Wow what an amazing journey! The contrast from the beautiful unknown trails to the dark urban landscape at the end is quite astonishing. This is truly living!
This old dude with 2 other guys rode our bikes from Hope to Calgary back in mid 70’s. Rode Hope to Pentiction, Backtrack to Osyoos over the Mtn to Grand Forks then Nelson, backtrack to the Slocan Valley to Revelstoke then over the Roger’s Pass to Calgary. No exotic camping gear or tent, 1 set of cooking utensils, we had our packs strapped onto our rat trap , no panniers or handle bar bags. Bought food for dinner and breakfast in last town we passed through before we camped for the night. So get your butts out there and enjoy the beauty of cycling and nature, We rode steel bikes with 24 tooth rear cassettes was the max Available. Rode over all the Mtn passes. 28 days of sunshine. Hung out in Calgary then rode back to by myself. Got back to Hope and wished there was a rode to China I would have gone. A great experience and memory…
So the bird, I'm guessing a grouse, was pretending to be injured to lure you away from her nest. When you were far enough away she flew off. Very cool. Thanks for sharing your trip!
My sister and I cycled the KVR last summer 2021...the smoke was terrible and it was 40c ...still had a good time..and yes more than half of all motels, campsites and cafes were closed due to covid... Love your journey thanks for sharing.
What an incredible ride! Great job dealing with some setbacks and filming the whole journey. I am blown away by how nice and developed it was most of the way. Would love to start bike touring from here in Edmonton. Also that little birdy that was hopping along. I dunno if you did any research since but they will pretend to have a broken wing to lead predators away from their nest and then bounce. Take care bud, thanks for sharing your adventure.
As a partially bald 57 yo, Im envious. How do you secure your bike when camping in the wild, here in London U.K it would be gone in a blink. Thinking of riding the GDMBR when I reach 60.
This is an amazing video, and you seem like a chill genuine dude! Those trails look incredible - moving to Canada next summer once I finish my degree, I can't wait! And this video seems to encalpsulate exactly why I'm so excited.
epic dude, I did a similar route, except the opposite direction. We also had a support car and stayed in hotel which was much more luxurious. Great vid and thanks for sharing.
Dude loved this video! My bro-in-law and I are doing from Calgary to Kikoumon and this was real helpful in wrapping my head around that! Looks like a blast. That's crazy you had that run in with the cougars!
sweet to see this whole route! I've only done paleface pass and the Chilliwack river valley from hope to Chilliwack. glad you still thought paleface was so gnarly after climbing the mountains of the interior. if you're being whacked by bushes I guess its bushwhacking! nice work.
Excellent trip, I image that would be even harder filming it. It’s great that you did, it inspired me to try my bikepacking. Not that long of course. It is good to see how you managed to maintain the good spirit during the trip. I think it might have many difficult times. I’d be curious to know more details on the route You should mark the route in a map. Anyway congratulation, keep pedaling
Brookmere to Coquihalla Lakes== you rode on freeway cuz trail is washed out? I here the entire Princeton to Hope trail is now closed due to many washouts in Nov. 2021.
I think it's technically closed but the trail is still there, between brookmere and hope the GPS saved me countless times, and there was a belly deep river crossing
My goal is to set up my mountain bike to go cross country ottawa ontario to vancouver with my malinois and maybe take a year to travel living off my pack and what i catch getting required fishing permits as i go through the provinces lol also of course ill have backup plans a to z lol but itd the goall maybe next summer
Thanks for the amazing video! Did you ever bike from Lillooet to South Shalalth? Did that by car but that must be an epic and absolutely scenic uphill/downhill adventure 🙌🏻
You mentioned wanting to do Banff to mexican border trip in 2 years. And funny enough I found this video 2 years later. Are you still doing that trip? Is there any other trips you are doing that you will upload? I'd love to watch more of these videos by you, this was extremely entertaining. I watched it all in one sitting
I don't think there are any restrictions for ebikes on the route, and there are plenty of hotels and towns to charge batteries along the way! I think on average there was about 75km between spots to recharge
Enjoyed seeing you ride this trail, I've been living out of the country for the last few years and didn't know the trail was this complete. I've done much of the trail between Calgary and Banff as well as the KVR around Kelowna. Are you still planning to do Banff to Mexico?
@@aRudeDuck thanks I'll see if I can download it to gpx . You can check out my photo albums on facebook for my routes through Thailand, Sri Lanka, Italy and northern Europe thanks
Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this adventure! At 52, and after 7 cancer diagnosis I have re-found my love of cycling and have been looking at everything I can about bikepacking. I noticed it was all Europe or US based, so typed in "Bikepacking in Canada" and there you were! Are there links you could share that show the trails along your entire roye? I followed along best I could on Google Maps, but the trails aren't all there. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Again!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! The route is a combination of the trans Canada trail between Calgary and fernie, the bc trail (you can find this on bikepacking.com) from fernie to cultus lake, and the tct again for the rest of it
Seriously cool journey. I just completed a journey called Mundabiddi trail in Western Australia 🇦🇺 (for the third time)which is basically 1000km of trails through the Forrest. I’ve now got inspiration to do something similar and the trans-Canada trail came up. I was wondering off your would know how to link up several off road trails to transverse Canada? If not don’t worry. I’ve got some questions. Are bears much of a problem? I talk to one Canadian dude and he said that no problem at all. Is this bike Trail clearly marked with signs or do you need a map app or local knowledge? I know in Switzerland and Australia the trails are clearly marked. If you can give me any help would be great because I’m just starting to plan the journey and I’m gonna try as many people as possible. If you ever get the taste for long distance touring try the Surly ogre with Son Dino hub and rolhoff internal gearing with DT Swiss Wheels and spokes. You will never have any problems or wheel problems or gear problems. I ride a 40 kg bike and hammer off-road trails nothing has ever gone wrong. Cheers mate your journey is inspirational and thanks for putting it up. Top effort
Thanks a lot!!! For this trip I just followed a route from bikepacking.com so I didn't have to put anything together myself, but I had good luck with using google maps to link together gravel roads for a different trip I did this summer. I never had any bear problems during the trip, the 4 that I saw ran away as soon as they heard/saw me. For navigation, I used Trailforks for the sections of trail that were on there, and the trans Canada trail app everywhere else. The trail is marked very well 95% of the time, but I had a lot of troubles with navigating at Elk Pass, and between Princeton and Hope, and between Chiliwack Lake and Cultus Lake. I hope you can make it out soon, the TCT is beautiful!
@@aRudeDuck I was just about to ask the same questions. I was going to do a trip to Kelowna back in '77 at age 15, but my buddy's parents wouldn't let him go. Decades later I am binging cross canada bike trips and saw yours. I will be 60 this coming January, but I am still 15 on a bike. Rowdy and raring to go. Next summer could be the trick. I might do the first part you did in Alberta as a training mission in the spring. I have got gopros, a 360 camera and a drone, so I I go I will film it. - Cheers.
Question: Do you think you got fitter as you went? 1-10 how fit when you started? As old as i am, I probably would want to pad the schedule with an extra week, but also think my cardio fitness increases pretty quickly when I am working consistently. Planning on riding as much as possible this winter, so my spring starts a little better. - Cheers
The riding definitely got easier after about day 6 or 7! I started out doing 60-80km in the first week but started doing 80-120km later on. Day 3 was probably the hardest but I took a day off after so the rest helped
@@aRudeDuck Thanks for the reply. I am riding as much as I can all winter to get my fitness up. By summer I will be 60.5, but in my mind I am much much younger. Totally want to do an epic ride. As a side note, first thing I thought watching was a quote from a customer when I used to deliver pizza 'us long hairs have to stick together'. I say the same too you!! Not as a plug but simply to see my hair lazybusker at the you know what gram. pic posted for a halloween video. - Cheers
The longest stretches between towns was about 160km. They're between Banff and Elkford, Princeton and Hope, and Hope and Cultus Lake. I was able to start or finish near a town every day of the trip!
I took the TCT (they have a great map online)! I skipped out on a few sections though, I went straight from SE Calgary to Bragg Creek and I skipped Cox Hill because I was quite tired on the second day. Banff to Fernie had some of my favorite parts of the trip
Wow what an amazing journey! The contrast from the beautiful unknown trails to the dark urban landscape at the end is quite astonishing. This is truly living!
This old dude with 2 other guys rode our bikes from Hope to Calgary back in mid 70’s. Rode Hope to Pentiction, Backtrack to Osyoos over the Mtn to Grand Forks then Nelson, backtrack to the Slocan Valley to Revelstoke then over the Roger’s Pass to Calgary.
No exotic camping gear or tent, 1 set of cooking utensils, we had our packs strapped onto our rat trap , no panniers or handle bar bags. Bought food for dinner and breakfast in last town we passed through before we camped for the night.
So get your butts out there and enjoy the beauty of cycling and nature,
We rode steel bikes with 24 tooth rear cassettes was the max Available. Rode over all the Mtn passes. 28 days of sunshine.
Hung out in Calgary then rode back to by myself.
Got back to Hope and wished there was a rode to China I would have gone. A great experience and memory…
So the bird, I'm guessing a grouse, was pretending to be injured to lure you away from her nest. When you were far enough away she flew off. Very cool. Thanks for sharing your trip!
Awesome video. Thanks for taking us along.
thanks for taking me along [lol] on your ride ,really enjoyed ,keep pedaling and enjoying life
I'm 74 and this is on my bucket list, , , some day, soon I hope.
This July I'm doing an open invite tour divide, just sayin...
My sister and I cycled the KVR last summer 2021...the smoke was terrible and it was 40c ...still had a good time..and yes more than half of all motels, campsites and cafes were closed due to covid... Love your journey thanks for sharing.
What an incredible ride! Great job dealing with some setbacks and filming the whole journey. I am blown away by how nice and developed it was most of the way. Would love to start bike touring from here in Edmonton. Also that little birdy that was hopping along. I dunno if you did any research since but they will pretend to have a broken wing to lead predators away from their nest and then bounce.
Take care bud, thanks for sharing your adventure.
Fantastic trip and a very informative video - thank you and congratulations!
Very cool. ✌🏼
6:55 best part.
As a partially bald 57 yo, Im envious.
How do you secure your bike when camping in the wild, here in London U.K it would be gone in a blink.
Thinking of riding the GDMBR when I reach 60.
Great ride! That is alot of smoke to endure, so you're a real trooper.
Great video! Looks like an amazing experience!
This is an amazing video, and you seem like a chill genuine dude! Those trails look incredible - moving to Canada next summer once I finish my degree, I can't wait! And this video seems to encalpsulate exactly why I'm so excited.
Great adventure. I see pieces of the trail here in b.c .It looks very chaotic. Broken up into so many pcs.
Great video! I definitely want to do this. Shout out from Red Deer.
epic dude, I did a similar route, except the opposite direction. We also had a support car and stayed in hotel which was much more luxurious. Great vid and thanks for sharing.
Great video!
yes mate brilliant vid, love hearing a bit of fuzz at 4:44
Very nice video. I didn't know you could do that on the TCT. Good luck on your next trip(s).
A true sender :D WOW! Thanks for inspiring people to GET OUTDOORS!
Dude loved this video! My bro-in-law and I are doing from Calgary to Kikoumon and this was real helpful in wrapping my head around that! Looks like a blast. That's crazy you had that run in with the cougars!
sweet to see this whole route! I've only done paleface pass and the Chilliwack river valley from hope to Chilliwack. glad you still thought paleface was so gnarly after climbing the mountains of the interior. if you're being whacked by bushes I guess its bushwhacking! nice work.
Any idea
The easiest way to vancouver from banff ?
that was a great trip, thanks for filming it
Great video! Thank you! :)
Excellent trip, I image that would be even harder filming it. It’s great that you did, it inspired me to try my bikepacking. Not that long of course. It is good to see how you managed to maintain the good spirit during the trip. I think it might have many difficult times. I’d be curious to know more details on the route You should mark the route in a map. Anyway congratulation, keep pedaling
What an awesome bike trails you have passed! Enthusiastic greetings from The Special Territory of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Brookmere to Coquihalla Lakes== you rode on freeway cuz trail is washed out? I here the entire Princeton to Hope trail is now closed due to many washouts in Nov. 2021.
I think it's technically closed but the trail is still there, between brookmere and hope the GPS saved me countless times, and there was a belly deep river crossing
My goal is to set up my mountain bike to go cross country ottawa ontario to vancouver with my malinois and maybe take a year to travel living off my pack and what i catch getting required fishing permits as i go through the provinces lol also of course ill have backup plans a to z lol but itd the goall maybe next summer
amazing!! I would love to know what camera you used for filming this video.
Thanks! I used a GoPro hero 7
39:39 WHAAAT??? FROM BANFF TO MEXICO BORDER?!!! THAT'S CRAZY DUDE
First time I have seen video of Pale Face Pass👍
Easily the most difficult day of the trip, not even counting the cougar encounter haha
Chapeau .
Thanks for the amazing video! Did you ever bike from Lillooet to South Shalalth? Did that by car but that must be an epic and absolutely scenic uphill/downhill adventure 🙌🏻
looking to do this thrip the other way june 1st
What route did you take from Hope to Chilliwack lake?
Has anyone here done Vancouver to Edmonton?
Planning it for summer 2025
You mentioned wanting to do Banff to mexican border trip in 2 years. And funny enough I found this video 2 years later. Are you still doing that trip? Is there any other trips you are doing that you will upload? I'd love to watch more of these videos by you, this was extremely entertaining. I watched it all in one sitting
Is it possible to use e bike on this whole trail? I willing to try if it’s allowed. I guess the biggest problem is where to charge the batteries.
I don't think there are any restrictions for ebikes on the route, and there are plenty of hotels and towns to charge batteries along the way! I think on average there was about 75km between spots to recharge
Enjoyed seeing you ride this trail, I've been living out of the country for the last few years and didn't know the trail was this complete. I've done much of the trail between Calgary and Banff as well as the KVR around Kelowna. Are you still planning to do Banff to Mexico?
thanks for posting. How did you find your route
Hey, here's the route that I used for the majority of the trip:
bikepacking.com/routes/bc-trail/
@@aRudeDuck thanks I'll see if I can download it to gpx . You can check out my photo albums on facebook for my routes through Thailand, Sri Lanka, Italy and northern Europe thanks
Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this adventure!
At 52, and after 7 cancer diagnosis I have re-found my love of cycling and have been looking at everything I can about bikepacking. I noticed it was all Europe or US based, so typed in "Bikepacking in Canada" and there you were!
Are there links you could share that show the trails along your entire roye? I followed along best I could on Google Maps, but the trails aren't all there. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Again!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! The route is a combination of the trans Canada trail between Calgary and fernie, the bc trail (you can find this on bikepacking.com) from fernie to cultus lake, and the tct again for the rest of it
I am really enjoying this vlog of your trip. How did you navigate? Is there a gpx track available?
Seriously cool journey. I just completed a journey called Mundabiddi trail in Western Australia 🇦🇺 (for the third time)which is basically 1000km of trails through the Forrest. I’ve now got inspiration to do something similar and the trans-Canada trail came up. I was wondering off your would know how to link up several off road trails to transverse Canada? If not don’t worry. I’ve got some questions. Are bears much of a problem? I talk to one Canadian dude and he said that no problem at all. Is this bike Trail clearly marked with signs or do you need a map app or local knowledge? I know in Switzerland and Australia the trails are clearly marked. If you can give me any help would be great because I’m just starting to plan the journey and I’m gonna try as many people as possible. If you ever get the taste for long distance touring try the Surly ogre with Son Dino hub and rolhoff internal gearing with DT Swiss Wheels and spokes. You will never have any problems or wheel problems or gear problems. I ride a 40 kg bike and hammer off-road trails nothing has ever gone wrong. Cheers mate your journey is inspirational and thanks for putting it up. Top effort
Thanks a lot!!! For this trip I just followed a route from bikepacking.com so I didn't have to put anything together myself, but I had good luck with using google maps to link together gravel roads for a different trip I did this summer. I never had any bear problems during the trip, the 4 that I saw ran away as soon as they heard/saw me. For navigation, I used Trailforks for the sections of trail that were on there, and the trans Canada trail app everywhere else. The trail is marked very well 95% of the time, but I had a lot of troubles with navigating at Elk Pass, and between Princeton and Hope, and between Chiliwack Lake and Cultus Lake. I hope you can make it out soon, the TCT is beautiful!
@@aRudeDuck I was just about to ask the same questions. I was going to do a trip to Kelowna back in '77 at age 15, but my buddy's parents wouldn't let him go. Decades later I am binging cross canada bike trips and saw yours.
I will be 60 this coming January, but I am still 15 on a bike. Rowdy and raring to go. Next summer could be the trick.
I might do the first part you did in Alberta as a training mission in the spring. I have got gopros, a 360 camera and a drone, so I I go I will film it. - Cheers.
@@joeshmoe7967 that's great to hear! The hardest part is actually getting out, once you're on the trail everything tends to sort itself out
I wonder if that bird is a grouse?
Question: Do you think you got fitter as you went? 1-10 how fit when you started? As old as i am, I probably would want to pad the schedule with an extra week, but also think my cardio fitness increases pretty quickly when I am working consistently. Planning on riding as much as possible this winter, so my spring starts a little better. - Cheers
The riding definitely got easier after about day 6 or 7! I started out doing 60-80km in the first week but started doing 80-120km later on. Day 3 was probably the hardest but I took a day off after so the rest helped
@@aRudeDuck Thanks for the reply. I am riding as much as I can all winter to get my fitness up. By summer I will be 60.5, but in my mind I am much much younger. Totally want to do an epic ride.
As a side note, first thing I thought watching was a quote from a customer when I used to deliver pizza 'us long hairs have to stick together'. I say the same too you!!
Not as a plug but simply to see my hair lazybusker at the you know what gram. pic posted for a halloween video. - Cheers
Hey! Awesome journey ! I’m curious, how long are the trail segments before coming to towns ?
The longest stretches between towns was about 160km. They're between Banff and Elkford, Princeton and Hope, and Hope and Cultus Lake. I was able to start or finish near a town every day of the trip!
What bike did you use? Thx
I used a Trek Fuel, I originally wanted a fully rigid bike but having the wider tires and full suspension was useful for a lot of the trail
what route did you take from Calgary > Fernie?
I took the TCT (they have a great map online)! I skipped out on a few sections though, I went straight from SE Calgary to Bragg Creek and I skipped Cox Hill because I was quite tired on the second day. Banff to Fernie had some of my favorite parts of the trip
@@aRudeDuckdo you have a link for the TCT map ? Planning this route for summer 2025 from Calgary