Vancouver (Stanley Park, Canada Place, Lion's Gate bridge, Yaletown)

We saw a lot of cyclist while we drove through Stanley Park in Vancouver the first time so we decided to give it a try the next day. We found out there are many bike rentals near the park on Denman St:

• Spokes Bicycle
• Bayshore Bicycles

We ended up renting from the first one as they seem to have the better bikes: my daughter got a Giant mountain bike while I got a Sedona 24-speed "Comfort" bike

Underneath Granville Bridge

View of Vancouver from Stanley Park

Lions' Gate bridge

Middle of the bridge

I have studied the maps and googled quite a bit the night before but I couldn't find much good info on routes for biking over Lion's Gate bridge. So hopefully this post will be helpful to those interested in riding it. Since we biked for 12-miles in Monterey just one week before and we have more time available this time so we decided to do a 18-mile route, which means in addition to looping around Stanley Park + crossing the Lion's Gate, we tagged on more: to and from Canada place and the bottom of Granville bridge.

Note that the Stanley Park bike path is one-way (counterclockwise) So, once we realized that we missed the "exit" to the Pipeline Rd/Stanley Park Drive (which lead to the entrance to Lion's Gate) there's no turning back. We ended up going all the way to the Second Beach and "exit" to the Bridle Path (unpaved gravel road), which ran across the park, to the Lake Trail. Finally we got back on the Pipeline Rd! Bicycles and cars use the same entrance to the Lion's Gate bridge but bicycles ride on the same sidewalk as pedestrian. Once we reached the end of the bridge, there's an underpass to crossover to the way back. After exiting to the park, we got on the Prospect Point Trail (opposite direction from the Prospect Point), then Bridle Path, Rawlings Trail, and Bridle Path once more to exit to the Second Beach. Then got on the Seaside/Seawall path and rode to underneath the Granville bridge. Then we turned back and exit to the Chilco Street and Alberni Street and got back to the bike rental. To celebrate the ride (and regained the calories burnt), we went to the nearby Dairy Queen :P

Some final notes:

• the signs for the trails inside Stanley Park are quite inadequate. We ran into quite a few junctions with no sign whatsoever and we had to guess. 
• it turned out it was a good thing that we missed the Pipeline Rd exit the first time or else we would not have been able to complete the loop around the park!

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