More Observations from a Bicycle on the Trans Canada

You will likely wish you’d brought half the stuff and budgeted twice the money.

The hill you see up ahead is seldom quite as challenging as it appears. Except when it is tougher than you can imagine.

On a really hot day, it is better to carry too much water than not enough. The additional weight makes the first feel like purgatory. But the second is sheer hell,.

You might lose a few pounds cycling across the country but it would probably be easier to not eat for a month.

For traffic, a truck with a wide load is an inconvenience. A bicycle with some panniers is a provocation.

The fresh asphalt on the shoulder of that new section of highway will already be strewn with slippery gravel and sand that no one thought to properly level.

When descending at high speed, your side of the highway will always have the storm drains.

Most truck drivers will give you a wide berth. Except in BC. There, they will try to graze you just for sport.

When Google Maps say your route today is MOSTLY FLAT, it mostly tells the truth. But it will lie just often enough to break your heart.

The campsite you will be assigned will always be the one that gets no shade.

When the mosquitoes disappear, know that you are now in the land of wasps.

All night, the sound of the highway and the sound of the railway will roar like twin rivers through your dreams.

The birds will always start squawking an hour before your alarm is set to go off.

Your legs will not become mighty pistons. They will just get used to being sore and finally stop complaining about it.

Everyone is keen to Go Green except when it involves your RV slowing down for a bicycle.

Rumble strips will wake up a drowsy driver. They will give a cyclist one additional way to lose control of the bike.

Motorists say: “I made really good time.”

Cyclists say: “I made it.”