I'm off....(again)

[shane]

Yup 8 months work was enough this year, time to hit the road again, all packed and ready go, only 6 days to wait....

For those staying at home and a little bored, feel free to follow my latest journey at the usual places (see signature line).

I'm off for the latest round of winter madness, two months cycling in the remoter parts of Canada followed by a couple weeks trains/planes/etc to the other side...

Updates will not be as often as in Africa as Labrador really is quite remote...but all the same I'll do my best.

Enjoy

[fatty]

Good luck..

[albal1]

Good luck Shane , will follow your progress.Envy

[borderer]

Enjoy yourself Shane. I'll be following you on twitter and on your blog.

George

[chrisc]

Labrador ? In winter ? Now that could be a bit nippy, sir !

Nevertheless, enjoy !

[el flaco]

A wonderful website, best of luck.

Why take a tent to Africa? Did you not stay with the locals?

[shane]

Thanks folks,

@Chris hoping it will stay civilized somewhere between -15 and -25,

@el Flaco : depending on the hospitality of locals for a year long trip wouldn't be so good for the karma credits, and more to the point I find being sociable at the end of a days cycling a bit much like hard work most of the time

[Mattie]

So what is the old wildlife situation in that part of Canada - anything with big teeth that you need to worry about ?

[Colin63]

Fantastic. I'll start following you on Twitter. look forward to seeing your progress.

[Dean]

... I find being sociable at the end of a days cycling a bit much like hard work most of the time

God, yes. I liked getting in my tent and shutting the world out, sometimes.

Have fun!

[iviehoff]

So what is the old wildlife situation in that part of Canada - anything with big teeth that you need to worry about ?

The bears will be asleep (Aside from polar bears, but you won' tbe going near those I hope).
The latest report of a wolf attack on a man anywhere in North America was in 1989, and that was provoked.
Cougars don't range that far north, though there are rare reported incidents of cyclists having problems with them further south.
Lynx are very shy of humans.
Although wolverines are reputedly very dangerous, there just aren't documented reports of attacks: they also seem to be shy of humans.

[iviehoff]

duplicate post deleted

[shane]

My only wildlife concern is as usual blind truck drivers.....

[Mattie]

You are probably right, the main danger will be traffic !

But the reason I ask is because I saw a NatGeo program about Coyotes. It seems that normally they are smallish in size and hunt alone, so there is no real issue for an adult human.

However, it seems that in Eastern Canada and US, there is a species of Coyote , the eastern coyote, that is considerably larger than usual, and it has also been found to hunt in pairs. In the national parks they have little fear of humans.

The only recorded adult human death by Coyote predation was recorded in Cape Breton National Park, Nova Scotia in 2009, when singer Taylor Mitchell was attacked and killed.

I do not mean to try and scare anyone away from going, that would be silly. But it might be an idea to find out a bit about these eastern coyotes and what to do if you come across one while out riding.

Have fun !

[iviehoff]

However, it seems that in Eastern Canada and US, there is a species of Coyote , the eastern coyote, that is considerably larger than usual, and it has also been found to hunt in pairs. In the national parks they have little fear of humans.

The only recorded adult human death by Coyote predation was recorded in Cape Breton National Park, Nova Scotia in 2009, when singer Taylor Mitchell was attacked and killed.

Some quick research (wikipedia) indicates the eastern coyote is a hybrid population with mixed wolf and coyote genes, but with generally more coyote parentage. Eastern wolves are similar hybrids, but with more wolf parentage.