Late October means peak leaf peeping season, and therefore it also means it’s time for the one “event” I organize under Bike Portage Club, the Burnabop XL. Originally scheduled for Saturday October 24, it was extended into a two day event since Saturday’s weather was looking so wet (and some folks could only make Sunday).
This year I had created a new variation of the route which was 54km instead of 75, but the new shorter route had less easy miles, so it wasn’t much easier overall. Full details on the 2026 edition course can be found here.
The day before I rode town to Richmond to pick up the participant stickers:
It started raining Saturday morning around 8:45am, and even just riding to the start for 9:30am (about 7km for me), I was drenched. It was going to be a long, soggy day for Saturday’s crew. Bud and all-around good guy Harry was there with a box of coffee and Timbits, which was universally appreciated. I really wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to how many people would show up. The starting window was 9:30 – 10:30am; the idea here is that a mass-start doesn’t suit the small trails, so having folks roll out over an hour would spread things out enough but still result in folks seeing each other out there. By 9:45am only a handful of riders had arrived, so I assumed it was going to be a pretty quiet day – and most of the coffee would not be drank.
However, to my surprise, people kept rolling in, and by 10:30am almost 30 riders were off to get soaked and lost. I didn’t count, maybe it was 25. A good number for me – not too big, not too small of an event. These trails would not suit 100 riders going through in a day, after all.
After everyone had departed, I rode home and got prepared for the finish line fest. Last year all I did was stand by a gate with a few celebratory beers available in my bag. This year I got more organized, borrowing tents and fire pits, picking up a variety of beverages and snacks. I also got unsolicited but invaluable help from friends – especially LA who came out both days with an extra tent, tables, and snacks.
Finishers were cold but stoked. I don’t think anyone had a bad time. Huge thanks to Graham and Laur for the fire pits because I don’t think anyone would have hung out without those being there.
Day two was going to be the same schedule. I replenished the propane for the fires and picked up a few more snacks. In stark contrast to the day before, there was blue skies at the start – though it turned cloudy for the rest of the day.
On Day 1, the first finishers came through just after 2:30pm. Today, it was 3:45 before Vik and Mike, the first finishers of the day, rolled down the hill. The difference was very much the weather – Saturday’s rain and cold made stopping much less possible. Sunday’s crew were all there to forest bathe and take their time a bit more. The Hotdogsonwheelz crew rolled in just a few minutes later. A little while later the final group rolled in and thanks to the fires and slightly better weather, we hung out until past dusk.
We had one scare; two riders were hit (low speed) by a car in an intersection in South Burnaby, but thankfully okay. This is definitely a fear of mine, organizing an unofficial and unsupported ride like this. The route avoids cars as much as possible, but not entirely. The course also took out a few tires, in one case resulting in a DNF (sorry Corey!). A handful of silly crashes (biggest one goes to Sam S!) but thankfully no injuries for the day, even with the car situation.
Will I do it again next year? Probably.
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