The Comox Valley Chapter welcomes new members! The Chapter has 81 enthusiastic members as of Nov. 4, 2022.
Fall visit to Innisfree Farm
The Chapter runs a weekly “Open Ride” every Friday, weather permitting, from approximately mid-March to mid-October. There are quite a variety of routes including local ones in and around Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland as well as a number of out-of-town options that start and end somewhere within a hour’s drive or so from Courtenay. Examples are Denman, Hornby and Quadra Islands, Qualicum Beach, Parksville and “The Gold River Highway”.
These Friday rides are typically “road” rides almost completely on paved surfaces. The club does conduct several “mixed surface” rides per season as well. These routes require fatter tires and/or suspension forks (for comfort) and encompass dirt trails, gravel forest service roads and single/doubletrack mountain biking trails.
Hornby Island Trails
To get a picture (pun intended) of the type of fun the Chapter members have on their bikes, check out the all the posts below this one which span the 2016 – 2019 ride seasons. From 2020 to the present, photo memories reside in Google Photos Albums. Check out the following…
7 riders out for the last ride (yes, I am sure it’s the last group ride). Union Bay and back to Bayside for coffee and warming up. As a great poet once said ” …so cold our lashes froze….”. Off to ski next week.
8 showed up for what may be the last ride of the season. We rode the hilly route Via Minto to sunny Union Bay and on to the Bayside for coffee (55+ km).
Nov. 8….and another decent day! Sixteen cyclists showed up for a ride. We went through town to 19 via Lake Trail and the connector. Rhonda had a flat and could not get her tire off. The last we heard was Eamon had to ride home and get the truck and come back to get her. We continued down the highway to Piercy, Headquaters, Rennison, Huband, etc to the airport for coffee.
5 riders enjoyed a fine day on Hornby Island. The trail system is a mix of old forestry roads and single-track. We summitted Mt Geoffrey and enjoyed lunch in “downtown” Hornby. We all agreed to do it again next year.
Another nice day to finish off a sunny week. A little chilly but not too bad. A trip up Piercy, Dove Creek , Farnham, Tsolum Bridges, 19a with a stop at the Country Market.
Last official ride of the season and another “iffy” day…..but it turned out to be just fine. 14 members rode up Dove Creek, down Farnham, then Merville Rd, Coleman, Bates, Waveland, Eleanor, Little River to the airport for coffee. Hopefully we are able to fit in a few more rides if the weather cooperates.
A rather chilly start to the sunny day saw 15 riders meet at the Filberg for a ride up Piercy to 19, down Dove Creek to Headquarters then up to Smith and down 19A to the Courtenay Country Market for coffee and to help Steve FA celebrate his 70th. Stella also rode to this social gathering. After eating, not unexpectedly, talk began of challenging some nearby hills, specifically Grieve….and sure enough, 6 people picked up the challenge and completed Grieve & Hardy and took the Coleman/Waveland route back home. Thanks to Sherry for coordinating.
6 riders participated in the gruelling (see photo!) Baynes Sound View trail ride. A cloudy day with a few drops of rain but a good time was had by all (again, see photo! ) Oh, and yes, they actually did climb a hill….though it appears like a flat ride out towards Tree Island. Thanks to Andrea for coordinating.
Another one of those “iffy” days with rain overnight and into the morning. It did, however, stop before 9 so we rescheduled to a “Choose a Ride” and 3 hearty souls (all female I might add) showed up….Cathy, Sharon & Marilynn. They decided to cycle Dove Creek, Farnham, Merville, & Coleman where they met up with James & Jane going the other way. All 5 then cycled to the Airport for coffee as the roads got drier & drier. Hopefully we get a drier October compared to the past September, so we can perhaps cycle into November like we did last year.
A group of 20 riders met on a coolish, windy day to check out the ice cream at the Mini-Golf Course. Our leader, Glenn aka “Rabbit Hole” gave us a couple of possibilities for routes including one very few people had ever been on. 13 of the 20 riders took up the challenge and made their way up from the end of Burns Road to Highway 19. The ~ 100 m trail passed over a creek and through a “gate” cut strategically through a wire fence. After meeting up with the other 7 riders at Dove Creek Road we headed straight into the very brisk, challenging wind for 13 km to Hamm Road. Part way down Hamm Road, “Rabbit Hole” lead many through another “long cut” which eventually took everyone to the Mini-Golf Course where, as always, we would be treated to some fabulous ice cream! Alas, the owners had determined that summer was over, and had closed up shop! As a result we headed back south on 19 A, now with the wind following us! Some stopped at Black Creek General Store while others made their way down Headquarters to the Climate Change rally in Simms Park and a few even participated in the march up 5th & 4th. All in all, an interesting, well-rounded day!
A healthy group of 35 riders participated in a short ride to the Airport today to attend the opening ceremonies of the new Bike Station. Free coffee and muffins were the big attraction, as was the opportunity to look good in the new CCCTS jersey. A few nice photos including the group shot….and one less than satisfactory one of the lone cyclist! Next week we are off to Black Creek.
10 riders participated on the ride to the Comox Dam and the One Spot Trail.
It was dark in the woods, so no action shots. There was some talk about being lost in the Twilight Zone.
Some photos:
1. A key moment before entering the Twilight Zone..
2. After the Twilight Zone, when we could all laugh about it.
3. Heading home on the One Spot.
A further report from the Coordinator:
Attached is a start of ride photo. 9 of us started off on a rainless ride with a mix of bikes. A few missed turns resulted in a slightly different route to the dam on Comox Lake. On the way to the fish hatchery several riders took a wrong turn and the rest of the group waited at the hatchery and Marilyn went to look for them. After a half hour wait they all turned up. During the wait we suspected they had entered a space time continuum and visited a parallel universe. The rest of the ride went without incident, while we took some easier trails to accommodate the gravel bikes. A couple of riders turned home early around Burns lake. A good ride in spite of a few miss turns and delays.
Ken is new member who joined the day before was on the ride He chose to return early and Glen thinks he’ll be asking for a refund after the visit to the Nymph Falls Twilight Zone.
I think the group passed a motion to preclude the Coordinator from leading any more mystery tours 🙂
8 optimists rode today on an adjusted course, rain-free on Friday the 13th. The forecast was for morning showers and rain in the afternoon, so we kept close to town (Dove Creek, Farnham, Tsolum, Little River, Airport), 50ish kms, with just a few drops of rain early in the ride. The ride coordinator did a brilliant job to keep us all dry and happy. Thanks, Glenn!
