Wow you live in Ottawa and yet it seems none of us have heard of you. One of my friends also does work for Invisible Children, and someone I work with is going to Uganda soon to go work there.
By any chance have you been training in Westboro recently? There have been a few sightings that I thought were Eric, but they were probably you!
If you want anyone to ride with from Ottawa for a bit I would love to see you off/meet you!
I’m In Hull, Not a problem to go to Ottawa really though. wuua… are we talking about a 29" and higher ride? If so, No luck for me…
Hmm the only time I’ve been to westboro in recent history I was not with my unicycle. Must have been someone else. I’ve been riding mostly on Montreal road, Ogilvie, Ottawa U, the paths by the canal, Rocliffe Pkwy, and Blackburn Hamlet area.
I’m going to have to drive to Kingston to catch the train; they’ll take the uni there but not from Ottawa.
I’ve got a question about tents I’m hoping someone can help me out with:
I got the Hubba tent form Mountain Equipment Coop.
There are two versions: the old one and the 2009 one. The old one is $40 less.
The difference: The new one has waterproofing for 10 000mm instead of 5 000mm, and has reinforced hubs where the polls connect.
Is it worth $40 for that?
The fact that they are now reinforced suggests to me that there might have been a problem in the past…
oh yeah and I found some sobering images today: Traffic Cams
Hah I work at MEC, you may want to actually check and see if we have both the new and the old hubbas in stock. Both are great tents though.
If you are going for ultralight unsupported though, why not go with a bivie sack?
MEC is a pretty neat store. I ended up returning half the stuff I had gotten from a bike shop because it was twice the price.
Bivie sack… I don’t know… I’ll take an extra pound or two for a tent. I’ve never used a bivie sack before and I’d rather go with something I know. I like the illusion of protection that a tent gives me.
I actually got the new Hubba when I was in there. There weren’t any old ones so I’ve got one on order which should come in tomorrow or Friday, at which point I’ll decide.
Have you heard of the hubs giving out on any of them in the past? I think I might just keep the new one for the piece of mind… though, $40 means $40 more food I can eat.
I would just stick with an older one. I haven’t heard of them being a problem, and you should know by the time you make it to Toronto whether or not it is worth it, and there is a MEC there, so if its a problem just trade it in for the new one!
Day One
Well, I’ve made it out here to British Columbia and I’m ready to head out tomorrow (11 april - today I guess) on day one. I’ll be cycling from here in Victoria to the ferry, then up near UBC for the night. Not the most direct route but I get to see people.
I’ve got a new domain:
unicycleacrosscanada.ca. New (and not finished) theme, and I’ve almost got things set up to start getting pictures up.
I’ve got a GPS tracker thing that sends a signal every 10 mins, hopefully in the next week or so I’ll have that live on a google map up there.
The first video will be coming soon as well.
The purpose of this journey is to raise awareness and funds for Invisible Children. Please take a look at their website, invisiblechildren.com, and think about sponsoring me: at least 90% of donations will go directly to Invisible Children.
I have not gotten very much of a response from the media yet, but I’m still working on it. If anyone wants to help out with that my press release and publicity shots are up on the site now, unicycleacrosscanada.ca/press-kit.
I’m sure that not being taken seriously is a factor in the tepid response, so I’m trying to kick it up a notch on the internet front:
Join the facebook group
Follow me on Twitter
Youtube channel coming soon.
Thanks for all the help so far!
Phil
Add these …
-Gold Bond
-No Rinse Bathing Wipes (for washing up mid-day, really helps the attitude to get the sweat off)
.
Alright good call. I’ll check those out.
Damn, Mikefule, maybe that’s a sign…
Awesome, g’luck! Following you on Twitter (uninick) and if you need Drupal help, lemme know (it’s part of my day job ;))
Alright cool. I definitely have some drupal questions.
I am in Callander ON, near North Bay, and could put you up if you’re passing this way en route to Ottawa.
Excellent I will get back on that when I’m closer.
I’m leaving Hope today so I won’t have any internet or phone or anything for the next four days or so. The Crowsnest Highway which I’m taking is pretty desolate for the next 130k or so, and there’s lots of hills so I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to ride each day, but I’m hoping at least 30 or 40… I can walk if it’s too steep so I think that’s reasonable.
I got a quick teaser for the first segment of the youtube series up, check it out on my website at unicycleacrosscanada.ca.
Hopefully I’ll get that segment up once I arrive back in civilization in Princeton.
Wish me luck!
Phil
Hey Phil, just reading this thread is getting me pumped to do my own, less intense trips. Will be following you the whole way.
Stay safe and good luck!
This is new to me!
I’m registered as Subtle, but I should be posting under “Old Dude”. 
I was driving up the Hope-Princeton on Friday about 2 pm and after passing some bicycles–both roadies and tours-- I saw what seemed to the the tallest biker I’ve ever seen. 
That was almost to Manning Park.
And then it was a guy on a “big” unicyle with handlebars and carrying a pack.
Never known about this sport before–impressive–but at age 72, I’m too late for it.
Still mountain-biking though.
I think if you search around these forums a bit, you will find that you are definitely not too old to start learning!
I know there’s been at least one gentleman who learned in his 70’s, he and his 40-something year old son started learning together… forget who it was though…
Hey Subtle! Do you live in the Hope area? You should learn to ride, because then I could have someone new to ride with!
lpounds, awesome!
Subtle, that’s really cool. You probably saw Dave Cox riding, who is quickly catching up to me.
I’m am now in Lethbridge Alberta, having completed BC and that province’s mountains. Everything is going great, I’ve been getting a lot of local paper coverage and some radio interviews.
I did get the first video segment done a while ago, you can find it on my website, unicycleacrosscanada.ca. It covers my trip from Victoria to Hope, just before the mountains. My next video will be about the trek through the mountains, hopefully out soon.
I switched my cranks over from the 6" (152mm?) to the 5" ones Darren gave me. What a difference! It reminded me of the first time I tried my 36" wheel. I wasn’t expecting that much difference but it made yesterday’s 125k ride almost a breeze.
Just a quick update for now. I’m keeping pretty active on my blog if anyone is interested. (ps. the site is about to be switched over to a new, much nicer design…)
Is there anyone on here who lives on my route? I’m taking the #3 up to Medicine Hat and then the Trans-Canada right to Ontario. I’d love to ride with people for a bit.
