Cycle Vancouver Island

03/15/2024

Budget for the Capital Regional District earmarks $1.9 million for trestle improvements and widening projects aimed at the core of our regional trail network in Victoria and urban Saanich. Expect that it may leverage some additonal funding from senior governments to stretch the investments and advance some important work aimed at adapting those trails to the traffic straining the underwhelming capacity designed into the system almost 3 decades ago.

Budget presentation revealed that visitor traffic in CRD Parks, the agency that manages the trails has grown by 47% since 2017, and one could expect that a significant share of those numbers are "visitors" to the trails "visitors" to the trail (a misnomer if there ever was one).

That's just for 2024, and a good start to so much work that needs to be done. Regular users of the Goose and Lochside may soon be able to breathe a little easier, at least along some length of the trail, as operating space, surface treatments and safety enhancements start to catch up with what we all know - it's not the '90s anymore and we need 21st century designs to catch up to where we have been going for a long time.

Galloping Goose regional trail, cuts through Cecilia Ravine in Victoria, BC.

02/10/2020

Virtual reality.

I've ridden in lots of places around, mostly, Southern Vancouver Island. Now I have the pleasure of having a camera mounted to my handlebars so I can start documenting what I see.

My playlist, for armchair travelers, is just up on Youtube. For sure I'm going to add to it every chance I get,so have a look, and check back.

Come back, now and again, to see what's new. Some of it will be familiar to those who live in these parts, and some will be new to those from afar. Sometimes I'll simply stand in place and watch the wheels roll by, observing and documenting how it all works.

So far, videos are a few spots in and around Victoria, but there are miles to go before I sleep.

01/16/2020

Still life on the Goose.

The Goose is a victim of its own success. It's a good problem to have - it tells us that more and more of our friends and neighbours, as well as countless numbers of visitors, choose to transport themselves or explore our corner of the world on two wheels or two feet.

For locals, the shortcomings of trail design are most evident through Victoria's Cecilia Ravine, where a too-narrow trail is often crowded with rush hour traffic, lunchtime wanderers, all manner of visiting bicycle tourists and all the attendant friction.

It definitely needs a fix, but don't let it keep you away. It's a beautiful, if short cruise through the park, complete with babbling brook, a little fitness spot, and lately a playground with a shiny new washroom (bike parking critique will be saved for my other page).

In an instant, you may be simultaneously struck by the pleasant greenery and the all too apparent visualizing of what might transpire here even with a few more cyclists, dog walkers and the like, such as might be seen during the afternoon rush, or often enough, on any sunny day in the capital, of which there are many.

Galloping Goose regional trail in Victoria, BC, cuts through the too narrow Ceclia Ravine, not much more than 2 km from the downtown core. Trips by cyclists and pedestrians along this segment number in the thousands per day, hundreds per hour in morning and afternoon rush traffic. At 3 meters, this....

10/01/2019

A bike ride out along the Galloping Goose, E&N trail, through the Sooke Hills Wilderness to the Cowichan Valley Regional District within sight of Shawnigan Lake.

03/11/2019

Backroads mapbooks a good source for finding the detail you need to plan your off-road cycling trip.

05/17/2016

**GET CLOSE TO THE ACTION** and VOLUNTEER as a marshal for the Robert Cameron Law Cycling Series. Help us make the event safe for the racers and spectators. We are looking for marshals for the following events and times:

June 3 - Energylab Time Trial
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:30pm
What: Marshal assigned street corner/intersection and control pedestrian traffic at designated areas of the closed course.

June 4 - Cheemo Perogies Cycling Classic
Option 1 - 7:30 am to 10:30 am
Option 2 - 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
What: Marshal assigned street corner/intersection and control/stop traffic when racers are passing by

June 5 - Accent Inns Grand Prix at the BC Legislature
Option 1 - 8:00 am to 11:00 am
Option 2 - 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
What: Marshal assigned street corner and control pedestrian traffic at designated areas of the closed course

Contact [email protected] for more info or register here: http://www.victoriabikerace.com/ #!volunteer/c12d4

DON'T FORGET WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER EPIC VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PARTY WITH GREAT FOOD AND PRIZES.

05/10/2016

Event season is ramping up . . .

**GET CLOSE TO THE ACTION** and VOLUNTEER as a marshal for the Robert Cameron Law Cycling Series. Help us make the event safe for the racers and spectators. We are looking for marshals for the following events and times:

June 3 - Energylab Time Trial
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:30pm
What: Marshal assigned street corner/intersection and control pedestrian traffic at designated areas of the closed course.

June 4 - Cheemo Perogies Cycling Classic
Option 1 - 7:30 am to 10:30 am
Option 2 - 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
What: Marshal assigned street corner/intersection and control/stop traffic when racers are passing by

June 5 - Accent Inns Grand Prix at the BC Legislature
Option 1 - 8:00 am to 11:00 am
Option 2 - 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
What: Marshal assigned street corner and control pedestrian traffic at designated areas of the closed course

Contact [email protected] for more info or register here: http://www.victoriabikerace.com/ #!volunteer/c12d4

DON'T FORGET WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER EPIC VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PARTY WITH GREAT FOOD AND PRIZES.

10/04/2015

How to use bike gears - What the proper gear to be in is. How to shift bike gears, what to avoid while changing bike gears, using bike gears properly on a hill, flat or descent.

05/29/2015