Is a small town on southern Vancouver Island poised to be the next big mountain biking destination?

“Sooke is going to be the next Squamish of B.C. mountain biking.”

It would be a bold prediction for any town of 15,000 people, but especially one without a bike shop and where the trails were unsanctioned. Yet “the next Squamish” was Trek Bicycles assessment of Sooke in 2020 and why they wanted to be the main supplier to the bike shop Chris Forbes was thinking of opening up in the southern Vancouver Island community.

Four years later it doesn’t seem like such a crazy forecast. After more than 20 years of pedalling without getting anywhere, Sooke has finally found traction and is powering forward as an up and coming trail destination. Ethan Wigley, president of the Sooke Bike Club, credits the progress to patience and stewardship.

“We showed we were taking our responsibility for the park and trails seriously,” he says. “We were rewarded with little wins.”

On a sunny fall morning I’m with Wigley at Sooke’s Harbourview trail network sampling the victories. Our small group pedals up the main access road, chatting while we climb easily but steadily. After 20 minutes we turn off the road onto singletrack for the push up Mount Manuel Quimper. It’s a long grunt and hike-a-bike to the fire tower at the top, but the 360 degree summit views make the sweat worth it.

To the south I’m looking down to Sooke Harbour (hence the trail network’s name), past the surfers playing in the waves and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the snow capped Olympic Mountains of Washington State. West are rolling, forested hills fading into the blue sea mist of the open Pacific. To the north is a seemingly endless fir and hemlock trees. And off to our east is the city of Victoria backstopped by the snow cone of Mount Baker.

Things only improve from there. We roll onto the Arbutus Trail and hop scotch from open mossy meadow to steep rock roll, zipping between red barked arbutus trees and bouncing down slabby chutes. Around every corner there’s another slam-on-the-brakes view across the ocean to the mountains.

“It’s got to be one of the most scenic places I’ve ever ridden,” says Seamus McGrath at one particularly scenic meadow. That’s saying something: he’s raced mountain bikes all over the world.

Near the end of the trail I slide down one last rock face onto an immaculate dirt apron, which feeds me into a slalom course of banked corners. I feel like I’m skiing through a glade of Douglas fir trunks and sword fir fronds, back and forth across the fall line.

Five minutes later I’m still buzzing as I punch up the climb to the top of K2.

“That’s some of the newest work,” Wigley tells me. While I catch my breath and soak in the sun he gives me a quick history lesson.

Mountain bikers started building trails at Harbourview about 20 years ago. The land was owned by several different land owners and it was impossible to sanction the trails. The condition of the riding waxed and waned with the energy of the local mountain bikers.

Eventually the Capital Regional District (CRD), the organization that governs parkland from Victoria to Sooke, took over managing Harbourview. The Sooke Bike Club wanted to take over maintaining the trails, but CRD prioritized hiking in the area and wasn’t ready to let the riders do the work.

Then about three years ago the club changed tactics. Rather than take on all the trails, they asked for permission to fix one. Instead of going for the big win, they decided to build from little ones.

“We started to clean up the trails, making them more sustainable,” Wigley explains. “We rerouted problem areas, fixed erosion spots. Basically we showed the CRD that we would do what they asked.”

The patient improvements built trust, which steadily added up. In January 2021 the CRD signed an agreement with the Sooke Bike Club to sanction the Harbourview trails. The first thing the club did was host a trail building workshop for members and volunteers.

“Mostly we focused on getting the water off the trails because that’s what the CRD wanted us to do,” Wigley says. “It had never been done at Harbourview before.”

Focusing on draining means berms, banks and ramps. In other words: flow. A dedicated crew of volunteers have renovated just about every trail in the network. The CRD hasn’t okayed any new trail construction – yet – but Wigley says the improvements change how the trails ride.

“More flow means you can ride faster, which opens up new possibilities and gives the trail a new feel,” says Wigley.

Some riders complain the maintenance has dumbed down the trails, but I find the flow feels more natural than machine built. On the K2 trail, technical rock drops and rolls merge into smooth exits that sweep me through the forest with enough speed to ride up a natural rock wall and come out ready for the next drop. Later Wigley points out a spot where cleaning up a washout added speed, opening up the potential to fly off a trailside rock. And near the end of our ride we pass a spot where volunteers rerouted the original trail away from the fall line and into big banked corners. The change obviously altered the experience from hang-on-for-your-life to more roller coaster thrill ride.

After the fun we head over to Fuca Cycles. With Trek’s encouragement Chris Forbes opened Fuca in the spring of 2021. It sits in the same complex as a food truck, surf shop and Sooke Oceanside Brewing. A short drive from Harbourview, it’s a natural stop before we head home.

“It turns out people are pretty bike nuts out here,” says Forbes. (He recently sold the bike shop to another Sooke local.)

One local volunteer spends 30 hours a week working on trails in Harbourview. When the bike club hosted a regional enduro race, Forbes says organizers had to turn volunteers away because they had too many. The bike shop hosted the race’s after party and Forbes’s wife made 500 burritos.

“Since the race we’ve had a big influx of riders coming here from all over Vancouver Island,” he says. “They tell me ‘I didn’t realize how good it is here.’ Now that we have a real, sustainable, long term plan for the trails, I think things are only going to keep getting better.”

Wigley tells me their first new trails will focus on improving the climbing experience, particularly the long hike up loose old roads to K2 and Arbutus. They’re just waiting for CRD approval, he tells me as we order beers at Sooke Oceanside Brewing.

The deck is packed with surfers and bikers recounting the day’s adventures. Down the hill cyclists zip by on the Galloping Goose, a rail-to-trail that connects bike paths all the way to downtown Victoria, more than 50 kilometres away. The setting sun is turning the still waters of Sooke Harbour a pastel purple. And here we are sipping beers in the setting sun.

In that moment I realize Sooke will never be Squamish. But it doesn’t mean Trek was wrong.

Sooke Ride Guide

Getting there: Sooke is an hour west of downtown Victoria and 1.5 hours from the BCFerries Swartz Bay terminal and the Victoria International Airport.

Coffee: For excellent baked goods and locally roasted beans check out Cafe Vosino.

Post ride bevy: The Sooke Oceanside Brewery has an ocean view, a neighbouring food truck and bike shop, and an eclectic assortment of beverages.

Swimming hole: The Sooke Potholes are regionally famous as the funkiest and refreshingest freshwater swimming, while the salty views from Wiffen SpitWiffen Spit are hard to beat.

Accommodation: The Prestige Oceanfront Resort feels very much like its name suggests and there’s riverside camping at Sooke River Campground.

Support: https://www.sookebikeclub.com/donate

Guiding: Nolan Riding

Find out more: Sooke Tourism

Trailforks Link: https://www.trailforks.com/region/sooke/

Where else to ride: The Jordie Lunn Bike Park and Gravity Zone in Langford and several riding zones in the Cowichan Valley.

The District of Sooke occupies the unceded traditional territories of the T’Sou-ke and Scia’new Nations.