The Epic Mountain Biking Culture is Transforming Vancouver Island
I’ve been riding downhill for so long, everything aches: my forearms, my quads, even my cheeks. I started grinning at the top of Tres Hombres, the newest trail in the Snowden Demonstration Forest, just outside Campbell River on Vancouver Island in beautiful BC. Two kilometres of berms, rolls and pedal-free flow later, I’m still happily catching flies in my teeth, sporting an endless smile.
Tres Hombres is the highlight of an $800,000 investment in making the Snowden trails more accessible and more fun to ride. It’s part of a larger effort across Vancouver Island to capitalize on mountain biking’s year-round potential for economic revival, community health and environmental stewardship.
Nowhere exemplifies the transformative power of trails better than Cumberland. Once a resource town in economic decline, the village mid-way up the east coast of Vancouver Island is now one of BC’s fastest growing and youngest communities. “Cumberland wouldn’t be Cumberland without mountain bikes and trails,” says Chad Hendron, co-owner of Gravity MTB, a mountain bike coaching and training company in town.
What began as informal trail building by passionate locals has evolved into one of the most expansive and professional trail networks in the province. As the quality and number of trails grew, so too did the interest in mountain biking. People moved to the village because they could ride out their door. Many others dropped in to visit. A 2016 study found mountain biking visitors spent an average of $93 per day, directly contributing to the town’s growing business ecosystem. There are now two bike shops and running stores in a village of just 3,700 people. The once mostly boarded up main street bustles with families and mountain bikers stopping in cafes, small shops and numerous restaurants.
Other towns across Vancouver Island are chasing Cumberland’s lead, each putting their unique spin on mountain biking development. The city of Langford, a suburb of Victoria, invested $1.4 million into the Jordie Lunn Bike Park and Gravity Zone. The facility, on a scenic hillside right on a bus route, features a range of bike features and a compact but diverse trail network. “The level of progression is unparalleled on the Island,” says Craig Lunn, Jordie’s brother. It makes mountain biking, and its associated health benefits, more accessible to everyone in Victoria, but especially urban kids, he says. And as part of Langford’s sport tourism efforts, it also contributes economically: the annual Langford Bike Fest generates over $500,000 in local economic activity.
The newest effort is in Lake Cowichan, where the community wants to tap into its natural assets to diversify beyond its logging roots. With support from Community Futures Cowichan, the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society negotiated a land use agreement with the forestry company who owns most of the neighbouring hillsides and then built the Fairservice Fun trail network from scratch.
In Sooke, the mountain bike club has worked hard with the Capital Regional District to make its trail network more sustainable. Mountain bikers in Ucluelet are using mountain biking and trails as a vehicle for reconciliation with a local First Nation. And Nanaimo’s bike communities continue to build an impressive system of trails through its rocky backyard.
All the communities see mountain biking as a path to happier residents, a way of attracting and retaining professionals, and a mechanism to diversify their economy. “Everything… will grow from the locals loving their trails and loving where they live,” says Cathy Robertson from Community Futures Cowichan.
That’s certainly true in Cumberland. When Jeremy Grasby started the Riding Fool Hostel in 2004, it seemed like a risky move. Now, it’s booked out every weekend, mostly with mountain bikers, who come for the trails, but also for Cumberland’s charming culture.
“My two daughters work at businesses that didn’t exist when they were born,” he says. “That’s because of the trails and mountain biking. For a parent, that’s huge.”
This article is sponsored by Mountain Biking BC
Ancient stands of temperate rain forest, mild winters, and long stretches of golden, sandy beaches are the hallmarks of Vancouver Island. This is the real West Coast, where the clock ticks a little slower than the rest of Canada. ‘Island time’ is exuded through happy, laid-back locals who enjoy the bounty of fresh seafood, gorgeous climate, and endless beaches and wilderness at their fingertips. Load your bikes up, hop on the ferry and head to the Island, where six seaside communities, and those happy locals, are ready to show off uncrowded trails and alpine to ocean adventures that rank among the best in the world.
My husband and I just moved to the Cowichan Valley, and he’s looking for a group to hit the trails with. He’s asked people in the bike shops in Duncan if there are any groups he can join up with to learn the trail systems here, but nobody knows of anyone he can go with.
Do you have any suggestions?