It’s a frigid, miserable winter, and so it’s time for Paul Mondor to do another Canadian motorcycle tour!
In case you don’t watch the Canadian motorcycle scene too closely and don’t know who Mondor is, he’s best known for his ride across Canada in 2007 – during the middle of winter.
Now he’s back on a BMW and headed for more snow, but this time, he’s not crossing the country. Mad as it sounds at this time of year, he’s heading across Western Canada and then turning north to Tuktoyaktuk, and he’s got a documentary crew in tow.
Along with cameraman Jesse Clark and Joe and Flora Lloyd of Curbsyde productions, the group are going to head from Victoria, BC, to Edmonton, then north to Hay River, Whitehorse and Dawson City, and finally the Yukon town of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic coast.
And then home … in the middle of winter. Does that 10,000 kilometre-long loop sound fun to you?
Mondor won’t be riding solo this time; Joe Lloyd is also going to run the trip on a motorcycle. Both bikes will be BMW F800 GS models, provided by BMW Canada, who also kindly chipped in with a (warm) X5 SUV for a support vehicle as well.
The documentary series won’t just simply feature hours of riding drudgery, but will show the team as they interact with the people and places of the North they encounter along the way, which would make sense, since it’s part of a series entitled Reconnecting with Canada.
You can watch the series as it’s produced on the www.openfilm.com online network. Ten-minute webisodes are supposed to be uploaded within seven days of filming, so expect the first clips to be online Feb. 20 at the very latest.
You all know why he’s doing this in the middle of winter, right? It should actually be easier than summer – no black flies!
Check out http://www.paulmondor.com for more info on the Iceman! He has also written 2 books about his exploits crossing Canada by motorcycle in winter … and I believe he did encounter temps below -40C on the Trans-Labrador!
Should be good stuff…I watched Joe and Flora’s Reconnecting with Canada Series…I can’t wait to see how the bikes do in -40C and colder weather…I lived in NWT for a couple of years and a “cold snap” there is daytime highs of -50C…stayed of the sleds during those times… :eek :p
Later.
Tuk is actually in the NWT. Sounds like a fun trip on a bike. I have driven the Dempster in the summer and found it to be the most incredible scenery I’ve seen.
JB
Missed meeting Mr. Mondor back in ’07 when he passed thru … I went to the Tim’s in Paradise, NL (where he was supposed to show) but he got “lost” and ended up at the Tim’s in Mt. Pearl!
He’s quite the adventurer … repeated his cross-Canada winter trek again in ’08, detouring across the Trans-Lab instead of the Island! Mr. Mondor is definitely hard core! Best of luck Paul!