I've been wrestling with this book report since I first read the book roughly two months ago. In a way I am quite happy with this because it forced me to really think about what I look for in a good touring book and also what things about touring journals tend to appeal to me.
When I purchase a bicycle touring book I am usually looking for a book with plenty of adventure and even drama as the main character(s) complete a bicycle touring adventure. The ability to easily relate to the tour is important to me too otherwise I can't seem to immerse myself in the experience fully.
This book touches on a subject that's important to me, the continuation of Canada as a sovereign nation that includes all of the provinces and territories that make up the country today. The Bicycle Touring 101 Web site isn't about politics so I've largely kept these comments away from here but in this case the tour that is written about in the book has a stated goal of being an effort to help preserve Canada as a nation immediately following the last referendum.
Before commenting further with my impressions let me give you a bit more background about the book. Chris Robertson, like many Canadians experienced a tremendous shock following the last referendum. Rather than do little or nothing about it he decided to go on a tour of Canada to promote keeping the country together as one nation.
He decided to tour from the Southern-most point of mainland Canada, Point Pelee to one of the northern-most points, Tuktoyaktuk, spending the majority of his time touring during the warm months but finishing his ride in the middle of winter with a ride on a frozen river that doubles as a highway during the winter months.
When I first discovered and purchased the book at a local bookstore I was quite excited. I've been thinking about going on a tour in the northern parts of the country and I've toured through a lot of the early, southern sections of his route so it had all the elements of a good read before adding in the special reason behind doing the ride in the first place.
Unfortunately once I started reading the book I found it less enjoyable probably because it wasn't really my kind of tour. A lot of the book goes into detail about numerous media meetings and his way of obtaining a place to sleep for the night doesn't really appeal to me.
Although he did camp a few times the book makes it appear that most of the time he would visit hotels and motels in a city and ask for a free room as a way for the company to show their support for Canada. If you gave him a free room then your company was supportive of Canada while if you didn't then you simply didn't care! To me showing your support for Canada doesn't involve giving someone a free room but rather showing people in the entire country how important all of them are!
I was disappointed that for a tour that has a primary goal of keeping Canada united its route went through only the English parts of Canada and did not touch on the main parts of Quebec where people believe or have been told that English people hate them. I can only wonder what such a visit would have meant to these people (and I don't have to wonder too much because I spent time in Quebec following the referendum. During that time I learned to speak French and made a real effort to demonstrate by example that I love the English AND French parts of my country).
The tour also featured a number of interesting differences from any other tour that I've read about. Several times during the journey a return home by airplane was carried out. Although I've read about people having visitors during a tour this is the first time I've read about someone taking numerous breaks during a tour to fly home.
The last comment and the one that bothered me the most was the pain and suffering that the author discusses throughout the text. A properly fitting bike doesn't have to hurt and if it's a bike in good condition then it should be able to keep going without the many problems that were written about in the book. Apparently he prepared for his ride with special training but within a day or two of the ride's beginning someone told him about a BOB (Beast of Burden) trailer allowing him to get rid of a lot of weight from his back. In the book he mentions carrying hundreds of pounds of media packages with him in his rear panniers. Chris reportedly lost many pounds of body weight during his tour so without a doubt he exerted himself to complete the ride successfully.
Touring is an enjoyable activity for me and certainly not the difficult, dangerous and extreme endeavour that was alluded to in the book. My concern is that someone being exposed to bicycle touring for the first time is going to read this book and believe that this is what bicycle touring is all about. So many of us know differently!
I mentioned at the beginning of this review that it's important to realize that what I've written here is my personal opinion. Everyone's tour is a personal effort and what works for me may not work for you.
As much as I hoped to really enjoy the book, at the end I found that it wasn't the book that I had hoped for and the touring style written about in the book doesn't really appeal to me very much. Perhaps you will feel differently about the book and if so please feel free to contact me with your comments so that I can update the review with additional opinions.
| Title: | To the Top Canada |
| Author: | Chris Robertson |
| ISBN: | 0-96849-5206 |
| Web Site: | Direct link to the book on Chris's web site. I prefer linking directly to the author's site for any book that I review. When you purchase a book from the author it generally results in more money going to them thus encouraging them to consider writing another one. |
| To The Top Canada Expedition web site | |
| To The Top Canada Day web site | |
| I paid: | $24.95 Canadian |
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