{"id":954226,"date":"2026-11-01T10:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T10:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954226\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T10:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T10:30:12","slug":"this-american-biked-across-canada-coast-to-coast-during-a-trade-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954226\/","title":{"rendered":"This American biked across Canada coast to coast during a trade war"},"content":{"rendered":"

Road tripping across the country is one thing, but a cyclist from Alaska set out on a different journey this year: biking across Canada from coast to coast. <\/p>\n

Piper Haney arrived in St. John’s on her bicycle on Thursday after leaving Victoria in May, all because she wanted to explore Canada, she said. <\/p>\n

“I was looking for a really long adventure,” said Haney, who is originally from Colorado but works as a social worker in Alaska.<\/p>\n

And a long adventure she has had. She spent six months pedalling through the rugged western mountains, central prairies, and eastern forests to reach the Atlantic coastline \u2014 with a dip into northern Minnesota and Michigan for a safer route. <\/p>\n

“I think a lot of Americans have gone to maybe one or two places in Canada, but it’s just really cool to compare and see the really striking differences between provinces,” she said. <\/p>\n

Now, she’s finished her final leg of the journey through Newfoundland as temperatures were dropping. <\/p>\n

“With it getting darker and colder, it felt like time was ticking to get there,” she said. “The fall colours have been astounding.”<\/p>\n

\"cyclist\"<\/p>\n

Piper Haney celebrates her six-month bike ride from Vancouver Island to Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site in Newfoundland. (Submitted by Piper Haney)<\/p>\n

Trip highlights the good in people<\/p>\n

Haney biked between 60 and 90 miles per day (96 and 145 kilometres) depending on the terrain, she said. She packed light, carrying the essentials on her bike: a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, water filter, camping stove, chair, layers for different weather, tools to fix her bike and lots of snacks.<\/p>\n

Along the way she’s found Canadians to be kind, generous and hospitable, Haney said. <\/p>\n

“It just like really highlights the good in people,” she said, citing people along her route eager to help or offer a cup of tea.<\/p>\n

“It just makes you feel very, very welcome … I’ve run into nothing but good people and really beautiful scenery.”<\/p>\n

Although she said the U.S. government has been “pretty provocative” towards Canada throughout her ride, she’s found Canadians haven’t held it against her. <\/p>\n

“I am a bit embarrassed of how my country is managing those dynamics. But I’ll have political conversations with Canadians, and they’re just like nothing but kind to me.”<\/p>\n

The good and the black flies <\/p>\n

The trip has also taught her that even if a hill is huge or terrain is tough, there is something good around the corner, she said. <\/p>\n

Camping and being outside in the elements made her cherish the smaller things in life \u2014 such as a cold drink on a hot day, sleeping in a bed, cooking on an indoor stove or a friendly stranger giving a fist pump as she biked up a big hill.<\/p>\n

\"biking<\/p>\n

Piper Haney pushes her bike up a rugged trail along the Great Northern Bikepacking Route. (Submitted)<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean the journey was without struggle.<\/p>\n

She came across a lot of black bears, but some of the biggest challenges were big climbs in B.C. and the biting flies of Manitoba, she said. And of course, the biking. <\/p>\n

“There’s definitely some challenging sections, and because it’s mostly on gravel and remote roads, it takes takes a bit longer,” she said. <\/p>\n

Great Northern Bikepacking Route <\/p>\n

The 13,600 kilometre route, called the\u00a0Great Northern Bikepacking Route, includes a whopping 123,000 metres of elevation.<\/p>\n

The map was dreamt up by Matthew Kadey, who lives in Waterloo, Ont. Kader said he wanted to create a rugged and off-road route for cyclists going across the country. <\/p>\n

“People have been cycling across Canada for decades, but it’s been mostly road-oriented or traditional rail trails and that,” he said. <\/p>\n

He created the route through a combination of reaching out to local cyclists and using GPS software to map it out. <\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Waterloo’s Matthew Kadey mapped the Great Northern Bikepacking Route that spans Canada from coast to coast. (Submitted)<\/p>\n

“It’s still pretty niche,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I really get a lot of satisfaction out of giving people a really good adventure,” Kadey said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of adventure, something you would never forget.”<\/p>\n

But he warns, there are lots of highs and lows, and the terrain isn’t always easy. <\/p>\n

Haney agrees. <\/p>\n

“It takes you to some pretty remote places. But if you’re down for an adventure and looking to see really cool corners of the provinces, I would definitely recommend it.”<\/p>\n

As for next on Haney’s to-do list, she’s said she’s going to go home, sew a pair of jeans and maybe get a dog. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Road tripping across the country is one thing, but a cyclist from Alaska set out on a different…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-954226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}