Port Renfrew in the BACK DOOR.

[Pee Wee]

Paved the section from Lk Cowichan to Renfrew minus about 5kms of hard packed gravel, easily done on a sport bike with race tires.
No Cops, No traffic, just wide open roads with decent sight lines, frost heaves and sinks aplenty...we smokes some slow assed dual sport riders while they rubber necked the trees...

Coastal Kitchen Cafe serves up Hot Grub and endless coffee...for $10.:rockon

300+kms round trip...takes you guys on the mainland that far to GET to decent roads don't it ??

[Pee Wee]

Oh...best show one of the most Important part....the FOOD.:rockon

[geobeck]

Cool. Is the road from Port Renfrew to River Jordan paved (or almost paved) as well? I might have to check some of that out when I hit the island next weekend.

[Funk]

Cool. Is the road from Port Renfrew to River Jordan paved (or almost paved) as well? I might have to check some of that out when I hit the island next weekend.

that was the regular way, and yes it is paved.

I may need to do a couple trip to the island really soon, the road looks amazing

[Pee Wee]

You can call the West Coast Road from JR to PR pavement....it's there...bit rough and patched all over.


From the Lk Cow side into renfrew is 20 ish kms on Brand New stuff....5km of gravel, then 30 ish of Old Pavement , with fresh Patch Jobs.

[elevation]

Interesting! If there is only 5kms of gravel, that would make a decent loop to do.

I have a wedding to go to this Sunday but I am looking to do a 2up ride on Monday.

[geobeck]

I took this loop on the weekend. The gravel isn't that hard packed, but it's navigable. Make sure you stop to see the Harris Creek Spruce Tree along the way; a gi-normous tree, just a hundred yards or so off the road.

[elevation]

Well I just came back from seeing the redwoods so all the trees here look really small! I just want to get through the gravel as quickly as possible. What speed did you average through the gravel?

[geobeck]

Well I just came back from seeing the redwoods so all the trees here look really small! I just want to get through the gravel as quickly as possible. What speed did you average through the gravel?

I was taking it easy, a little better than 60 km/h in the straight stretches, down to 30 in the wide turns, and all the way down to 10 in the tight turns through the steep switchbacks. I'm sure an experienced dirt rider would just drift through those without a second thought, but I'm not much of a drifter. :D

[Purplekawi]

takes you guys on the mainland that far to GET to decent roads don't it ??no......why??

[bill]

I just want to get through the gravel as quickly as possible. What speed did you average through the gravel?

Lee, it really depends on the day, the road and the rider. If you are riding your VFR, just think about what speed you want to run your body panels along the ground. If you can stand up and ride you can run higher speeds but really what's the Hurry?

Try different speeds, your MC will tell you what it likes 60 KMH is often a good speed in gravel. Lowering your air pressure makes a huge difference if you have a pump to fill up your tires post gravel. We rode the Dempster at speeds from 30 K - 130 K depending on road surfaces, we met 2 guys on KLR's who ran a buck the whole way the road was so good that day.

I would likely run the KTM thought there under ideal conditions with Knobs at 100 KM Plus, with pressures of front 26 rear 30-32 ( highway is 32 F 42 R) With the Scorpions (not as aggressive 80 KMH max) with similar pressures.

If it is wet and slippery I would ride much slower as I want to fall down at slower speeds not higher ones

A sobering thought is that there is less traffic, so self rescue is more of an issue. You might want to carry a good first aid kit, a tire repair kit and a pump.I don't know if cell service works the whole way on that road.

[geobeck]

A sobering thought is that there is less traffic, so self rescue is more of an issue. You might want to carry a good first aid kit, a tire repair kit and a pump.I don't know if cell service works the whole way on that road.

On the weekend I took the route, I found there was enough traffic I never worried about being stranded. And most of the traffic was pickup trucks. I used my Blackberry to see my location on Google Maps, and the couple times I stopped (immediately before the gravel and at the Harris Creek Spruce), I had fairly decent data connectivity; I could even update my Facebook status. :)

[elevation]

Lee, it really depends on the day, the road and the rider. If you are riding your VFR, just think about what speed you want to run your body panels along the ground. If you can stand up and ride you can run higher speeds but really what's the Hurry?

Try different speeds, your MC will tell you what it likes 60 KMH is often a good speed in gravel. Lowering your air pressure makes a huge difference if you have a pump to fill up your tires post gravel. We rode the Dempster at speeds from 30 K - 130 K depending on road surfaces, we met 2 guys on KLR's who ran a buck the whole way the road was so good that day.

I would likely run the KTM thought there under ideal conditions with Knobs at 100 KM Plus, with pressures of front 26 rear 30-32 ( highway is 32 F 42 R) With the Scorpions (not as aggressive 80 KMH max) with similar pressures.

If it is wet and slippery I would ride much slower as I want to fall down at slower speeds not higher ones

A sobering thought is that there is less traffic, so self rescue is more of an issue. You might want to carry a good first aid kit, a tire repair kit and a pump.I don't know if cell service works the whole way on that road.

Thanks for the great input Bill. Since I just did 40 miles of gravel on my most recent trip. I can handle this and the fact that it is only 5kms seems more than reasonable. If I can average 20km/h I will be happy. I'm in NO rush when it comes to gravel.

I don't want to adjust the tire pressure too much as there really isn't a place to add more until Sooke.

The Self rescue would be ok as there is my gf's truck waiting for us in Sooke.

[counter_strike]

Thanks for the great input Bill. Since I just did 40 miles of gravel on my most recent trip. .

Lee. I was cursing your damn GPS the whole time following you on that gravel road, ha ha ha , I wish i had a horse or a dirt bike for it. I think i averaged about 1km/hour on my VFR.

[J_Scott]

Lee, I'm down for a semi-gravel road. After Gold Bridge I'm not too crazy about going 150km+ of shitty roads on the Duck, but I'm down for anything. :thumbup

[elevation]

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=16608101741507041497,48.432697,-123.522294%3B9715762226499696887,48.652900,-123.618070&q=from:+2668+Sooke+Rd,+Langford,+BC+V9B+1Y6+(Glen+ Lake+Inn)+to:+Wilmot+Ave+%4048.652900,+-123.618070+to:+Lake+Cowichan+to:+Port+Renfrew+to:+ sooke+to:+2668+Sooke+Rd,+Langford,+BC+V9B+1Y6+(Gle n+Lake+Inn)&sll=48.632909,-123.95462&sspn=0.685219,1.284027&ie=UTF8&ll=48.601133,-123.95462&spn=0.685651,1.284027&z=10

I had to go over to the island for a wedding on Sunday so I thought I would make the most of it and bring the bike as well. Made sure to load the bike into the truck so BC Ferries couldn't charge anymore than the $75 each way(ouch!). On Monday we left our notel motel which was fine for the all eight hours we used it. It was in Langford which is the Surrey of Victoria.

Since Ania was with me we planned on a 2up ride for the day. The day would be about 230kms which is the longest I have ever 2up'ed for. By 10am we were rolling and headed North to Shawnigan Lake. I spent every summer here growing up so it was good to see it again. We stopped at Moziro Coffee for some excellent Java. I totally recommend this place. Been going there since it opened years ago. It is run by a nice couple who do all their own roasting. The Malahat highway and Shawnigan Lake road is fairly decent shape but there is excessive tar snakes on Shawnigan Lake Road. You ride it more for the scenery anyways. After coffee we went to Lake Cowichan and I was surprised that this two lane highway had a speed limit of 100kmh. Not even the Malahat has that... The speed limit quickly turns to 40kmh once you reach Cowichan. I was bleeding off the speed but not quickly enough as a cop just happened to be going the other way. Luckily he kept going. How menacing can a motorcycle 2up be? :devillook Another break to keep from tiring too much. It is definitely more work riding 2up. The bike feels well planted on the road but the reaction time of the bike is slower. The first 30kms of the road to port renfrew is awesome. Fresh pavement and 'Duffey Lake Road type' scenery. Then we reached the gravel, it starts off hard packed then varies to bumpy and rocky. Still completely doable. The only complaint I had was some of the groves (from logging trucks) were huge. One in particular caught me off guard as we entered a concrete bridge. I did what I could to lessen the impact but it still almost wrecked my front tire. I will explain later. The gravel road was only about 5 kms which is just fine. As I was getting tired of it, it ended. However, I could not relax as the next 20 kms to Port Renfew and the 30kms after Port Renfrew were shite! I renamed this section of the road to 'Highside Drive'. The amount of erosion in every part of the road could easily cause a nasty highside. This was brutal for Ania and I as we kept getting crushed forward. I may never be able to have kids after this section. It was tough to get through but it did eventually smooth out. We stopped at China Beach for a much needed break. The beach was beautiful and short hike to get down it was what we needed. Several people were down there enjoying the beautiful day. Back to the bike we roade the rest of the back to Langford in relatively light traffic and decent pavement. The total trip was 240kms and we both had a good time. However, since I recently arrived from my 5400 kms trip to California/Oregon/Washington. This road was worse than any of the roads I took on my trip.

Thanks to PeeWee for showing me this route is possible. I recommend this to anyone who doesn't want to go north to Tofino or Gold River.

68828

68829

68830

68831

68832

[elevation]

68833

Here is a random picture of my pet beast
68834

[alternateimpact]

a lot of the road remined me of the duffy....lots of cock slapping pain ! otherwise a fun road. did you have to gas up at the big gas tank place at the end of the gravel road? it was pretty funny...it was like an honor system gas up.

[SHANE]

guys this is my old stoppin grounds on the island ,lee did you stop at shakies over the bridge to your right in refrew ? best chicken burgers my friend !!! ?? as for cock slapping WHAT ?????????

[SHANE]

and now you know why i dont complain about roads over here muah muah ha ha

[janesee]

guys this is my old stoppin grounds on the island ,lee did you stop at shakies over the bridge to your right in refrew ? best chicken burgers my friend !!! ?? as for cock slapping WHAT ?????????

I could be wrong - but I heard that Shakies has since closed... remember seeing something about a place closing out there a few months ago...

Have never been out that way myself - but I think there is only one or two places to go to eat out there.

[SHANE]

ya not sure, dont live in vic anymore but i hope its still there :) ill be riding up there in a couple of weeks, i still think cambell river to gold river is one of the better roads which was fun last week after the rain woohoo

[elevation]

ya not sure, dont live in vic anymore but i hope its still there :) ill be riding up there in a couple of weeks, i still think cambell river to gold river is one of the better roads which was fun last week after the rain woohoo

Gold River is easily the best road on the island. I hope it's decent condition keeps up. The Island Hwy is fun too but only at 200kmh. Which would be the wrong thing to do and I would NEVER do that.

[janesee]

Gold River is easily the best road on the island. I hope it's decent condition keeps up. The Island Hwy is fun too but only at 200kmh. Which would be the wrong thing to do and I would NEVER do that.

Have to be REALLY REALLY careful about how and where you ride like that on the island now. Specially since the RCMP are on a rider-thinning out process with the crackdown project that came into effect this past May.

Was talking to several riders and they're getting nabbed like flies. Some getting a slap on the wrist for doing semi-retarded things, and others full fledged ass whoopings for doing FULLY RETARDED things, that in (MOST) cases they deserve. And I DO stress the MOST.

Just an fyi for those of you mainlanders who like to escape to the island for some weekend motorcycle asshattery lol consider it a heads up.:devillook

[PoserX]

Yup...Shakies is dead (RIP).

There is a new coffee shop called "Chula" or something like that about a block west of Shakies. Not the deli/restaurant thing that always seems to be closed...this place is new and is the last building on the strip before you make the right hander on the way to Renfrew.

Food isn't as good but the coffee is WAY better. There is also a hotdog person as you come in to JR.

Still no bathrooms..have to hit the campground for that.

B.

[Pee Wee]

Shakies is dead...the cops are a Joke (please don't pull over to humor them, keep going), and the the coffee is wicked at the little stoner chicks place... (fucking surf hippies). :coffee

If you can't run from a 3000lbs POS car with barely 200hp you suck at life. LOL....no Air Force cops here !!

[Funk]

Have to be REALLY REALLY careful about how and where you ride like that on the island now. Specially since the RCMP are on a rider-thinning out process with the crackdown project that came into effect this past May.

Was talking to several riders and they're getting nabbed like flies. Some getting a slap on the wrist for doing semi-retarded things, and others full fledged ass whoopings for doing FULLY RETARDED things, that in (MOST) cases they deserve. And I DO stress the MOST.

Just an fyi for those of you mainlanders who like to escape to the island for some weekend motorcycle asshattery lol consider it a heads up.:devillook

ya right you are just trying to keep that big wonderful island all to yourself, I am not buying it for one moment:rtfm

[bill]

I just rode the Port Renfrew loop yesterday. It was a nice ride, when I do it again I will do the highway 18 section twice rather than have the mind numbing ride from Sooke to Victoria.

The gravel was fine but a little wet & slimy in a few spots, I rode though most of it at 25 - 40 Kmh on my K1200GT. I would not do the road without a tire repair kit and a pump.

Next time I will take my KTM :evilgrin

[Sand.Man]

I will do the highway 18 section twice rather than have the mind numbing ride from Sooke to Victoria.


You took the wrong roads then mate :cheers

[bill]

You took the wrong roads then mate :cheers


Please list up the "right roads"