British Columbia’s Vancouver Island is a long way from Tennessee, both culturally and geographically. So, Josh Bowden was plenty surprised to feel right at home as he rode Adventure Cycling’s first fully international cycling route — the Vancouver Crossing Loop — for the first time.
Bowden, Adventure Cycling’s experiences operations specialist, landed the coveted role of vetting the new route, which winds along Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia for 314 miles and three ferry rides, for ground truth. And one truth he couldn’t deny was how much the pastoral country roads between the port city of Nanaimo and Victoria, the provincial capital, reminded him of riding outside Nashville, the place where he first fell in love with cycling.
“Honestly, that section doesn’t have many grand views or historic spots, but, for me, there’s nothing quite like riding through often-overlooked countryside on shady, winding roads,” he says. “This portion captured part of what makes bike travel so special to me: being a part of the in-between places.”
But don’t get him wrong. Metro Vancouver on the mainland was a highlight, too, thanks to its diversity of culture, people, food, and history. And that was the whole point of the route.
In addition to being beginner, e-bike-, and gravel-friendly (the majority of the route is on protected bike paths, and about 40 percent of the route is unpaved), the Vancouver Crossing Loop is designed to traverse the region’s myriad cultures and communities as well as its terrain, says Amy Wally, Adventure Cycling’s cartography program manager and the mastermind behind the new route. “Riders will encounter a mix of gravel and pavement, rural and urban, forest and sea, all while experiencing the cultures, languages, and foods that make Vancouver one of North America’s most ethnically diverse cities.”
Bowden agrees.
“The route offers so much diversity: coastline streets, urban paths, rural roads, gravel lanes, etc., that you get a dose of everything,” he says. “I usually opt for more remote trips, but this route was a wonderful deviation because it felt like a cultural experience instead of a wilderness adventure.”
In Vancouver, that experience includes passing near the Museum of Anthropology’s collection of Northwest Coast First Nations art and pedaling the public-art-lined North Shore Spirit Trail, which was created through a collaboration between local governments and the Squamish Nation. In Richmond’s Steveston neighborhood, riders can learn about British Columbia’s rich history of commercial fishing, and on Vancouver Island, they’ll pass by BC Forest Discovery Centre, an open-air museum with an operational steam train.
For Bowden, however, it was the meals that truly highlighted the Vancouver Crossing Loop’s diversity. “I had some of the best food I’ve had in a long time on this route,” he says, “salty Chinese noodles, juicy Mediterranean plates, fresh sushi, world-class coffee, local cider.”
A few standouts included: the fresh produce and food trucks at Michell’s Farm Market between Victoria and Sidney; the lamb at Asteras Greek Tavern in Nanaimo; and Vancouver coffee shop Milano Victoria. “It’s a coffee snob’s dream,” Bowden says. “I had one of the best flat whites of my life there.” The cafe’s beans have won numerous worldwide roasting competitions, so grabbing a few bags will be well worth the extra weight in your panniers.
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