Cherry Blossom Bike Ride, Saturday April 4th 2026

Iain writes:-

This was a pretty short notice ride, kicked off by the slightly earlier blooming of Vancouver’s fine blossoms. So we quickly put a route together using the Cherry Blossom Festival info, as well as sakurainvan.com and “a data driven approach to the best cherry blossom streets” as well as input from members, thankyou Brian, Honey, Craig and Michele.

It was frustrating that my Garmin decided it wasn’t going to play on Saturday. Thankyou to Glenn for lending me his Garmin - which of course effortlessly displayed the route for me, while he used my Garmin which mainly gave him my heart rate data. The first part of the ride up to UBC was very tricky to navigate, happily I figured it all out during the coffee break at The Great Dane at UBC. Thank to my fellow riders for their support and infinite patience.

We were lucky with the weather, this was the first outing for shorts and fingerless gloves and it was pretty much a sunglasses all day sort of day out. We were eight altogether and it was nice to see at the meeting point that some members had not previously met, so new friends were made. I’d initally thought about starting off by going to Coal Harbour. Although the blossoms were spectacular it was really likely to be crowded, it was busy enough the day before. So it was straight over Burrard Bridge. and then west through Kits including a brief pause at the Showboat Stage, we’ll leave a trip there for another day. Onwards and upwards with both peekaboo views of English Bay and wide expansive views, especially from Trimble Park. A bonus was the repurposed schoolhouse at Trimble Park, now a day care.

The approach to UBC allowed conversation about the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and the ride along Chancellor Boulevard was pretty cool before turning left on Acadia to get to The Great Dane Coffee shop, which turned out to be a very fine place backing onto the Theology Building. So far the ride was mainly through residential areas and UBC.

We paused at the Chan Centre for obligatory group selfie and were treated to a choir rehearsal. See and hear more on Brian’s video on the NVOC YouTube Channel which has three subscribers, so please click like and subscribe or whatever one does! After coffee we had a change of scene as we cycled through the forest in Pacific Spirit park before we got into way more blossom and were then lucky to find a splendid park, Memorial West, with Dunbar Community Centre, an opportunity to refill water bottles and have lunch.

Later in the day we were able to talk about Oakridge, progressing in both construction and in its opressiveness. It is a somewhat out of scale presence. Craig and Michele, although not on the ride, had recommended a trip to Rupert and Gravely, it did not disappoint. A gentle slope allowed a super view, almost terraced,, of trees in full bloom. Excellent recommendation. That was nearing the end of our ride

As the ride progressed, and we came close to some of the members’ homes, people started to drop out so we were left with a grand total of three for Container Brewing. It has been on the list for ages but that was a first visit, excellent place with wonderful staff.

We were lucky with the weather and the timing, it was a good day out with excellent company. Thanks to all for coming along and I think we can call it 55kms from Waterfront to Container Brewing. Route details are below as screenshots.