Lanes, Trails, and Tracks: Biking Bliss in Kelowna
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This city is seriously bike-friendly. There are over 240 km of bike lanes all around Kelowna, and the trails and surrounding mountains are full of adventure.
Easy Rider: Pedal the Mission Creek Greenway, which is a 17.5 km long trail along Mission Creek from Lakeshore Dr. out to Gallaghers’ Canyon. There are many entry points along the greenway where you can begin your pedal, including Lakeshore Dr., Gordon Dr., Benvoulin, Springfield, Hollywood Rd. South, and others.
Along the way you’ll find lots of great spots to picnic, put your feet in the creek, and take photos (that you can enter to win a Flip Video Camcorder!).
Last weekend I was riding on the greenway and met 3 fit and fun-loving ladies from Vancouver who asked me to take their picture. They were riding along, bantering back and forth, and told me that they never miss an opportunity to ride this path when they are in Kelowna. Imagine that! Let’s say you’re a guest at one of our hotels like the Manteo Resort, the Hotel Eldorado, or even the Delta Grand downtown. You want some exercise. All you’ve got to do is rent a bike and you can ride from your hotel onto the Mission Creek Greenway, and go for 35 km. on this beautiful, safe, tranquil path. Remind me again why so many of our visitors end up as residents??
Myra Canyon: If you have guests in town of any riding ability and want to leave an impression, head up to the Myra Canyon. This is a spectacular 22 km bike trail that incorporates 18 trestle bridges and 2 tunnels. It’s part of the Kettle Valley Railway, now part of the Trans Canada Trail. Many of our listeners will remember when 12 of the trestles burned down in 2003 during the Okanagan Mountain Park fire. They’ve all been fully and beautifully rebuilt, and it’s a ride that will definitely impress in terms of the sheer beauty, vistas, and railroad history.
While you can head up there yourself, a real treat for guests is to book a ride with Monashee Adventure Tours. You’ll get picked up at your door and shuttled to the Myra, outfitted with great bikes and helmets, and you’ll get a guided ride with Ed Kruger, who knows the Myra Canyon inside and out. He provides great background stories, history, info about the ecosystem around, and is generally very entertaining. The dimension that Ed adds to this ride is brilliant.
Mountain biking: I was speaking with Garry Norkum of Cyclepath the other day about high end mountain biking. When it comes to specialized information, I like to get the information from the experts. There’s a really strong and active mountain biking community in Kelowna with tons of trail options and levels.
Lots of the bike shops have their own evening group rides that anyone can participate in. Cyclepath has Tuesday evening rides and their favourite area is the Myra-Belleview Park with its extensive network of trails that can accommodate every type of rider. Beautiful setting, camaraderie, challenge, exercise – all the ingredients for a really great ride.
The skinny is this: you just show up at the parking lot of Cyclepath on Tuesday evenings at 6:30, figure out what level of ride you want to go on, and you’ve got a group that you can ride with. The best part is that everyone is welcome, and participation is free. The other great aspect of this is that as an athletic visitor who wants to ride the trails locals know, this is a perfect way to do it.
Biking is a great way to see a place. You get to catch details about a city, find places of great beauty, and increse your quality of life. I hope to see you out there on the trails!
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