Blog: I Think It's This Way» Road Bike Ride – Central Saanich – Victoria, BC – Group Ride Action

Road Bike Ride – Central Saanich – Victoria, BC – Group Ride Action

Kris — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:24:34 +0000

So far this week is going well in terms of the activities/exercise. Since I’m only two days in, maybe I shouldn’t get too excited. Tonight I managed to get my sh*t together and go on one of the local group rides. Sadly, I’m having a rather difficult time trying to remember when the last time I rode with a group was. I guess I know for a fact that I have not blogged about a group ride before, so that means the last one I went on would have been sometime before October 2009… more than six months ago… sheesh.

I didn’t broadcast it to the others on the ride, but I distinctly recall thinking that I would be happy with an incident free ride (no crashes, wheel rubbing, etc.) – more specifically, I did not want to be the initiator of any incidents. Yeah, I know, these are not particularly optimistic aspirations, but that’s what was on my mind. Happily, I can report that the ride was incident free, and actually it was great to ride in a group again.

GPS Data: 67.5km – 2h44m (including 20 minutes of non-pedaling) – 24.5km/h (28.2km/h moving) – GPS route

A 68km road bike ride including some group ride action in and around Victoria, BC and Central Saanich. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

I've been warned on occasion not to take ass shots, but clearly have not learned that lesson. My apologies if your ass appears in this photo. This pic was taken while heading through the Victoria Golf Club on Beach Drive.

I couldn't pass up the reflection photo opportunity while the group took a break at Mattick's Farm.

Road Bike Ride – Saanich Peninsula – Victoria, BC – Backwards Is Good

Kris — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:21:55 +0000

I tend to get bored of doing some things over and over again. In a way this contradicts the fundamental notion of training for let’s say cycling since you kind of have to have a routine down. Within the realm of bike riding though, depending on where you live, there is usually lots of opportunity to keep things fresh by varying your route. Generally, I try and do this quite a bit since as already mentioned, I tend to get bored of the same old same old. Unfortunately, for my poor readers this post will seem pretty similar to the one yesterday, but for me, even though the ride was almost the same thing, it had completely different feel since I did it in reverse.

As with yesterday, my road bike ride today was another tour of the Saanich Peninsula (why do I want to say ‘sandwich’ all the time), but the route was done in reverse. The morning light made trip along Dallas Road particularly good as the grass and trees seemed a bit more vibrant looking. The winds were light so the waters of the Juan de Fuca Strait and the Gorge were glassy smooth and tranquil looking. I suppose that’s enough gushing, suffice it to say that today was a great day for a road ride despite being slightly cool. I guess I should probably add that I feel pretty good about having completed back-to-back 90km rides; not so good in the physical sense, but this is progress, and though I have a long way to go, I’ll pat myself on the back for the little achievements along the way — pat, pat, pat.

GPS Data: 92.7km – 3h22m – 27.6km/h – GPS Route

Another road bike ride on the Saanich Peninsula near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS information on the Garmin website.

It was nice for a bit of a change to ride in the reverse direction to what I usually do along the water this morning. This is near Ross Bay Cemetery with Clover Point in the distance.

More Victoria waterfront at the beginning of my ride. This is close to Ogden Point.

The nice scenery continues along the Gorge Waterway on my way out of town.

There are some photos from this vantage point a couple of my posts from maybe two weeks ago. The view today was much better than on those other rides. This is near Brentwood Bay.

Road Bike Ride – Saanich Peninsula – Victoria, BC

Kris — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:45:44 +0000

It’s Friday, hence it’s time for my weekend warrior activities to commence. This week has been a little bit busy with other things in life so not much running or anything else for that matter, but in true weekend warrior fashion I will try and make up for it in the remaining days of this week.

Following my plan to build base miles on my bike I headed out for a tour de Saanich, which is basically the same ride I did on Saturday last week. Conditions were almost the same too; around 10 Celsius with light wind. I think there was a bit more sun today making it feel a wee bit more like Spring.

GPS Data: 90.9km – 3h14m – 28km/h – GPS Route

A road ride around the Saanich Peninsula near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS information on the Garmin website.

Hmmm, the seasonal lake/pond near Martindale Road has shrunk somewhat since last week.

A pretty good view of Mt. Baker in Washington State. This was taken on the way into Sidney along Lochside Drive.

Almost to the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay. Not sure what the name of this marina is.

You may recall this view of Patricia Bay from an earlier post.

Farmland on West Saanich Road a couple kilometres north of Brentwood Bay.

A church on West Saanich Road just north of Brentwood Bay.

Finishing along Dallas Road like last time with a token view of the Olympic Mountains in Washington State.