(BC Bike Race, Mount Richards)
North Cowichan allowed BC Bike Race to use unsanctioned trails on Mount Richards
Mountain's focus should be hiking and equestrian, not mountain biking: 2017 trails master plan
The municipal signs on Mount Richards warn that “unauthorized trail building is prohibited” and that violators are subject to bylaw fines.
But that didn’t stop North Cowichan from giving official approval for mountain bikers to use those same unsanctioned trails on Mount Richards as part of the BC Bike Race.
The final leg of the seven-day competition from Campbell River to North Cowichan ended Friday with riders navigating trails on Mount Richards to reach Maple Mountain.
According to the 2017 North Cowichan Parks and Trails Master Plan, the focus of Mount Richards should be “hiking experiences for all abilities, as well as equestrian experiences” — not mountain biking.
“It’s a shame this is happening,” said Linda Prowse, a 12-year resident of Crofton and regular hiker on Mount Richards.
Allowing a bike race to go through Mount Richards brings attention to the mountain and bikers will assume they are permitted to ride the trails there, she said.
Wendy Langelo, another hiker who has lived in Crofton 23 years, also expressed concerns.
Mount Richards "has beautiful quiet trails and is a great area for dogs, families and hikers to spend time without listening for bikes coming up behind them..." she said.
Langelo worries that "beautiful ecosystems" are being damaged by ever-more mountain bike trails, and feels that the BC Bike Race's use of Mount Richards is "just one more stepping stone" to official sanctioning of the activity there.
Due to lack of enforcement, mountain bikers do continue to forge new trails.
In March, sixmountains.ca documented damage to the delicate mossy bluffs on Mount Richards, in an area not part of the BC Bike Race route.
(Unauthorized mt bike trails continue to encroach on fragile ecosystems on Mount Richards)
In 2024, council learned that hikers and walkers represent almost 60 per cent of trail users in North Cowichan and Cobble Hill compared with mountain bikers at 30 percent.
Mount Richards specifically scored 64.1 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively, in a study.
(Read more: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/24f74a35-ed16-4f39-b846-4d69c384efea )
The Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society issued a position paper in 2023 urging North Cowichan to include mountain biking in future plans for Mount Richards — one of the Six Mountains.
“Facilitating the development of Crofton into a mountain biking hub will multiply the positive economic impact of mountain biking on the community,” the paper said.
The minutes of the trail society’s May, 13, 2026, board meeting reiterate: “North Cowichan Parks and Trails Master Plan is scheduled for review in 2027. The CTSS objective is for Mt Richards to be sanctioned for all trail user groups.”
Rick Martinson, president of the trail society, said Monday that his group had nothing to do with unsanctioned trails on Mount Richards being used in the BC Bike Race, but that the society typically receives several thousand dollars from the organizers for post-race trail maintenance.
The for-profit BC Bike Race has not responded to an interview request. https://bcbikerace.com/
According to Wikipedia, Dean Payne and Andreas Hestler founded the race in 2007.
According to the latest published Statement of Financial Information, the trail society received $141,048 from North Cowichan in 2024.
Langelo said Mount Richards is the "last hold out" against the push for greater mountain biking access.
She said the trail society should remember "they are not a mountain biking society but a stewardship for everyone using the trails and sometimes that means keeping an area unsanctioned and leaving the last mountain in our area for predominantly hiker/walker/equestrian usage only. "
Prowse added: “I am not opposed to the BC Bike Race taking place on the mountains sanctioned for bikes. However, I am opposed to Mount Richards used as part of the race track."
(BC Bike Race, Mount Richards)
Shaun Mason, director of parks and recreation for North Cowichan, told sixmountains.ca that the BC Bike Race is a “council-supported event" and that staff gave the organizers permission to "pass through existing, unsanctioned trails on Mount Richards at their own risk.”
Although Mason expects "no major environmental damage" resulting from the race, the trail society will review the trails and address any significant issues.
He added: “While the race may introduce participants to a limited number of trails on Mount Richards, many hiking and mountain biking apps, over which the Municipality of North Cowichan has no authority, already feature these trails.
“As a result, the more popular trails are likely already known and easily accessible to the public.”
The potential for people to continue using unsanctioned trails is "largely outside of our control,” Mason said.
"I don’t believe there is any bylaw that specifically restricts riding a mountain bike on Mount Richards, but there is a bylaw that restricts unauthorized trail building within" the Municipal Forest Reserve.
New trail development in the Six Mountains is officially on hold pending completion of a forest co-management agreement with the Qu’wutsun Nation.
Said Mason: “Until such time we have Council direction on how to proceed with trail development on Mount Richards, the trails will remain unmaintained recreational trails that people continue to use at their own risk.”
(Municipal sign on Mount Richards)
Do you have a comment on this or any other issue? Email council@northcowichan.ca.
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— Larry Pynn (mountain biker and hiker), June 1, 2026
(The Canadian Association of Journalists has nominated sixmountains.ca for a national award for an investigative series on an unauthorized landfill on Cowichan Tribes reserve land: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/6b58c0bc-455b-4090-b4e8-c4868545eefe )