77km of good, fast gravel. All accessible via public transit.
Summer’s winding down, so how about one more gravel century before you’re doomed to an eternity of off-season trainer sessions?
No car? No problem. We started and ended this one at the Lafarge Lake - Douglas Station, the last stop on the Millenium Skytrain line. Everyone loves a good train-to-bike situation.
Get warmed-up riding some meandering pea gravel across the dykes in Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows. It’s pretty flat and smooth, so it makes for quick travel. Before long you’ll be ripping around the green, mossy trails of Golden Ears Park. Just keep an eye out for horses (and bears).
The route turns around at the Golden Ears General Store — a little shop selling snacks and trinkets to campers in the park. It was actually closed when we were there. Maybe it’s closed for the season? Dunno, it’s unclear. But it’s probably worth bringing enough food for the day with you just in case. If the store’s open, grab an ice cream and take it down to North Beach so you can desperately cling to the last vestiges of summer.
On the way back, climb up to Mike Lake and then descend back down. Full disclosure, we didn’t get to ride this portion, due to a well-attempted, but ultimately unsatisfactory trailside mechanical fix in our group. So we can’t comment on it much. But the climb looked fun from what we saw, and we spoke to some locals who said IT IS fun. So you should ride it and tell us about it.
The last portion of the route gets you into some classic urban gravel: dirt shoulders, walking paths and paved cycleways. Then it drops you back at the Skytrain. The perfect day if you love gravel bikes and public transit.
Happy trails,
Love Machine
