The Albion Ferry is dead. Well, not quite, but soon. The last sailings of TransLink’s Klatawa and Kulleet take place on July 31. It’s going to be some sendoff as the companion vessels pause midstream in the Fraser River between Fort Langley and Maple Ridge for a final toast before the 50-plus staff members collect their pink slips and the twins motor off to new owners. Long live the ferries’ replacement, the Golden Ears Bridge.

With the new bridge in mind, the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition kicked off its MEC Great Rides series on July 12 with a route that led bike, and even trike, participants across the bridge that links Langley and Maple Ridge. More than a hundred cyclists registered for the inaugural event, fewer than anticipated but enough to keep volunteer technicians from title sponsor Mountain Equipment Co-op busy. When contacted by the Georgia Straight by phone for a post-event appraisal, Erica Hirschberger, coordinator of MEC’s fledgling bike-repair program, said she felt jealous that she couldn’t experience the ride herself. “I was surprised to see what great shape most people’s bikes were in, especially the first wave of riders. Air and lube were the only things they wanted. Brakes and shifters were the two things we serviced most. I was pleasantly surprised—hardly a clunker in sight, compared to the ones that need a little more love when brought into our Broadway shop.”

Cycling across the new Golden Ears Bridge revealed just how far transit designs have come over the past quarter-century since the opening of the Cambie Bridge in 1985. Instead of the boxy corners that require tight, 180-degree turns on Cambie’s north side, cyclists and pedestrians access the Golden Ears via wide, spiralling ramps. Once you’re on top, a panorama of the Fraser Valley opens up on both sides of the wide, muddy river. Sculpted bronze eagles appear on the tops of the bridge’s stanchions as if in flight. The best part of cycling the toll bridge is that, just like on the Albion Ferry, passage is free.

When she was approached beside the wooden walls of the Fort Langley National Historic Site, Talia Fanning, development coordinator with the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, told the Straight that all four of this year’s Great Rides are tied in with festivals and special events. “We’re trying to encourage people to bike through new communities they might never have visited. Like, this is the first time I’ve ever been to Fort Langley.” In keeping with the spirit of the inaugural event, Parks Canada opened the gates to the birthplace of colonial British Columbia, waived the admission fee and served cake to all comers.

Over on the north side of the Fraser, similar fare was offered participating riders at Maple Ridge’s downtown Peace Park while performers at the annual Caribbean Festival entertained them. That’s where the Straight tracked down Jonathon Reynolds, program manager for the Great Rides series. Upon moving to Vancouver after six years as a journalist in Europe, Reynolds joined the VACC staff in February. “When I returned, I wanted to inject some of their bike culture into our scene,” he said. “Our focus is putting fun into cycling.” What? Cycling isn’t enjoyable enough already? Actually not, at least according to Reynolds, who cited VACC’s Ride to Work Week in May as one example. “There are so many bike events these days purely designed to get people out of their cars or to raise money for charity. At our rides, the bicycle becomes the vehicle to get you to festivals. For instance, next month’s ride is being held in conjunction with local blueberry and honey producer Ron Lin [aka Dr. Bee]. In 2005, he started the Bees and Blueberry Festival in Pitt Meadows. His company, Honeyland Canada, is surrounded by blueberry farms and ringed by bike-friendly dike trails. That’s a natural fit with our objectives if I ever heard one.”

Here’s a timely suggestion on how to create a memorable ride of your own between now and the end of the month. Make Fort Langley the jumping-off point. Size up the view across the Fraser River’s Bedford Channel to Brae Island on the north shore. Then cycle a short distance cross-island and walk your bike aboard one of the Albion ferries. With luck, during the 10-minute ride you’ll be treated to the spectacle of what the Lummi call Komo Kulshan, or Mount Baker, whose volcanic cone anchors the southeastern skyline. On arrival, watch fascinated as the ferries scuttle across Russel Reach like a pair of water spiders, side-crawling as they jockey against the fast-flowing Fraser’s current. Hop a ferry back across and cycle the well-marked Fort to Fort Trail west onto the new bridge. This entire jaunt may only take two hours but will feel like you’re travelling between two centuries, the fading past and the sprawling future. If you find yourself growing nostalgic in coming months, try the Barnston Island ferry just downstream in Surrey, which now carries the torch for this long-standing river tradition.

Access: The next MEC Great Ride takes place on August 15 in Pitt Meadows. For information on the Great Rides series, visit www.greatrides.ca/. For information on the Bees and Blueberry Festival, visit www.honeylandcanada.com/.