Victoria on a Bike

Ride 37 - 14 October 2019 Distance 41.5km (Distance to date 1107.9km) Time 3hrs 14mins (Time to date 84hrs 58mins) Rich 1 - 0 Mt Doug!!! (2019).  I conquered Mt Doug on a Green Bike, all the way to the top, no stopping!!! My hero xx I have history with Mt Doug.  My 2018 challenge was to raise money for charity and I decided to do that by conquering Mt Doug.  Scaling Mt Doug to the equivalent height of Mt Everest.  Thats 60 ascents.   I didn't manage 60, I should have trained!  But I did manage to raise a wad of money for charity! I may be smiling here, but.............. Anyway, the reason for the story.....I was out doing this ride on Thanksgiving which I realized while riding was the anniversary of the Everest attempt.  So the route became obvious, I was going to have to do Mt Doug. It was savage!!  I do not have the power to force a green bike straight up the hill so I was reduced to zig zagging the whole way.  But an ascent is an ascent. guess which

Ride 36 - 13 October 2019 Distance 24.5km (Distance to date 1066.3km) Time 1hrs 56mins (Time to date 81hrs 44mins) I'm starting to regret not finishing this challenge sooner.  It's getting distinctly cold and wet in Victoria! One upside of the colder weather.....the green bike photos have gone up a notch! Even I can take a good picture with colours like those! The weather turned out good, but otherwise not much to report from this ride! Don't look directly at this photo They forgot wings!!!! Points of Interest..... No points of interest

Ride 35 - 6 October 2019 Distance 35.1km (Distance to date 1041.8km) Time 2hrs 36mins (Time to date 79hrs 48mins) So the far eastern tip of the map is complete!!  I had meant to do that bit during Ride 21 , but ran out of time, so it was great to finally get it done!  The far from home areas are a logistical nightmare, over 30 minutes of riding just to get to the start line. I was soooo far east, the street signs turned blue, a sign that I had dipped into View Royal.  Just It was just a few streets, but I can declare View Royal has been completed View Royal is in the bag Highway 1 was not fun, made particularly hazardous by these signs places in the shoulder of a TWO LANE HIGHWAY!  Thanks guys. DANGER An update on overall progress below, a lot left but I'm starting to feel like this is doable!. Ride 35 to Date Now I want to be a postman 'I'm going to paint my house orangey red' said no sane man ever! Points of Interest..... No po

Ride 34 - 5 October 2019 Distance 28.1km (Distance to date 1006.7km) Time 2hrs 22mins (Time to date 77hrs 12mins) I've broke the 1000km barrier!!!  That's a looong way on a rented bike found at the side of the street! This ride was a return after a long break.  I've had a fun end to the summer and the last month has been crazy busy; away pretty much every weekend (lots of cycling involved, naturally).  Felt good to be back in the old routine and making progress to completing the challenge (even if it was a cold and wet ride!). Bike Shot This stuffy has had a hard life Points of Interest..... Giant Yard Dragon   (48.46321, -123.37947) Someone must really love dragons.  But a treat for me to see one up close! GGGRRRRRRRRRRR!

Ride 33 - 14 September 2019 Distance 33.9km (Distance to date 978.6km) Time 2hrs 36mins (Time to date 74hrs 50mins) For no real reason, I have been completing this blog in (imperial (i.e. miles).  The reason is kind of lazy.  I'm originally from the UK so my Strava account has always been in miles.  I do a lot of cycling and running and am pretty bi-lingual between miles and km so never bothered changing it. The devil makes work for idle thumbs.  The other day I was exploring the Strava app and randomly switched to km, not realizing it would screw up my blog.  But now it's done, I figured I'll stick with it, as Canada is metric and this is a quintessentially Canadian challenge. The ride was planned to be simple and short.  It was until the nasty surprise at Mckenzie and Hwy 17!  My rules are kind of simple, if a road is named with a sign, I ride it.  If it's a private driveway, I don't.  So looking at the map, I thought I was done, until I saw all the stupid

Ride 32 - 3 September 2019 Distance 16.7 miles (Distance to date 587.0 miles) Time 2hrs 05mins (Time to date 72hrs 14mins) An old friend was in town for one night only.  I am starting to lose sleep over getting this challenge finished.  The only option, was to squeeze in a ride before going to the pub! I was kind of glad this ride wasn't to interesting.  Taking photos is time consuming! Canada ..............despite that, as per normal, I was late to the pub. Bike Points of Interest..... No points of interest

Ride 31 - 31 Aug 2019 Distance 23.8 miles (Distance to date 570.3 miles) Time 2hrs 59mins (Time to date 70hrs 9mins) I finally rode the Uplands!  The area is full of big houses with big gardens.  It was enjoyable, but like Oak Bay there weren't really any quirky hidden gems...... the kind of thing I love!! Nothing much to add, so enjoy a few photos! We've all been there Obligatory Bike Shot Nice view, terrible caption Points of Interest..... No points of interest

Ride 30 - 18 August 2019 Distance 18.5 miles (Distance to date 546.5 miles) Time 2hrs 25mins (Time to date 67hrs 10mins) Even my Sunday evenings are now taken up riding! The summer nights are running out fast, so getting rides in whenever I can so I can avoid finishing this challenge in the cold, wet and dark days approaching! Summer cycling Points of Interest..... No points of interest

Ride 29 - 18 August 2019 Distance 46.4miles (Distance to date 528.0 miles) Time 4hrs 57mins (Time to date 64hrs 45mins) A ride so big, I had to split it in half! Strava So I returned to Oak Bay Bikes to rent another decent bike.  It may seem like bending the rules, it may be I am bending the rules, but at this stage, I don't really care.  Green bikes are hard to find and hard to ride, especially for an entire day!  A 'rental bike' was all I said at the start! As always, the day got off to a slow start.  The plan was to be at Oak Bay Bikes when they opened at 10am, but with one distraction and another I finally got a bike (the last available!) at 12pm!  Half a day wasted! Craigdarroch Castle (background) The ride was great, if you know Victoria, you'll know these areas are great to ride around.  One amazing discovery THE MUFFINS AT MT DOUG MARKET!!!! Get in my BELLY! Points of Interest..... Clare St Animal Signs   (48.42472, -123.32798) Ever