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VIDEO: Maple Ridge named in top 23 per cent of bike-friendly cities

Community noted for safe and accessible off-road trails, but cyclist agree city routes need work

By Brandon Tucker/Special to The News

The Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows area has long been known for its extensive cycling opportunities, and now it’s receiving international recognition.

PeopleforBikes ranks the city in the 77th percentile for all cities worldwide, and 75th percentile amongst midsize cities. This annual cycling report includes a community score, which is based on four major areas:

• Awareness – How well locals understand the various biking opportunities and efforts to improve cycling in the area.

• Network – How easily locals can ride a bike to their destination of choice.

• Ridership – How frequently locals cycle for transportation or recreation.

• Safety – How safe locals feel when riding a bike in the city.

Compared to the average midsize city, Maple Ridge comes out on top in all four categories, nearly doubling the average score in both safety and ridership.

This is reflected in the opinions of local cycling enthusiasts like Ron Paley.

“I think Maple Ridge is adding more and more for biking, and most of my biking is done here. I’ve done the Burnaby Trails all the way into Vancouver, and I’ve done the Barnet Highway. But the Barnet Highway is not a fun ride because it’s just traffic noise,” he said.

“[In Maple Ridge] there’s a lot of nice quiet trails to bike on that are perfect.”

Trek Bicycle’s store in Maple Ridge has a special connection to this report.

“Trek is a large corporate supporter of PeopleforBikes,” said Eric Bjorling, director of brand marketing and public relations at Trek Bicycle.

“This particular report is something that we have sponsored for a number of years, and is something that we’re a big supporter of. It’s really driven by citizens within the communities and is very much a grassroots effort.”

It’s this heavy community involvement that makes this report so factual, said Blair Byrne, store manager for the Maple Ridge location of Trek Bicycle.

“I thought the report was pretty accurate when I looked at it,” Byrne said. “You look at the heat map and you can see that [the best areas] are on the dikes or the woodlot, and away from the core, which is exactly how I feel.”

CYCLING: Let’s help pedestrians by helping cyclists

The 2022 report gives Maple Ridge an impressive safety rating, which locals will know comes with a major caveat.

“Maple Ridge is safe when you can get on the right trails. If you ride the dike, it’s very accessible and pretty safe out there,” Byrne explained.

However, many residents find it challenging to locate safe trails within the city core.

“I find that road traffic is one of the barriers that people bring up often because of the lack of safe [inner-city] bike routes,” said Byrne.

For this reason, many cyclists in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows area make rural trails their preferred routes.

“Out to Golden Ears is my personal favourite. Or from here out to Fort Langley because there are back roads and you can avoid the traffic,” shared Byrne.

“I like to start in Hammond and make my way towards the Pitt River Bridge, and then I go down the back way through Ford Detour Road,” added Paley, who frequently rides one of many 25-km loops through the region.

Whether people are looking to bike through the Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadws core or stick to the outskirts, there is no shortage of bike paths to choose from.

The map provided on the Let’s Go Biking blog provides many major route options to choose from for that next ride. Click here to visit.

TransLink also has an online map available to help cyclist move around the region.

RELATED COLUMN – CYCLING: Increasing use of dikes and trails sparks quick review of trail etiquette

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Is there more to the story? Email: editor@mapleridgenews.com
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