New Bike Route: 'Northwest Burnaby Loop'

Burrard Inlet, Burnaby (detail)

Northwest Burnaby Loop

Trying to get back into decent riding shape with a 'long ride' (qualification: at least one and a half hours) every other day. I personally try to avoid riding in vehicle traffic as much as possible in Metro Vancouver. One of my favourite routes is the 'Central Valley Greenway/B.C. Parkway Loop' for the reason that aside from a stretch along Winston (just north of Burnaby Lake) there is very little traffic to contend with. Not much at all.

So with that in mind I set out solo yesterday to set up a new route, one with little exposure to heavy traffic. I started at Victoria and Broadway, heading southeast along Grandview with a moderate breeze from the east. At Slocan I turned north and followed it up a short steep section to Broadway and crossed at the light. I continued north along Slocan until turning right at Union/Frances. Now I was on an easterly bearing for a long section, passing over the Trans Canada Highway, crossing Boundary into Burnaby, and then up a second steep section immediately east of Boundary. Note that at the 'top' of this steep section the route turns north for a few blocks, at Ingleton, and then resumes bearing east along Frances. I now followed Frances all the way until Fell Avenue (Fell is about halfway between Holdom and Willingdon). At Fell I turned north, now heading directly towards the nearby Burrard Inlet. After a short distance (about four blocks) I turned and began to follow the Trans Canada Trail back towards Vancouver, through the Capitol Hill Conservation Area, alongside Penzance Drive, across Confederation Park, past McGill Park, and finally reaching Montrose Park and cycling beneath the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge via Yale Street. Fantastic riding! From the bridge I linked up to Wall Street alongside Bridgeway, which skirts the southern edge of New Brighton Park before it reaches Wall Street proper. At Kaslo I turned south and returned back to the start point via Slocan and Grandview.

Elapsed time was approximately an hour and a half, but in my defense I'd like to point out that I ride a hard-tail mountain bike (Kona Cinder Cone), with knobby tires. And the route has a few hilly sections which are quite challenging….

Thanks to John, James and Miranda for the rides last week.