Vancouver to Coquitlam: The Boy Who Biked 80km in a Day

Our son Neil (then eight) had been asking to break his cycling record of 72km in a day for a while. I figured that the long warm summer days would be a good time for this. My dad was visiting, and he loves riding, so he joined us. We didn’t train for this ride, but a steady diet of riding to get around, as well as a few weekend trips (such as a five day trip to the Gulf Islands) were likely helpful.

I used RideWithGPS to plan an 80km loop, using as much dedicated bike infrastructure as possible and without too much climbing. Our ride took us on a loop right around Metro Vancouver – from our home in Vancouver, to Burnaby, Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, New Westminster, and back to Burnaby and Vancouver.

Some highlights were nice trails and separated bike lanes in areas we had never biked before, and our lunch spot on the banks of the Coquitlam River. It was also nice to return to short sections we had biked some years before, like the PoCo trail and the BC Parkway. The lowlight was definitely a short section of highway that was kind of disgusting, and in retrospect we could have probably avoided it. At least it made us appreciate all the other parts!

We started the ride by biking along False Creek to Science World, a route we are very familiar with. From there we headed to the Union-Adanac bike route. We followed it east and had our first quick snack break at Kensington Park. At that point we were already breaking new (to us) ground. After a short climb we joined the Barnet Highway which was very quiet and offered us an easy and fast ride. We left the tarmac to hit a single track trail which was a nice change but much slower riding.

Soon after that we stopped at Rocky Point Park for an obligatory ice cream at Rocky Point Ice Cream. In Coquitlam we passed right next to the Caribbean Days Festival, which also meant a short closure and detour for us. For a moment I was tempted to check it out, but it was packed so we decided to keep going. Soon after, we met up with the Trans Canada Trail. It took us on a lovely section along the Coquitlam River, where we had lunch and a proper rest.

We continued, now on the PoCo trail. Eventually we ended up on Lougheed Highway for a short, boring, and noisy section, leading us to New Westminster. We stopped at the boardwalk to say hello to the Fraser River and admire the views. From there we followed the Fraser mostly on a lovely series of trails which I was familiar with. This took us across southern Burnaby and then on to the Arbutus Greenway in Vancouver – our home stretch! From there we trucked on home, very satisfied after having ridden just a hair more than 80km.

I asked Neil if he’d like to ride 10 times his age going forward and he liked this idea. He even let me know that when he’s 15 I’d be breaking my record (of just over 140km). The last time I rode an 80km+ day was probably about ten years ago. Here’s to our children pushing us…