Half of 300 is… 150. Today I rode a 150km loop that included part of Salt Spring Island. My usual response to questions like ‘how was it’ often tends towards the ‘it was alright’ or ‘it was adequate’; I feel fairly justified in saying that my ride today was great / awesome / dope. For starters the weather could not have been much better, plus my timing meant that on the way out and the way back I was getting some nice tree shade along the side of the road. Secondly, the secondary roads on the south island, where I spent most of my time, are frickin amazing. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I didn’t blow an hour into the ride like last week. In fact, four to five hours after the start I was fairly comfortably cruising along between 30 and 35km/h with only a wee bit of leg cramping at the very end.
I suppose this was kind of a cheater 150km since I got to take some big breaks while riding the ferries on and off of Salt Spring, but I’ll take it. I wasn’t the only one enjoying the day; it was a bit of a gong show in downtown Victoria at the end of the ride (tourists, naked bike ride, coppers busting beach drinkers, etc.)
GPS Data: 151.3km – 5h03m – 29.9km/h – GPS route
151km road bike ride on the southern part of Vancouver Island - Salt Spring Loop. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.
Heading out of town on the Galloping Goose with like minded folk. Judgemental perhaps, but I suspected by their gear etc. that they were not planning on doing 150km, otherwise maybe we could have ridden together.
View of Portage Inlet near Victoria from the Galloping Goose Trail. I made an effort at the start of this ride to avoid the highway as much as possible and was reasonably successful.
Sort of a re-run of a photo from last Saturday's ride, but it's still good.
Cowichan Bay. I know attracting the tourists is important, but are so many goo-gaws really necessary?
More Cowichan Bay with a view of Mt. Tzouhalem. Really nice construction fence to boot.
Ahhh, more dandy scenery while on the way to Duncan from Cowichan Bay.
A wee church near Providence Farm in Duncan, and a nice chainlink fence to boot.
My Italians (shoes) deserve special mention for getting me through five hours of riding with nary a hint of discomfort.
The Crofton ferry terminal. I caught the 12:10pm ferry, which gave me enough time to get to Fulford Harbour for the 1:50pm ferry back to Victoria.
Old school house near the ferry terminal in Crofton.
The Howe Sound Queen arriving in Crofton to shuttle me to the next leg of the ride on Salt Spring.
Getting close to Ganges on Salt Spring. For the moment I get the downhill and this guy gets the uphill, but that will soon change on the the way to Fulford from Ganges.
Ganges Harbour on a great Saturday in June.
Yummm, dandy roads for bike riding and practising peeling (note peel marks on road).
Looking south towards Hope Hill / Mt. Tuam on Salt Spring. Pretty much all downhill to Fulford Harbour from here.
The Skeena Queen arriving at Fulford Harbour.
Gilligan heading out in search of Ginger or is it Mary-Ann.
Close to Swartz Bay and the final leg back to Victoria.
Mt. Baker... it's nice to look at.
Back in Victoria amongst the downtown, weekend mayhem. By the way, sweet Trans-Am dude.
Ahhh, my eyes. Thank god this is photo is blurry. Apparently about a hundred people saw fit to participate in a naked bike ride; I haven't decided yet if this was a good or bad thing to see at the end of my 150km ride.
In case your eyes still hurt from the previous pic, maybe this will help make them feel better.
You are my raisin toast hero!!
What’s a raisin toast hero?