The Making of a Cross Canada Route

[Pete O Static]

Another vote for the " Beaver Trail " here. Or how about the " Looney Bin " or the " Inukshuk Trail "

That would be cool, using Inukshuks to show the way.

http://www.inukshukgallery.com/inukshuk.html

Great job guys.

[Duster929]

Ok, I'm subscribed. I've been a long-time tourer, and now that I have a GS I'm looking for exactly what you guys are offering.

I think you're right to watch out for "scope creep". You can't be all things to all people. But what you can be is a "backbone" that other people can use to tailor their own trip. If you lay out a trail that anyone with some ability can ride (including, ahem, GS's), you can make sure everyone has information to access the areas you're talking about. And if you tie in the off-road riding associations in each region, they can publish their own trails that "tie-in" with your basic, accessible trail.

The TCT hiking trail kind of works that way. In every region, you can find more detailed information on that segment (i.e. the Bruce Trail in Ontario), that tells you about side-trips from the main trail, and more challenging options, etc.

Focus on the backbone, and in the years to come, other things will attach to it.

Also, keep in mind the international riders. We tend to get excited about people who take trips in South America or Zambia, but we under-rate the appeal of our own country. There are people in Germany and Italy who think that this country is the most fascinating place on Earth, and who can't understand when we say that the prairies are boring. We forget how special our country is. International riders will love this thing, and they will find our open and unpopulated spaces a big draw.

I'd also encourage you to seek some funding or support from some tourist agencies, at the city, provincial, and ultimately federal level. Just make sure you have a lot of work done on it first, so someone doesn't try to take control of it away from you, and turn it into something that's not fun.

--- D

[Deadly99]

Originally Posted by Pete O Static

Another vote for the " Beaver Trail " here.
Great job guys.

The beaver is the national animal of Canada :). It's also responsible for creating much of our landscape. I just recenly read somewhere that Canada has more lakes than all the other countries in the world combined, many of which are created by Beavers.

[Deadly99]

Thanks Duster, a lot of idea's there, much appreciated :)

I for one love the prairies. The riding can get a bit monotonous but that's a part of the beauty. As mentioned before the geographic differences across Canada are to me a big draw of this route. Years back I drove a taxi to offset a nomadic ski bum existance. I used to drive Japanesse folks from the mountains out to the foothills in Alberta and they'd sit and stare in amazement and keep saying "ahhhh...nnnnooooo bbbooodddyyy". Made me laugh and appreciate the big empty spaces we have and that we often take for granted.

[Duster929]

As for names, I'd try to emphasize the "adventure" and "exploration" aspects, as opposed to naming it after a beaver. However, having something that turns into an acronym can be fun.

How about "The Backroads Exploration and ADVEnture Route" of Canada (BEADVER)

:)

--- D

[Deadly99]

I like the idea. The acronym isn't perfect but the idea seems spot on :).

Been putting in the hours and it seems to be taking shape. A few folks have stepped forward and are "adopting" a chunk of the trail. You can't beat local knowledge. We'll still ride each section and keep the "big picture" in tact. Terrain wise, general area's (needs to start here and finish here), distance between fuel, and other details will remain consistant.

This seems like a wise choice. At the end of the day it'll make the route better, speed up the time it will take to get it completed and let some others enjoy the "fun" of helping out :)

It seems entirely realistic to have the eastern half completed next summer. An outpouring of help has been offerred for the western half. THANKS. I haven't had a chance to get back to everyone but I will. We've decided to wait until this winter before we begin putting pen to paper for the wesern half.

2 weeks until we head out east for a few weeks to explore some routes we've put together. This thread will be buried down low by the time we get back I assume...but we should have lot's of updates and tales when we get back.

Originally Posted by Duster929

As for names, I'd try to emphasize the "adventure" and "exploration" aspects, as opposed to naming it after a beaver. However, having something that turns into an acronym can be fun.

How about "The Backroads Exploration and ADVEnture Route" of Canada (BEADVER)

:)

--- D

[El Birdo]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

I like the idea. The acronym isn't perfect but the idea seems spot on :).Me too


2 weeks until we head out east for a few weeks to explore some routes we've put together. This thread will be buried down low by the time we get back I assume...but we should have lot's of updates and tales when we get back. Don't forget pics

[rinho]

Hey, that's a great things !
I just discover this thread, but will read it !
I was planning a trip in Africa for set/oct but it looks like we are not going to be enough rider... I think I found what I'm gonna ride at fall


BTW, my spoken english is not perfect, but if you want to test if your trails are 1150GSable, I'm your man

[Deadly99]

Originally Posted by rinho

but if you want to test if your trails are 1150GSable, I'm your man

[Deadly99]

Well I suppose it's time I introduced a few of the folks who are contributing to this project.

Juames has been intregal in creating the Eastern Ontario portion of the route. Not only creating it but riding it This man loves his maps...seriously loves his maps I met Juames through the www.Advcanada.com site and we've been spent quite a few days out exploring together in the last couple of years. How many emails we've swapped back and forth about routing idea's and what not is beyond count. Juames rides a tricked out KLR, always has at least three maps of different scales with the route highlighted on them, and seems to be game for anything the day throws at ya. It's predicatble that Juames will also be heavily involved with some of the Quebec portions of the trail.

[Deadly99]

Another member of the asylum here that has stepped forward to "adopt" a section of the route is Flanny. To put the route through his "backyard" without his involvement just didn't seem right A portion of the route (Western Quebec up to the ONtario border) will be his contribution. Flanny ran a rally company, motorally.ca, for a few years and put on alot of events in that area. It's his "stomping grounds". Western Quebec is typically covered in forest and has some "mountains" called the Gatineau's. There are some fun backroads weaving through the hills and I'm looking forward to seeing what he puts together Flanny is a recognizeable name in the orange world on this forum (Flanny TV, etc). Recently he's been out rally racing, taking third at last winters Sandblast Rally and just recently placing second at the Paris 2 Dacre Rally in Ontario
He has a thread HERE called The Long Way To Dacre and he also has a web site HERE

Glad your onboard Flanny...look forward to some riding with you up in the hills

[Deadly99]

Mike, aka Skibum69, has stepped forward and "adopted" the entire island of Newfoundland. NFLD will be the start of the route and we're seriously grateful to have Mike step up to this challenge SkiBum69 is a recognizable name and regular contributor to the advrider world. We've yet to meet but have exchanged many, many pm's and emails over the last year. Mike shares a passion as being a rally fan like myself, but he's decided to take it one step further and pursue the dream of becoming a competitor. Mike has a thread HERE about his rally dreams. 4 weeks until he departs for Mongolia to compete in a multi day rally across a variety of terrain including the Gobi desert. Best of luck Mike
Mike's a contributing member on www.ridetherock.com , a local dual sport forum for NFLD. A group of the members there were very helpful over the winter in suggestions for trails-roads-rail trails, etc for us to go and try out this summer. Kudo's to all you folks, much appreciated

[Deadly99]

Dan. hmm...what to say ? I met Dan a couple of year ago. With many years of experience riding and racing road bikes Dan decided to "take it safe" and get into dual sport riding. I met Dan at one of the advcanada group rides. He was the only one on a big gs, wasn't wearing the appropriate gear, had a most unlikely bike for the route that was scheduled but didn't look nervous...he looked excited

Well after many rides together we've become good buddies and have shared many fun, some not so fun, some blury and some outright perfect days together. Dan will be the guy who rides every square inch of this route with me Dan just recently traded in his big gs1150 after finally admitting it was just too big. Sporting a tricked out ktm 950 se he's ready for action

[Deadly99]

There will be many more folks to add. A huge cheers to everyone who is helping make this happen

We leave in 12 days for eastern Canada. A group of us from the advcanada site get together every year and go on an expedition style trip. This year with the Trans Labrador Highway being completed we have set our sights in that direction. This also works out in that the Trans Lab is intended to be a part of the cross country route ;) It looks like about 6-8 of us will be on the trip. After reaching NFLD the group intends to split up. A small group of us plan to continue east and ride some of the suggested routes that folks on www.ridetherock.com recommended around NFLD for a week or so before coming back home. A few of the trails look outstanding and "easy" I'm sure a tale or two will be accumulated. A 900 km long rail trail, some fun, fast gravel roads, a long atv trail and a few other double tracks are all on the agenda. Combined with a nice 2000+ km long gravel road across Northern Labrador and it looks like this recon trip will have plenty of excitement for us.

The bike needs some loving before departure, a pub meet is set for next week to go over any last minute details then we're off, talk to ya soon.

[Motojournalism]

Great!
Flanny and Skibum are legends and the Rock is an AMAZING place

Oh man, I'm jealous. I'd love to come along, but the ol' bank account hasn't recovered from the last trip