Sunday April 10 Gravel Ride

[mfarnham]

Hi folks,

On Sunday I'd like to try the following loop

https://www.strava.com/activities/93102467

as suggested by Roland and seconded by Owen in a separate thread.

For my first time out, I only plan to do the loop once, though if anyone's really keen and wants to do an out-and-back on only the gravel section (I dislike riding on highways), I would entertain that possibility. I won't be taking it at race pace either. It's a strenuous ride, so consider the Strava stats before signing on and plan to be well equipped with extra tubes, good tires, provisions, etc.

This could be a good introduction to some of the south island logging roads. There are interesting paths to explore out there. I've recently found gravel routes (posted by others) from Sooke to the Kinsol Trestle and onto Cowichan Lake and even to Tofino (with a ferry hop up the Alberni Inlet), and further north. Seems like the sky's the limit (once you find a way around the restricted Watershed) when it comes to 2-wheeled exploration on island gravel.

Martin

[BPhelps]

HI Martin,

If I don't end up doing a mountain bike race on Sunday, I am in.

What time are you thinking of leaving?

If we were to ride out to Sooke on the Goose, how much distance would that add?

[mfarnham]

According to Google Maps, it's 41km from Alpha Starbucks to the start point on that loop. If it's just 2-3 of us, we could throw bikes on my rack and drive out to the start. If it's more, we'd need a second driver or we'd need to ride out.

I'd advocate for a start between 6 and 7am. But I'm pretty flexible.

Martin

[BPhelps]

Riding out and back would make it about a 150km ride, which might be a bit intense for a first attempt. Maybe we evaluate how we are feeling after the first lap.

I will know closer to the weekend if I am in or not.

[mfarnham]

The out and back option that I'm thinking of would take us from the start point (Otter Point and Young Lake Rd) to where the Forest Road connects back to Highway 14 (near Jordan River), and then back (retracing) to the start point. That would be a little over 90km roundtrip. But the climbing would be pretty huge (not sure how to see cumulative elevation along a Strava route). Approaching 2000m?

I'm happy to just do it as a loop though, or we could decide when we hit Highway 14 near Jordan River.

Martin

[BPhelps]

Sounds pretty epic.

[owen]

Have fun guys. I'm really wishing my back was healthy and I could ride much over an hour. Depending on the time, I may join for an hour or so up Butler main and head back home. (I live in Sooke)

I highly recommend a SPOT or inReach for these kind of rides. There is no cell service for 90% of this route.

[roadflasj]

Hi Martin,

Are we good to for one vehicle or do I need to meet you guys at Alpha with my car just in case? And to confirm a 6am meeting time at SB?

Thanks,

Kenji

[mfarnham]

I've done three mountain bikes on my rack before, so I can't see any problem with three CX bikes.

Current plan is 6am departure. Question is whether I pick everyone up or whether we meet at a central coffee shop.

Kenji, PM me and let me know where you live. If anyone else wants to join, post here or PM me. We'd need a second car for more people, but more is merrier.

Owen, PM me if you want to join and we'll sort out a meetup time/place in Sooke. Thanks!

Martin

[BPhelps]

Pictures from Sunday's adventures.

Was a great ride, and interesting adventure. Despite being wildly off reaching our destination, good times were had.

We managed to only have one puncture on the ride, that is, until the final 5kms when Kenji and I both got flats at exactly the same time, and I followed it up with another flat within a few hundred meters.

Lessons for next time.

One, dress warmly. Froze my butt off.
Two, know where you are going.

[Rolf]

The road looks like it got a bit gnarly in that second shot. Thanks for sharing!

[Roland]

Do any of you have a GPS recording of the ride? I'd be interested to see where you made it / got lost.

[BPhelps]

Here is the Strava for it: https://www.strava.com/activities/541915628

Had we taken Kapoor Main we would have arrived at Shawnigan Lake.

We were thinking there'd be a good loop in there, with a bit of research and planning.

[owen]

Someone needs to get you boys a compass!

If you hang a left on Kapoor and then a right onto Fleet (which then merges onto Lens) you wind up just a few clicks south of Honeymoon Bay... now there's a loop.

Hopefully I'll be able to join the next time you guys make it out.

[Brian S]

Very cool. In th eoriginal posting about 'gravel' there was a question about tires. What did you guys run? Tubeless? Stans in the tube?

[mfarnham]

That looks like a crazy loop, Owen. Do you have a Strava profile for that one?

We knew we were too far north--at some point we decided just to explore. The left turn onto East Main FSR looks super clear on Strava, but even coming back knowing almost exactly where the turn should be (we consulted the map of some motorcyclists up at the Kapoor Main/Butler Main intersection) it was very difficult to see. Rocks have been placed across the entrance, and it looks more like a driveway than a road even without the rocks. We saw more prominent side roads that are completely unlabeled on maps.

Brian, we all ran tubes. Tubeless would have been nice, though I got a sidewall gash that might have been harder to handle with tubeless (not sure the liquid latex would have done the trick).

This was a fun but hard ride. Would be great to have some more company next time!

Martin