the goal and utilizing paved roads only as needed.....but this has the downside of hindering the route from seeing some pretty scenic and historic locations. We don't want to add to much pavement and take away from the "vision" of the route but I am curious as to what everyone thinks about this topic.


Lastly a huge thanks to the numerous pm's I've received. A lot of great suggestions and offers to help out with a section, offers to join us riding for a section, offers for a tent spot in a backyard and so on. I'm amazed and honoured......a HUGE thank you. It is a large undertaking but it will certainly be easier with your support. I've started a map with everyone's suggestions penciled on it. At the end of the day there is no way we can do them all, sadly. Please don't take offense if we don't use your suggested road-trail-etc, the route needs to be somewhat of an East-West route and can't end up looking like spaghetti on a map or it would take us too many years to ride it all and would be so long that no one would be able to fit it into one season, lol

Thanks in advance !

[Dan Alexander]

Good questions, see what the consensus is and go from there. But, like what was said previously, the guys who ride it later will certainly miss some of the fun sections like the Trail From Hell

I vote for Cross Canada Trail ... CCT

[Corbeau]

given that beaver dams will be found on many sections, and given the importance of the fur trade in the exploration of the country, I submit for a name The Beaver Trail

It's even more appropriate if the trail links sleazy strip joints in rural Quebec...

[redpillar]

I like the idea of the tie in to the old days as well, and beaver is always good.
This country was pretty well founded on beaver. Most of us have chased beaver at one time or another.
Beaver is bonds us coast to coast. Even more than the CBC....
You are talking about crossing the second largest country on the planet. Most of the Europeans that first tried this, that survived, did so by eating their friends. It would be cool to try to do it with only the most necessary paved sections, and make it as unique as possible. Make it tough. We are Canadians after all.
I think that having a road book and tracks would be useful to more people and having both on a trip is the best. Just my 2 loonies...
Thanks for giving this a shot.