Preride report

Dave King and I pre-rode on July 25th-26th, 2025.

Wow, this route is such a jewel. It's very difficult, but really extremely splendid in almost all details. I would say that it is probably a world-class brevet route, and certainly as good as it gets around here.

Info Controles

We're using Chris Cullum's famous "The Alouette" sign as the first controle. It's at a big conspicuous bend in the Alouette River next to two benches, here.

The second controle pertains to text on the back of this fire hydrant.

The third info controle is about the content of this big yellow sign on the west side of the Old Bridge in Lillooet.

Everything other controle on the route is "Rider's Choice", meaning you can go to any establishment you like in the vicinity of the indicated controle. It's fine if you have someone else sign, but you can also simply do it yourself.

Traffic

Traffic was generally OK for us. There was some minor rush hour since we rode on a weekday that won't apply at all to riders on the Saturday; but on the other hand they are going to be riding on the BC Day long weekend. We hope car and truck traffic is OK for you. Some cars in the remoter and more epic corners of this route gave me what were clearly encouraging honks and that was really nice; a couple of motoring enthusiasts in the Canyon emitted what seemed to me to be plain old mean honks.

Road conditions

Durieu/ Seux area

There was some construction immediately after the Durieu/ Seux controle. The bridge over Seux Creek has work going on underneath it and is officially closed to car traffic, but I begged my way across.

The Fraser Canyon has debris everywhere. There are hundreds of baby-heads throughout and some radial tire scraps too. You will have to stay alert to avoid flats, dented rims or worse.

Fraser Canyon Tunnels

The Canyon tunnels are pretty awful to cycle through. Cyclists are required by signage to use the sidewalks rather than riding in the lane. These sidewalks are narrow, have "variable" surfaces, and end abruptly with "leaning stripes" signs meant to deter trucks from clipping the edges. These signs will be directly in your path. I brushed one exiting the Ferrabee tunnel and skinned a knuckle... it’s solidly planted and not something you can squeeze past easily: Google Maps link.

The last tunnel (China Bar) has several large steel plates on the sidewalk, probably covering drains. One of these was open and you could crash hard if you cycled into it; so treat them as potential hazards or traps. Don't ride over them casually.

You should definitely remove your sunglasses and turn on your lights in all the tunnels to help spot this stuff in time. Dave just rode in the road, that's an option as well. It's up to you.

Duffy Lake Road

The Duffy Lake road from Lillooet to Pemberton is wonderful cycling, but it's also a high mountain road that sees significant abuse in wintertime from snowplows and freeze-thaw cycles. It's been recently patched up a little bit, I assume in what were some of the worst areas, but it's still beat up and it's a good idea to take it easy in the corners in case some cracks are coming up. The descent to the Pemberton meadows, in which you lose over 1000 meters of elevation in about 10 kilometers, is so much fun and really a highlight of this loop.

Sea-To-Sky

The Sea To Sky was busy and low lying clouds prevented my being able to see some of my favorite local mountains on the way down to Squamish, but there was not much debris and the Howe Sound water was amazing.

Logistics

Lillooet businesses

If you are staying in Lillooet, it would be pretty bad to arrive in town after restaurants and stuff are closed. The A&W is open until midnight, but Mile 0 Pizza closes at 9 and Buy-Low groceries at 8. To maximize rider enjoyment and chances of success, I am offering an optional 4 AM start that you can use to help increase your chances of getting some food in Lillooet. Please let me know if you want this. My co-prerider Dave K. started at 4 and made it to Lillooet by 7:30 PM.

Water in the Canyon

We were lucky to get up on a nice cool day, but I still filled up at Boston Bar and Lytton. The Canyon has bounced back a lot from the fires and that was nice to see, in Lytton especially. All the gas stations were a bit busy with cheerful locals lined up at the counter.

Hotel

I booked a room for us at the Four Pines (a nice motel that the Randos like) that the club will pay for in lieu of support on this ride. The town of Lillooet seems to be booked solid on the 2nd otherwise. I'll be in touch with riders about how to get to the room.

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Here is a nearly-zero support brevet up the Fraser Canyon to Lillooet, then over the mountains to Pemberton, returning on the Sea to Sky.

It's a very hard 600, with over 9000 meters of climbing. The difficulty in getting to Pemberton should not be underestimated. The Fraser Canyon is hot; the Duffey Lake road is high and cold, and there are grizzly bears up there. After that, you have to get from Pemberton to Whistler, which is also hard.

But the parts of the road around Lillooet are really special. The high mountains around Duffey are gorgeous, and the twisty Euro-ish descent to Pemberton had me absolutely cackling last time we passed that way. This is a really nice route. If you relax your expectations of finishing in the time limit and resolve to accept an Hors Delai with pride if it comes to that, it doesn't even have to be that stressful.

This brevet is sufficient for partial qualification for a Randonneur 10000 award, since it is well over 8000 meters of  climbing. https://www.audax-club-parisien.com/en/our-organizations/randneur-10000-en/

I have booked a hotel room at the Four Pines in Lillooet that you can use.