BIKEPACKING 900km on Vancouver Island | Part 1: Victoria to Port Alberni
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2020
- This video is part one of a series documenting our 900 km bikepacking trip of the length of Vancouver Island, primarily on gravel and logging roads. In this part, we ride the sooke hills wilderness trail and the cowichan valley trail to Lake Cowichan, as well as logging roads to Carmanah Walbran for a day of hiking to Anderson Lake. On our way to Port Alberni, we encounter an active logging operation and have to hike our bikes over the cut logs.
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Fantastic trip, thanks for sharing
Stumbled on your content. Thanks for posting.
Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing. Such a great ride. I have been trying to figure out the route up to north of the island and this was so helpful. 🌱
Thanks for watching :)
Awesome. I'll be taking a fly rod and maybe a packraft...
Awesome
Thanks!
Beautiful
Beautiful scenery! Great times!
Thanks for watching. I’ll finish the other two videos in the coming weeks, but I’m heading out for a quick bike tour tomorrow in the meantime!
Rowdy trip! Excellent work documenting it so thoroughly. That route looks incredible.
Rowdy indeed! There was quite a bit more hike a bike then shown in this video. I was a bit too tired to film all that and it's a bit boring :)
@@SirBikesAlot We know the feeling. Haha! You did a great job of showing off how imposing some of those climbs must have been. Watched all 3 parts today and loved it. Keep up the good work!
Just Love that!
Awesome glad you enjoyed!
Wow im jealous! Looks amazing
Thanks for watching. It was really great to see these parts so close to home that I’ve never been to.
Great views. Some of those trees were thumpers...👍
Some of them are very old!
Love this content man. Think I’m gonna head out to Vancouver Island from MTL this summer for a week of bikepacking
Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it. If you have Instagram feel free to message me (sir.bikes.alot) or email me and we can chat routes etc. Cheers!
Cool!
🙏🙏🙏
Awesome trip I just back from a cycling trip on the island went up to sooke potholes and want to do more trips on island in future.
Nice! Lots of great cycling up near sooke. Did you go to leach town?
I'm looking forward to following your journey! My dog and I spent 60 days bikepacking the Sunshine Coast, Texada, Vancouver, and the Southern Gulf Islands last year. I'm hoping to pick up where we left off again in the new year and do some of the routes you're doing, and ride the West Coast ferries. North Island is so breathtaking. Cheers!
I'll check out your stuff right now. It's certainly a beautiful area and was fun to explore. If you're around the Victoria area let me know and maybe we can go for a ride with your poochie!
@@SirBikesAlot will do, cheers buddy.
Ridesafe ser🚴🚴🚴💪
Thanks you too!
Nice!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
@@SirBikesAlot leggo!!!
nice ride and weather im new friend ride safe
Thank you. Ride safe as well!
Hi from Cumberland, would love to do this with the wife one day.
heads up we have lots of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island
Hello hello, thanks for watching. Cumberland is lovely. I spent some time mountain biking up there this summer. Much better than the trails were have here in Victoria.
Aha the Levi Allen proposal Bridge
I had to google that to find out what you meant. It’s the Same trestle!
Loved the video lads. What did you use to recharge electronics?
Hi Alan, I have a dyno hub and Sinewaves Cycle Computer on my bombtrack, so I'm able to charge while biking at speeds above 8km/h. I found on the average day that I was able to use my phone to navigate while still maintaining a net higher charge. I also carried a battery pack that I've had for a few years as a back up.
Thanks for watching :)
Great video and tips! Your hike around Anderson Lake, how did you secure your bikes and gear?
Hey Robert, thanks for watching. We spent two nights at Carmanah and hiked to Anderson Lake on the second day, so we just left our gear and bikes by the tents. There were maybe 10 other people there but we weren't worried about theft of anything like that and neither of us brought a lock on this trip. Funny enough, of those 10 or so people by chance one of them was my plumber, another was my spouse's hairdresser and the other couple camping near us were associated a local Victoria brewery that I just happened to have my hat with me. I'll have some new videos up soon from a recent trip mid Island so subscribe if you want to know when that comes out!
@@SirBikesAlot already subscribed. I am already planning a bikepacking trip using your route on Vancouver Island. Looking forward to future vids.
@@colnago888 Let me know if you have any questions! I used this as a resource and the author of the site shared some GPX data with me.
www.backroadsbiketouring.com/
@@SirBikesAlot thank you!! This is awesome. I love that you incorporated the rainy days as well. Must pack rain gear. Looks like you brought the MSR Tent. Thinking of a bivy sack for weight. I’ll likely have a similar set up as you, Front bar and rear bag, frame bag.
I also had two fork cages with 5L dry bags at the front. We usually had up to three days worth of food at any given time. There are lots of streams on the ride, so make sure to bring purification tablets or a filter. It was pretty could mid to north island so I would also recommend a warm sleeping bag if you have the space.
Hi again. Do you carry a GPS satellite comm device? I imagine there are sections where there is no cellular service on the island?
Hey Rob, feel free to ask away. There are lots of sections where service is unavailable, so we did carry a GPS device (Spot X), although we were only out of range a max of 2-3 days. The SPOT X was helpful for keeping in touch with loved ones etc. but they are pretty slow and they keyboard isn't great. Takes about 10 minutes just to send a message.
Nice! Did you run into any issues with the logging companies? They seem to be getting more strict these days about allowing people to access their roads.
No it was super chill when we did it but I’ve heard similar stories that access is becoming less tolerated. Your mileage may vary but my experience was great.
How many spare tubes did you take for a long trip like that? Bugs must not be too bad up there?
Hey Gary thanks for watching. My friend and I both ride tubleless, but we each bring a spare tube in case anything goes wrong. I don't recall there being any issues with bugs on mosquitoes. This was in June of last year.
What is the route on RIDE WITH GPS?
What's it like bikepacking on Vancouver Island in the winter months.
How cold is it on the coast north parts of the island
Hey Jay, it's pretty raining where I live here on the south island and can get pretty cold. I would say it's very likely that you would expect some snow in the winter on the north island especially the further you get into the mountains and away from the ocean. I've never biked in the north island in the winter, but @saltybeardbikepacking is doing a tour up near Port Hardy right now and I think it's been pretty darn rainy. I have run into snow in May near cowichan lake and had to turn back, so probably not something that is well advised. Hope that helps :)
@@SirBikesAlot thanks I was talking to saltybeard and it sill sounds better than bikepacking in Alberta in -20 -30 thanks for your info hope to see you on the trail someday 😀 👍
Sounds good! Bike safe and stay warm. It’s a bit drier on the South Island and camping is bearable year round.
hi, is there anyway I could get this route on ride with GPS
Here you go: ridewithgps.com/routes/33124475. I responded to a few comments on this already on this and the p.3 video, but there was one section we weren't able to ride between Sayward and Woss because of a decommissioned bridge. I've updated the route to show a bi-pass, but we didn't actually go that way so I can't speak to it's accuracy. If you have any questions or want to chat further, hit me up on instagram and we can message there. Safe riding!
Do you think a set of 35mm gravel kings could get the job done on this trail?
Hey Kevin thanks for watching. My opinion would be that 35mm is too narrow for some of the roads that we road on, particularly logging roads mid/north island. I rode 2.25 inch xc tires and my friend had 2.1 inch mtb race tires and there were tires that it was rough with all the extra weight.
@@SirBikesAlot Thanks for the reply! I figured as much but thought I would ask anyway. Loved the video!
Id love to know if you guys have a gpx file of the map
Hey I’m just out on a trip right now, but check the comments in this crisp because I’ve posted it a few times!
super cool route! saving this one for later!
did you pedal back to Victoria?
also, does this accurately reflect the route you ended up taking: ridewithgps.com/routes/33124475 ? any unplanned detours?
My spouse and our friend drove up and met us in Cape Scott for a few nights of camping, as well as a few nights in Strathcona Park. We caught a ride back with them and I took the ferry to Powell River for a week of solo bikepacking. I'll make a video on that one too in the next bit.
Our final route was pretty much the same as the Ride with GPS above, except the portion between Sayward and Woss. Despite someone giving me info that there was a decommissioned bridge, I neglected to take us on the right bridge and we had to turn back. We tried to forge the river at one point, but my friend fell down and we decided to cut our losses and head back to Sayward. A very nice man named John gave u a ride back and we took the highway. Other than that, not too many unplanned detours as had planned on meeting my spouse up island.
Thanks again :)
@@SirBikesAlot The ferry to Prince Rupert is amazing and then you can ride Haida Gwaa - when it opens again. Then you can take the Via train to Jasper....
@@barrybogart5436 Good to know. I'd love to do that ride down, once we're able to travel there again :) Thanks!
Do not wear a helmet like this :) but content is good, good luck with a channel
Thanks for watching!