Ride Report: Birthday CJR 2023

First of all, “CJR” stands for Classic Jason Ride and was coined some years ago by my regular riding buddies as something you’d mutter under your breath when forced to once again get off your bike to carry it over an unrideable section of trail or up a flight of stairs. It wasn’t that I was seeking such treachery, but it had a way of finding me.

Hosting a ride around my birthday each year (which tended to coincide with Canadian Thankgiving weekend as well) has become a means of luring my friends, who know better, out on a ride that’s bound to be silly and unnecessary. After all, it’s my birthday wish!

We were a group of 8, if I recall correctly (writing this some months later). It was a well known number on the day of, because we learned the hard way that on these kinds of rides we must be consistently checking that we have everyone. Despite our best efforts, we often end up split, due invariably because I chose the less obvious route at every junction.

It didn’t take long until we were carrying our bikes – in fact, well before I expected, and this time not even due to my navigation. The group has become so enthusiastic that others are making poor decisions for me!

We worked our way from Trout Lake in Vancouver along the BC Parkway, which follows the skytrain line, until diverting south onto the maze of tree-lined paths in Champlain Heights. While a bit isolated, this area of Vancouver is such a treat to pass through.

The next section was a ravine which I had long meant to check out, but hadn’t yet. I knew from the elevation profile of the surrounding area that it would be steep. It’s become tradition that I include an unknown stretch of trail with a probability of being unrideable.

I was amused to discover the start was a steep and narrow staircase into the unknown brush below. Knowing the ravine was fairly long, this had the potential to be a memorably bad decision.

Remarkably, after that staircase the path was not only rideable (save a few drainage culverts) but totally lovely. The path followed along a built creek bed, and struck the perfect balance of being not overgrown yet rarely used.

A steep but brief climb out of the ravine put us back on familiar ground, riding a series of floodplain trails to the bank of the Fraser river in Fraser Foreshore park. There we stopped to refuel and share a couple lagers, and I took a minute to admire my singlespeed Wombat that was the perfect tool for the day’s job.

From the river bank, we climbed back up, this time going up Byrne Creek ravine on the east side of the creek. It begins as a stair climb, followed by pretty steep and rooty trail, then eventually relaxes to a more pleasant, dog-walk type of path.

Speaking of dogs, after this ravine is where things went well off the day’s plan. We saw a German Shepherd jogging along the grass next to the parkway in the opposite direction of us. We all thought it was curious that nobody seemed to be with it, but assumed one of the folks nearby must be its owner. Moments later, a woman on an ebike came down the path towards us, distraught and asking about a dog on the loose.

This woman wasn’t the owner but had seen the dog get hit by a vehicle and was trying to catch it. We pointed her in the right direction, and then realized we needed to help. We split up to cover more ground and I went with the eccentric and kind hearted woman. She was quick to ask every stranger about the dog which gave us enough information to keep on its path, and as luck would have it I was able to catch a glimpse of the dog down the block.

It took some time and patience to gain the dog’s trust but soon enough we had the dog, and sparing a lot of detail of continued drama regarding the SPCA and the owner, we closed that chapter of the ride and headed for a well-earned beer.

At this point, in typical CJR fashion we were well behind schedule and those with time constraints had to split off. We had also been coordinating to meet one of our group who couldn’t join due to injury, Graham, at another brewery across town and now we were hopelessly behind our estimated arrival time.

We made some significant cuts to the remainder of the route but still managed to pass through a lovely section of green space, above, on the way to the less picturesque roads that took us the balance of the distance to the brewery. Much pizza was had, as well as beer.

Having arrived at the brewery late, then staying at the brewery a little longer than usual, we departed in the dark for home, about 13km remaining. Since it was too dark to photograph I don’t have a lot of visuals from this portion of the ride, but it was on well-trodden and surprise-free terrain anyhow.

In the end it was a rather modest 52km and 611m elevation, despite being out for more than nine hours and having a full day of adventure. Despite having to cut some of my favourite parts of the route, this was a huge success and a ride I’ll remember for years to come!

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