Goldstream Heights Sunday Sept 1

[bill]

Come one come all!

Depart Starbucks on Douglas and Alpha across from Mayfair Mall at 6:30am. If you want coffee before we go get their early!

It will be a TS Sunday social ride for most of it. We will have various regrouping points along the way, for example: Top of Malahat, coffee shop in Shawingan Lake and top of Goldstream Heights.

Hope you all can make it.

Cheers

[Rolf]

Cool, Bill.

Are you planning on up and over the Malahat, Mill Bay and then back south along Shawnigan to Goldstream Heights? Or up the Heights first and then down to Shawnigan?

The order will dictate what options are available to the time-pressed among us.

[barton bourassa]

Sounds like an awesome thing to do on a beautiful Sunday morning. See you there.

[leftcoaster]

Plan on being there

[sylvan]

Last time I tried to make it to a 6:30 ride at the Alpha Bucky's it didn't turn out so well.

Maybe. I'm not really in shape to do much climbing so I might come out for the flat parts.

[John D]

I hope to come out - depends how my legs feel tomorrow after this morning's "fun" with Barton et al. (i.e. 120km at 30 km/h).

Despite the fact that I totally suck at hill-climbing, Goldstream Heights is one of my favourite rides. How sick is that, eh?

J.

[FairweatherMike]

Rolf - if you have to be back home for 9 am, count on me for some company on the return...

TimePressedMike

[Lund]

Fantastic ride (dry heaves at the top of Goldstream Heights notwithstanding)!

Thanks for making it happen, Bill.

[leftcoaster]

my stats - garmin was off for a few minutes close to the top when Zig ran into me, but otherwise, my stats

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/368941353

[FairweatherMike]

This is not a complaint - it's an expression of shock and awe...

Not since I was brand-new to Tripleshot, and the "climb" through Mt. Doug Park on Cordova Bay Rd left me gasping (and relying on the hand of big Pete Lawless to stay with the group), have I felt so thoroughly unprepared. Never having done the Goldstream route before, nothing equipped me as an occasional climber - not Hurricane Ridge, not Whistler Gran Fondo, not Haleakala - for the full-on race pace (to me, anyway) demonstrated on this "Social Sunday outing." I commented to Bill as we rocketed through Goldstream on the tail end of the group that I had never drafted uphill before!

Man alive - it's a good thing I didn't have time to do the whole thing, since I was committed to be home at 9. The lead group appeared to be climbing the Malahat at about 22 kmh (or more); I kept them in sight for maybe a third of the climb, then dropped to 14-15 kmh, then barely managed double-digits for the 8:08 arrival at a beautifully desolate lookout.

The gravity-assisted dash back home gave me time to reflect on my so-called "fitness" and a renewed determination to be more than an occasional climber so I can actually participate in these things!

Well done, all - you've given me something to shoot for... (btw, did Richard rejoin after losing his water bottle? Didn't see him.)

[Stéphane Tran]

Goldstream Height is one of my favourite rides and I am thinking of doing it on Sunday September 15th. Anyone interested? Great training for the Tour de Victoria the following weekend!