Deep Cove
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Permanent #30 - Tour of Greater Vancouver (205 km)
by Étienne Hossack

So this ride ended up happening as a result of my crash earlier this month and a broken scaphoid, but not to be dissuaded, I planned for an evening ride.
It ended up being a good plan to test my battery-powered night-riding system as I can't afford a dynamo hub or anything fancy so I wanted to prove my $40 mec light was trustworthy. (Turns out apart from the backup rear light spontaneously falling off my bike, it worked :D)
I'm set for a 400!

The route itself... Kinda sucked. Marred by construction and poor paths.
Setting off, the weather was nice and I was looking forward to deep cove section and once I was on the road it was very nice! But the route there was along the seawall and bike paths that were painfully slow and busy. Frustrating given that one road over was a smoother quiet road. But I stuck to it. The rest of the road to Deep Cove via Adenac was as expected: busy and full of stops and road crossings.
The section to horseshoe started off well, but construction on the lower levels forced the bike route up the 3rd hill climb -which was nice and steep - and then the detour failed to keep marking itself so I followed the ambiguously made route down 3rd back to Marine.
The next part of the ride was uneventful. I slowly made my way back to UBC, reaching there about sunset. (Maybe doing this after leading a group of teenagers in camp during the day wasn't the best idea? ... Nah :D)
After the Queensborough/Fraser Bridge crossing, the construction made things pretty ugly.
Detours went up one road, down another then up the next. Steep hills and small signs made navigation tricky and good brakes essential.
Finally after a glorious 2am Tim hortons visit I found the Putello bridge and was back in new west.

The route to the BC parkway seemed convoluted but I continued onward, desiring the end sooner rather than later.
And in true BC parkway fashion, one can never exceed 15-18kmph because of the blasted roots. Darn pavement. One dreams of ripping it down at 2am. Still can't.

And I must've cut an odd figure rolling into Calhouns at 4am, drenched in sweat, lights dangling from everywhere.

An experience for sure!

Detours (most likely just until end of summer):
Construction on Lower Level Rd. entrance off Cotton. Unknown distance. Remain on 3rd until 2nd->1st transition
After the Alex fraser, detour up a hill on Centre St. Left on Main St. Left on to Terrace Dr. back to River Rd.
Right off River Rd. on 92a, Up until 114a, then down the diversion and the steep hill of Regal Dr.
Eventually you will turn left on 114 to join Grace Rd. before finally rejoining Scott Rd.

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August 15, 2013