Ultimate Guide for Biking Across Canada
If you classify yourself as a resident in Canada and love to explore the place around for yourself, you have come to the right place. However, an adventurous spirit might not be the only thing you would need along the way since it requires more than just a pair of wheels, muscle strength, and strong willpower.
Perhaps the thing about biking is that it is more physically demanding than you would think it to be since it requires a considerable amount of patience, stamina, and the human spirit.
However, one must remember that it all bogs down to how much you enjoy the journey without worrying about how long the journey would amount to.
Let us now consider the nitty-gritty of cycling around town, including the time duration and distance and how these two factors determine your experience, especially if you cycle across North America.
Time
Related to this topic is the world record accomplished back in the day, in 2019 by Chris Bruckner for the inter-Canada bike journey that left a significant mark in history books. His achievement was cycling from Vancouver to Halifax, only taking up a time of just thirteen days.
His success remains unparalleled today and has inspired several others in the field. And one can only hope to challenge and beat such an impossible target for a cross-country cycling experience.
Hence, it seems clear that Chris’s thirteen days will top the charts for a long time. But that should not stop anyone from aiming high and setting big goals. Every person goes at a different pace, and rushing anything would do no one any good. If you feel like a time duration of just two weeks is too much for you, then you can aim for a longer time, such as six weeks, or ten, or even twelve.
Always remember that aiming high and challenging yourself is one thing, and over exhaustion is another. You must always set goals for yourself, but make sure they are physically and logically manageable.
For that matter, even Chris put himself through severe nerve damage from overworking his muscles too much, and that is something one might want to avoid for themselves. Perhaps a more achievable and realistic target that is still challenging for many would include cycling across the country but keeping a time frame of about two months in mind.
Adjusting the speed to approximately 20 kilometers per hour can help cover about 90 kilometers daily. For a more practical plan such as this one, you might surprise yourself when you get to know that it only takes up about 5 hours of cycling in a day. And such a target still seems doable for someone who isn’t exactly an athlete.
For a more comprehensive overview and a better understanding of your journey, you can surf through a guidebook. It would also help you navigate through some of the basics of cycling, such as how to position yourself on your bike saddle post.
Tips on how to efficiently ride your bike
Many of you must have heard the phrase, “it’s like riding a bike,” which suits this situation perfectly. It refers to a task that is easy to do or attain or something that can come back to you.
However, it might seem ironic at first at how false this statement is otherwise. Cycling may include muscle memory for the most part, but one can easily misinterpret just how challenging riding a bike can become.
If you do not maintain the correct posture and use appropriate strategies, you might fall victim to a couple of severe health problems that can make riding even more challenging in the future.
A few tips and tricks can come in handy to protect the spine and preserve overall body strength so that you can take up such a physically tiring hobby for a longer time. Perhaps riding for an extensive time can lead to muscle soreness, but a strict implementation of such measures can help one overcome periods of discomfort.
Pay attention to the seat height
A leading cause of bad posture is the incorrect positioning of the saddle on a bike, which ruins the overall height proportion for the rider.
For this reason, the best thing to do would be to try the technique of leaning onto your bike after you place it against the wall and then mount it so that it stays in its original position.
Once you know what height is most suitable, you can then maneuver the length of the saddle using the quick release or Allen wrench.
The purpose here is to reposition the height of the cycle so that it is high enough for your height. And that would prevent too much pressure from being released onto the knees so that they would only have to bend slightly when the pedal reaches its lowest height. Such precautionary methods prevent excessive strain that the body goes through to reach the pedals.
If one leg bends for too long, it can release too much pressure onto the joint, making it even harder for the joints to set the cycle in motion.
Frame sizing matters
It might surprise you that biking goes much further than just taking care of such adjustments. A properly fitting bike becomes important about the precautions described above.
A bike frame might be too large or too small to meet your body frame, which can seriously affect your posture. For this reason, a quick way to measure yourself is your height from your pubic bone.
Last Thoughts
In conclusion, even after keeping in mind all that got described above, it still is possible that you can tire yourself, especially if you take a trip to the mountain ranges of BC, the high slopes of Alberta, and the famous hills of Ontario.
Therefore, when deciding for yourself how long would it take to bike across Canada, you must make sure to give yourself a couple of rest days to save yourself from long-term exhaustion and injury.
Other posts we think you might like…
