Tour de Victoria 2013

What can I say about the Tour. It is a great course, but this year was incredibly hard. The weather was a big part of it, but my body was a bigger factor.

In the week leading up to the ride I got sick. It wasn’t a head cold, but rather I was lethargic, had a fever, bad headaches, couldn’t sleep well, and generally felt gross. By Friday I felt I was 100%, and on Saturday I felt ready for the ride.

Saturday I prepped everything for an early morning departure, including getting my fender installed on my bike again. However, when I woke up Sunday I wasn’t feeling 100% any more. I actually felt like I had another cold coming on. Before heading out the door for the ride I popped some cold meds and hoped for the best.

It was raining as I left, so I had dressed with tights, booties, and a vest with arm warmers. This is way more clothing that I had worn for any of my training rides, and I hoped it wasn’t overkill. I made my way to the start line, and immediately needed to use the can. Thankfully I made it back to my bike before everything started.

I was thirsty though, and I remember thinking that was odd since I had plenty to drink the day before. I kind of chalked it all up to nerves, though it was a different feeling than most cases of nerves I had felt.

We started off, and thankfully the rain had let up a little. The group motored out to Langford, and by the time we got to Ocean Boulevard, people had started to string out. By this time I had also downed half a bottle of water already too. As we ascended Ocean I could feel my legs weren’t as strong as most of the training rides I had done.

We continued on out into Metchosin, then hit Lombard, which was a nasty little climb, then Lindholm. Lindholm was an eye opener. My legs had nothing in them. The was less than 40KM into a 140KM ride and my legs were drained and tired. Not good.

I also realized at some point that I was behind on my nutrition already. Aargh. I was paying attention to how I was feeling and not watching the time. At the first aid station I filled up with water and quickly grabbed a few snacks. My goal of 5 hours was flying out the window, and I knew it. The weather was a factor in that, but so was I.

We remounted and continued on, passing the 100KM rider start. There was nobody there, so we zipped over to Atkins Rd. Last year I caught up to and passed a bunch of 100KM riders on Atkins. This year, it was eerily empty. My first 40KM I felt like we had a good speed, but somehow I must have been slower than last year.

We tackled Munn’s and I was seriously hating that hill. It is always a good challenge, but this day, in the wet it was awful. I was in a way lower gear, way earlier than normal. I was exerting myself too much on this hill. When we got to the last pitch I stood to try and grunt it out over the top, but my wheel started slipping on the wet pavement forcing me to stay seated. After the ride I looked up my Munns climb timed section and I was two minutes slower this year over last.

Ross Durance was brutal too. At one point I couldn’t make it up one of the hills, so I dropped to my granny ring (my bike has a triple ring setup). I hadn’t used the granny in years. I was beginning to feel very defeated. My spirits were dropping quickly. My legs were still feeling dead.

As we neared the Brentwood bay school aid station I realized I hadn’t seen Sue. I was a little concerned, but I was more concerned about me. Do I drop out and turn home, or do I continue. My legs were fine on the flat sections, but the hills were very difficult. At the aid station I took on more water and food, and made the decision. I had trained months for this event. Hours in the saddle away from family. Summer vacation was planned around when Sue and I could ride. I had to keep going.

I left the aid station and a few minutes later realized I had forgotten to pee. The long climb along West Saanich road wasn’t too bad since it was gradual so I kept going. As we got to the backside of the airport, the wind started to pick up. If it was windy there, it was going to be brutal on the Sydney side. Thankfully I was riding with two others and we could draft off each other.

We got to Wane rd, crossed the highway, and started heading back toward town. That was a good feeling, but looking at my watch I knew that I was way off the pace I wanted. We stopped again at the aid station and I check my text message to see if Sue had sent me anything. I got so distracted that I forgot to pee yet again.

As we were passing through Sydney I told the two guys I was riding with that I needed to stop. I told them to go on without me, and I reassured them I would be fine. I felt much better after I peed, but then I got into the really windy part. I quickly realized how foolish I was sending them on without me.

Somewhere during al this I kept getting sweat in my eyes. There was so much rain coming down that my helmet pads were releasing all the built up sweat and gunk in them, and it was running into my eyes. It was very painful, but also dangerous as this was happening on descents and I couldn’t see very well.

I soldiered on through the wind, through Cordova bay, then through Mount Doug. Turning onto Ash I faced my nemesis hill. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty, and I knew that I would have a bit of time to recover after this hill. Three quarters of the way up my legs gave up on me an I had to get off and walk. Talk about killing my spirits.

Remounting I tried to keep my speed up, but then I noticed my bike computer was on the fritz. My speed was reading 0, yet my cadence was at 160 RPM. And my distance was glued to 107KM. Sigh.

On Arbutus I was going around once corner when all of a sudden my rear wheel hit a pothole hard. It gave me a big jolt, but it was quite eye opening. I hadn’t seen a thing, and imagine if my front wheel had hit it?

It seemed like I was OK, so I kept going. Through Cadboro bay, and up the hill to Beach drive I went. As I got onto Beach drive my back end felt a little off. Sure enough my tire was low. Likely a snakebite from that pothole. I figured it was pretty slow so I pulled over (right before the timed section start) and decided against replacing it, and instead chose to top it up with CO2. Fairly quick, but still difficult with cold wet hands.

I started the timed section and tried to do my best on it, but by the time I got to the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, my tire was low again. I pulled over and knew I had to change it this time. I took off my soaking wet gloves and got out my tools. I struggled to get the tire off the rim, and it was because of the tube being stuck to the tire. My hands weren’t working all that well and I was starting to get down on myself.

Then a support vehicle pulled up. They asked if I needed some help, and I was all set to say no, but realized the folly in that. They were there to help, so I accepted. They jumped out with a floor pump, and in no time got the tire reseated, the tube inflated, checked the spin on the tire, put the wheel back on the bike, checked the brakes, and handed my bike back. Big thanks to those guys! I also realized that it wasn’t my glasses that were fogging up on me. There was something wrong with my right eye. Everything was foggy and hazy in that eye. A little disconcerting.

I was in the home stretch, but now I was really cold, and still soaking wet. I got past the golf course, and could see King George Terrace. The last big hill. Some friends had planned to watch from there, but with the weather the way it was, and with me being so much later than I had planned, I was sure they weren’t going to be there. When I got to the second ascent, I put my head down and powered up the hill. A wave of emotion hit me. I had gotten through all the hard bits and could now coast home. Head down still I glanced over and could see one of my friends cheering me on. It turned out that 5 people I knew were cheering from that spot. Those are my SuperFriends! Thanks guys.

Down the backside of King George I gathered the will to keep going. Ross Bay, Clover Point, Beacon Hill then downtown. Nothing could stop me from finishing. The sun had even come out at this point. Then I needed to pee again. Aaargh. I stopped at Beacon Hill Park, then made my way to the finish.

After I crossed the finish line I heard Sue call me. I was relieved she was OK. I was happy I finished, and had endured that, but was so bitterly disappointed in the day. Even now, a week later I am disappointed in how I fared. I grabbed my bag from the bag check and we got a little warmer. We went to go get in line for food and a beer, but we couldn’t do it. The line was huge and we were cold and wet. We gave someone our food and beer tickets and just headed for home. I wasn’t in a mood for celebrating anyway.

My official time was 6 hours eleven minutes, and my goal was to break 5 hours. My 2012 time was 5 hours 8 minutes.


View The Tour de Victoria 2013 in a larger map


View The Tour de Victoria 2013 in a larger map

Total distance: 141.60 km (88.0 mi)
Total time: 6:17:41
Moving time: 5:40:43
Average speed: 22.49 km/h (14.0 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 24.94 km/h (15.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 60.91 km/h (37.8 mi/h)
Average pace: 2:40 min/km (4:18 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2:24 min/km (3:52 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0:59 min/km (1:35 min/mi)
Max elevation: 250 m (820 ft)
Min elevation: -16 m (-53 ft)
Elevation gain: 1524 m (4998 ft)
Max grade: 19 %
Min grade: -17 %

Return Gross

I’ve had a couple really great rides lately. Last weekend I rode with someone I had never ridden with before. Sue works with this persons girlfriend, and although we chatted over email a few times, we really didn’t know each others riding ability. He mentioned that perhaps his girlfriend had built him up a bit.

I was concerned about not slowing him down too much, so I did my best to keep up, and set a good pace when I was in the lead. We headed out the goose, out past Fort Rodd Hill, up Ocean Blvd, then out toward Metchosen. It was nice to ride with someone, and the pace was pretty good. We turned onto Happy Valley Rd, and when we got to Glenn Lake, headed out the highway toward Sooke. At some point we called it and turned around. It was pretty non-chalant when we decided to turn around and I thought that maybe he wanted to go further.

We ended up back on the Goose for the return trip to town. We parted ways where the Lochside trail meets the Goose. The last stretch home I pushed as hard as I could to get home so I could start helping out with some yard work. It was a good ride, in the 2.5 hour range, and over 70KM.

Once I got home though, I started feeling pretty awful. My legs were toast, I ended up with a horrible headache, and pretty much felt miserable. I think that I came down with a bit of heat exhaustion. I drank a bunch of water, but that didn’t help. It was horrible.

This past Saturday I had another great ride, but this one was a solo ride. It ended up clocking in at just a hair under 3.5 hours. I hit Ocean Boulevard, then headed out to Lombard and Londholm. I knew my legs didn’t have enough in them to hit up Munns, so I zipped across Prospect Lake Rd, turned onto West Saanich Rd, then headed for Mount Doug Park to ride along the water for a bit. I had intended to follow the water route all the way to Cook St, but I was running out of time, and my legs were thrashed.

Oh, did I mention that I did my ride in 26 degree weather? Yeah, it was hot, stinkin hot. As long as I was moving, I was fine, but any hills I could feel the heat radiating from the pavement. During my ride I went through 4 bottles of fluid. I would guess that one whole bottle was used on my head an back in a effort to keep cool.

The upside to this was I got some exposure to riding in heat, I got some miles in, I hit some hills, and I didn’t feel gross afterward.


View July 1, 2013 TdV in a larger map

30 Gear

What a weekend. Dinner out on Friday, Saturday yard work, then a Tour de Victoria training ride, then a BBQ at the neighbours. Today some more yard work, then some time at the beach. All this in the warmest, sunniest weather so far this year. It actually hit 30 today.

My ride was pretty good too. I dropped my saddle a millimetre, and that made a huge difference in my comfort. My knee didn’t bother me at all and I felt pretty good. I went from my place downtown along the water to Cattle Point, then back again. Not a huge ride, but it was wonderful to be out on the bike, and not all bundled up in cold weather gear.


View TDV 2013 Training in a larger map
Total distance: 38.00 km (23.6 mi)
Total time: 1:36:33
Moving time: 1:34:01
Average speed: 23.62 km/h (14.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 24.25 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Max speed: 49.99 km/h (31.1 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.54 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.47 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.20 min/km (1.9 min/mile)
Max elevation: 82 m (270 ft)
Min elevation: -49 m (-162 ft)
Elevation gain: 839 m (2753 ft)
Max grade: 42 %
Min grade: -42 %

Today I went around the yard a took a few pictures of the garden.


The apple tree looks amazing this year.


More apple blossoms.


Lilacs


Mock orange


More Mock Orange


Peony about to burst


More peony

Sheba is visiting, and her and Heart had a great time at the beach. The kids did too, and Sue and I got to sit and enjoy the sun.


Dogs galore


Heart and Sheba


Heart cannot swim. Here she is flailing wildly.


Mt Baker was very clear today.

Knee Around

Well, my knee has kept me sidelined from riding while i got it checked out. The physio guy thought I should go for a ride on it, but to avoid a highly repetitive motion. He didn’t want me to stress my knee at all, but felt that getting out and moving it would be good.

Today seemed like a good day to get out, and I was pretty stoked to get a ride in. I knew my fitness would be pretty minimal so I made sure to not track my stats too closely and ot just get out an enjoy riding.

Mission accomplished. I headed out on the goose towards Colwood, and turned around at the 1/2 hour mark.

My knee isn’t 100%, but it is better. I didn’t feel any pain, but I certainly felt an uncomfortable pressure. I stood for any hills, and rested my knee when I could. It was fun to get out there though.

I’m hopeful that I can get the training in for the Tour de Victoria this year. I feel like I am starting late, even though the date got moved to Sept 22. Fingers crossed I can get my fitness back.


View 28/04/2013 2:16PM in a larger map

Total distance: 24.71 km (15.4 mi)
Total time: 1:09:30
Moving time: 1:07:07
Average speed: 21.32 km/h (13.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 22.09 km/h (13.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 46.61 km/h (29.0 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.81 min/km (4.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.72 min/km (4.4 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.29 min/km (2.1 min/mile)
Max elevation: 46 m (151 ft)
Min elevation: -20 m (-67 ft)
Elevation gain: 489 m (1605 ft)
Max grade: 24 %
Min grade: -23 %

Physio Knee

Today I went to a new physio. Over the winter I tried to get my road bike on the trainer, but it always left me with knee pain. Worse, the pain never went away.

It is in the back of my knee, and is not a constant pain, but I feel it every day. Mostly when I am sitting, or kneeling for a while, then get up.

The new physio spent some time talking to me to figure out what the issue is, and how it became an issue. In the end it may come down to my back. Back issues have caused my grief in the past, but this is new. My glutes are supposed to be doing the hard work of cycling, but the physio thinks something has happened in the past to make my ham strings to compensate. This then puts extra pressure on the back of the knee.

In some ways this was good news as I didn’t have a serious knee issue. This is fixable, and in a 6-8 week timeframe.

When I heard that I immediately though about the Tour de Victoria training. Yikes. Starting my training in June might not be enough if I want to get in good enough shape to finish in sub 5 hours. Maybe it is do-able. I’ll have to make sure it is.

First step in recovery is to loosen up the knee area with some stretching, and to bring down the inflammation with ice. There are some strengthening exercises to do as well.

Next week the fun begins though. Active release therapy, acupuncture, and more exercises. Thankfully he did recommend to do some riding, but to stay off the trainer. The riding I should do, needs to involve lots of saddle position changes, including standing and pedalling. Maybe that will help me in the long run 🙂

Tour de Victoria 2012 – Nervous Clip

5 hours, 140 km, 28Km/h average speed, 1500 calories, 2.5 litres of water, and 1 small crash. That was my @TourdeVictoria

Saturday night I could feel a little pang of nerves. All my prep for the ride had been done, the bike was set. All I needed to do was get up, eat breakfast and head downtown. In bed, suddenly Sue remembered we hadn’t set an alarm! Yikes, that was a little close.

I woke up and could see light peeking around the blind in our room. I had set the alarm for 5:15, but it was only 5:05. I got up anyway and made my regular pre-ride breakfast. I ate this, got dressed, grabbed my bag and my bike and started heading out the driveway at 6:20. In the driveway I could hear a bad sounding noise from my front wheel. It sounded like a broken spoke. Thankfully I didn’t find anything wrong so I headed out.

Once downtown I ate my banana, put my bag in the bag check, hit the portapotty for a nervous pee, then got in the staging area. It was about 6:45 at this point. I took out my phone and made one quick tweet before the ride started. I was very calm, and not feeling nervous. My training had gone well, and I was pretty sure I could go the distance. I had done lots of trips over all the big hills on the course.

I looked over and there a few feet away was someone I knew. He was the father of one of the kids in my sons kindergarten class (we’ll call him B). We chatted for a but before the start.

When the national anthem started playing I started to get excited. The ride was about to begin! The airhorn went off and B and I started off with close to 1000 other riders. What an exhilarating feeling.

The pace car led us out for quite a ways, and B and I rode together and chatted some more. On the Old Island Highway there were a few times the group had to slow as the road narrowed. What a sight to see a swarm of cyclists own the road like that. Once we got onto Sooke Rd, we could see how far away the pace car was. B and I kept getting closer to it.

We made the turn off towards Esquimalt Lagoon. Nearing Lagoon Rd B mentioned that he hadn’t been doing a lot of climbing, so we wished each other well on the ride. When the road turned up, I tried climbing at my regular pace, but there were so many people to dodge that I ended up going slower than normal. At the top of that climb I felt great, not winded or even out of breath. From there we rode out along Metchosin Rd, with a turn onto Lombard. Lombard has a short, steep pitch, but again, my training paid off and I zipped up there without any issues.

Backtracking towards town we then turned onto Kangaroo Rd. The hills along here weren’t too bad, but I knew Lindholm was looming. Kangaroo road was blocked off for us which meant the turn onto Lindholm could be taken at a pretty good clip.

I made the big climb and started the descent. This descent is a lot of fun, though I am always tentative and never take the corners without riding the brakes. Well, coming up to the fastest corner someone was running towards us yelling to slow down. There had been an accident and several people were in the ditch. This was a very sobering sight. A very stark reminder to be careful when riding with other people. You never know when something bad can happen, and all of us were out there to have fun.

After this we made our way over to Glen Lake and to the start of the 100KM ride. At this point I realized my pace was faster than my training rides had been, and that I was going to meet up with Sue quicker than we had anticipated. I crossed their start point saw my truck in a parking lot and began to set my sights on Munns Rd.

Unfortunately I caught the tail end of the 100KM riders at the Goldstream Ave/Atkins Rd intersection. There was a small path between the roads, and a large mass of people. This also meant riding on Atkins with the slower of the 100KM riders.

I passed quite a few of them on Atkins, then we headed over to Prospect Lake Rd, then Munns. I had nearly drained one of my water bottles already, so I knew I would be stopping at an aid station at least once.

I was climbing one hill, doing quite well. A lady who looked like a sponsored rider was on my left and passing me. After she had passed me, we both passed a rider stopped on the side of the road. For some reason the lady that passed me suddenly turned right in front of me and hit the brakes. I think she was trying to stop and talk to the other person we had just passed. Unfortunately for me my hands were not in a position to hit the brakes. I yelled something right before we collided. I nearly tackled her, and our bikes went down in a bit of a heap. Thankfully this an uphill collision so it was slow speed. I was more worried about my bike than me. Her pedal was between a couple spokes and that could have spelled doom. As it was there was no harm done. I swapped my nearly empty bottle for a fresh one and got going again.

A short distance up ahead I saw Sue’s vest. I caught up to her, and had planned to climb with her for a bit, but then I saw the timing strip. I wanted to see how I could fair on the Munns Rd climb, so I said goodbye and headed off. I was held up in a few places as there were a lot of people and many didn’t seem to grasp the concept about staying right except to pass. On the final grunt up Munns I got shut out by a couple people and had to slow down. Still, I placed 323 out of 1163 riders on the Munns Rd climb. I’m rather happy with that.

The hill down the other side was super fast, and super fun. Ross Durance Lake Rd was next, then onto Willis Point Rd. As we got onto Wallace Drive I started to feel my legs weren’t right. The beginning signs of bonking were starting to set in. I had been hydrating well, and taking my nutrition when I was supposed to. I imagine that I was just pushing myself harder than normal. I had to alter my plan a little. At the end of Wallace was an aid station. I pulled in there, filled up my water bottles, then grabbed some food. I had wanted to do the entire ride without additional support, but if I hadn’t eaten I wouldn’t have made it. I grabbed a couple Honey Stinger waffles (then vanilla one was amazing), some orange, stretched a little, then took off again.

I had to get more nutrition into me without exerting myself too much. I spun along West Saanich for quite a while and took it easy. I really wanted to finish and didn’t want to blow up. The section along West Saanich Rd is really a blur. I don’t remember it, and much like last year I was suddenly on the highway overpass and staring the return trip. What a feeling.

In Sidney I stopped at the aid station again. As I was grabbing another waffle one of the people there told me that the 50KM ride was starting in 5 minutes. I gulped back the food jumped on my bike and took off. I didn’t want to fight another crowd.

Along the way here I latched on to a group of three other guys. I took a turn pulling, the someone took over for me. Not knowing the proper etiquette, I ended up in second position, which meant I ended up pulling again. I figured out what to do and dropped back to the end of a now six person group. What an easy time at the back getting pulled along. We got onto the gravel section, then I became acutely aware of my bladder. I made a pitstop at Mitchel Farms which meant I lost my train. 🙁

I passed the final aid station without stopping, though I had intended to stop and get some liquid nutrition (ie not food). I ate one of my gels, drank more water and kept spinning along. As I was approaching Mt Doug Parkway my stomach started to tighten into a knot. At this point I started to calculate if I could finish the ride without taking in any more calories.

When I saw the 30KM to go sign I knew I was going to make it. For the Ash Rd climb I put my head down and grinded as hard as I could. No problem. I knew some friends were either going to be watching there or King George Terrace. Since I didn’t see them there, I knew where they would be.

Quickly I found myself in front of Willows Beach. I vaguely remember going by the golf course. Then I started the last descent before King George Terrace. I geared down for the first and made it up fine. I could see my friends at the top, so I actually geared up, stood on the pedals and powered up the hill. At the top I was feeling exhilarated. I had done all the nasty hills, and I only had a few kilometres before the finish. I spun past Ross Bay, and at one point there was a family of four out on their front lawn cheering loudly, jumping up and down, and making lots of noise. I have to admit that I got pretty emotional there. It was at that point that I knew I was going to make it, and I felt very proud of myself.

Once I got to James Bay the adrenaline really started to kick in and I started picking up my pace. All along the water front I kept going faster and faster. Gearing up, pushing harder. I made the final turn onto Bellville. I could hear the music, and then I could see the finish line. I pretty much sprinted my way across the line.

After I was done I felt very proud of myself. Getting off my bike, my legs felt a little wobbly, but otherwise alright. I retrieved my bag, got a banana, drank some water and checked out the vendors. I had wanted to see Sue cross the line, and as I was making my way to a vantage point, I thought I heard her name being called. I went to investigate, and moments later my cell rang. As I was about to answer I saw Sue with her phone to her ear. We had both done it! I went over and gave her a big hug.

A short while later we went and got some food and found B in the line too. We ate lunch with him, then grabbed a beer from the beer tent. Beer has never tasted sooo good. I only had one since I still had to ride home.

In all it was a fantastic day. I was very happy with my ride time, though I know there is room for improvement on how I felt, and my nutrition. I’m not entirely sure where I went off the rails, but at least I recognized something was going wrong and was able to correct it before it was too late. My official time was 5:08 (359th of 736 riders), and considering the fastest 140KM rider was 3:51, I have every reason to be proud of what I did. Still, next year I want to improve on that and try for sub 5 hours.

It’s always good to have a goal. And there are always other events. I hear the one in Penticton is really good too.


View Tour de Victoria in a larger map


View Tour de Victoria in a larger map

Total distance: 144.85 km (90.0 mi)
Total time: 5:18:45
Moving time: 5:05:37
Average speed: 27.27 km/h (16.9 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 28.44 km/h (17.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 74.98 km/h (46.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.20 min/km (3.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.11 min/km (3.4 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.80 min/km (1.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 264 m (865 ft)
Min elevation: -33 m (-107 ft)
Elevation gain: 2039 m (6689 ft)
Max grade: 40 %
Min grade: -29 %

Misty Speed

Saturday was my last training ride before the event. I had wanted to keep it short, just to keep my legs loose, but a buddy wanted to go for about 100KM as a test to see if he would join the Tour de Victoria. He ended up having to bail on the ride, but I still went along the same route.

What a ride it was too. Slight misty rain falling in a couple places, but otherwise perfect conditions. No rain, not too warm, no wind. My route followed the TdV route for a long way, and I have to admit I felt great. The big hills didn’t feel so bad anymore, and the flats I was flying along. In total I did a little over 110KM solo, and my average speed was slightly higher than normal too.

By the end of my ride I was feeling awesome. I didn’t feel drained at the end either, which was good. I can say with some certainty now that I feel ready for the big day.


View Tour de Victoria June 16, 2012 in a larger map


View Tour de Victoria June 16, 2012 in a larger map

Total distance: 112.97 km (70.2 mi)
Total time: 4:13:22
Moving time: 4:09:46
Average speed: 26.75 km/h (16.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 27.14 km/h (16.9 mi/h)
Max speed: 71.16 km/h (44.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.24 min/km (3.6 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.21 min/km (3.6 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.84 min/km (1.4 min/mi)
Max elevation: 237 m (778 ft)
Min elevation: -26 m (-85 ft)
Elevation gain: 2748 m (9014 ft)
Max grade: 101 %
Min grade: -44 %

Time Vulture

Today was a good day for commuting. Not too windy, sort of sunny, warm. The only thing I could have used more of was time. I would have loved to have ridden for another hour or more. Alas, I had dinner to get home to, and my route home took a lot less time than I thought it would.

My ride to work was straight there, with no detours. Right out the Goose to Wale Rd, then over to work. Coming home I thought I would do Munns Rd backward from the way I normally do it. The climb to the highest point was pretty hard, and I ended up taking a quick breather at one point. I should have kept pushing, but I wimped out. I didn’t exactly have a good nutrition day at work, and I was huffing pretty hard coming up the hill.

The descent was a lot of fun though. Wow. Makes the hard work worth it for sure.

At one point I was approaching a guy who was standing beside a truck. At first I thought he was breaking into it, then I realized he was watching something. When I looked over to the other side of the road, there was a turkey vulture standing there watching me zip by. Boy, those are big birds!

After Munns I got onto the Goose and zipped home at a pretty good clip.


View Commuting June 13, 2012 in a larger map

Commute to work:
Total distance: 13.20 km (8.2 mi)
Total time: 38:12
Moving time: 33:17
Average speed: 20.73 km/h (12.9 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 23.80 km/h (14.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 51.79 km/h (32.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.89 min/km (4.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.52 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.16 min/km (1.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 83 m (272 ft)
Min elevation: -8 m (-26 ft)
Elevation gain: 206 m (677 ft)
Max grade: 13 %
Min grade: -14 %
Recorded: 13/06/2012 8:07 AM

Commute home from work:
Total distance: 32.70 km (20.3 mi)
Total time: 1:23:41
Moving time: 1:16:01
Average speed: 23.44 km/h (14.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.81 km/h (16.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 55.39 km/h (34.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.56 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.32 min/km (3.7 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.08 min/km (1.7 min/mi)
Max elevation: 253 m (829 ft)
Min elevation: -17 m (-56 ft)
Elevation gain: 724 m (2375 ft)
Max grade: 46 %
Min grade: -34 %

Peninsula Surprises

Today’s ride was all kinds of awesome. The weather was pretty warm, but not sunny, and there was no wind. I think I ate well before my ride, and drank enough water to hydrate well.

For the ride itself I followed the Tour de Victoria course starting from pretty close to the start, out to Metchosin, back over to Munn’s, then out the peninsula. I turned onto Mount Newton Cross Rd, then made my way over to the other side for the return trip. I did all this solo too.

I paid attention to my nutrition while riding, and was careful with that. I also paid attention to how my legs were feeling, and back off part way through the ride to try and save something for the end. The other thing I did was try to drink more water. This resulted in me having to stop for a pee break, which is a rare occurrence for me.

I think it paid off though. My goal was 4.5 hours, and I was out there for 5 hours and ten minutes in total. I rode a distance of 125 km, and took in around 1000 calories.

Wow, that felt good to get that distance in. I am now confident that I can do 140km on ride day (which is 2 weeks away). During the ride there will be times I can draft off others to rest and recoup. I have ridden all sections of the course now, and there aren’t any surprises hill-wise for me. I was pretty tired at the end of the ride, but not sore, not cramping, and still walking 😉

The only surprises I had were a scrawny fawn that almost bolted in front of me (if it had I would have collided with it), and a dog in the bed of a truck that barked rather loudly when it was right beside my head.


View Tour de Victoria June 10, 2012 in a larger map


View Tour de Victoria June 10, 2012 in a larger map
Total distance: 125.56 km (78.0 mi)
Total time: 5:10:47
Moving time: 5:00:31
Average speed: 24.24 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.07 km/h (15.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 82.42 km/h (51.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.48 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.39 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.73 min/km (1.2 min/mi)
Max elevation: 376 m (1233 ft)
Min elevation: -24 m (-79 ft)
Elevation gain: 3250 m (10664 ft)
Max grade: 118 %
Min grade: -64 %

Commutes Future

I had two great commutes this week. Both of them started with me taking the long way to work. Instead of just heading out the goose to Colwood, I went along the water by Esquimalt Lagoon. Lagoon Rd is such a nice hill to tackle, I had to throw it in my commute. Tuesday after Lagoon Rd hill, I turned right and headed in to work. Wednesday though, I had more time and turned left. This way took me to My Chosin Cafe, where I turned onto Happy Valley Rd and took that to work.

Tuesday’s route home took me home along the Old Island Highway, then I turned onto Admirals and went straight home. Wednesday I thought I would try taking the Goose all the way to the trestle, and go home that way. Neither way is all that enjoyable really. Not sure which one I will take in the future.


View Commute 05/06/2012 7:47 AM in a larger map

Tuesday Commute to work Stats:
Total distance: 22.68 km (14.1 mi)
Total time: 1:04:06
Moving time: 57:39
Average speed: 21.23 km/h (13.2 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 23.61 km/h (14.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 54.04 km/h (33.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.83 min/km (4.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.54 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.11 min/km (1.8 min/mi)
Max elevation: 122 m (399 ft)
Min elevation: -38 m (-126 ft)
Elevation gain: 565 m (1854 ft)
Max grade: 43 %
Min grade: -25 %
Recorded: 05/06/2012 7:47 AM

Tuesday Commute home stats:
Total distance: 12.63 km (7.9 mi)
Total time: 32:06
Moving time: 27:13
Average speed: 23.61 km/h (14.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 27.85 km/h (17.3 mi/h)
Max speed: 58.32 km/h (36.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.54 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.15 min/km (3.5 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.03 min/km (1.7 min/mi)
Max elevation: 72 m (237 ft)
Min elevation: -7 m (-24 ft)
Elevation gain: 193 m (632 ft)
Max grade: 12 %
Min grade: -11 %


View Longer Commute 06/06/2012 in a larger map

Wednesday Commute to work stats:
Total distance: 31.28 km (19.4 mi)
Total time: 1:15:39
Moving time: 1:12:23
Average speed: 24.80 km/h (15.4 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.93 km/h (16.1 mi/h)
Max speed: 54.04 km/h (33.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.42 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.31 min/km (3.7 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.11 min/km (1.8 min/mi)
Max elevation: 103 m (339 ft)
Min elevation: -28 m (-91 ft)
Elevation gain: 593 m (1944 ft)
Max grade: 22 %
Min grade: -21 %

Wednesday Commute home stats:
Total distance: 19.30 km (12.0 mi)
Total time: 48:57
Moving time: 42:44
Average speed: 23.66 km/h (14.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 27.10 km/h (16.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 51.57 km/h (32.0 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.54 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.21 min/km (3.6 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.16 min/km (1.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 121 m (398 ft)
Min elevation: -14 m (-46 ft)
Elevation gain: 231 m (757 ft)
Max grade: 11 %
Min grade: -10 %