skyzo

I was thinking about doing a short (~7 days) tour around the Vancouver Island/BC area sometime in early July. Does anyone who has toured in this area have any tips or advice?

My general route is in this link below,
map


July seems like a good time to do it. Only thing I am really worried about is navigating through Vancouver. That is a huge city

Northwestrider

IMO the route outlined my have a bit more traffic than you may have planned for. Granted I have not toured via bike on Vancouver Island, but know there to be lots of Forest Service type dirt roads through out the area you may wish to consider. Also in BF you may wish to post in the Regional Discussions area in Western Canada for more hands on experience. BTW I wouldn't worry about the city of Vancouver so much, yes the city is huge, but IMO fairly bike friendly, OTOH traffic is heavy at times

vik 

I moved to Vancouver Island last summer. It's a pretty place to tour. I haven't toured the route you show, but nothing jumps out at me as a problem. Using the ferries and riding on the small islands are a great idea. I plan to do that this summer with my GF on our tandem.

vik 

BTW - if you have some specific questions about touring on Van Isle let me know. I have a few bike buddies with a lot more experience here who I can chat with.

skyzo

Thanks for the replies guys. I am excited about it, definitely looking forward to it.

Vik, a question I have that maybe you will possibly know, do the winds tend to prevail in a certain direction? I have read conflicting things online about it

Doug64

My wife and I have cycled your route, some of it several times. We used parts of your proposed route in at least 3-4 different multi-week tours. It definately "doable", some of it is challenging, and the traffic was not all that bad. It is fun combining the ferry travel with the cycling. The San Juans and the Gulf Islands lend themselves to doing both. Have fun!

vik 

From my experience they are quite variable. We do get frequent storm winds from the west down here in Victoria that we use for windsurfing/kiteboarding, but those shouldn't be a big deal on other parts of the island along the east coast where you will be riding. I volunteered on a 600K ride recently that went up the east side of the island and the winds switched 180 partway through the day.

Ultimately you are on a remote island so the choice of roads is slim and the direction of travel is mostly N-S so you can't really do a whole lot about the winds.

I will ask my friends and see if they have any comments.

Dan The Man

I toured from Port Hardy to Nanimo. The north island is pretty desolate. When I was eating breakfast at a coffee shop in Port Hardy (a very small town) I read a newspaper article about raising the number of RCMP officers for North Vancouver Island to six. Outside there were two police cruisers and sitting at the other table were 4 police officers in uniform and 2 out of uniform.

Anyways, the route you've chosen is quite scenic, but might get very busy when you join up with the 19. Logging trucks are quite big and loud and scary. Watch out for bears, most of your trip is in bear country.

charbucks

One thing I would be careful of is timing the ferries. I have no idea how fast you cycle or how much sightseeing you want to do, but when you've got ferries in the mix you might have a hard time doing your 100 km a day. You don't need to be there *too* far ahead of time, but those segments of your trip where you're going from one ferry to the next you might arrive and discover the next ferry isn't for another hour. And, of course, it's no fun to get stuck on the opposite shore because you missed the last ferry out at 8:30.

On the other hand, I don't know much about cycle touring (still just in the dreaming stage). However, I grew up on Saltspring Island so I know a fair bit about Ferries!

sth

It is a nice loop. I did it a few years ago and I think it will be this year's tour in July, maybe we will pass each other. For no particular reason, I like to go counter clock-wise, starting in Vancouver (home), up the Sunshine Coast and down the Island. If you can squeeze a side trip from Powell River northward, Lund is a funky place to spend the night. If you know how many miles/km's you can do in a day, the ferries are not a problem. Just take a list of the various sailings and plan your day accordingly. On the Island ride the old highway along the coast for the scenery. It can be busy during the summer though. There are lots of campgrounds along the way, private and Provincial. Traffic through a city on a tour is always a bummer but you are probably competent enough to handle it. It looks like you have tried to map out the bike routes. I find Vancouver drivers are pretty good to cyclists if you ride properly and safely. Maybe you could time you ride through town on a Sunday. Translink, Vancouver city, Richmond, and maybe Surrey have decent online bike route maps.

Here are some pics from my loop

Hope you enjoy it.

sth

Oops, try this link

TruckerMike

I'd recommend you swap out the Malahat for the Sooke-Port Renfrew-Lake Cowichan route (aka Marine Circle Route). More adventure, less 18 wheelers blazing by. Stop in for a quiet lunch in Honeymoon bay or chill at Lake Menachie, then ride the rail trails to travel back into Duncan before heading to the ferries. Also recommend riding the loop around Cedar and Yellow Point to avoid Hwy 1.

When you're over on Sunshine coast, be sure to stay at the Porpoise Cove park - bikers/hikers only and right on the seaside. Magic.

Have a great trip!

Northwestrider

+1 to what TruckerMike said.

skyzo

Wow thanks for all the advice guys!
Your pictures from your trip were awesome sth, hopefully I'll see you around. I plan on leaving around the 1st of july.

TruckerMike, I will look into that route. The one that I posted on here was just a general outline of where I wanted to go, not exact roads, so I will narrow it down as the time gets closer.

Thanks

Newspaperguy

On the Vancouver Island portion of your route, towns are close together, so you're never far from a good place to take a break or stop for the day. Also, on parts of the Island, there is a slow highway which hugs close to the water and a faster highway inland. The slower road is much more fun on a bike as you don't have to deal with as much traffic and as you get to stop in some cool places.

aroundoz

My wife and I did almost the same loop last year. Porpoise Cove was fantastic. We decided to ride into Egmont and very glad we did. There is a nice private campground and Skookumchuck Narrows is really something to see. The pub on the water is also something to see and the picture of the beer on the left was taken there. We camped a couple nites on Texada and toured some of the dirt roads. The road up the sunshine coast is fairly narrow but we always felt pretty safe. It was kind of a shock once we got over to the Island because there is a lot of traffic (but the shoulder is good). If you have time to kill, riding to Tofino/Euclulet and taking the boat back to Port Alberni is pretty awesome. There is also a paved trail system through Nanaimo which gets you off of the highway for a short time. I would recommend a day or so on Galiano. Montague Harbor has some of the best sunsets you will ever see and there is a bus that takes you to the Hummingbird Pub and back. Good Times!

Have fun ride.

aroundoz

BTW, I might have an extra Vancouver Biking map. If you want one, PM and I will send it to you. I wouldn't attempt Vancouver without it. With it, it's not problem and and rather enjoyable. Especially going over the Alex Fraser Bridge. It is a very biker friendly city or at least that's been my experience.

adventurepdx

I've done most of your route and can say it's a good one! Seven days is doable but doesn't leave much wiggle room. If you get the extra time, I'd say hit up Denman and Hornby Islands. It would take an extra day. I didn't go over when I rode through the area, and regret it. Next time!

skyzo

Thanks for the replies guys,

aroundoz, I will definitely have to check out Galiano, and that pub you went to sounds awesome. How long did you and your wife take to do the loop? I want to do it comfortably, and adventurepdx got me thinking that maybe I am rushing it. I could take an extra day on the tour and just cancel one of my day hikes that I had planned on the way back through the Cascades.

Also, that would be so great if I could get a copy of that Vancouver biking map. I will PM you. I've never rode through that big of a city before, so a map would help tremendously.

aroundoz

PM back and I will get it in the mail. I agree with adventurepdx in that 7 days is a push and doesn't leave much time to explore and there is a lot to explore. But if that's all you got, it will work and it will be great.

Tinkerbell

I rode Nanaimo-Port Hardy last July and it was lovely - warm, light traffic, polite drivers. We took the coast road (headwinds!), then in to Woss and up to Port Hardy, but the west coast sounds interesting too. +1 to what the others have said about Vancouver being bike-friendly. They have some good web resources for cycling. Enjoy.

overthehillmedi

Skyzo, just acouple of things, almost all the city buses have bike racks on the front so if the traffic gets bad youcan bail out and use them. Secondly on the first BC ferry you travell on pick up a schedule from the tourist junk rack or from the steward, that will give the schedules for all the routes

Doug64

tAke along a 4-5 piece of nylon webbing or nylon cord. We call them "ferry straps". They help secure the bike in the car bay or while on deck. Note the red strap on the top tube.

adventurepdx

And Skyzo, if you wanted any more advice, etc from me, feel free to email:
urbanadventureleague (at) gmail (dot) com

Stretchsherman

Hey Skyzo,
So now that it's August, you've likely done this trip that was so well discussed and since I'm now thinking about doing a similar trip I was wondering if you went on the trip and if you mapped your actual route? If so, would you be willing to share it with me?
A friend and I are thinking of doing it next week!
THANKS!
-Sherman