Long distance off road race for BC?

[tomcycle]

This just popped in my head about a week ago. No planning, nothing. However, a group of friends and I are planning on riding from Hope to Kamloops next year and I thought, hell - that would make for an interesting race route. I'm not asking for vollies, or help with anything other than asking if anyone has ridden a similar route. That's it, that's all.

Thanks Dirty

I must be reading too much into your posts. Anyhow its a good idea and I would like to see it get off the ground. Also you can see by the response that there are others here too that like the idea. Now we just need someone to put it all together.

Not any routes between Hope and anywhere. If you go up the Coke the old road beyond Portia is offically non motorised (offically we dont ride that section) There is a route between Caroline Mines and Alexandea Bridge, I havent done it for a few years but I am sure it still goes through. From there you will have to ride to Boston Bar and you will have two routes to get you back towards the Coke Spius or Utzlis FSR (spelling is probably wrong) Spius being the more challenging route. Once on the other side of the mountains there are lots more options

Tom

Tom

 

[dirty sanchez]

Thanks for the info Tom!

 

[Farp]

This just popped in my head about a week ago. No planning, nothing. However, a group of friends and I are planning on riding from Hope to Kamloops next year and I thought, hell - that would make for an interesting race route. I'm not asking for vollies, or help with anything other than asking if anyone has ridden a similar route. That's it, that's all.

We are currently negotiating with the BC Gov't to prevent loss of our riding areas. Groups such as TrailsBC are lobbying to have only non-motorized use of mountain trails allowed. If a race such as this goes ahead without Gov't approval it will not help our cause so the first thing that you must do is get gov't approval, and if you can't get it, don't do it! We are trying to establish ourselves as responsible motorcyclists and stewards of the environment. If you run this race as an outlaw event then it will seriously damage our credibility. I'm not against this race, in fact I think it'd be a fun thing to do, but not if it makes us look like a bunch of yahoos and scofflaws in the eyes of the gov't. So, please, work within the system and do it right, or forget about it.

John

 

[dirty sanchez]

We are currently negotiating with the BC Gov't to prevent loss of our riding areas. Groups such as TrailsBC are lobbying to have only non-motorized use of mountain trails allowed. If a race such as this goes ahead without Gov't approval it will not help our cause so the first thing that you must do is get gov't approval, and if you can't get it, don't do it! We are trying to establish ourselves as responsible motorcyclists and stewards of the environment. If you run this race as an outlaw event then it will seriously damage our credibility. I'm not against this race, in fact I think it'd be a fun thing to do, but not if it makes us look like a bunch of yahoos and scofflaws in the eyes of the gov't. So, please, work within the system and do it right, or forget about it.

John

I get the feeling I'm repeating myself, probably because I am. lol...

I said if I tried to organize a race it would be 100% above board and legal within the eyes of the local and provincial governments and any property land owner, stakeholder and insurance provider.

I would never put on a race if I didn't have permission. That's just asking for trouble.

 

[Farp]

I get the feeling I'm repeating myself, probably because I am. lol...

I said if I tried to organize a race it would be 100% above board and legal within the eyes of the local and provincial governments and any property land owner, stakeholder and insurance provider.

I would never put on a race if I didn't have permission. That's just asking for trouble.

Sorry, dirty, I just jumped in at the end of this thread; should have read the whole thing before I made my post. Good luck to you, I hope you pull it off. This could be the start of something big.

John

 

[dirty sanchez]

Thanks Dirty

I must be reading too much into your posts. Anyhow its a good idea and I would like to see it get off the ground. Also you can see by the response that there are others here too that like the idea. Now we just need someone to put it all together.

Not any routes between Hope and anywhere. If you go up the Coke the old road beyond Portia is offically non motorised (offically we dont ride that section) There is a route between Caroline Mines and Alexandea Bridge, I havent done it for a few years but I am sure it still goes through. From there you will have to ride to Boston Bar and you will have two routes to get you back towards the Coke Spius or Utzlis FSR (spelling is probably wrong) Spius being the more challenging route. Once on the other side of the mountains there are lots more options

Tom

Tom

Hey Tom,

I just had a look at the BC Backroads map and yes those two routes are on there. Thanks for the head's up. I'm curious, how tough is the Spuis route? I would use lots of FSR's if it they were tight with sharp turns. That makes them technically challenging in their design.... plus it would mean less chance of personal injury to riders. Think Baja 1000.

I was thinking over on the other side towards Tulameen (yes I'm repeating myself - sorry) but I suppose the route you are talking about makes a lot of sense too.

You guys are a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate it. Since I own one bike and that being a closed course bike, long excursions like this are something that takes a lot of work to plan out and complete.

Thanks!

 

[tomcycle]

Spius is the harder of the two routes, my personal preference. a little hard to find the first time but worth the adventure. The 4x4 guys made it thru last year and chewed it up pretty good but its still a good route across. Spius is marked as a major FSR in the Backroads book, it is more like old trail.

If you ride from Boston Bar you should be able to stay off road all the way, lots of ways across the coke without have to deal with roads.

Remember if you are riding FSR you still require Third Party Liability

Tom

 

[dirty sanchez]

Thanks Tomcycle, that's helpful.

I was up exploring around the Logan Lake turn off the other day, basically riding where I could on the Surrey Lake FSR near the Surrey Lake summit on the Coq. I couldn't figure out why it was so cold up there. In Kamloops it was about +5 and up there I later found out I was riding in about -15. That's quite the temperature fluctuation in such a short distance. hahaha....

But its a nice area up there for sure. Beautiful country up by the Surrey Lake fishing resort. I drew out a map from Duffy Lake to Merritt using FSR's and connecting trails and it was only 88kms. It will be a fun ride for sure.