July 29, 2024
First Bikepacking Trips
2022 - Hornby Island
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In 2022 Andrew and I rode from Comox, BC to Hornby Island. There, we set up camp at Ford Cove spent five days on Hornby Island and Denman Island, riding, exploring, playing disc golf, etc. On our last day we rode back to Comox in the morning and went mountain biking at Cumberland in the afternoon.
While we only carried our gear for the first and last days, it was a solid introduction to bikepacking. Our bike setups were very similar - RSD Middlechild hardtail mountain bikes with racks attached with P-clamps and a bunch of 10L drybags strapped to the racks. It wasn't optimal, but it worked for the trip and we learned important lessons.
2023 - Sunshine Coast Loop
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In 2023 we stepped it up and rode to Comox from Victoria (me) and Vancouver (Andrew) by first taking ferries to Nanaimo and then enduring an unpleasant ride along the highway. Perhaps only 17km of the over 160km we did that day was truly unpleasant, but it left a mark.
From Comox we crossed to Powell River for a day of mountain biking with a mutual friend. The following day we started heading south following the Sunshine Coast Trail as much as possible, passing through Earl's Cove, Sechelt, Langdale, Vancouver, and down to Tsawwassen.
Except the one day of mountain biking we carried our gear each day with much-improved setups. Our racks were mounted with proper through axles rather than P-clamps and we had made other refinements. This allowed us to ride full-on blue and black diamond mountain bike trails with our fully loaded bikes.
We covered over 500km, and had five back-to-back days with over 1000m of elevation each day.
2024
Our bikepacking setups had improved considerably, and we had built lots of experience along the way, but we still had work to do. We each did a few trips solo or with other people and continued to refine our systems. Once we decided to do the GDMBR we had a good sense of what we had to do, but still needed to do it and test it out. About six weeks prior to our planned departure we did a shakedown trip together with two 90km days riding from Victoria to the Cowichan River over the Sooke Wilderness Trail, and back via Duncan, Crofton, and Saltspring Island. This trip mostly validated our bag and ergonomic choices, but when planning such a long trip (40+ days!) the final 10% can make a huge difference.
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We're both doing separate shakedown trips two weeks prior to the big day. Separately, because of work and family timing. Starting on Saturday morning I'm planning to travel from Victoria to Port Angeles in Washington State. From there I plan to ride the Olympic Discovery Trail to Port Townsend and then work my way north back into Canada, and then take the Ferry back to Vancouver Island. It will be over 350km of riding over three days.
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