If you decide to go touring through the wilds of northwest America and Canada, one of the dangers that must be accounted for is puma concolor. The cougar is the second heaviest cat in the New World after the jaguar and lurks in branches and rocks above trails that are common to both four-legged beasts and two-wheeled adventurers.
When Ollie Blackmore approached Tom Donhou for a gravel-grinding tourer to carry him on his Cycle Challenge Canada, a cancer charity fund-raising-loop around Vancouver Island, Tom responded — not only with a custom frame, but a totemic paint scheme to ward off a potentially hungry big cat.
Cycle Challenge Canada is the name of Ollie’s 2,311km ride, in which he will attempt to raise $25,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation. He will be the first person ever to cycle solo and unaided around Vancouver Island — slightly less than the Tour de France in the same period, without a team car or a rest day. He’ll climb the height of Everest 5 times, camping in the wild.
A lot of that distance will be on disused logging roads, fully loaded with around 35kg of equipment. His custom Donhou Cycle is up for the challenge: Tom built him a fillet-brazed thru-axle tourer with Avid mechanical disc brakes and mounting for all necessary racks and cages. The hardware is just as reliable: a SRAM Force groupset with Chris King bearings and Thomson seat mast and stem.
You can donate to Ollie’s adventure on the Cycle Challenge Canada website and follow along via the Facebook page (where you can support by buying a fine jersey that features the same totem graphics by Gus Farnes). You can see more pics in the Donhou Cycles gallery and contact Tom for your own adventure mobile.
