Rides 2015 — add yours

[John Saxby]

Thanks, David.  What a journey that would be to do with your son!  For sure you could get lots of advice and support here. Trips of that kind can be wonderful, and shape a lifetime.  When our son was a teenager, he and I spent a week hiking in Kluane, and that trek played a big part on restoring balance and affection into our relationship, which had been strained by tensions between dad and teenaged son. (Rebuilding an old ex-comp motorcycle together played a big part too.)  Our daughter and I have always had an easier relationship--in part, because we've done a lot of hiking, canoeing, and now cycling together, & in some pretty special locales: Malawi, Namibia, Spain, Denmark, the Canadian Shield, etc.

Thanks also for the info on the Myra Canyon trestles.  I was thinking of (the?) one that used to be advertised as the longest wooden trestle in the world -- I didn't realize that fire had destroyed so many. (We were living in South Africa between 2003 and late 2006, so missed a lot of information about Canada in those years.)

I have a clutch of old friends in Nelson, whom I'd visit on my mountain-trip-in-the-making; and my wife and I have an old friend who inherited her parents' farmhouse in the Okanagan just east of Vernon, off Hwy 6, and we'd plan to rendez-vous there as well.  There are the usual variables of time-on-the-road and time-of-year to be juggled, of course, but I've thought of taking the train from Ottawa to Jasper, then cycling south from there for a month or more.

[Slammin Sammy]

David and John,

I assume the best time of year to do the KVR would be June, or would you be better off going in September?

[David Simpson]

I think June would be better, although September would also be nice. In July and August, it gets hot in the Okanagan Valley, around 35-40C. (Side note: At the southern end of the valley, it is one of the hottest places in Canada. It often is 38-40C in the summer in Osoyoos. It is also Canada's only desert.)

If you go into October or before May, you may hit snow in the Coquihalla region (midway between Vancouver and the Okanagan). The Coquihalla canyon regularly gets a total winter snowfall of more than 20m (70 feet). When the KVR was running trains, the Coquihalla would normally be closed for a couple of months in the winter because they couldn't clear the snow. The part of the KVR that goes down the Coquihalla canyon and especially the Othello Tunnels has been called some of the most difficult-to-build railway track in the world. If you are interested in the engineering of railway grades (tunnels, bridges, etc), read about the Othello Tunnels. I've seen them, and they are simply amazing. (Another side note: The Sylvester Stallone movie "First Blood" was filmed at the Othello Tunnels and in the nearby town of Hope.)

If you are interested in riding the KVR, there is a relatively good book you should take a look at: "Cycling the Kettle Valley Railway", by Dan and Sandra Langford (on Amazon.com). There is also a lot of info on the Internet, if you search for "Kettle Valley Railway cycling".

A great book on the history of the KVR is "McCulloch's Wonder: The Story of the Kettle Valley Railway", by Barrie Sanford (on Amazon.com). Note that this book is about the railway, not cycling.

The KVR is also part of the Trans Canada Trail, a government project to have a complete walking/cycling trail across Canada. Once the trail is finished, it will be almost 24,000km! However note that some of the sections of the trail are for walking only, not for bikes, and some of it is on roads. See tctrail.ca.

- Dave

[John Saxby]

Thanks, David, for all that useful info.  Look forward to the research and dreaming!

Sam, I'd second David's suggestions on when to make the ride. On my transcontinental ride on my airhead in July and August, 2013, the temps were in the high '30's in the Okanagan in late July--"a dry heat", though, as we say, one of Canajans' many weather-related euphemisms. (Vancouverites were grumbling & worried 'cos in mid-July it was sunny and in the mid-high 20's, with no rain for a week or two.) The high plateaux in the North America West can get very hot in July/Aug -- but I expect you know that from your time in 'Murrica, no?

If you go into the high country in June, you can encounter snow in the high passes.  Visiting Montana and Alberta in late June a few years back, we reached the "Road to the Sun" highway in Glacier Ntl Park (Montana), to learn that it had been opened only a day or so before we arrived.

[Andre Jute]

Took a short ride with my pedal pal Helen. Temperatue 6C, wind 16kph veering to be in our faces all the time, "feels like OC' according to the forecast on my iPhone. Pretty friz speeding down the hills but not out long enough to turn into a block of ice through and through, down at the bone level. Might try it again, but in my angora long johns...

[RonS]

  It was an absolutely perfect day for a ride yesterday here on Canada's West Coast. 14C degrees, sunshine, and just a puff of a breeze. Headed out on the dikes for a great 50km with my friend.





10,781ft / 3286m Mt Baker is 100km by road from my front door, just across the international border in Washington State. It is accessible by road up to the 3500ft / 1067m level. The dike I'm on is about 10ft / 3m above sea level.





Hard to keep the smile off one's face when riding here




Or here

I have a clutch of old friends in Nelson, whom I'd visit on my mountain-trip-in-the-making; and my wife and I have an old friend who inherited her parents' farmhouse in the Okanagan just east of Vernon, off Hwy 6, and we'd plan to rendez-vous there as well. 

John, check out this ride. It passes right through Nelson. With luck, I am going to ride it this September. I just started a new job, so I have last kick at the vacation date can.

www.selkirkloop.org

My sister, an avid gardener and cyclist, lives in Ottawa, so I know what a brutal winter you have had. I hope cycling weather comes soon for you.

Ron

[geocycle]

Stunning pictures Ron, had awful day here in northern England, sleet and strong winds. Windchill was awful.  Where has spring gone?

[John Saxby]

Thanks, Ron.  The Selkirk Loop is one the sections I want to look at -- welcome hearing your reports about it later this year.  Love the photos--very Lower Mainland, the mountains as background to the lowland. And the greenery!  (sigh...)

My rides so far this year are strictly vicarious. Caught up with a cycling buddy here in Ottawa few days ago, and we realized that we're just a month from the spring equinox!  No bets on the roads being clear by the end of March, though -- we haven't had a lot of snow this year, but none of it has melted, bar one weekend in mid-Jan.  Some good X-country skiing remaining, though, and the canal is still solid, with very good skating conditions. There was a report on the CBC the other day that the Great Lakes are 80% frozen over.

[JimK]

We got a nice blast of warmish air today here finally, up around 40F. Snowed last night maybe 5 inches, on top of the rest. So the roads are rather clogged up. But I finally got out, just around the neighborhood to keep away from traffic. Still, 200 foot hills to climb every which way. Good to get out.

Back to cold weather tomorrow but some better prospects late next week.

[nztony]

Been meaning to do this ride, just so I could get the photo ever since I got my Nomad in Dec 2013, so it is over a year old now and not too far off 12000km. Trying for a 1000km a month, which is (relatively) easy to do here in summer in New Zealand, although missed out in Jan by 50km! Would have made it but called in for overtime and threw my schedule out. I should be fine for Feb as 906km done and just 94km needed and I have three rides available to do it, so should make it with time to spare.

[mickeg]

No grass here.

[Danneaux]

  Poor mickeg and folks everywhere East of me in the YewEssay.

Friends in Memphis phoned me yesterday. Schools closed the last two weeks due to layers of ice, snow, more ice.

I'll setup the electric fan in the driveway and aim it your way in hope of sending better weather. It can only help...

All the best,

Dan.

[John Saxby]

No grass here.

Nor here.  ("Where's the bike?" you ask. Inside the shed, for a while yet...)

[Danneaux]

White grass.  

Poor guy. I can tilt the fan your direction as well. Just a smidge more to the left should do it...

All the best,

Dan. (...who knows we'll be paying for this good weather in the form of droughts and wildfires this coming summer)

[nztony]

Perhaps this is not a good time to mention that it is summer here in New Zealand, but .... it is starting to cool, so it won't last for a lot longer:


If it is any consolation, it poured down with rain a couple of hours after this, creating flash floods in the city
I was riding away from to get home.

Tony
NZ