Four Day Mini-Cycle Tour of Vancouver Island: Part 1

This trio headed out on a 4 day cycle tour of Vancouver Island, BC over the Easter long weekend, practice for our Rather Long 10 month ride starting in August. Our route, better known as the Pacific Marine Circle Route, featured the Galloping Goose Trail, the newly paved Pacific Marine Rd from Port Renfrew to Cowichan Lake, and the Cowichan Trail (adorning trestles and all). This was our very first loaded and overnight tour together. Giv'r 


Vancouver to Victoria (Friday March 29, 2013)

All good bike trips begin with mechanical failures, and this trip was no exception.  But I swear, it wasn't my fault. Dawn and I got up for 8AM and threw our loaded touring bikes into the back of our moving van (we moved the day before, our mistake?).  At 9AM we dropped off the van and cycled to Jenn's house. Not 200 metres out I noticed a strange creaking… which quickly evolved into an irregular knocking. I dismissed it, thinking there must be a buckle flapping somewhere...
At 9:30 we arrived at Jenn's, greeted by our 4-days of food spread out on the floor in all its tasty glory. We packed the food in panniers, the bikes in the car, and away we went. 

We drove to Tsawwassen, parked, and rode down the spit to Swartz Bay ferry.  For once, we got to the ferry terminal with plenty of time... time to idle, and chat with curious onlookers. (You're doing what? You're carrying what? Why?)

After a relatively uneventful ferry ride (next time cards/games/book) we got rolling at 3PM. We couldn't have travelled 2 km before my rear wheel started to implode. We pulled over to investigate and found a broken spoke. No problem, I pulled out my FibreFix, except… well, we had to figure out how to use it. Worse, wrestling my aging tire off the rim was an exhausting and exceeding dirty ordeal. Good reasons to keep a bike clean? 

Fast forward two hours: suffice to say we attracted the attention of several well-meaning passersby, got the temporary spoke in, fixed multiple flats, and were otherwise ready to go. But, but, but… it didn't solve the problem that my wheel was far from true, and I didn't have the skills or tools for roadside wheel truing. We considered our options, and opted for the "Call-a-Friend" option. Not an hour later we were treated to a roadside rescue from Dawn's friend, Carla. We were transported, bikes and all (amazing), to Victoria and stayed the night with Carla and family (Hello's to Jett and Jade).

Luckily, we just happened to be carrying a bottle of Gonzalez Alfonso Sherry for just this sort of occasion... go figure. Drinks!  Merriment (slightly hysterical)! Vows to solve all of our problems tomorrow!

Today's Ride Statistics
Distance: ~15KM
Ride Time: ~1hr
Avg Speed: ?     










Victoria to Juan de Fuca (Sombria Beach) (Saturday March 30, 2013)

Today's Objectives
1) Get a new spoke and true my wheel
2) Get a rope for slinging food
3) Cycle

1) Spoke and True: a mini-play
Players: Jenn, Mad, Shop boy. Where: Marty's Mountain Cycle. When: 9AM

Jenn and Mad enter bike shop, technically before it's even open, and b-line for the register area where Shop Boy looks busy preparing for the day.
Mad: I have a broken spoke and my wheel is now quite wobbly. Can you fix it?
Shop Boy: Ohhh… that sucks (a la teenager). We can't fix it until… late today, or tomorrow. We're swamped. 
Mad: Oh. Huh. *Pause*. Well, can you sell me just the spoke? I can't wait that long. We'll try to fix it ourselves.
Shop Boy: What spoke length do you neeed?
Mad: I have no idea! Can you tell me?
Jenn: Once we've got the spoke, we can use the Android/Youtube to figure it out how to fix everything (or something along those lines).
Shop Boy: A look of confusion, concern, bemusement, incredulity. Shop Boy disappears with wheel into 'the back'. 
Five minutes pass.  Shop Boy returns. 
Shop Boy: The mechanic is just going to fix it now. 
Jenn and Madalene rejoice.  The end. 

It's very possible Shop Boy rightly perceived our general inepitutde and took pity on us. Eitherway, thumbs up to Marty's Mountain Cycle for keeping us rolling with minor revisions. Turns out it was the mechanics birthday. In true Canadian fashion, we gave him 20 Timbits for all his trouble.
We hit up MEC for some rope, found the Galloping Goose Trail, and were on our way by 12PM. The Galloping Goose turned out to be 55KM of lovely, unpaved but smooth, riding wonder. 

Blue skies.  

No wind. 

Warm sun (even sunscreen!). 

No real climbs. 

Simon Whitfield sightings. Lycra glad roadies mixed with CCM stocked families. Views were a mix of fields, woods, ocean, and of course… urbanity. 

We were sad when we hit Sooke the trail ended. Wanting to make up time and distance, we aimed for Sombrio Beach (~60 KM down the road), even though it was ~4PM when we left Sooke. 

From Sooke to Sombrio Beach Hwy 14 was hilly, but thankfully remained picturesque, nicely paved, and low on cars. After a of couple missed turns (one leading to 40 minutes of off-roading on loaded touring bikes)… we descended down down down into Sombrio Beach. We pitched the tents in the dark to the sound of crashing waves and inhaled our dinner. Views wait for morning.

Ride Statistics
Distance: ~110KM
Ride Time: ~6hr
Avg Speed: ?