Touring - Biking across canada BC to NS

I just heard yesterday my friends plan to bike across canada this summer flying over to the western seaboard in BC then biking all the way back home to here NS on the eastern seaboard.

At first i got jealous, but then i thought about how much money that's going to cost, not to mention i was spent after my 75k ride yesterday. They've probably kept up a bit better during the winter season i'm assuming but we all started biking back and forth to university at the same time.

Any advice for the guys i can pass along? anyone else done this tour or something even close before?

Derek.

crazyguyonabike.com has some journals about bikeing across Canada that are interesting reading.There are a couple of books out there on the trip.I found one on e-bay under touring bike search they can get and read.

Howdy -

I'm a big believer in the Yellowhead Highway out of Prince Rupert - although it gets really remote, really fast. It's just a much easier ride than out of Vancouver, but it is about 400 km longer. If they want to do extreme remote - consider Hwy 20 out of Bella Coola with a murderous climb on dirt over Heckman Pass. If they do head out from Vancouver, Hwy 5 - the Thompson River route up to Jasper is really nice after Kamloops.

Either Prince Rupert or Bella Coola can be accessed by ferry from Port Hardy on the north tip of Vancouver Island - and the ferry ride is superb! There's a bus you can take from Nanaimo to Port Hardy - but you do have to overnight since the ferry leaves early in the morning. It's two extra days, but the quality of the riding more than makes up for it.

Here's a nice website on the Yellowhead - -
http://www.users.bigpond.com/RandyMiller/yellowhead.htm

Best - J

P.S. Some of the things Randy Miller says are not quite on target - it's never more than 150 km between services - - Prince Rupert to Terrace - - Purden Lake to McBride - - plus there are some good climbs - especially east of Prince George.

From Montreal to Quebec City, road 138 is generally considered the easiest (little trafic, very flat and nice scenery)... there are, however, many options on the south shore of the Saint-Lawrence for those interested in a more hilly (and as beautiful) landscape... just head for the Eastern Township and follow small roads to Quebec City. From Quebec city to the NB frontier, there is not much choice but the 132 which can be quite busy... it can be sometimes avoided by using side roads... there is also a cycling path between Rivière du Loup and NB...

Another nice, but longer, option would be to continue up to continue until Sainte-Flavie and trun south... then your friends can follow the acadian coast in NB.

For biking in Quebec, look at this website: http://www.routeverte.com/ang/index.lasso

i'm thinking of doing the same, next year & have just started researching it, the link below is for lonely planets forum on cycling, there r some useful links here which will give ur friends hours of reading :)

http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm?postaction=reply&catid=11&messid=6581238&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0&threadid=774062