132 cycling stops along this route · Vancouver Island
A 139 km loop that never strays far from Victoria yet delivers a real taste of the island's ruggedness: rail trail and fire roads link steep, loose climbs through Thetis Lake and Francis King parks, remote singletrack in the Sooke Hills, and wide views over the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Mountains. The numbers look tame, but a couple of kilometres of rocky hike-a-bike and relentless 20% pitches earn its reputation. Cafes and swimming lakes reward a three-day pace; strong riders chase the sundown in two.
The full map, turn-by-turns, and GPX for this ride are on bikepacking.com. Our map shows roughly where the ride goes, not how to follow it.
The dashed line is our rough sketch, drawn only to show where the ride is. For the real, rideable route, get the route from bikepacking.com.
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