Cycling in Chilliwack

Despite the light rain that we faced during much of today’s ride, it turned out to be a pretty great route, with one small unavoidable exception. First, as we started out from the south part of Chilliwack, we probably went seven or eight miles before finally leaving the town. Despite a lot of urban riding, we were almost continually on cycling trails or streets with cycling lanes. The only road without a cycling lane was Chilliwack Central Road, but it had sufficiently light traffic and was wide enough that this was not a problem. The one unavoidable exception was the bridge crossing the Fraser River on Highway 9. While the highway itself had excellent shoulder for bicycles, the bridge was clearly constructed well prior to today’s wider automobiles and any desire to provide room for pedestrians or bicycles. Despite that, there were (fortunately) signs warning drivers that bicycles and pedestrians have a right to the bridge as well. Getting onto Highway 7, we found a great relatively low-trafficked road with excellent shoulder and some nice scenery. It was an easy, mostly flat ride to the Highway 1 bridge into Hope.

Circle on Chilliwack Lake Rd east from Chilliwack toward the lake. Turned around at the 14 mile point (well short of the lake) and went back by same route. Nice ride, with some nice scenery. The river in places is very pretty. Good bike path/lane for first half of ride. The rest was a reasonably wide road with relatively light traffic. We rode this on a weekday in late May. The traffic going to the lake would probably be higher in summer and maybe on weekends in the spring and fall when there's good weather.

Overall, this was a pretty nice ride. (This was the second time that we did most of this ride.) There was too much traffic in the first part of the ride, but after passing south of Lake Cultus, the traffic was gone almost completely. We rode this in late May. Considering all the camping and tourist attractions by the lake, we can imagine that the traffic up to the end of the lake will be terrible during the summer tourist season. For the portions of the ride with traffic, there was generally good shoulder to ride on. After the lake, we didn't need any road shoulder. That part was close to nirvanna.

Overall, this was a pretty nice ride. There was too much traffic in the first part of the ride, but after passing south of Lake Cultus, the traffic was gone almost completely. We rode this in late May. Considering all the camping and tourist attractions by the lake, we can imagine that the traffic up to the end of the lake will be terrible during the summer tourist season. For the portions of the ride with traffic, there was generally good shoulder to ride on. After the lake, we didn't need any road shoulder. That part was close to nirvanna.