Going by Bicycle
Our Route Itineraries now include elevation charts, so you can see how hilly a segment is, and plan your rest stops appropriately.
The Canadian Cycling Association has a great book about touring by bike (Elliott Katz, 1994), though for a variety of reasons, they take significant detours off the Trans-Canada.
Can you bicycle on the Trans Canada Highway? Yes, for most of its length bikes are permitted and (other than Northern Ontario) the shoulders are generous. There are a couple of stretches that are high-speed traffic limted-access divided highway were cyclists are not allowed:
- Highway 1 in BC’s lower mainland between Horseshoe Bay and Hope,
- Highway 417 in and around Ottawa,
- Highways 400 and 401 to/from Toronto, and
- Quebec’s highways 20, 30, and 40 from Ontario through Montreal to Quebec City.
But these routes have good side roads that are reasonably direct, lower traffic and bicuyle-friendly, and often on the original routes of the Trans-Canada (like Highway 17 east of Ottawa, along the Ottawa River), and these routes are offten more scenic, have more places to stop, shop, and rest than the main route. This makes these side routes more suitable for cyclists.