We are Canadians in our late 30’s. We currently call home Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Scott grew up in southern Ontario (Guelph) and Becky grew up in northern British Columbia (Kitimat). We took our first cycle tour on our honeymoon in October 2002 around Portugal. Since then, we’ve enjoyed cycle tours in various parts of Canada, including: the Icefields Parkway (Jasper to Calgary, Alberta), Nova Scotia including the Cabot Trail, and Prince Edward Island.
When we tell people we are going on a 15 month bicycle tour, the first question we are asked is “Where are you going?” The simplest answer to the question is, “We are going east.”
When we first talked about this trip in September 2007, it was only 4 months and involved cycling across Canada from Vancouver to St. John’s. However, I wasn’t so sure about cycling long distances with a regular touring bike. My experience last summer cycling in PEI was an indicator that with anything longer than 80km per day my neck and wrists were not happy. I wanted to try out the idea of long distance cycling on a recumbent. Unfortunately, it was too late in the season to buy a new bike, learn how to ride it, and be ready for a cross-Canada tour by mid-May. So, we decide to start in August and extend the trip to include parts of Europe and Southeast Asia — always, “going east” until we got back to Ottawa.
The adventure has changed a little since then. We now have plans to concentrate on cycling across Canada, around the Middle East, and around the Far East. We are also hoping to accomplish this entire journey without an airplane flight, and concentrate on living our values while we travel.
Our itinerary keeps changing, and likely wont be solid until the trip is complete! Click here for the latest plan.
For more information about us, see posts under the category About us.
Hi,
I’m considering a long tour through Europe on a recumbent when I retire. I currently have a Volae Expedition Comp which is unsuspended. I’m looking at a used Street Machine gte. I’m wondering what you think about your Street Machine bikes. The only complaint I have of the Volae is that it is unstable. For example I’m not able to take my hands off the bars.
We love our StreetMachines – they were a great choice for touring especially with the factory racks which were very solid – we didn’t have any issues with those. We did have some issues with the gear shifter for the hub – I ended up flipping my shifters over to make them work better. I’m much happier with them now. Overall, we found them to be great bikes for touring.
With Underseat steering, I could take one hand off the handle bars no problem, but pretty much never both. I can also just put my hands lightly on top, and that is enough for me to keep the bike stable. I often do thinks like move water bottles from one side to the other while riding, using my stomach as a holder while changing hands.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Becky