Group Rides

Group Spirit Trail Assessment Ride: 22 September 2015

Martyn, Antje, Peter and Don Piercy participated in a group ride on the Spirit Trail from 13th and Argyle in West Van to Bewicke Avenue in North Van.

1. A number of the problem spots with regard to safety could be improved through the application of green paint at the following locations:
   • all of the circular-designed crosswalks which could be done, with one possibility being to infill green paint into the designs;
   • on the north side of the road in front of Capilano RV Park
   • a new separate green painted bike crossing for eastbound cyclists after crossing the Wardance bridge;
   • a new east-west green painted bike/pedestrian crossing on the south side of W 1st Street at MacKay Road;
   • in place of the chicane just west of Pemberton Avenue to advise vehicle drivers coming and going from the car lot that there could be cyclists on the Spirit Trail.
2. A painted yellow centre line as on other metro Vancouver multi-purpose paths would improve safety, especially in high traffic areas. A dashed white centre line was noted east of the railway overpass at 1st and MacKay and, since the assessment ride, a yellow centre line has been painted around the curve under the railway overpass by the Capilano River in West Van. There already exists a yellow centre line on the multi-purpose path around outside of the cloverleaf at the north end of the Lions Gate bridge. It was felt that a yellow-painted centre line should be consistently used all along the Spirit Trail.
3. In addition to green paint in the crosswalk at Capilano Road, there needs to be a separate left turn lane and signal for eastbound automobile traffic wanting to turn north on Capilano Road (note than when the left-turn light is green, the existing pedestrian crosswalk light would be red).
4. There needs to a a short section of bike lanes in Park Royal South to connect the existing bike lanes to the Spirit Trail.
5. There needs to be a sign for westbound cyclists coming off the the Wardance bridge pointing to the Spirit Trail and Capilano Pacific Trail so that cyclists will know to use the concrete pass-through that has been installed immediately before the stop sign at Taylor Way.
6. There also needs to be a sign underneath the Lions Gate bridge for eastbound cyclists wanting to go to North Vancouver via Marine Drive;
7. A wayfinding trail head sign at the existing east end of the Spirit Trail at Harbourside would be helpful.

Group Ride: 21 July 2011

-  meet Peter Scholefield at 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening at the White Spot parking lot at the SW corner of Taylor Way and Marine Drive in West Vancouver.
-  Route: WV White Spot-Taylor Way-Stevens Drive-Glenmore Drive-Cleveland Dam-Capilano Road-WV White Spot (12 km, 50 minutes).
-  Featured bicycle infrastructure en route: West Van's only designated bike lanes on Steven's Drive; multi-purpose path across the top of the Cleveland Dam;
   new bike lanes on Capilano Road; and new bicycle infrastructure at the north end of the Lions Gate Bridge (work almost completed but still in progress)

Summary of the ride:

Dianne Murray, Fiona Walsh and myself left the White Spot shortly after 1900 on nice summer evening. We proceeded up Taylor Way then along the bike lane on Stevens Drive and at its intersection with Rabbit Lane, Bob and Jain Verner joined us. We continued along Stevens Drive and then turned right following the bike lane on Deep Dene Road and then we turned left on Glenmore Drive. About 100 m along Glenmore Drive, we found the entrance to the unpaved pathway leading down to the Cleveland dam. This path is is shown on Google maps. After having our photo taken (see below) on the dam, we rode down Capilano Road noting that, north of the upper Levels Highway, where there are currently no bike lanes, it seemed that the road was wide enough for bike lanes or sharrows. We rode in the new bike lanes from the Upper Levels Highway down to Fullerton Avenue where the bike lane ends and there is a sign pointing to the right along Fullerton. We proceeded along Fullerton following signage down Glenaire Drive, then west along Carling Avenue to the pathways at the north end of the Lions Gate Bridge. We spent some time riding the paths and admiring the new signage. As a result of this exercise, we came up with the following list of suggested improvements:

1. a directional sign at the SW corner of Fullerton Avenue and Belle Isle Place so that cyclists don't proceed down Belle Aire Place as they might do now due to the angle of the existing sign at this junction on the north side of Carling Avenue;

2. a directional sign pointing towards the Lions Gate Bridge at the south end of Bellaire Drive where it meets Carling Avenue;

3. there needs to be signage directing cyclists coming off the Lions Gate Bridge pathways heading eastward to the northbound bike lane on Capilano Road;

4. On the newly paved pathway coming off of Marine Drive when proceeding westward towards the Lions Gate Bridge, we noted several signs correctly indicating that cyclists should be on the left and pedestrians on the right. However, this one-way only, northward multi-purpose path leads onto the east-west path connecting the Lions Gate Bridge and West Vancouver to Carling Avenue which is a two-way multi-purpose path with a line down the middle of it. There needs to be signage to indicate that this is a two-way path, otherwise users coming onto it from the northbound one-way path may think that cyclists should be on the left side of the centre line and pedestrians on the right side of it. Similar signage should be placed at the other end of this path (where there is also a line down the middle of the path) where it comes up from under the two bridges over the Capilano River to join the newly widened sidewalk between the eastbound bridge over the Capilano River and the Lions Gate Bridge.

5. We rode eastward through the newly paved underpass path at the north end of the Lions Gate Bridge. Due to the fact that it is a narrow, two-way multi-purpose path with restricted visibility for those entering it, we felt that some additional precautionary measures should be taken to make it safer. Firstly, signage at the west entrance should be the same as currently at the east entrance. Secondly, it was suggested that installing mirrors at each entrance would let users know if there was someone already on the path under the bridge or perhaps simply place a sign at each entrance instructing cyclists to dismount.

Group Ride: 28 April, 2011

Meet at 6:30 p.m. at the west end of the Spirit Trail in West Vancouver (13th Street and Argyle Avenue). Peter Scholefield will lead a 7 km ride around the proposed Village Bike Loop

Inspection Ride: January 15, 2011

Recap: Jay, John, Heather and Fiona met (sort of) at Phibbs Exchange at the North end of the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge to inspect and document the routes south and northbound on the bridge as well as surrounding paths and signage up to and off the bridge. We will document the bridge ride under the IWMB page in HotSpots and make recommendations there as well.

Following the bridge inspection we split into teams to document signage and roadway infrastructure from Main and Mountain Highway along the designated Mountain Highway Bike Route. We learned that the route actually follows ArborLynn at the junction where Mountain Highway turns left and ArborLynn veers right. We took many photos to show either good infrastructure and signage, or a lack of infrastructure so that we can provide the District of North Vancouver with the entire route showing how it can be re-worked to make it more clear, using information from our ride. A lovely hot chocolate courtesy of John capped off a great day. Then it rained : )

Google Map

Group Ride: July 15, 2010

Recap: Anita, Antje, Bill, Dave, Dianne and Jay showed up for a ride through Lynnmour. We left at 6:30pm from the Mountain Equipment Co-op store and went east on the new bike lane on Main St and followed the signed bike route via Harbour and Barrow. Then we rode up to Capilano University via Orwell St, Fern St and crossed under Hwy 1 at the Lynn Creek bridge. Continued up to the university via Old Lillooet and Lillooet Rd. We had a long stop and discussion about the planned Seymour Greenway and rode from campus through some brambles along the planned greenway route under the power line to check out the steep hill north of campus.

At the cemetery Dianne discovered she had a flat (from the brambles?) and a broken spoke. She arranged for a pickup. The rest of us went back down to Main St via the Hwy 1 on and off ramps. This is legal and the fastest way to get to Second Narrows, but MoT doesn't sign it because they don't want to encourage cyclists to ride the shoulder. It's marked on the Translink bike map though. We finished the ride with a coffee at Park & Tilford.

Group Ride: June 17, 2010

Quick Map

• Bill and Jay took a nice ride from Park Royal to Edgemont along streets, trails, tunnels and overpasses.

Google Map

Group Ride: May 20, 2010

• Ride around the proposed Village Loop Trail in West Vancouver
• Leaving from Artigiano's on the south side of Park Royal at 6:00pm

Route and Objective

• Description of the route and link to Google Map plus why this route was chosen (what to watch for)

Recap

• Only Dave and I showed up for the ride. Bill dropped by to chat but could not join us on the ride. We checked out several of the Hot Spots (Bridge Ambleside/Park Royal and Spirit Trail at 13th/West Van) then opted to wait for those more closely associated with the Village Loop trail on later ride. Instead we rode up the west shore of the Capilano to the Fullerton Ave bridge, across the trail to Tatlow, walked up the "Chicken Walk" and rode Keith to the connector trail at 23rd, stopped and visited Bill at his place, tried his electric assist bike, then rode up Lloyd to the UL trail to Westview, across to 25th and along my route to William and 29th. A lot of topics were discussed and issues uncovered - fodder for some more pages on the Wiki. It was a good ride. - Jay MacDonald