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 13 – Brock to Dufferin
Today’s 28 km route took us to Dufferin via the Summit Connector and Springhill Dr returning via Hillside Dr and the Nicola Wagon Road.
On this route we travelled existing and proposed Multi-Use Pathways, Bicycle Lanes and Shared Routes as well as some non designated Bicycle routes due to lack of connectivity.
We choose to pedal the Summit Connector fairly early on a weekend morning with the hope of enduring less vehicle traffic. Believe it or not the grade is pretty good for cycling and there is enough of a shoulder that it wasn’t too nerve wracking.
Street sweeping would be a bonus, but this is not a ride I’d take children or beginners on.
The climb from Victoria West to the McGill intersection took me 26 min (Lyall was faster). At this point due to lack of connectivity we rode the sidewalk up Summit to Springhill. A cycle route to connect TRU to Lower and Upper Sahali is needed. I think Springhill is a good proposed bike lane route linking Sahali to Aberdeen.
The grade is good for cycling and it took only 17 minutes to reach Gleneagles. The short little Multi-Use path linking Gleneagles to the intersection at Rogers way and Princeton-Kam Hwy was the steepest grade of the day 
. A minor little hike-a-bike for those who are still building their bike legs.
At the traffic circle before Costco, instead of climbing Hugh Allan to Copperhead on the designated bicycle lane we detoured to Versatile (which is not a bike route) thinking we’d avoid the Hugh Allan hill, but I wouldn’t do that again because just past Costco Versatile becomes a climb anyway with truck traffic and little to no shoulder.
Stick to the bike lane on Hugh Allan! Crossing the Hwy overpass on Copperhead was doable but certainly not ideal.
We did a little recon of the Dufferin Park Wetlands trails but admittedly I am not sure if these trails permit bikes or are designed for hikers.
The proposed shared route connecting Copperhead to Pacific Way was too muddy and icy to use so we doubled back and descended on Hillside all the way to Notre Dame and Dalhousie.
The proposed Off-Road connection through Southgate is not yet available – at least the path wasn’t obvious.
We returned via Dalhousie and the Nicola Wagon Road. This excursion took 3 hours.
Great project. I’m enjoying your write-ups!
I’d love to see a safe bike route from TRU – Springhill – Robson/McGowan Park routes.
Bike route up Springhill could open a route to the Rexall Drug / Papa John shopping plaza and maybe the road up to Costco or Pineview via the Gleneagles neighbourhood walking path
Thanks for your kind comment @Chrisrawk. I am enjoying exploring the whole City by bicycle. I am finding many neighbourhoods pleasantly rideable. The valley bottom, for example, is largely dialled in. Connections to TRU from Aberdeen and the Sahalis (upper and lower) are the key missing links in the Bicycle Network as you have pointed out (see weblink to the Transportation Master Plan attached). This was the main motivating reason for my Cycle the City project – I wanted to gain first hand experience on practical accessability in order to be a better advocate for infrastructure. I hope other cycling enthusiasts will do the same. If you are interested in providing some constructive input for route design please feel free to send me a Messenger note for further discussion or info. You can find me on Instagram @makedodeb or Facebook @debmartinalore