Q: What do you get when you cross the Elfstedentocht with the Tour des Lacs route?

A: The Elfmerentocht.

I got a lot of positive feedback about this route and my preride report last year, so I'm running this brevet again in 2026, with some improvements to the route!  I'll also run a staffed control at Chilliwack Lake. Riders are advised to watch my preride video (or at least skim the excerpts highlighted in the YouTube description).

As the name implies, we will be taking a tour of eleven lakes. We'll start and end at an artificial lake made from a quarry. We'll visit two artificial ones formed by hydroelectric dams, and another one behind a dam that was intended to provide water for an oil refinery. One lake's name implies it was good for nothing; one lake's name was changed to distinguish it from another of the same name in BC. The lake that shares its name with hot springs actually has colder water than the others in the region. There's a marshy one nearly at sea level — one of the few tidal lakes in existence, and the largest tidal freshwater lake in the world. We'll climb up to a lake in a glacial valley. One of the lakes was crucial in the early economic development of BC by enabling one of the largest employers in the province to produce railway ties for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Also, we'll be riding through a lake that used to exist but no longer does — not counted among the eleven. All that and more in this 400 km ride!

The Chilliwack Lake control is at Paleface Loop campsite P27. There, you can expect:

• Water, tea, coffee, soda, sports drink mix
• Some sweet snack (e.g. cookies)
• Some salty snack (e.g. potato chips)
• Something filling (chili? noodles? I haven't decided yet)
• Phone charger (USB-C and Lightning)

Hope to see you there!

— Dara Poon