The Ride: What’s a new year without a bike ride to work out all the fine holiday toxins out of your pores and liver? Weather permitting, we will leisurely ride Vancouver’s neighborhoods for a couple of hours or so, and magically arrive at Urban Fare in Olympic Village to toast the new year. Bring a good lock to park your bike outside. Check the website a couple of hours before the start for cancellations in case of bad weather.
The Route: A route will depend on current conditions and the mood.
Meet: At Terra Breads at the Olympic Village at 1200
The Ride: What’s a new year without a bike ride to work out all the fine holiday toxins out of your pores and liver? Weather permitting, we will leisurely ride Vancouver’s neighborhoods for a couple of hours or so, and magically arrive at Urban Fare in Olympic Village to toast the new year. Bring a good lock to park your bike outside. Check the website a couple of hours before the start for cancellations in case of bad weather.
The Route: A route will depend on current conditions and the mood.
Meet: At Terra Breads at the Olympic Village at 1200
Update January 5: Weather forecast is good, so this ride is a go.
The Ride: This ride follows the shore of Boundary Bay through a major bird habitat and is a nature lover’s dream. Last time we did this ride all manner of wildlife was seen. Ride 18km on gravel into Tsawwassen for a snack, then back to Mud Bay. Yes, it’s ALL gravel, which you secretly love and crave.
Bring tools/spares in case of flats. Keep an eye on the website and Whatsapp for possible cancellation in the event of rain/snow/ice. Ride cancellation will be posted 3 hours before the start of the ride. Let ride leader know if you can provide carpool in your vehicle, for which the participants should compensate you for gas, etc.
Update January 11: It’s Speedos and tubetop weather. This ride is a go.
The Ride: It’s been a mild winter, so let’s push my luck and tackle the North Shore. I may be tempting the weather fates, but the rolling bellies ride on this week, entering the wilds of North Van in search of good coffee. This ride will venture into the rarefied community of Edgemont Village before descending down, down, to the Spirit Trail . Home is via Lions Gate bridge and Prospect point. The ride is short, but there is a long climb, hence the medium designation. Bring your thinnest tires and climbing legs. The hills will do your lungs and mine some good. If the mountains beckon me to ski, Will has graciously agreed to lead in my stead. This ride is weather-dependent. Keep your eye on this website and Whatsapp for updates.
The Ride: Another VBC classic attracting may riders!
John was a long-time member of the club. Each year he led a ride with a distance of about the same number of kilometers as his age (that would end up at about 92) on or near his birthday. The weather is ALWAYS awful, but no one cares; the ride just magically shortens up if things get ugly. The group might end-up at the Flying Beaver pub, by the floatplane terminal, to hoist a pint or two to a departed friend.
The Route: The exact route and pace will greatly depend on the climatic conditions and the mood of the moment, but if the weather man got it right we will make a run for Iona Island via Heather bike route and River Road, return on Cypress.
For more information about John Hathaway click HERE.
Meet: At Terra Breads at the Olympic Village at 1030 (late start to let most of the ice melt)
The Ride: This ride falls on Valentine’s Day, an apt celebration of my love affair with food. Sorry Cam, you have not been overlooked. Ever wonder what “banchan” is? Have you ever wanted to shout “bibimbap” and not sound crazy? You can on this ride. To continue with a cyclist’s favourite theme, the rolling bellies are headed into Burnaby/New Westminster for Korean food this week. The terrain will be mostly road, with unpaved sections of the Central Valley Greenway. The pace will be leisurely, the distance is easy, but there are a couple of good climbs. Road bike tires will be fine. Lunch will be at Insadong restaurant. Family style dining is likely unless the majority states otherwise.
With all this good weather we’ve been having, I’d like to continue with the al fresco lunch theme. A good place is at Westminster Quay, which has a bevy of dining options, from sit-down service to take-out eaten on the most inviting bench on the boardwalk. Regardless, the mighty Fraser is at your feet at all times. We will ride out to New West via Richmond’s River Road, over the Canada Line Bridge, and return by 7/11 Trail.
Meet : at 10:00AM at Terra Breads 1605 Manitoba Street, Van, BC
Hoping that our unseasonably seasonal weather has passed by then, an easy ride around UBC ending with a roll down West 8th Avenue ending at my home in Kitsilano for some warming treats, mostly of the baked variety. If you do not appreciate the gluten, I will have some grain-based products that have been purified by a well-known distillation process (that may leave you among the baked varieties). As we will then be in the week prior to the celebration of the 258th anniversary of the birth of Robbie Burns (25 January 1759), we may all lift a glass in remorse that poor Robbie died just 21 years before the invention of the bicycle. If you cannot join the ride, but do not want to miss the bacchanalia, let me know and I will provide you with my address by email. As everyone knows, if you find yourself unable to ride home, you run the risk of suffering Colin’s fate of leaving a bicycle in my “shed of iniquity”.
I will cancel the ride if road conditions do not allow a safe or comfortable ride and amend this post to so indicate by 8am on the ride date (and I will send a message on WhatsApp).
Ride: Approximately 25kn; details of the route to be determined based on road conditions and I will post an update prior to the ride.
Meet: 11am at Arbutus Coffee (2200 Arbutus St. at West 6th Avenue).
Leader: Naiden (and Will), please let me know if you are coming so I can stock adequate provisions.
As with all VBC rides, bring your helmet, but leave your haggis and bag pipes at home.
The Ride: This ride will take us from the Olympic Village and eventually end at for lunch at the newly opened Milltown Bar & Grill at the also newly opened Milltown Marina in Marpole. Actually, the place is officially in Richmond, but it suffers from a rare case of Pt. Roberts syndrome (those geographically challenged can keep wondering).
The plan is to south on Heather, to West 10th Ave, and make our way around UBC to Milltown Pub. However, how we reach the pub will mostly depend on the current conditions – we might take a longer route if it’s really nice, or shorten it if it’s crappy.
Meet: At Terra Breads at the Olympic Village at 10:30am
Hoping that we get a drier day without risk of falling branches for an easy ride around Stanley Park or UBC (exact route will be adjusted to reflect weather and the feeling of the riding horde, but we will ride at least 21 kms to mark each of the years that elapsed after the Ploughman Poet died before the greatest invention of humankind) ending at my home in Kitsilano for some warming treats, mostly of the baked variety. If you do not appreciate the gluten, I will have some grain-based products that have been purified by a well-known distillation process (that may leave you among the baked varieties). As we will then be in the weekend after the celebration of the 259th anniversary of the birth of Robbie Burns (25 January 1759), we may all lift a glass in remorse that poor Robbie died 21 years before the invention of the bicycle. This tragic mis-ordering of history denied us all a wealth of poems to the “steel pony” that Robbie would, no doubt, have written, but I ask each of you to bring your favourite ode to that most perfect machine to share with the gathered several. If you cannot join the ride, but do not want to miss the bacchanalia (or you have a poem that you REALLY want to share), let me know and I will provide you with my address by email. .
I will shorten the ride if road conditions do not allow a safe or comfortable ride, but I will not want to have to eat all the pie and drink all the whisky myself – we all know how badly that would be!
Ride: Approximately 25kn; details of the route to be determined based on road conditions to be agreed before we head out on the ride.
Meet: 10:30am at Arbutus Coffee (2200 Arbutus St. at West 6th Avenue).
Leader: Will, please let me know if you are coming so I can stock adequate provisions.
As with all VBC rides, bring your helmet, but leave your haggis and bag pipes at home.
Hoping that our unseasonably seasonal weather has passed by then, an easy ride around UBC ending with a roll down West 8th Avenue ending at my home in Kitsilano for some warming treats, mostly of the baked variety. If you do not appreciate the gluten, I will have some grain-based products that have been purified by a well-known distillation process (that may leave you among the baked varieties). As we will then be in the week prior to the celebration of the 258th anniversary of the birth of Robbie Burns (25 January 1759), we may all lift a glass in remorse that poor Robbie died just 21 years before the invention of the bicycle. If you cannot join the ride, but do not want to miss the bacchanalia, let me know and I will provide you with my address by email. As everyone knows, if you find yourself unable to ride home, you run the risk of suffering Colin’s fate of leaving a bicycle in my “shed of iniquity”.
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