What rural road maintenance means for active transportation, and why it matters in BC communities where the highway is the only route.

A freshly "maintained" road shouldn't make a stroller unusable or shred a bike tire. But that's exactly what can happen when seal coating replaces repaving on rural BC highways.

Area Director Andy Davidoff of the Regional District of Central Kootenay joins us from the small hamlet of Thrums, BC to examine a problem hiding in plain sight: in rural and compact communities, the provincial highway is the active transportation corridor. It's the walking route, the school route, the only route for people who don't drive. When that surface deteriorates, it doesn't just inconvenience cyclists; it cuts off walkers, mobility device users, and anyone without a car.

From there, we move from problem to advocacy: a push to end a 2-tier approach to active transportation infrastructure funding and a UBCM resolution calling on the province to formally recognize rural highways as active transportation infrastructure.

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The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

Bikepacking is active transportation at its most adventurous, and it's far more accessible than it looks from the outside. The real magic, as today's guest explains, is how quickly it becomes doable once you understand the basics.

We sit down with Moe Nadeau, Nelson, BC route builder and newest member of the BC Cycling Coalition board. Her work has helped make the West Kootenays one of bikepacking.com's featured route network hubs in North America, helping put BC's active transportation scene on the global map.

Moe shares the story behind the West Kootenay Bikepacking Route Network — five routes designed to be accessible to everyday cyclists, not just hardcore adventurers — and what it actually takes to build a route from scratch. Along the way, she shares stories from riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Banff to Mexico, plus what long-distance bike travel teaches you about planning, patience, and self-reliance.

Moe also explains why she founded Building Momentum Bikepacking to support women and non-binary riders with skills workshops covering route planning, on-trail mechanics, bike fitting, pelvic health, and period care, lowering the barriers so more people can access cycling as both recreation and travel.

We also talk honestly about e-bikes in the backcountry (charging and weight trade-offs), and how welcoming all kinds of riders helps diversify the whole cycling community.

Whether you're an experienced bikepacker or just getting started with active transportation in BC, this episode will have you eyeing the West Kootenays for your next adventure.

Support the show

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The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

Your bike doesn’t become “unrideable” when a chain wears out or a wheel goes out of true. It becomes unrideable when you can’t get it fixed quickly and affordably by someone who has the necessary skills. That person is becoming ever harder to find, and that’s the gap we dig into with Zoé Kruchten, a bicycle mechanic and community engagement specialist with more than a decade in mechanical work, advocacy, and research.

Zoé shares the national push behind the Canadian Bicycle Industry Skills Coalition, including a workforce survey aimed at finally producing real labour market data on hiring, skills, pay, and training bottlenecks. We also talk wages, shop closures, e-bike repair, and why policies like France’s Repairability Index matter for sustainable transportation and AT.

Visit the website of the Canadian Bicycle Industry Skills Coalition (CBISC) to find out more: https://bicyclemechanics.ca

Support the show

***********************************************

The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

Rob Fawcett is a community builder on Pender Island who helped transform a dangerous, shoulderless road into a 2-km off-road, multi-use active transportation corridor.

In this episode, we sat down with Rob to hear how the Gulf Islands community raised $150,000 in pledges to unlock a BC Active Transportation grant and built something that kids can bike to school on and older residents can actually enjoy. Some are calling it Pender Island’s new linear park.

Rob breaks down what it takes to deliver trail infrastructure on an island with no municipal government, where roads belong to the Ministry of Transportation, and big capital projects almost never happen. We also zoom out to the bigger vision: a connected network of shared-use trails across the Gulf Islands that could transform how people get around by bike, on foot, or by e-bike. And with provincial active transportation funding now 'on pause,' Rob shares what comes next, and why this community isn't waiting around.

March 25, 2026: CRD announces official opening of Schooner Way Trail! Click HERE for details.

Read about the Trail in The Pender Post HERE

Support the show

***********************************************

The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

Cycling culture doesn’t magically appear when you paint a bike lane. It shows up when someone learns how to balance, brake, scan, signal, and ride with confidence in the real world.

Alexis Thibeault, StreetWise Manager at HUB Cycling, joins Peter to dig into what cycling education looks like in British Columbia right now and what’s still missing. We talk about the earliest building blocks of learning to ride, and how structured coaching creates a safer path for adults who didn’t grow up biking.

What would it take to make cycling safety education as normal as driver training or swim lessons?

Find out more about HUB's Bike Education initiatives HERE.

Support the show

***********************************************

The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

A city whose first cycling network plan stated 'No Bike Routes Downtown' now leads Canada in cycling mode share, and ranks among North America’s best cycling cities. We sit down with Tim Hewett, Senior Transportation Planner and Streetscape Designer for Victoria, BC, to unpack how a compact capital stitched regional trails into a safe, welcoming urban network that people actually use daily.

We start with the pivotal gap: regional corridors like the Galloping Goose and Lochside once ended at the edge of the core, leaving riders to fend for themselves. The new Johnson Street Bridge and the first protected corridor on Pandora changed all that, and there's much more to come.

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A couple of GREAT videos:

Rolling in the City: a Video Tour of Victoria with Nic Laporte
Oh The Urbanity! How This Small City Tripled Its Cycling In Just 11 Years

Find out what's going down at:
Capital Bike Victoria: Advocate. Educate. Celebrate

Support the show

***********************************************

The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

A bicycle-towed, electric lane sweeper is quietly changing how cities and communities keep bike lanes safe. Peter sits down with Sunshine Coast engineer and former bike mechanic Cedric Eveleigh to unpack the origin story, the design choices behind his hybrid sweeper, and the grassroots momentum that turned broom-wielding volunteers into a movement with real tools and measurable impact.

Share this episode with your city staff or local advocates to help more people discover solutions that make everyday riding safer.

• Watch the video that got 5 million views on Instagram HERE
• See Cedric in action on the Sunshine Coast HERE
• Watch the Sweeper do its thing HERE

Get in touch at cedric@bikelanesweeper.com

Support the show

***********************************************

The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

Pedestrians and cyclists in BC are killed and injured at a rate that would never be accepted in any other public space. We ask a simple question with a complex political answer: if automated speed enforcement cuts injuries and deaths so reliably, why isn’t it everywhere it’s needed?

Dr. Brandon Yau, Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, helps us unpack how speed and red light cameras actually work, where they’re currently deployed, and what the data shows about their impact. We examine the “cash grab” myth head‑on and discuss how to design a fair program with clear signage, robust technology, and transparent, revenue‑neutral operations that reinvest any residual funds into road safety.

Support the show

***********************************************

The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.