Populaire

Sunday was the 100 km populaire ride in Victoria.
I left at 7am, to get to Mill Bay to meet Dave, who gave me a ride to Victoria. The ride to Mill Bay was quite cold - the sun had only just risen when I left but the sky was perfectly clear. I was quite surprised by the amount of traffic on the roads at 7 am on a Sunday. There were several cars going the opposite way to me with squishy bikes on them. I think there was a downhill race in Cumberland or somewhere. I got to the Tim Horton's in Mill Bay at about 7:55, and had some milk and an apple fritter.
The ride started in Beacon Hill Park. I've only ridden down to Victoria twice, and it was almost raining both times, and I spent most of my time lost. I hadn't noticed that Victoria is so much nicer than Duncan. I have, however, noticed that there isn't really a park in Duncan - yes there are little bits of grass with gravel paths through them and stuff - but I really like big green parks in the middle of towns. Mum often used to take us to the Arboritum in Nottingham (pics 1, 2, 3). There were bird cages (pic), and duck ponds and the whole place was surrounded by thick brick walls with iron railings on top (pic), which made me think of the Secret Garden. It was quite a big park (or maybe it wasn't - I was small) with loads of trees, so there could have been a lot of people there and you wouldn't really notice. When I went to London I remember thinking Hyde Park was great - loads of trees in the middle of the city. There were loads of parks we used to go to: Wollaton Park with the deer (and crocodiles, according to Paula - why else would they fense of the water?), Evaston Castle (my favourite), Rutland Waters, Holme Pierpont, Sherwood Forest, Hickling Basin (does that count?). I look at Google Maps of the Cowichan Valley and there are loads of little trees (representing parks), and I go and find them and they turn out to be 10m square patches of grass with a totem pole in the middle. I only saw a bit of Becon Hill Park, so I'm going to have to go down again soon.

We set off at 10 am, and followed the water to the East through Oak Bay and up towards Sidney. The park seemed to continue along the shoreline with beaches and grassy bits. The trees were in blossom and the weather ride was great; sunny and warm enough not to get cold, but cool enough not to get hot. It was the perfect day for riding. I should have kept count of how many non-populaire cyclists were out - we passed so many riding in the other direction.
About 80 riders showed up for the populaire overall, 17 of which were doing an alternate 50 km route.
It's weird how quickly that many riders get spread apart and form groups. People pass and get passed until people find themselves with a group travelling at their pace (or cling to a group in fear of getting lost - and no, I wasn't the only one, lots of people said that!).
I found myself riding with in a group of five: husband and wife in matching yelow rain jackets, a fit-looking guy on a Lynsky, and another guy on a Surly Cross Check. We were keeping a decent pace of about 27 km/hr. I rode with them for the first 30 or so kilometers, and the I dropped my chain at the beginning of a hill and they were gone.
Then Ken Bonner (who I'd been introduced to by Dave - apparently the king of randonneuring) came up behind me and I rode with him for a bit. We had a conversation about how technically mided people tend to be drawn to cycling - I hadn't really noticed, but have begun generating informal statistics in my head - so far inconclusive. He wasn't actually doing the route, but was just out for a Sunday ride, so went a different direction. I rode by myself for a while, then came up behind a couple - one on a Madone, the other a Marinoni. I rode with them to the first control which was in Sidney, where I stayed fr about 20 mins, which seemed much longer than most. Some people just got their card stamped and rode off again.
I rode off from the first control with a gentleman on a Surly LHT called Scott (the man, not the Surly). The route headed back down the west side of the peninsula along the coast. He was used to a slower pace than me, so after about 20 kms I went on ahead. I soon met up with two guys: Phil on a vintage Marinoni with downtube shifters, and Tom on a Tricross. I rode with them for the rest of the ride.
The whole second half of the ride went slower than I usually ride, and I stayed quite a while at the first control, and I finished in 5:31. My legs felt fine, and I wasn't really tired either, so I'm thinking about doing the 200km "Tour de Cowichan" in two weeks.
Dave gave me a ride back to Mill Bay once he got back from his station at the secret control, and I rode home from Mill Bay, and still got back before dark.

I didn't take my camera, but there are some photos here.


Populaire distance: 105.2 km
Time: 5:31

Home to Mill Bay: 20 km
Total distance: 20+105+20 = 145km