I'll be heading up to Calgary and Vancouver in June and I'm looking at some nice places to ride up there. I do mostly XC here in Toronto and would like to spend a few days riding in Jasper, Banff and hopefully Whistler.
Can you guys recommend some trails I can visit with a very nice scenery? Also will need to rent a bike while I'm out there. Can you guys also recommend a lbs or maybe a bike rental place?
There's a lot of different trail networks and riding areas between Calgary and Vancouver, once you narrow down your route and how much time you plan to spend traveling between the two cities, then you could get some recommendations for shops that might rent bikes. Jasper is a fair ways north off the Calgary to Vancouver route, so that might be a dedicated couple of days. And the Canmore area has better riding opportunities than Banff, being outside the National Park boundary.
Thanks for the reply. I"ll be spending 2 days in Jasper, drive south to Banff and spend a day or two there. I will then drive down to Vancouver and be there for the next 5 days. Will probably check out Squamish and Whistler.
Is it better to spend more time in Jasper or Canmore for XC riding? What about Squamish or Whistler?
Awesome, I was just looking for some information on Jasper. I'm planning to be in Jasper for a few days in July and was hoping to get some great riding in.
Canmore likely has more available trails in and around the area, and you can get some real elevation gain happening there. Canmore Nordic Centre is at 1400m elevation and things go up from there. So bring your mountain sized lungs. Kananaskis Country just east of Canmore also has some great trails in the foothills and East Slopes.
It'll be a very long day's drive from Canmore/Banff to the Whistler/Squamish area. To make the drive more interesting go through Lillooet and Pemberton on the 97/99 from the junction at Cache Creek, it will take a bit longer but you won't have to drive through the entire lower mainland traffic to get to Squamish.
For conventional XC riding on coast, Squamish likely has more loamy XC trails than Whistler. Many of the natural XC trails in Whistler are the conventional BC rooty, rock faced, steep and technical type. But they're only 40 minutes apart, so if you find the Whistler trails are bit extreme, it's a short drive to Squamish.
I live in whistler, here's my recommendations, although I don't know your skill level;
Trails in Whistler; kill me thrill me, flank trail to billy's epic, top of the world to kybers+tunnel vision or something like that, or top of the world to no joke to mckenzie river etc. If you're up to it comfortably numb but it's long and hard lol.
Shops in whistler: There is a ton of places to rent bikes, not too sure who lets you keep them overnight but the whistlerblackcomb locations (g1 rentals and garbo bike n bean, rents giant reigns and trances, as well as DH bikes from giant kona lapierre devinci scott cove), summit (rocky mountain), fanitk co (norco) are all good places.
Squamish; credit line, half+full nelson are kinda must do's, crouching squirrel, I need to ride more XC in squamish to give you the best recco's
tantalus bike shop is great, I think they do rentals
edit. Top of the world in whistler does not open until late july
Jasper has a couple hundred km of trails that spiderweb away from the townsite. All of it is accessible without a vehicle and ranges from fast and flowy to long technical grind. You can easily spend a week there and not get bored. Get ahold of Yahsper on the board here and he will sort you out with the most up to date riding conditions.
I moved out to Calgary from Barrie and I love riding the trails around here. it was a big shock to me though, the elevation and the long climbs were a lot more then I expected. There is a ton of great trails out at bragg creek and moose mountain, well marked and well maintained. check out bikepirate.com to find all kinds of info on what ever trails you are looking for. The one thing I found was that the bike trails out here are built more like hiking trails then like bike trails in Ontario, there is a lot of out and back and not a large web of trails like I am use to around Barrie. Definitely check out Canmore before you go to banff though the trails there are great a little more confusing then Hardwood for a first timer but still well laid out and easy enough to find your way around and to find a good loop to match your skill level.
I am sorry but I am not sure of places to rent bikes in the area though, is it a possibility to bring your bike with you?? That way you get the bike you are use to and know you will be happy with the ride.
Awesome! Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I will not be bringing the bike as I will be flying out to Calgary and driving to Vancouver. I'll just need to rent a bike for a few hours.
I moved out to Calgary from Barrie and I love riding the trails around here. it was a big shock to me though, the elevation and the long climbs were a lot more then I expected. There is a ton of great trails out at bragg creek and moose mountain, well marked and well maintained. check out bikepirate.com to find all kinds of info on what ever trails you are looking for. The one thing I found was that the bike trails out here are built more like hiking trails then like bike trails in Ontario, there is a lot of out and back and not a large web of trails like I am use to around Barrie. Definitely check out Canmore before you go to banff though the trails there are great a little more confusing then Hardwood for a first timer but still well laid out and easy enough to find your way around and to find a good loop to match your skill level.
I am sorry but I am not sure of places to rent bikes in the area though, is it a possibility to bring your bike with you?? That way you get the bike you are use to and know you will be happy with the ride.
Starting a 40 day road trip to MTB. Bring a racer for the Race the Divide on June 14 at Banff. Just looking for a few places to acclimate, we are flatt landers 600' to 1100' elev.
Thanks yahsper.
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