Hans Rey: Maneuver Vancouver

Urban MTB Adventure with Hans Rey, Steve Peat and Wade Simmons

Text: Hans Rey

Photos: Carmen Rey

My latest urban adventure happened in the birthplace of modern Freeride Mountain Biking, in Vancouver on the west coast of Canada.

During the 5-day adventure I was joined by downhill legend Steve Peat and freeride pioneer and North Vancouver local Wade Simmons; as well as some local shredders.

The idea was to traverse this multi-cultural city from east to west on e-bikes, showcasing some classic spots as well as some well-kept secrets – highlighting the contrast between the urban jungle and the incredible nature one finds in and around the city.

These trips take a huge amount of research to figure out the ideal route with the best mix of trails, views, riding spots, landmarks as well as little known facts and areas that even most locals don’t know about.

Hans Rey in the dense forest surrounding Vancouver

Wade and I started the first stage on Eagle Mountain near Coquitlam, to the east of Vancouver. This area is well known to the 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 loop called “Full Pull”, which is a 15-mile loop to one of the best viewpoints overlooking the entire Vancouver bay. Along the way we rode some of the classic trails like Marvin, which featured some typical technical sections with steep rock drops and chutes as well as some wooden Northshore features with ladder bridges, drops and skinnies. After we finished the loamy back country tour we descended through the different neighborhoods to Port Moody where we were greeted by the Vancouver trials biking scene. Along the beautiful waterfront and nestled between brew pubs and underneath a highway overpass is a permanent trials riding area. It was so cool to meet all the riders and to see that such a place even exists. Perfect ending to a great first day.

Port Moody trials crew with Hans Rey

Day 2 was our first urban stage, we were joined by another Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, all the way from Yorkshire, England, Steve Peat. We started not far from where we had finished the day before, at the base of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. The lush forest surrounding the university has many biking trails, we started with an e-bike uphill challenge to ride ‘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 climbing technical sections; the drive unit will give you extended power for a split second, once pedaling stops.

It was good fun to challenge each other and it always amazes me how one can master super technical sections on a e-bike that would be impossible or nearly impossible on a regular mountain bike.

Once we traversed the university campus we popped out at the Burnaby Mountain Park with its incredible display of First Nation totem poles and views across the whole city. Another single-trail led to the Velodrome and from there we hit the streets and neighborhoods to Leeside Skatepark and Hastings Park. Lots of hidden spots, pump-tracks and other urban features along the way. What a fantastic way to see and feel a city, by exploring on bikes.

Exploring the urban side of Vancouver

Eventually we ended up downtown by Science World, Plaza of Nations and BC Place; a quick ride by the harbor and dinner at the Canada Place Ship Terminal, before taking the ferry back to North Vancouver, where we were based for the week.

The North Vancouver stage the following day was one of my personal highlights, we were joined by another local rider. Caleb Holonko 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 Northshore of Vancouver is the birthplace of ladder bridges and wooden stunts and skinnies, that changed mountain biking forever in the mid/late 90ties. Cypress, Fromme and Seymour are the three mountains known as the Northshore, above them towers Grouse Mountain a ski resort and one of most popular tourist attractions in Vancouver, for its breathtaking views and hiking high above the city. Grouse has not catered to mountain bikers in the past, but that’s all about to change, with the grand opening of a brand-new bike park in 2025. We had the honor to sample some of the ‘unfinished’ trails that are currently being built. This was a well kept secret, I was glad we got to break the news about this exciting project in the making. After taking the gondola to the top of Grouse one cannot miss a visit to the grizzly bear orphaned wildlife refuge. Honestly I would never want to encounter one of these beautiful but scary species in the wild without a fence in between.

Steve Peat followed by Hans and Wade

After some ‘first tracks’ in the bike park we head down to Fromme Mountain to hit some of the legendary trails. After a secret loamer near the top we pedaled to Upper Oil Can, which has some classic and challenging stunts. Those trails are esthetically beautiful to look at, built in the ancients woods with natural cedar stunts and logs, including rock features. Definitely a double black diamond trail, 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.

It was beautiful to watch Caleb’s approach, making every section even more difficult than it had to be. The Godfather, as Wade is known showed us how he earned his nickname and frankly Peaty and myself were also in our element. A lot of the stunts have names, most notorious maybe the ‘Combobulator’ a series of elevated connected moving boards that wobble up and down while one tries to ride across.

Hans Rey runs tools by Fix Manufacturing

The next trail, ‘Expresso’, had a bit more flow and is supposedly the most ridden trail in the world!? After a few more trails we met up with Darren from ‘Endless Biking’ touring company in Vancouver who brought us some lunch which we ate while refreshing at one of the popular swimming holes in Lynn Valley. Back on the urban route we rolled through the North Vancouver neighborhoods, home of many mountain bike pros, to the water front with the industrial harbor, grain silo terminal and eventually the Shipyards district at the Lonsdale Quay. Along the way we stopped at The Cove, one of the oldest mountain bike shops in the world. The day was not over yet, we finally arrived at the Northshore Indoor Bike Park, one of Vancouver’ most popular birthday party venues. Caleb showed his jumping skills while the three senior riders cracked a beer.

Easy to stop for a beverage when you’re this close to the city

Although strictly speaking Squamish is not exactly close to Vancouver, we couldn’t resist to have one stage in this popular riding destination situated between Vancouver and Whistler. Famous for its granite rock slabs and endless amounts of trails. Ryder Bulfone is an up and coming local who is partly freerider and partly freeskier. Unlike the rest of us, he rode a regular or shall I say, non-electric GT Force bike. We hit some of the classic slabs on ‘In n Out Burger’ trail, before riding some of the steep, dry and dusty trails around Diamond Head. Some of these slabs are seriously steep, but the traction on the granite was fantastic. We rode up some super steep granite chutes that I didn’t’ think possible until we tried. 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.

Ferry rides and bridges are the norm if you want to see the outer reaches of Vancouver

To finish the day Peaty had arranged an invitation to Jackson Goldstone’ family house for pizzas.

Last but not least we had a final urban stage, to discover the west side of Vancouver. Our group was down to Peaty and myself, as well as our camera team J.B. Bazzarini and Alex Chapellier, and photographers Hoshi Yoshida and Carmen Rey – all capturing our trip and riding with us on bikes the whole week.

We started with a ride across Lionsgate bridge to Stanley Park. Stanley Park is in the heart of the city, it’s bigger than New York’ Central Park, and must be the number one destination for recreational activities. Especially on a weekend this place comes to life with bikers, runners, beach goers, kayakers, roller skaters and tourists. The park has many giant ancient trees, hard to believe it’s less than a mile from the urban jungle of the downtown area with all its high-rise buildings and shops. Seaplanes constantly taking off or touching down in the Vancouver Harbor, and all the restaurants are buzzing with people. From Robson Street via Granville Island to Kitsilano; eventually we rode all the way to West Point, passed the UBC University to the infamous Wreck Beach, which happened to be an optional nude beach, but also the most western point of Vancouver and our final destination ‘maneuvering’ through Vancouver.

Seeing urban Vancouver on a MTB