Be prepared

If something goes wrong#

The emergency number everywhere in BC is 911. It's the right first call for medical emergencies and for search and rescue.

The catch: much of the province has zero cell service. Outside towns and highway corridors, assume your phone won't work. Download offline maps and a weather forecast whenever you have signal or wifi. For remote routes, consider a satellite layer: a Garmin inReach, an iPhone with satellite SOS, or Rogers Satellite, which works on recent phones from any carrier and covers most of BC south of the 58th parallel, outdoors with a view of the sky. Texting only, but texting 911 from a valley with no bars is the feature that matters.

Before a multi-day trip, tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back. AdventureSmart calls this a trip plan, and their free tools make it a two-minute job.

Stranded rather than hurt? A broken frame or unfixable flat is a logistics problem, not an emergency. BCAA members get Bike Assist, roadside help that covers bicycles anywhere a service vehicle can reach. Intercity buses and taxis in many towns will carry a bike, and our directory's transport listings tell you who. And hitchhiking is legal in BC as long as you stand on the shoulder, not the travelled roadway, though it's not allowed on freeway sections.

• AdventureSmart · trip plans, and the know-before-you-go basics for BC's outdoors
• Rogers Satellite · satellite texting on any carrier, from about $15/month
• BCAA Bike Assist · roadside assistance for bikes, included with membership
• Transport stops in BC Bike Stops · buses, ferries, and taxis that take bikes
• Pack a small first-aid kit and a repair kit (and if remote touring becomes your thing, a wilderness first aid course is a fine investment).
• A neon vest is your friend on rural highways, and in hunting season.

Check conditions, before and during#

The biggest variable on a BC bike trip isn't your legs. It's fire, smoke, ice, and weather.

Wildfires can close roads and turn the air smoky for weeks, mostly July through September. Ice and snow close mountain passes well into spring. And trails close too: washouts, river flooding, and tree blow-downs after big wind storms can take out sections of a rail trail for a whole season, so check for advisories on any trail you're counting on. Checking a couple of status reports when planning and each night is a habit worth building.

• DriveBC · road closures, construction, and 900+ highway cameras. Want to know if there's still snow on the pass? Look at it.
• BC Parks advisories and Recreation Sites and Trails BC · trail and park closures; for rail trails, the local trail organization's page usually has the freshest word
• BC Wildfire Service map · active fires and evacuation zones
• BC air quality & smoke forecasts · when the AQHI is high, make it a rest day
• Environment Canada forecasts · and remember it gets colder as you climb: expect 6 to 10°C cooler at the top of a 1,000 m pass
• Avalanche Canada · relevant on interior passes in spring and fall

Wildlife#

You're a guest in bear country. It's one of the best things about riding here, and it asks a little of you.

At camp, never feed animals, and store food, food waste, and anything scented securely and away from your tent. Bears get the headlines, but raccoons and wolverines are just as happy to relieve you of tomorrow's lunch, and they're better at it. On the road, give all animals room, especially anything with young nearby.

• WildSafeBC · what to do if you meet a bear, cougar, moose, or elk
• Parks Canada: camping in bear country · food storage done right
• And if you can't tell your mountain sheep from your mountain goats, Parks Canada made a song about it. We're not sorry. (more)

Rules of the road#

A lot of BC has great cycling infrastructure, but it pays to know the rules of the road.

Helmets are the law in BC at any age. Drivers must give you at least 1 metre when passing, or 1.5 metres where the limit is over 50 km/h, thanks to a law passed in 2024. Ride on the right, and on the shoulder where there is one. On Forest Service Roads, pull over and give logging trucks the right of way: they're heavy, they're working, and they may not expect bikes.

A handful of highway sections are closed to bikes, mostly urban freeway stretches and a few tunnels and bridges. Signed detours or shuttles exist for each.

The George Massey Tunnel has a free bike shuttle. Some bridges ban bikes from the roadway but allow the sidewalk.

• Province of BC: cycling regulations and restrictions · official list of bike-restricted roads and rules
• BCCC BikeSense: Where to Cycle · especially the provincial highways section
• BCCC: Cycling and the Law · your rights and duties in detail
• People's Law School: rules of the road for BC cyclists · a plain-language version

Be a good guest#

Every kilometre you ride in BC crosses the traditional territory of First Nations. Learn whose land you're riding through, and where it's welcome, spend your money with Indigenous-owned businesses and experiences along the way. Some places and sites are culturally significant; if an area is signed as closed or restricted, that's the whole answer.

Camp where camping is allowed. Free camping on Crown land is generally allowed for up to 14 days in one spot, but not everywhere: parks, private land, tenured areas, and community watersheds all have their own rules. When in doubt, ask locally. Pack out everything you packed in.

One more quiet way to help: clean your bike, tires, and shoes between regions. Bikes spread invasive species surprisingly well.

• Indigenous Tourism BC · experiences, itineraries, and Indigenous-owned stops worth planning a day around
• Native Land map · whose territory am I on?
• Recreation sites and trails: know the rules · camping rules on public land
• PlayCleanGo BC · 30 seconds scrubbing your tires with a boot brush does it

The comforts: water, washrooms, food#

The unglamorous trio that actually makes or breaks a touring day.

Water. Community centres, libraries, and visitor centres will reliably fill a bottle in BC, and our BC Bike Stops directory tracks water and washrooms at thousands of places. Outdoor drinking fountains in much of BC are seasonal, roughly May to October, though Vancouver and Victoria are installing more year-round models. Most supermarkets and gas stations will help you out too (buy something, be the cyclist they remember fondly).

Washrooms. Nearly everywhere that refills a bottle has one.

Food. Touring appetite is real. Double portions, lots of carbs, eat often, and yes, that means pancakes at small-town diners. Keep some emergency food in your bags in case a mechanical problem keeps you out of towns longer than you expect.

• MapComplete drinking water map · every fountain OpenStreetMap knows about
• Free Taps · community-mapped refill points
• Project 529 · register your bike free before your trip; it helps recovery if it's stolen

Plan ahead#

BC's best-loved places are popular for a reason, and summer capacity is real.

Sought-after hotels and provincial campgrounds book up months in advance. Buses that carry bikes can fill up too, especially on a beautiful summer Sunday night. Book what matters early, and have a backup plan for the rest.

• BC Parks camping reservations · popular campgrounds open reservations months out
• Cycle touring gear favourites · a few quirky favourites from twenty years of touring
• BC cycling and bikepacking groups on Facebook, Reddit, and Discord are great places to ask for current advice, and cyclists love giving it.