Island Cycles:
Bikes by Numbers
Vancouver Island Cycle Tourism
Alliance
January 2004
Vancouver Island:
It's Worth the Ride
Our free map pictures the island for you. Find your routes and get the
flavours of the Islands. Need more details? For a complete list of maps
and ordering information:
www.cyclevancouverisland.ca
Get on the Map. Supported by Tourism Vancouver Island
and new members.
www.islands.bc.ca
Sleep well at Victoria's Chateau
Victoria. They've built a new secure facility for guest
bicycles:
www.chateauvictoria.com
Bikes by numbers
The highways and byways of Vancouver Island crawled
with bicycles last summer.
BC Ferries reports almost
10% more bicycles boarded between Tswwassen and Swartz Bay in
2003. No figures were available on how many more meals they ate on
board. BC Ferries carries bicycles on 25
routes tying together coastal British Columbia. The
other popular routes for cyclists bring visitors to the island’s hub at
Nanaimo and link mainlanders to the southern Gulf Islands.
Explore BC Ferry routes at:
www.bcferries.com
No end of dirt:
80,000 rides happened at the Hartland
Mountain Bike Park north of Victoria last year.
Ride your bike to the mountain bike park. Saanich
plans to polish up an off-road route from Interurban Road to Hartland
and beyond. Vancouver Island is home to hundreds of trails. The South
Island Mountain Bike Society is your gateway to mountain biking the
island:
www.simbs.com
Island summer postcard:
Lister’s Cortes
"Smelt Bay is a beautiful provincial camp ground
at the south point of the island. It is connected by quiet roads and
easy trails to the community centre, café, grocery store, restaurant and
a jewel of white sand beach on Hague Lake. While the former logging
roads are not "north shore", our four year-old managed quite well with
pushes on the uphills. And there is other hillier stuff with a trail
head near the ferry dock on the west end of the island. Roads are so
quiet; 20 minutes can pass without seeing a car."
Getting to Cortes: Perfect
cycling: two ferries distant from Campbell River via Quadra Island.
Becoming Victorian:
Visitors to Victoria ride like the locals. About
5% of travelers to Victoria include cycling in their
daily itineraries. That compares favourably to the same number of
capital region residents who cycle regularly, more than twice the
national rate.
Bicycle tourism taking off:
17.5% of air travelers to Victoria
include cycling in their itineraries according to recent exit surveys.
Victoria’s airport authority is studying proposals for sprucing up the
welcome. Watch for numbers to increase when 700 Pro Walk/Pro Bike
delegates land on the Island next September.
Bikes Burn:
Mountain biking burns 600 calories an hour
according to last September’s "homemakers" magazine. Recreational
cyclists riding below 16 km an hour consume 280 calories hourly but
touring cyclists at 19 to 23 km/hr are eating up 560 calories an hour.
(Your mileage may vary).
This month’s cycling event:
Let someone else do the cooking: Local restaurants are
serving up "Dine Around Victoria" February 16 to 29. World class chefs
are offering 3 course meal packages at tempting prices. Ride your bike,
parking is always free. Spend what you save on dessert.
$500,000 riding on the Island:
Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2004 "Creating Active Communities".
An estimated half million dollars in economic activity will spin
off from the conference at Victoria's Conference Centre September 7th to
10th. Stakeholders in cycling and walking gather to share strategies,
best practices and see good things happening here. Call for
presentations at:
www.bikewalk.org
Got an event or tourism tip?
Favourite Ride? Delicious photo?