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Vernon Garbage Collection
Vernon Garbage Collection

Category
Difficult
Surface
Mostly Road
Distance
105km
Elevation
1842m
Tag
Cloudy
Vernon 2ºC
Video
1 Video

Map Strava | GPX | TCX

Maximum
932m
Minimum
353m
Selected
-m

Video

Summary

We call this type of ride garbage collection: hitting all the hotly contested segments (and the lesser known “garbage” segments), and in the process accumulating a surprising amount of elevation in a short amount of time. You’re never far from home, so bailing out or joining your riding buddies later is always an option!

The route departs from Kal Beach, heads east towards Lavington & Lumby through Coldstream, back to downtown Vernon along Buchanan Road, climbing past BX Park to Dixon Dam, down Silver Star Road, west to Swan Lake, then south down Old Kamloops Road, finally climbing up to The Rise, and then back to Kal Beach.

Points of Interest

Surfaces & Traffic

~95% pavement, light-to-moderate traffic throughout the route. Kalamalka Road and Buchanan Road are paved with light traffic. The route past BX Park to Dixon Dam has light traffic and is paved up until the gate before Dixon Dam, 1.8 km of gravel road lead to the end of this segment. The rest of the route is paved and light-to-moderate traffic. Caution: Old Kamloops Road is a key alternative road to access west Vernon, but the road has narrow shoulders, potholes, and can be busy at rush-hour times.

Refuelling

At the beginning of the route near Kal beach there is the Rail Trail Cafe that offers sit-down options and a convenience store.

A Petro-Canada station near Lavington at km 15 of the route.

At km 26 after turning off Buchanan Road onto Highway 6, there is a 7-11 at the corner of 15 ST.

Davison Orchard Village and Planet Bee at km 80 offers another opportunity to refuel - open only in the spring and summer months.

A Chevron station at km 96 on Okanagan Landing road, just after the Vernon airport offers another opportunity to refuel near the end of the ride.

Key Segments

  • Buchanan TT West is a 7.8km effort that is flat to start, descends from kilometer 3-5, then a steady uphill climb to the finish. Hopefully you have a tailwind, as good times on this segment are incredibly weather dependent.
  • The Full Bold Road Climb is a 8.6km 3.2% grind. The segment runs along BX Road, turning into Dixon Dam Road, then onto Tillicum Road before joining Silver Star Road where the segment ends. At the end of this segment, turn around and head back 1½km to Dixon Dam Road.
  • The Climb to the Dam is a steep 7.4% climb that’s only 1.9km in length, but the full climb is about 4km total. Once at the top, turn back and head back onto Tillicum Road, joining Silver Star Road to descend back into downtown Vernon.
  • The Goose Lake Climb segment is split into two parts, lower and upper and should be reviewed as the start point for the lower climb segment can be easily missed. Goose Lake is a fishing destination but requires special permission to access the waterfront; the road has a 6% average gradient.
  • Captain Nicholls Power Climb is a punchy 1.7km 7½% category 3 climb up Turtle Mountain that will test your legs near the end of this ride.
  • The Rise Climb Gate to Gate segment is a challenging 3.6km 6% climb up to The Rise community and Golf Course.

Options

Take what you want from this collection: split it up, make it shorter, make it longer. #chooseyourownadventure

For a truly epic day, start in Lake Country and head to the route over Predator Ridge or along the Rail Trail. Or, after the Dixon Dam Climb, keep pedaling all the way up to Silver Star Resort and then back down!

Enjoy!

And please be sure to…

  • ride safely,
  • let us know what you think about this route, and
  • follow us on the grams & tag us along with #okroute12!