Manoeuvre Vancouver

Mountain biking icons Hans Rey, Steve Peat and Wade Simmons took an exhilarating five-day journey across the birthplace of modern free riding, from the legendary North Shore trails to the new Grouse Mountain Bike Park, Eagle Mountain and the famous slabs Squamish.

In my urban adventure series, I take on the streets and trails of well-known cities, showcasing both famous and not-so-famous spots that illustrate the contrast between concrete jungle and incredible natural spaces that still exist in and around some famous metropolitan areas.

The latest adventure in my series was in Vancouver, considered the birthplace of modern freeride mountain biking. Here I was joined by downhill legend Steve Peat and freeride pioneer Wade Simmons, who grew up in North Vancouver. Local shredders Caleb Holonko and Ryder Bulfone also came along for some rides.

The idea was to traverse this multi-cultural city from east to west on e-bikes, showcasing some classic spots as well as lesser-known treasures and up-and-coming developments. These trips take a huge amount of research to figure out an ideal route with the best mix of trails, views, riding spots, landmarks - and the hidden gems that even many locals don't know about. Vancouver is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains, and we explored its rich past - and future - in mountain-biking.

DAY 1

EAGLE MOUNTAIN HIGH

Wade and I started on Eagle Mountain near Coquitlam, to the east of Vancouver. This area is well known to locals but not yet on the radar of the thousands of people from around the world who visit British Columbia every year to ride mountain bikes.

We did a classic 24km loop called Full Pull which took us to one of the best viewpoints overlooking the entire Vancouver basin. We rode some of the classic trails like Marvin, which features typical technical sections with steep rock drops and chutes as well as wooden North Shore-style features with ladder bridges, drops and skinnies.

After we finished the loamy back country tour we descended through suburban neighbourhoods to Port Moody where we were greeted by a group of Vancouver trials bikers. Along this beautiful waterfront we found, nestled between brew pubs and underneath a highway overpass, a permanent trials riding area. It was so cool to meet the riders and to see that such a place even exists. It provided the perfect ending to a great first day in the city!

DAY 2

DOWNTIME VIBES

Steve Peat joined us on the second day of our adventure. We started not far from where we had finished the day before, at the base of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, east of downtown Vancouver. The lush forest surrounding the university has many cool biking trails. We started with an e-bike challenge up Nicole's Trail. My Shimano-equipped EP801 bike had just received the new 'race' software update, which has the all-new over-run function with extended boost that helps with climbing technical sections; essentially the drive unit will give you extended power for a split second once pedalling stops. It was good fun to challenge each other and it always amazes me how one can master super technical sections on an e-bike that would be impossible or nearly impossible on a regular mountain bike.

Once we'd traversed the university campus (showing off with a few wheelies across its stairs and bridges) we popped out at Burnaby Mountain Park with its incredible display of First Nation totem poles and views across the whole city. More cool singletrack led to the Burnaby Velodrome Club, and from there we hit busy streets that took us to Leeside Skatepark and Hastings Park, one of the city's big urban parks. There were lots of hidden gems, pump tracks and other urban features along the way. What a fantastic way to see and feel a city!

Eventually we ended up in downtown Vancouver, passing Science World, the Plaza of Nations and BC Place as we headed to the harbour and dinner at the Canada Place Ship Terminal. From there we caught the ferry across Vancouver Harbour to the North Shore, where we were based for the week.

DAY 3

NORTH SHORE LEGENDS

The North Vancouver stage the following day was one of my personal highlights. Here we were joined by local rider Caleb Holonko, who came to fame through his PinkBike video of the year; he represents the next generation of riders who are taking our sport to new extremes.

The North Shore is the birthplace of ladder bridges, wooden stunts and skinnies that changed our sport forever in the mid to late nineties. Its three iconic mountains are Cypress, Fromme and Seymour, while above them towers Grouse Mountain. It's one of the most popular tourist attractions in Vancouver, known for its breathtaking views as well as for the hiking and skiing it offers high above the city. We took a gondola to the top (where you can't miss a visit to the wildlife refuge for orphaned grizzly bears) and then had the exciting honour of riding some of the new bike trails being built. Grouse has not catered to mountain bikers in the past, but that's now changing, with the a brand-new bike park due to open in June 2025. It's going to be super popular.

After some 'first tracks' in the bike park, we headed down to Mount Fromme to hit some of the legendary trails there. After a secret loamer near the top, we pedalled to Upper Oilcan, which has some classic and challenging stunts. It's a double black- diamond trail, with trials skills required, and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Somebody described this style of riding with its exposure and consequences as 'stressful riding' - they couldn't have phrased it better. The trail is built in ancients woods with natural cedar stunts and logs, including rock features, and it was beautiful to watch Caleb's approach, making every section. even more difficult than it had to be. We were all in our element. A lot of the stunts have names, and one of most notorious is the Discombobulator, a series of elevated seesaws that wobble up and down while you try to ride across them.

Next we hit Expresso, which had a bit more flow - and is supposedly the most ridden trail in the world! After sampling a few more of the legendary Fromme trails we stopped for a packed lunch at one of the popular swimming holes in Lynn Canyon.

From there, we were back on urban roads, rolling through North Vancouver neighbourhoods, home of many mountain bike pros, to the industrial harbour, grain silo terminal and the Shipyards district at Lonsdale Quay. We finished our ride at the Northshore Indoor Bike Park, where Caleb showed off his jumping skills and the three senior riders cracked a beer.

DAY 4

SQUAMISH SLABS

Strictly speaking Squamish is not in Vancouver, but it's such an iconic biking destination that we couldn't resist a stage here. About a 90-minute drive from the city, just off Route 99 that takes you to Whistler, the community occupies a spectacular natural setting at the north end of Howe Sound. It's famous for its large number of world-class trails and its impressive granite rock slabs. Here we met with Ryder Bulfone, a talented young local who's both a freerider and freeskier, depending on the season. We hit some of the classic slabs on In-N-Out Burger (the trail considered the mother of all Squamish slab rides), before riding some of the steep, dry and dusty trails around Diamond Head. Some of the slabs are seriously steep, but the traction on the granite is fantastic - we rode up some super steep chutes that I didn't think would be possible! Ryder rode a few very gnarly lines, even airing into some of the slabs with speed; adding another black diamond to the double black diamond trails while putting his Suntour suspension to the test. It was a fun day out on our bikes, and well worth the detour.

DAY 5

WEST SIDE STORY

Last but not least on our itinerary was a final urban stage to discover the west side of Vancouver. With our group down to just Peaty, myself and our camera crew, we started in North Vancouver with a ride over Lionsgate Bridge into Stanley Park - an enormous green lung in the heart of the city. Taking up the whole northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown peninsula, surrounded by the waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay, it's the go-to spot for outdoor recreational activities. On weekends especially, it's filled with bikers, runners, beach-goers, kayakers, roller-skaters and tourists. Riding the trails among its ancient, giant trees, it's hard to believe you're less than a mile from the urban jungle of the downtown area with all its high-rise buildings and shops.

From the park, we headed along the westside of Downtown, along the beachfront, where the restaurants were buzzing and the water was busy with seaplanes taking off or touching down. We headed over False Creek onto busy Granville Island and then into the Kitsilano neighbourhood, where we continued riding due west all the way to West Point, past the University of British Columbia to Wreck Beach, the most western point of Vancouver, and our final destination manoeuvring through Vancouver.

As Peaty summed up after our ride, biking is such a great way to discover a city - you get to see parts of a city you'd never normally see. Manoeuvre Vancouver had allowed us to experience so much of this diverse city, and really appreciate all the amazing infrastructure it has in place for mountain bikers.