Hoodoo Adventure Co — Attraction in Penticton

The Hoodoo Adventure website does go to some lengths to describe the kinds of bicycle that they can and cannot transport. Now that I've actually seen their transportation equipment in use (perhaps the website should include a few photos) I would recommend just removing your front fender ahead of time.

Our Hoodoo Adventure driver, Troy, was efficient and people-savvy.

But I feel obliged to write this review because no description of the route that I have found before or since fully conveys the wide variability of the Okanagan segment of the Kettle Valley Railway trail surface. The upper section through Myra canyon park, and the lower section from from Little Tunnel to Penticton, are very smooth and could be managed by most road bikes. The section from Rock Ovens Park to Little Tunnel (and the southern spur from Penticton to Okanagan Falls) are about what I expect from a gravel bike trail based on an old rail bed. But the section from the end of Myra park to the start of Rock Ovens park is rougher than anything I have seen represented as a bike trail (including mountain bike trails), with sharp, deep potholes, loose rock, and intense washboarding, all at too high a density to fully avoid. (I have seen warnings about the sandy stretches, but those were brief and manageable.) In retrospect, the road to Myra Park should have been a hint, but this was rougher. Perhaps that stretch has been smoother in other years, or other parts of the season, but I would recommend riding that section as we expereinced it only on a full-suspension mountail bike -- ideally right before you planned to...

Took the shuttle with Hoodoo up to ride the KVR. We rode from the Myra canyon trestles down into Pentiction. It's about 75km. They provided a spare bolt to secure my wife's failing seatpost clamp, with no fuss and our bikes were on the rack in 10 minutes. Our driver was great. They were accommodating and let us start at 830 instead of 7am since no one else was joining us. Got on the trail around 10:30am.

Unfortunately after the trestle section, about 15km in, the trail conditions were pretty terrible. Some rocky spots, but mainly the sand. We're avid riders and I managed ok on 32c touring tires, but my wife's standard road tires had a rough time. We slogged through sand for probably 25km over 2-3 hours.

They kind of mentioned the conditions to us beforehand, but assured us we would be fine. I Wish they had convinced us to reduce our ride to Chute Lake. Would have earned a higher rating otherwise, but I guess it's on us.

You certainly want a minimum 38c tire or a 1.5" mountain bike tire.

The conditions approaching Little Tunnel were 100x better, which is what we had experienced on our last ride here. Hard pack trails, smooth and wide. Would highly recommend the Little Tunnel ride into town (20km) but no more, unless you want a...

Based on the response to my review, I am upgrading my review to 3 stars.

Rented 2 bikes and a set of panniers which all had issues which we did not realize until we were on the trail after the shuttle drop off.

With a good strict maintenance and procedure check lists the warped rim, worn tire that blew 30k from town on the KVR trail, 2 bike pumps that did not work and the broken clip on the panniers could have all been prevented.

Still no call from a manager as promised. I hope this rare negative review by me makes it to management which takes steps to ensure others don't have similar equipment failure.

On the positive side, all staff were very friendly, helpful and apologetic. The shuttle to KVR trail head was on time and positive. They were also quick to meet us on the closest road to swap bikes with the one which blew a tire on the KVR trail after about 15k of cycling on the flat rear tire which had the sidewall blew apart from previous wear.

The 80k ride after the shuttle is amazing. Highly recommend it on...