Cycling on Gabriola

Maybe it's time to dust off that bike seat and head to Gabriola Island for a ride!
It's the perfect day trip, just walk on the ferry with your bike and head down North Road when you get here, this changes to South road in the Silva Bay area.   There are lots of side roads to go down and explore and a few hills to conquer along the way, the loop usually takes 1hr and 15 minutes to an hour and a half.  We've been doing lots of laps and zigzag paths around the island as training for our upcoming "Ride to Conquer Cancer" ride from Vancouver to Seattle on June 16/17.  On the May long weekend,we were lucky to have our teammates from Nanaimo and Mike (owner of North Road Sports) join us for a 30km loop around the island.

For more bike routes on Gabriola, search for routes on Mapmyride .

Submitted by: Tina Lynch

A great level walk on Gabriola.

The weather seems to be cheering up, giving lots of opportunities to get outside for some fresh air and a chance to burn off some of the winter reservoirs that some of us may be packing around. Some people have injuries, physical limitations or just prefer a relatively flat walking route and the loop from Brickyard around El Verano Road and onto the beach seems to be one of the favorites on Gabriola.

There are some ways to extend this walk as well by adding in the clamshell/stokes roads, you can make it all on the road or incorporate a walk on the sandy beach into your route by going down the boat launch off El Verano (which is easy to spot – it’s one of the few places on the Island that has more than 5 cars on the side of the road).

There is also history here, brickyard beach use to have a substantial industrial role on the Island, producing over 80,000 bricks daily, brick remnants still line the beaches. If you’re in to creating an adventure, there is a geocache site hidden near the Brickyard picnic site – have fun!