An endeavour to gain first hand experience of all existing and proposed bicycle routes as identified in the Kamloops Transportation Master Plan for use in cycling infrastructure advocacy and to publicly promote cycling.
March 8 – Brock to Westsyde
Today’s 25 km route was a pleasant pedal from Brock to Harrington Rd in Westsyde via Batchelor and Grasslands Rd on existing Multi-Use Pathways and Shared Routes and proposed Bicycle Lanes and Shared Routes.
The (optional) climb up Batch from the Ord/Westsyde intersection to Grasslands Blvd took approx 20 min on a moderately steep grade.
Since this is a proposed bicycle lane, I used the intersection as if I was a vehicle, waiting in line at the light and making the left up the hill on the signal.
The road up the hill is busy but I found it wide enough to not be overly stressful. We have taken this route dozens of times to access the offroad trails in the hills and truthfully we usually ride the west sidewalk up as there is little foot traffic.
The long downhill on Grasslands Blvd was fun. There is a good crossing at Westsyde Rd, then a brief section of Multi-Use Pathway before exiting right onto the crush path along the dike.
This stretch has heavy use by peds with pups so be on your best cycling behavior. A point of interest for families is the Little Farmer’s Petting Zoo and Westsyde Centennial Park right at the end of the dike trail where it joins Bank Rd which is a dreamy level grade low traffic shared route.
For the return trip we looped around Overlander Dr then retraced our route back along the dike. Instead of going back up Batch at Grasslands we stayed on the level Westsyde Multi-Use Pathway alongside the road until zipping down Walkem to enjoy the riverside path all the way to York.
We used the controlled intersection to cross 8th then followed the Bike Route signs along Sudbury, 10th and Lethbridge all the way to the Multi-Use Pathway on Singh.
This is a fabulous casual recreational ride well suited to families with young cyclists if you omit the climb up Batch (just take our return route in both directions).
The full excursion took 1hr 55min including multiple stops for photos.
