The Traveling Cyclist in Canada
Bicycling on a beautiful, quiet country road is one of life's great experiences.
Cycling in the Mid-west
The stereotypical prairie road is straight and flat with many miles between settlements. The scenery does not change much, and the direction of the wind is a major factor in the ride.
There are lots of roads in the mid-west which offer rolling hills that provide varying conditions and changing scenery. The road from Minnedosa to Riding Mountain National Park, for instance, is a lovely route; about 100 km return, although it is still fully exposed to the wind. Keep in mind that the park is a weekend destination, so the road will be busy Friday afternoon through Sunday night.
On the other side of Manitoba, there are beautiful roads in Whiteshell Park, stretching from Falcon Lake more than 100km up to Otter Falls. These are small paved roads that link cottage areas and resorts. They are not perfectly maintained, but they offer boreal forest / Canadian shield park scenery, very little traffic on week days, and little convenience stores in the resorts along the way, they offer a great ride.
Cycling in the Rockies
I was intimidated by the height of the climbs in the Rockies, until some friends invited me to ride the "Golden Triangle" (Canmore - Golden - Radium - Canmore). I discovered that the big highways in the Rockies are built for trucks, so the gradients are very manageable; some of the climbs are long, but few are steep, so they are very manageable, especially if you don't have to carry any overnight equipment on your bike.
The scenery is stunning and varied, the roads are excellent, but keep two things in mind; carry your own drinks & lunch, because there is nothing available between the major centres, and go when there is less traffic; we did the ride in mid September.
Feedback:
Please e-mail your descriptions and pictures of great Canadian road cycling routes to charles@airnimal.ca.
Resources
On Bikely.com, riders share basic information about routes around the world.
Railtrail.com provides good descriptions of walking and cycling trails around the world made on old railway beds, as well as links to lots of other cycle touring information.
