October 27, 2008

Agassiz Loop (280km)

I ended up going for a bit of a long ride today. The weather was beautiful so I thought i should take advantage of it and get out for what might be the last nice ride of the year. With fall comes the beautiful colours and the leaves are just starting to hit the ground.

BMW R1200R (high resolution)

I was able to get away from work around 16:30 which left me about 2-2.5 hours of something resembling light. Pulling out the map, i thought there just might be time to try out HWY 7 - going east from Mission out to Agassiz. Actually, i knew there wasn't time but thought i'd do it anyway.


View Larger Map

After a few rides heading south off Hwy 1 i was curious about that squiggly line to the north. I'd never been on this road and wanted to see it it was a good alternative to the Zero Avenue Loop that SM showed me this summer. A bit longer, and i was hoping less traffic once past the Surrey exits off HWY 1. I also thought it might be a nice rural rode with fall colours.



I wasn't completely wrong for the road's potential, but i won't say it was my favourite ever. The scenery is nice, and the traffic is low. The distances are also about right, with a solid 50km between Mission and Agassiz through a combination of farmland and mountain valleys. There're also lots of cows, my friends.

Round trip was 280km from downtown Vancouver in just under 3 hours. I also scored my personal best fuel economy ever for the BMW R 1200 R at 5.3L/100km (45MPG). And after a solid 3 hours in the saddle with no breaks I think i can pronounce with some authority that the seat is comfortable - don't listen to all those reviews that say the R1200R's seat sucks!!

A longish but great ride, for a work day!

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