Summary

At first I want to tell you about the reason we planned our bicycle tour from coast to coast in Canada.

In 2003 I travelled from Vladivostok (Russia) to The Hague (The Netherlands) crossing the Euro-Asiatic Continent. A total distance of 12,500 km of which 1,600 km were on unpaved roads or under construction in Siberia. We travelled with a group of 21 bikers to raise funds for the PolioPlus Action of Rotary International (see: Polio can be defeated). This bike tour raised a total amount of € 360,000. We had a lot of success, in fundraising as well as in publicity in The Netherlands.

After that I intended to finish the tour around the world by bike through the American Continent. I decided to make this tour across Canada because I’m very interested in Canada (the people and its lovely and majestic scenery). My wife is an enthusiastic biker also, but my speed is too fast for her. So we decided to buy a tandem. I planned the tour on basis of the book ‘Cycling Canada’ written by John M. Smith (1995). Because we will visit our cousin in Prince Albert, I planned a great part of the route on information about parks, scenery and roads from the Internet.

Very roughly our route is as follows: we arrive 17^th May 2008 in Vancouver, travelling to Hope, Cache Creek, Golden, Radium Hot Springs, Jasper, Edmonton, Prince Albert, Dauphin, Winnipeg, Sault Ste. Marie, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Cowansville, Rivière-du-Loup, Saint John, Lunenburg and finish the middle of September in Halifax.

We raise funds for the following foundations: Stichting Spieren voor Spieren (‘Muscles for muscles’) – this foundation stimulates scientific research for muscle-diseases especially with little children - , Stichting Hulphond (‘Service Dog’) – this foundation trains dogs to service handicapped persons - , Fonds Gehandicaptensport (‘Sports for handicapped persons’) – this foundation makes it possible for disabled persons to practice all kind of sports.