If last month's route featured Burnaby's B-sides and deep cuts, this one plays its greatest hits.
Maybe you’ve ridden the Trans-Canada-Trail on the north side of Burnaby Mountain? Maybe you’ve ridden the gravel trails around Burnaby Lake? But connect them both, and boy howdy, you’re COOKIN.
Surface-wise, this whole thing is just about as smooth as butter. Seriously, well done City of Burnaby. Just a lovely, graded carpet for miles. When your bike-handling is as poor as ours, you appreciate that. But on our pre-ride (in mid November), some of the mud on the approach to Burnaby Lake was THICK. So be warned.
And although the surface may be fast, the rolling hills can take it out of the legs, quickly. We’d highly recommend riding this route clockwise. The climbs around Burnaby Mountain pack a good punch in either direction, but it’s probably best to avoid going counter-clockwise unless you love to walk uphill.
The far eastern point of this route leaves plenty of room for a quick sojourn over one of Port Moody’s many breweries or cafes. You can check those out. You can do whatever you want. You have total autonomy over your actions.
Once you’re on the trails around the lake, keep your head on a swivel for horses and walkers. Then enjoy looping back past the Burnaby Archery Club range (free stickers to anyone who DMs us pics of them slingin arrows in full bike kit), along the Central Valley Greenway and back to the city.
P.S. It would be fair to consider this the companion route to the
Burnabop. They could easily be combined into one big day. In fact, if you saw our pal
@jasonmytail's Burnabop XL route (aka
The Big Bopper), you’ll notice that this route is very similar to its northernmost section. Great minds think alike or something like that.
Happy trails,
Love Machine
