Bike Check: 10 Ways To Salsa the BC Epic 1000

The BC Epic 1000 is one of those long distance unofficial organised events in the tradition of the Tour Divide or Highland Trail 550. With this year’s Tour Divide disrupted by border closures between the USA and Canada we thought the dot watchers out there might be feeling a bit bereft. The BC Epic 1000 might just give you that long distance voyeurism fix, head here to dot watch from June 26th. The BC Epic is a 1000km (1066 to be exact), 11,600m elevation traverse across South Central BC starting in Merritt and ending in Fernie (or vice versa if you choose) mostly along the Trans Canada Trail. The route is about 80% off road on mostly old decommissioned railgrades (Kettle Valley Railroad from Brookmere to Midway, Columbia Western from Midway to Castlegar and Great Northern from Salmo to Nelson), with a few sections of challenging singletrack and the rest mostly rough gravel forest service road and about 100km paved. It is spectacular ride crossing through a great diversity of terrian and ecosystems with remarkable scenery, trestles hundereds of feet high and multiple tunnels (longest almost a kilometre!) along the bed of some of the most expensive railway ever laid through the mountains.Lennard Pretorious, BC Epic 1000 We’ve asked the riders on the start list to share their set ups and have had lots of responses. Here we’ve brought together all the Salsa submissions we’ve received. A brand synonymous with long distance adventures, it’s perhaps not surprising to see so...

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