June 27th, 2010Comments 0

Bike touring in British Columbia – Vancouver – Pemberton – Lillooet – Vancouver

This is an educational blog post. That’s my intent. To educate you, the internet user and potential bicycle tourist in British Columbia. That’s assuming the Google has done its job and properly indexed this post, allowing you to find it. Otherwise you’re one of a (very small) handful of people that infrequently read this thing (hi Mom).

Four years ago I did a long bike ride. It was fun. I remember it fondly. I saw a bunch of stuff and lived my life and in the process became a man (I can pinpoint the exact moment I passed through the gates of manhood on that journey. It was in a Husky just outside Brandon Manitoba. Her name was Slurth and it was magical).

Four years pass and I’m still riding bikes. Riding bikes to work. To the beach. In forests and on roads. In groups of other spandex clad wankers vying for top spot in the amateur ranks of BC road racing. But no touring. No long hauls. No Slurth.

I decided that’d change in 2010. I picked up a swank new cx bike that could do double duty as a touring rig and put my dreams of amateur bike racing celebrity on the back burner. My homeboy, Mike, suggested we ride our bikes from Vancouver to Lillooet and back over 4 days in June. Sounds good, yeah? Some longish days and potentially dicey roads but whatevs, I’m a man dammit (thanks Slurth!). We somehow dupe another boob into joining our caravan (hi Thomas) and off we went on the morning of June 25th.

The plan was to travel light and fast. Stay in motels, carry only the bare essentials. While both Mike and Thomas (to a lesser degree) followed the spartan travel philosophy, I thought it prudent to haul my new dslr, extra lenses and tripod in addition to required clothing and tools in a rear pannier. In retrospect, this was a mistake.

We agreed to start the days early (on the road by 7 at the latest) in order to get a jump on traffic and leave us ample time for dinner preparation in the evenings (to cut down on costs we cooked our own meals).

Preface.

I’ve been riding bikes a good part of my life now, most of which on the road. I have a fairly high tolerance for crummy roads, idiot motorists and the many dangers that come along with those things. I’m conditioned to them. With that said I’ve become increasingly aware of my own mortality in recent years. My paranoia surrounding death is possibly more pronounced than that of other people. Please keep this in mind when reading my description of road conditions and traffic. Things I may regard as suicidal you may consider breezy.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s how things unfolded.

Day 1: Vancouver to Pemberton. 175km
This was technically Vancouver to Mt. Currie (our motel was in Mt. Currie).

Road conditions: Agreeable. Ample shoulder for the entire trip with the exception of a small stretch south of Squamish. The road improves considerably north of Squamish all the way to Whistler. Be aware of rockfall along the Sea-to-Sky. Debris from the cliffs fall into the shoulder and can seriously damage your wheels (as I quickly learned) if you’re not careful. If pacelining with others keep a good distance so you have time to dodge the softball size boulders.

Traffic: Agreeable. Granted we had done the Vancouver to Squamish stretch by 10:30 am on a Friday morning. Weekends would likely be busier.

Overall: A pretty durn nice ride. It isn’t easy. Squamish to Whistler felt like it was all uphill. But the good shoulder and scenery makes for a pleasant day. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it but Mike and Thomas looked fine.

Day 2: Pemberton to Lillooet. 100km

Road conditions:Ranges from awesome to Roubaix-esque. The west side of Duffy lake road was buttery. It isn’t until you get to the bottom of the main descent does it start to resemble a bombed out street in Baghdad.

Traffic: Practically non-existant.

Overall: This was my favourite day. The climb up Duffey Lake Road through Cayoosh pass is tough, but if you pace yourself it’s no worse than climbing Mt. Seymour in my opinion. The views are spectacular. All the way from the top of the pass (at least what I understood to be the top of the pass) to Lillooet. It’s top shelf. There are some especially humbling views as you approach Lillooet. I recall coming around one switchback and being greeted by a monolithic wall of rock. Without a doubt, this day was the highlight of the trip for me.

Day 3: Lillooet to Hope. 170km

Road conditions: Generally poor. There is no shoulder from Lillooet to Lytton and the asphalt is okay. From Lytton to Lillooet you have a shoulder for the most part, but it can be very small (we’re talking 3 feet across maybe). With shoulders that thin you may as well be on the road itself. The biggest obstacles during this stretch is the sometimes pitifully small shoulder and the tunnels. I believe there were between 8 and 10 tunnels. The longest was 600m. There’s a button you can push before you enter the tunnel that lights up a blinking sign alerting motorists that there are cyclists inside. I’m doubtful many motorists even notice it. We lucked out because there was construction just before the 600m tunnel which was regulating traffic. We waited for a lull, hit the button so we’d be “safe” and the hammered to get through it. The other tunnels aren’t nearly as long but be aware, people drive through these these at mach speed. I decided to walk several of them (there is usually a sliver of a sidewalk on one side) and ride a couple others that had wider sidewalks. The noise inside the tunnels is terrible. If you ever wanted to torture someone, tie them up and take the to the middle of a tunnel along the Trans-Canada.

Traffic: From Lillooet to Lytton we saw maybe 10 cars. We rode that stretch early on a Sunday morning, so volume might be heavier at other times. From Lytton to Hope things really deteriorate. There was traffic. Not tons of traffic, but it was the traffic that generally makes my skin crawl (geezers in RV’s and giant pick-up trucks). Combine this with sketchy roads and a fickle shoulder and I was a wreck by the end of the day.

Overall: The first stretch (Lillooet to Lytton) was beautiful. Because there was no traffic we had the whole road to ourselves and could enjoy the ride. Everything from Lytton south was thoroughly unpleasant. To make matters worse we had a stiff head wind the whole way, but Mike happily pulled us for the last 50km because I was falling apart both mentally and physically. It was a “Let’s just get through this” kind of day. If you’ve ever toured you’re probably familiar with these days. They eat balls.

Day 3: Hope to Vancouver. 170km

Road conditions: The theme of agreeable road conditions in the morning continues. We took highway 7 out of Hope which has a good shoulder and light traffic early in the morning. It’s about the time you hit Dewdney things get ugly. The 7 from Dewdney into Mission on weekdays is high volume with lots of trucks and of course, no shoulder. Still reeling from the psychological beating I took the day previous, my nerves were pretty shot by the time we rolled into Mission. We attempted to avoid Lougheed highway by going up to Stave Lake on the way out of Mission but were thwarted by construction at the dam. This resigned us to riding the Lougheed highway. Perhaps its only redeeming factor is a generous shoulder for much of the route.

Traffic: Heavy after Dewdney. Prior to that it was okay.

Overall: There’s isn’t much in the way of memorable riding in this leg. There is some nice country riding for the first 60km or so, but everywhere else you’re basically riding in a suburb. If I could teleport from Hope to Vancouver I would do it in a heartbeat.

In Conclusion:

Would I recommend this tour? If you can somehow avoid the stretch between Lytton and Hope, then yes, absolutely. The riding from Vancouver all the way to Lillooet offered amazing scenery and generally good road conditions. I can emphatically say that I will never ride the stretch between Lytton and Hope ever again. It is the epitome of shitty bike touring conditions.

If you were considering this loop, I would recommend doing it with others. For starters, I believe riding with others makes you more visible to motorists. Perhaps more importantly, the advantage of drafting my friends made the journey far less taxing than it otherwise would have been. Doing this loop solo, no matter how light you travel, would be pretty tough. There is a lot of climbing (according to our computer 6400m) and you’re likely to encounter stiff headwinds.

June 14th, 2010Comments 0

T2i

I’m enamoured with this camera.

T2i 50mm f/1.4 Test from Ben on Vimeo.

T2i: Some Things from Jose Jesus Zaragoza on Vimeo.

June 12th, 2010Comments 0

We mobbbbbiinnnn

These guys produce some really great videos. .

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

June 9th, 2010Comments 0

Phone? Phone!

Finally downloaded some pictures from my phizone. Lots of cats and sunsets. Apparently I’m turning into an old woman.

June 6th, 2010Comments 0

A role model for thousands

This dog is an inspiration. His stance and expression suggest an unshakable confidence rarely seen in man or beast. Nothing can faze him. Try as she might, the harsh disciplinarian red fanny pack fails to overwhelm his well fortified zen exterior.