Check out the Evergreen Bike Group if you like to cycle in the Comox Valley

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

The Evergreen Bike Group has rides on Mondays and Wednesdays and is a great way to meet cyclists and explore the country roads and trails of the Comox Valley. On Monday October 21 fourteen cyclists headed from the Filberg Centre in Courtenay to Cumberland for a ride that featured both roads and easy trails. The Evergreen group is open to cyclists over 55 years of age and the group uses mix of electric , hybrid and road bikes.  The rides on Mondays tend to be longer and it gives us a chance to explore places like Denman and Quadra Island as well as rides in Campbell River and Parksville. On Wednesday morning the rides tend to be in the Comox Valley and run for 2 to 2.5 hours in length. If you are interested in finding out more about this cycling group contact Ernie at: ejkimball62@gmail.com  The pictures below are of the group cycling to Cumberland.

                                                              Cycling on the roads of Cumberland

                                                                     Stopping for coffee in Cumberland

Checking out the FREE Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

On a recent trip to Vancouver for the Thanksgiving Long Weekend we had perfect fall weather so decided to check out a place we had never been – The Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. A real bonus about the nearby trails and suspension bridge is that they are FREE unlike the nearby suspension bridge over the Capilano River. There was lots of parking when we were there on Friday, Oct 11 but we can imagine that on a sunny summer weekend that this place might get very busy. 

                                                            The Suspension Bridge crosses Lynn Canyon

We opted to do a looped trail that included the Suspension Bridge and Twin Falls. Although the trail is short- just 1 km it has an elevation change of 60 meters (that means lots of stairs) so might not be suited to very young children or people that have trouble with stairs. If this is your situation then a trip across the Suspension Bridge and back might be a good alternative since the Suspension Bridge is close to the main parking areas. There are other walking/hiking trails in this area so for people who want to explore more fully you can check them out on this web site-https://lynncanyon.ca/   . We fully recommend this area but pay attention to the warning signs about trying to scale the slippery rock faces or jumping into the water- many people have evidently been killed in this park by these sorts of activities. We will definitely be back to explore this area in the summer! See you on the trail.

                                                          View dowstream with Twin Falls in the foreground

 

Mountain Biking BC’s Most popular Bike Trail- Bobsled on Mount Fromme?

By Keith and Heather Nicol

One of the great aspects of the app Trailforks is that it is highlights loads of information about  mountain bike trails. It is the perfect app for anyone interested in mountain biking in new areas and who wants to know how to access the different trails, their difficulty , how long they are etc. Another bonus of Trailforks is that also ranks trails so that if you are new to an area it will highlight the most popular trails so a newcomer has some idea of which trails to try if they only have a limited time. So I when Trailforks informed me that Bobsled on Mount Fromme in North Vancouver was BC’s Most Popular Trail I had to check it out on our most recent trip to Vancouver over the Thanksgiving Long Weekend. North Vancouver has long been associated with single track mountain biking so it is not surprising that BC’s most popular trail might be on the North Shore. Of course bikers will have many different criteria by which to rank trails but what Bobsled has going for it is that it is very accessible by a wide gravel road and is relatively short (3/4 of a km) so you can do many laps on this trail if you want. It is a wide flow trail that has many dirt berms and even a wooden berm part way down. The wooden berm does not have a top guard so don’t fly around it too fast and I am not sure how it would be when wet!! There are a couple of options on the way down for those that want a more difficult section but overall it will appeal to a wide range of riders. 

                                                          Mount Fromme has lots of trails to explore                                

To access Bobsled and many other trails on Mount Fromme drive to Mount Fromme Parking lot on Mountain Highway in North Vancouver. The parking lot is large and it has a washroom. Note that you can’t park on the road leading to the parking lot if it is full. We went on the Friday before Thanksgiving long weekend and it was fine. For those just getting into mountain biking there are also some green trails just off the access the road- Road Attraction and King of the Shore so you can try those first before trying Bobsled which is marked as a blue trail. For more info on Trailforks see:  https://www.trailforks.com/

                                                    Bobsled even has a wooden berm part way down                                                      

Trying out the Jordie Lunn Bike Park in Langford, BC

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

We were heading to Victoria for a university reunion on Sunday, Sept 29 and were traveling from the Comox Valley on Saturday, Sept 28.   Enroute we decided to break up the trip with a couple of stops to check out some mountain bike trails that we had heard good things about. First up were the trails at Mount Tzouhalem which is near the community of Maple Bay and the larger community of Duncan. For more info on what we rode there see: https://keithnicol.blogspot.com/2024/10/checking-out-mountain-bike-trails-at.html   From Mount Tzouhalem we headed to the Jordie Lunn Bike Park in Langford. This is relatively new development, opening in 2020 with some new trails added a year later. Jordie Lunn was a local mentor and highly skilled mountain biker who was killed in a bike accident in Mexico in 2019.

                                     Starting down Wildcat- one of the signature trails at the Jordic Lunn Bike Park 

There are not many trails at this bike park—the focus being on developing skills in r through dedicated skills parks with a variety of levels of difficulty. But it does have a signature trail called Wildcat that I was interested in trying out . It is ranked as a blue flow trail and it lives up to its name as it swoops down close to 900 meters with a drop of 90 meters. It is accessed by a series of climbing trails which although they were machine cut still didn’t have the flow and smooth switchbacks of Sobo No Michi at Cumberland where we usually ride. In a couple of sections I had to walk my bike up the trail at Jordie Lunn Bike Park. We certainly be back to try out some of the skills area and to drop into Wildcat again with its raised bridge to start things off-it certainly is a great blue flow trail. For more info check out Trailforks at: https://www.trailforks.com/ and Jordie Lunn Bike Park at https://langford.ca/gravityzone/   

A Skills Park is front and centre of this Bike Park

Checking out the Mountain Bike Trails at Mount Tzouhalem near Maple Bay, BC

 
By Keith and Heather Nicol

We were heading to Victoria for a university reunion on Sunday, Sept 29 and were traveling from the Comox Valley on Saturday.  Enroute we decided to break up the trip with a couple of stops to check out some mountain bike trails that we had heard good things about. First up were the trails at Mount Tzouhalem which is near the community of Maple Bay and the larger community of Duncan. There are a few mountain bike areas in this general region but the larger seems to be Mount Tzouhalem with about 70 trails. We had heard that Double D and Bumblebee were worth checking out and so parked at the lower parking area just off of Navilene Drive. There is parking for a number of cars and a large map and washroom here as well.

                         There are some nice views of the ocean and off shore islands from parts of the trail system 

The main climbing trail from what we could determine was A Grand Traverse or AGT for short.
I found it quite steep in places and often had to get off and push my bike up some sections. It really made me appreciate the well designed climbing trail – Sobo No Michi – at Cumberland which has dozens of switchbacks to cut the grade and is relatively easy to ride up.  AGT finally lead to Tzouhalem Main (presumably an old logging road) which then gave access to Double D. This is one of the most highly rated trails at Tzouhalem and is about 2 km long. It certainly is a nice flow trail and I really liked going through the more open forest than we have at Cumberland. From there I headed back to the start of Bumblebee (another highly rated trail) which is about 1 km long and again has a nice flow to it. Both of these trails are rated blue which suited me just fine. Bumblebee ends very close to the parking area at Navilene Drive. So check this area out if you are in the area . We will certainly be back. While I biked Heather hiked and there are certainly some nice hiking areas in this same area. Make sure you download the Trailforks app before you go since many of the trails here are not marked that well. It made me really appreciate the trail markings etc at Cumberland with names and finger boards at all intersections. For more information on Trailforks see: https://www.trailforks.com/  See you on the trail.

                         I liked the flow trail Bumblebee seen here and its more open forest than we have at Cumberland