It Was The Best of Times, The Worst of Times!

Trip Statistics:
Total distance: 4781km
Total riding time:  228 hours, 56 minutes
Number of days: 38 days including 1 rest day
Average speed: 20.9km/h
Average distance per riding day: 129.2km
Longest day: 201km from Marathon to Wawa

Accommodations:
Camping: 34 nights including 5 nights of guerrilla camping
Hostels: 3 nights
Motels: 1 night

Quirky Facts: 
Number of calories normally required daily to maintain body weight: 2578 calories
Approximate number of calories burned during a 129.2km ride: Over 5000 calories
Weight of panniers/equipment attached to bike: 65lbs
Weight of bike: 35lbs
My weight before trip: 211lbs
My weight after trip: 181lbs
Number of flat tires: 0 (Vittoria Randoneur tires are amazing)
Equipment failures: 1 chain, 1 derailleur and 1 worn out tire
Other cyclists I met: 22 (including 4 soloists)
Encounters with people walking around the world: 2
Friendly bear encounters: 7
Road kill count: 286 animals including birds.
Most inspiring adventure: Dana Meise's 7 year, 22 000km walk.  Dana was lugging a 60lb backpack through the wilderness and will be the first person to walk the Trans Canada Trail.  Special mention to the grandfather who set the new record for cycling across Canada in 13 days.  Unfortunately, I never got to meet him. 

10 Favourite Moments:
1) The RVer's at the campgrounds. They tell great stories and cooked good dinners.
2) Drivers in B.C. honking and cheering on the mountain climbs.
3) Saskatchewan hospitality.  It was impossible to buy your own beer at the pubs in small towns.
4) People.  Everyone has a story to tell and all were friendly. 
5) The beauty of the Crowsnest Highway through B.C. and the 5 bears on day 2 through Manning Park. 
6) The retired cyclists from Montreal.  Stayed at the same campgrounds in parts of B.C. and all of Alberta.  Bumped into them again in Northern Ontario.
7) Other cyclists crossing the road.  Always lots to say. 
8) The Ontario Provincial Police.  These guys always had your back.  Thanks for the chocolate bars.
9) Swerving around a bear that crossed the road near Creston.  I could have patted it on the head.
10) Complete and utter freedom every hour every day.  Loved waking up in the morning. 

10 Worst Moments:
1) The flooding in Manitoba.  Sad to see so many farmers getting wiped out.
2) Brushing up against the side of a semi in Northern Ontario.  That was close...
3) Headwinds across the prairies.  Tougher than climbing mountain passes.
4) Getting pelted by rocks picked up off the road by the wind between Kenora and Dryden.
5) Climbing the Crowsnest Pass on a stormy 5 degree morning and almost getting blown off my bike by an 80km/h gust of wind near the summit.
6) Road kill.  There was too much of it.
7) Ontario Provincial Park Campgrounds.  The motels were cheaper.
8) The road outside of Thunder Bay.  As one cyclist put it, "The worst roads in the world are in Kazakhstan, but this is worst than Kazakhstan."
9) Mosquitoes, black flies and horse flies.
10) Hail and Lightning storms on the prairies.  On the prairies there's nowhere to hide. 

5 Interesting Characters I Met Along The Way:
1) Dana Meise: Walking 22 000km along the Trans Canada Trail. 
2) Jean Beliveau: 11 years, 64 countries and over 75 000km.  He's walking around the world
3) Pierre Deroi: Professional Adventurer.  Rowed the Atlantic, cycled from Paris to Beijing, pulled a 180kg sled across Greenland and cycled from Vancouver to Montreal in 31 days.
4) Lloyd and Willa:  Owners of the hostel in Thunder Bay.  After spending their lives traveling the world, the world now comes to them.   Recently sponsored 200 Karen Burmese refugees.
5) Matt: Who needs a wallet when you have a ukulele?  Busking to raise funds in every major city, he is slowly working his way from East to West.  A true adventurer who doesn't mind getting lost along the way. 

Would I do it again? 
In a heart beat.  Life seems too ordinary without the great adventures so go for it!

"It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had."
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross