Man, my bike is awesome. I take good care of it and have taken long trips on it. I never listened to the doubters, about every two years I need to get some new parts. Never been up your way but have lots of friends from Canada. When my boys are old enough, we're gonna cycle and camp for months.
No shame, it must be beautiful in Alberta now. What kind of bike , I have a ten year old treck. When I bought it , everyone mocked me, bicycles are more exopensive than motorcycles in Laos. Ten years later, cycling is now popular here, go figure