#23:

trip dates 28.6.2009 - 6.8.2009
distance cycled 6000 km
repairs 4x


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Across North America

The ride from Vancouver to New York City was a pleasant one. It lacked the adventure and unpredictability which is often present - or maybe only imagined - in some tours in the 3rd world. However, I didn't miss that sence not even for a second.
General information
ROUTE: I started on the Pacific coast in Vancouver, going eastward on the road #7 (Lougheed HWY) to Hope, then on #3 (Crow's nest) to Osoyoos, on #97 to Kelowna and Vernon and on #6 to Naksup and #23 to Revelstoke. There I joined Trans Canada HWY #1 (or #17 in Ontario) through Banff, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay to Wawa. In Wawa I took #101 to Timmins and #11 to North Bay, and then joined Trans Canada (or its cycling variants) to Ottawa. From Ottawa I went south to Prescot and crossed into USA by the Ogdensburg bridge. In USA I cycled through Potsdam, Adirondack park (#3 and #30), Amsterdam, Albany, and mostly on #9 to Poughkeepsie and New York City.

ROADS: Paved all the way. There is a paved shoulder on Trans Canada and in USA much of the way. It disapears in few places in Manitoba and especially Ontario and as you near NYC the street pavement becomes more rough at the edge of the road.

MAPS: I planned the trip by the Freitag & Berndt map of USA and south Canada and by Google maps. Most of the time I didn't carry the maps with me - just a card with riding directions: see it here. For details see my digital map approach. In Ontario and New York I rode by the free maps that I got in visitor's centers.

TRAFFIC: The traffic is quite dense on most of Trans Canada and in USA. There is a big proportion of heavy trucks: on average every 4th or 5th vehicle. Exceptions with light traffic were: #6 and #101 in Canada, and roads through Adirondack mountains in USA. The drivers are relatively well behaved toward the cyclists. There is some danger on parts without the paved shoulder, especially in Ontario where the Trans Canada is two-way road and there is no place for cyclist if two trucks meet.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: I flew with Air Canada and Austrian airlines to/from Europe. In JFK the check in staff insisted that I pay $200 for the bike, although I think they were wrong and I'll make a complaint to Austrian.

ACCOMMODATION: I wild-camped 11 times, camped in campgrounds 4 times, slept in motels/hotels 19 times and once in a hostel in NYC.

FOOD AND WATER: I ate breakfasts at petrol stations' restaurants, and bought food from the supermarkets or stores. I never bought bottled water but got it from the taps in petrol stations and in places where I slept and twice I took water from streams in British Columbia, which I filtered through the water filter.

COSTS: I paid between $50 and $90 for a room in Canada and around $60 in USA (hostel in NYC was $37). Camgrounds in Canada were from $15 to $30. A breakfast in Canada is $6 to $10, a beer $4. I spent around 38 EUR/day.

VISAS: I needed no visas. If you arrive by air in the USA you should apply through electronic system ESTA. This is not valid if you came through land border; you'll have to pay $6.

WEATHER: There was a lot of rain this summer in North America. I was wet about 10 times on this trip (a quarter of all days). Daily temperatures were around 23 C, highest in Okannagan valley in BC (up to 32 C), the lowest on some rainy days in higher location (around 10 C). The lowest night temperatures were around 5 C. Daylight from 5:30 to 20:30.

SITES: I liked the mountain scenery in BC and Adirondack mountains, but the flat praries with wide big skies were also nice. As were the undulating roads of Ontario with thousands of lakes and rivers.

ANNOYANCES: Mosquitoes are abundant all through Canada.

EQUIPMENT: Road bike and very little more. Click the bike icon above for details.

REPAIRS: 4 punctures. They occured on badly worn old tyre which had about 5000 km before the start of the tour. I had no punctures on the new tyre that I bought in Brandon, CA.

LINKS: There are a lot of reports of coast-to-coast tours on CGOAB.


Čez severno Ameriko

Vožnja od Vancouvra do New Yorka je bila prijetna. Mogoče ji je manjkalo avanture ali nepredvidljivosti, ki so značilne - če ne bolj namišljene - za ture po državah tretjega sveta. Vendar moram reči da tega nisem pogrešal niti za minutko.
Splošne informacije
POT: Štartal sem na Pacifiški obali, v Vancouvru, idoč proti vzhodu po cesti #7 (Lougheed HWY) do Hopea, nato po #3 (Vranje gnezdo) do Osoyoosa, po #97 do Kelowne in Vernona, po #6 do Nakuspa in #23 do Revelsokeja. Tu sem se pridružil glavni cesti #1 čez Kanado (oz. #17 v Ontariu) skoz Banff, Calgary, Regino, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay in Wawo. V Wawi sem se poskušal izogniti ciklonu, ki se je vrtel okoli velikih jezer in sem zato naredil ovinek proti severu po #101 do Timminsa in po #11 do North Baya, kjer sem spet pristal na Čez-Kanadski avtocesti (ali njenimi podvariantami) in ji sledil do Ottawe. Iz Ottawe sem obrnil proti jugu in prečkal reko svetega Lorenca v ZDA pri mestecu Ogdensburg. V ZDA sem kolesaril čez Potsdam, park Adirondack (#3 in #30), Amsterdam, Albany in večinoma po #9 do Poughkeepsija in New Yorka.

CESTE: So asfaltirane vseskozi. Na čez-Kanadki in v ZDA večinoma imajo široko asfaltirano bankino. Ta izgine na nekaterih delih v Manitobi in predvsem v Ontariu, in ko se bližaš New Yorku ceste postajajo vse bolj grobe ob cestnem robu.

ZEMLJEVID: Pot sem splaniral po Freitag & Berndt zemljevidu ZDA in južne Kanade in po Google zemjevidih. Večino časa kart nisem imel s sabo - le kartico z razdaljami: poglej jo tu. O podrobnostih tega pristopa preberi na digitalnih kartah. V Ontariu in New Yorku sem vozil po zemljevidih, ki sem jih dobil zastojn v centrih za obiskovalce.

PROMET: Promet je kar gost na večini Trans-Kanadke in v ZDA. Šleperji predstavljajo kar velik procent vozil, mogoče vsako 4to ali 5to vozilo. Izjeme z malo prometa sta cesti #6 in #101 v Kanadi in ceste skozi hribe Adirondack v ZDA. Vozniki so večinoma prijazni do kolesarjev, je pa kar nevarno na odsekih brez asfaltirane bankine, predvsem v Ontariu kjer je čez-Kanadka obojesmerna in kjer ni mesta za kolesarja kadar se srečata dva tovornjaka.

JAVNI TRANSPORT: Letel sem z Air Canada in Austrian Airlines iz/v Evropo. Na letališču v New Yorku so mi zaračunali $200 za prevoz bicikla, kar mislim da je narobe in se bom pritožil.

PRENOČIŠČA: Šotoril sem na divje 11-krat, kampiral v urejenih kampih 4-krat, 19-krat spal v motelih in enkrat v hostlu v NY.

HRANA IN VODA: Jedel sem večinoma zajtrk v restavracijah na bencinskih pumpah, in kupoval hrano v supermarketih ali trgovinah. Vstekleničene vode nisem nikoli kupoval, temveč sem jo točil iz pip na bencinskih postajah, restavracijah, in krajih kjer sem spal, dvakrat sem jo tudi natočil iz potokov, ko sem jo tudi filtriral s filtrom-slamco.

STROŠKI: Plačal sem med 35 EUR in 60 EUR za sobo v Kanadi in okoli 45 EUR v ZDA (hostel v NY je bil 23 EUR). Kampi v Kanadi so bili med 10 in 21 EUR. Zajtrk v Kanadi je med 4 in 7 EUR, pivo okoli 3 EUR. Porabil sem 38 EUR na dan.

VIZE: Viz nisem potreboval. Če prideš v ZDA z letalom se je potrebno predhodno elektronsko prijaviti v ESTA sistem. Za kopensko mejo to ne velja, tam plačaš $6.

VREME: To poletje je bilo veliko dežja v centralni Severni Ameriki. Bil sem kompletno premočen najmanj 10-krat (četrtino vseh dni). Dnevne temperature so bile okoli 23 C, najvišje v dolini Okannagan valley v Britanski Kolumbiji (do 32 C), najnižje pa v deževnih dneh na višje ležečih krajih (okoli 10 C). Najnižje nočne temperature so bile okoli 5 C. Dnevna svetloba od 5:30 do 20:30.

KRAJI: Všeč mi je bila gorska pokrajina v Britanski Kolumbiji in gorstvu Adirondack, čeprav ravno tako prerijska prostranstva v srednji Kanadi. In prav tako gričevje v Ontariu s tisočimi jezeri in potoki.

NEVŠEČNOSTI: Komarji so neverjetno množični in nadležni v Kanadi.

OPREMA: Cestno kolo z minimalno prtljage. Klikni ikono bicikla za podrobnosti.

POPRAVKI: Imel sem 4 gumi defekte, ki so se vsi zgodili na hudo obrabljenem plašču, ki je za sabo imel 5000 km že na štartu. S plaščem, ki sem ga kupil v Brandonu nisem imel nobenega problema.

POVEZAVE: Veliko je kolesarskih potopisov s tega konca sveta na strani: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com.

Stuff

Aluminium road bike with carbon fork, triple chainring (52/42/30), 8 speed cassette (12-26) and tyres 700x25. Ultralight, as always, in fact with 5.6 kg of stuff, 15.8 kg including the bike and 16.8 kg including the liter of water, it was the least so far for a camping tour, about 1 kg less from the previous record. See further details. The tent and the stuff bag with most of things wrapped in bubble wrap was on the rear rack, digital camera and few other things in a saddlebag attached to the handlebar. Note that this was not a 'credit card' trip - I had a tent and sleeping bag, and used them 40 % of the nights.
I never used the monocular for watching birds (you can see it on the top tube) and cell phone. The former broke down and I threw it away the third day and the later didn't work.


Stvari

Cestno kolo št. 8, ki je sedaj moje standardno potovalno kolo. Ima aluminijasti okvir, karbonsko vilico, trojno šajbo (52/42/30) in 8-prestavno kaseto (12-26). Gume so bile 700x25c. Ultralahko, kot vedno, pravzaprav najlažje doslej. Z 5.7 kg za stvari, 15.8 vključujoč kolo, in 16.8 z litrom vode sem za 1 kg potolkel (svoj) dosedanji rekord za turo s kamping opremo. Težo sem zmanjšal predvsem zaradi 300 g lažje poletne spalne vreče, in lažjih oblačil, ker sem pričakoval precej višje temperature kot pred enim letov v Centralni Aziji. Poglej tudi stran "weight". Šotor in pakirna vreča z večino stvari zavitih v "bubble-wrap" folijo sta bila na zadnjem prtljažniku, digitalni fotoaparat in nekaj pogosto rabljenih stvari pa v majhni torbici na balanci. Pozor: to ni bila "credit-card" tura; imel sem šotor in spalno vrečo, in ju rabil 40 % noči.

Cycling data


Day Date Trip Time   Speed  Total Accom Notes (daily end-stop) ***
                    Avr Max            
    d/m   km  h:m  km/h km/h  km
0  28/6    0  0:0   0.0  0     0   a   Ljubljana-Vancouver
1  29/6  207  9:43 21.3 55   207   w   Alison pass -4km
2  30/6  174  7:56 21.9 59   381   w   Osoyoos -25km
3   1/7  132  7:36 17.4 66   513   m   Penticton
4   2/7  182  9:07 20.0 62   694   c   Cheryville +12km
5   3/7  135  6:49 19.8 60   829   H   Nakusp
6   4/7  141  6:45 20.9 56   971   w   Revelstke +35km
7   5/7  120  5:54 20.4 55  1091   m   Golden
8   6/7   97  5:40 17.1 46  1187   m   Lake Louise -14km
9   7/7  202  8:28 23.8 66  1389   m   Calgary
10  8/7  203  7:38 26.6 60  1592   w   Brooks
11  9/7  107  4:19 24.9 50  1700   w   Medicine Hat
12 10/7  211  9:16 22.8 45  1910   c   Swift Current -13km
13 11/7  190  8:02 23.6 51  2128   w   Moose Jaw
14 12/7  158  8:10 19.4 28  2258   c   Indian Had
15 13/7  147  8:23 17.5 25  2405   w   Moosomin -5km
16 14/7  154  7:05 21.7 36  2559   c   Brandon
17 15/7  227  9:01 25.2 53  2786   m   Winnipeg
18 16/7  105  4:57 21.1 30  2891   m   Hadashville +2km
19 17/7  157  7:30 21.0 49  3048   m   Kenora +50km
20 18/7  207  9:17 22.3 45  3255   w   Ignace
21 19/7  225 10:21 21.8 50  3481   w   Kakabeca falls -4km
22 20/7  150  7:20 20.5 48  3631   m   Nipignon
23 21/7  194 10:08 19.1 59  3825   w   Marathon
24 22/7  173  8:57 19.4 50  3998   m   Wawa -15km
25 23/7  160  8:13 19.5 47  4158   m   Chapleau
26 24/7  206  9:38 21.4 59  4364   m   Timmins
27 25/7  163  7:53 20.7 40  4528   m   Englehart
28 26/7  120  6:14 19.2 43  4648   m   Temangami +20km
29 27/7  187  8:22 22.3 61  4835   w   Deux Rivieres +5km
30 28/7  142  7:03 20.1 52  4977   m   Cobden
31 29/7  171  8:41 19.7 41  5148   m   Leitrim
32 30/7  131  6:32 20.0 36  5279   m   Canton (USA)
33 31/7  138  6:35 21.0 60  5417   w   Long Lake
34  1/8  167  7:22 22.6 58  5583   m   Amsterdam
35  2/8  101  5:21 19.0 51  5685   m   Hudson
36  3/8  171  7:42 22.1 54  5855   m   Elmsford
37  4/8   62  3:56 15.8 43  5918   h   New York City
38  5/8   31  2:00 15.3 33  5948   a   NYC-Vienna
39  6/8   51  2:10 23.7 48  6000   a   Ljubjana

Days Trip Time Speed Avr Max km h:m km/h km/h 40 6000 286:04 - - Sum 37 5918 281:54 - - Sum, cycling days - 227 10:21 26.6 66 MAX, cycling days - 62 3:56 15.8 25 min, cycling days 40 150 7:09 - - average per day 37 160 7:37 21.0 50 average per cycling day
*** Legend 12 10/7 - cycling day 38 5/8 - non cycling or rest day Trip - daily cycling distance Time - daily cycling time (while in motion) Speed - daily cycling speed (while in motion): Avr - average; Max - maximal. Total - cumulative distance Accom - accommodation: a: airplane; m: motel; H(h): ho(s)tel; c: camp; w: wild camping

Travelogue

I wrote a blog about this trip, it's here: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/v2nyc.


Potopis

Blog v angleščini lahko vidiš na: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/v2nyc.