The Tour de North by the numbers

Let me start by saying that we will ride at least 864 km not 826 like someone keeps telling the media. The past 2 years we have ridden 864 km so I am not sure where the other number came from but I guess its safe to say that if you say something enough times with authority then people will believe it.
Another thing that amazed me is that we actually end up getting quite a few flats - 21 last year and more the year before. In 2007, I rode over a huge staple but luckily my tire went flat just as we were pulling into a rest stop on the edge of Vanderhoof so I ended up not having to chase back to group..
We have been pretty lucky as far as crashes go. Last year was uneventful but in 2007 we had 3 people go down, 1 tipped over, 1 got caught in the gravel shoulder and the last one ran into the back of another rider.

Lots of people ask how fast we ride: the average speed is between 25 and 29 km/h, but there are times when we battle the wind and slow to less than 20km/h and when the wind is at our backs we can cruise at over 35 km/h.  Last year Steve Smith recorded the fastest speed at almost 85 km/h going down 6 Mile Hill outside of Burns Lake.

This year I am going to keep track of a few more things and will report them here after the Tour.