Riding a bike in Richmond is a “piece of cake” now for long-time Richmond resident Noah Silvera.
“I always cycled around Richmond. I always cycle commuted to work and school. It’s flat, it’s easy,” chuckled Silvera, a 21-year-old software engineering student at University of Victoria.
No doubt, after a two-month, pan-Canadian cycling trip with girlfriend Saskia Kowallik that saw the two climb a combined 52,520 metres of elevation — equivalent to six Mount Everests.
The July 1 to Sept. 1 trip can be viewed online, at Silvera’s blog (Canada-Bike-Trip-Noah-Silvera.Blogspot.ca) where he shares photos and detailed, daily GPS tracking of the trip from the smartphone app Straba.
Silvera, who attended St. Joseph the Worker in his elementary school days, said he and Kowallik decided to cycle across Canada on a whim, as they had two months off.
“We had never been past B.C. I had never seen the Rockies,” said Silvera.
SEE PHOTOS HERE
He had done two shorter trips on Vancouver Island before. The couple was assisted along the way by Kowallik’s father, who followed them by car and set up camping spots ahead of their eight-hour cycling days that spanned roughly 140-240 kilometres per day (no weight on their ultra-light bikes).
Silvera said the hardest part of the trip was crossing the Prairies.
“Everyone talks about the physical part of cycling, but once your legs are moving you forget about your body,” he explained.
“It’s the mental part that’s tough. The Prairies had no mental stimulation. And when the wind comes at you it doesn’t change.”
Highlights included being invited to a family home by strangers to celebrate a French cultural festival in New Brunswick and the “amazing” Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland.
Silvera praised Richmond and Vancouver’s growing cycling network but had less to say about Ontario’s offerings.
SEE GPS LOGS HERE
