Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition - Moving Victoria forward in cycles

10 spirited riders gathered at Selkirk Station Sunday morning. We delayed a little bit waiting for the rain shower to abate as promised by Environment Canada. The weather refused to cooperate so we began our journey anyway, more eager to ride than reticent about getting a little bit wet.

We proceeded up the West side of The Gorge enjoying the fall foliage and stopped for a few minutes under the Tillicum Brdge to watch with amusement as a Canada Goose attempted twice to fight his way through the incoming current at the narrows. Both times he was swept back despite frantic paddling and a few wing flaps. Ah well - he can always fly if he really wants to get to the other side. Wish we had taken pictures, video even!

We continued through Gorge Park to Craigflower Road with its fine bike path and signage to Admirals Road where we turned south. The rain had  stopped by the time we got to Saxe Point for a break and to take in the seashore and misty view of the Juan de Fuca. While we were there, the sun started to come out. We proceeded to  Fort McCauly by a back road just east of Saxe Point. Most of the group had no idea that this 100+ year old fort, with well preserved buildings and a 10 meter long tunnel and gun emplacements was right in their back yard.

After admiring the view and exploring a bit, we proceeded to West Bay where the very unusually decorated house is located, then  up Head Road to Old Esquimalt Road to Cairn Road and on into High Rock Park. The path is mostly paved all the way to the top where there is a cairn and once more a great view and our lunch stop. Again, most of the people in the group had never heard of this park only a few K from downtown Victoria. The wind started to pick up as we finished lunch. We took a detour across the park that included a bit of bike lifting over a rocky section of trail to rejoin Old Esquimalt Road and work our way north and west to the beginning of the new E & N Rail Trail at Admiral's and Colville.

Then it was a flat, straight, smooth ride most of the way to our last stop - The roundhouse and railway yards just a K short of the Johnson Street Bridge.

At one point we lost a couple of riders who took a wrong different turn but due to our new system of recording everyone's cell phone number at the ride registration, we were able to contact them and arrange a meet-up a few minutes later.

Everyone enjoyed the ride. No one wished they had stayed home, despite the initial dampness.

We vowed to continue riding through the fall and winter.

Thanks to everyone for participating and proving that a bit of rain is no reason not to ride and indeed human beings do not melt when coming in to contact with water!

We pretty much stuck to the original plan. Move your mouse through the elevation chart to see your corresponding position on the map:

Route information from Ron:

Pictures from Simon:

Panoramas - click once to launch in a new tab, then click the picture in the tab to get it full sized

In honour of Halloween, there is ghost in this one...

Some pics that didn't look good as taken but with a bit of rotatiing and cropping turned out pretty nice!