Friday, January 24 - Early Weekday Zip to Viaduct, Francis King & Trillium

[Rolf]

0600 (not 0607!) departure from Hillside and Shelbourne (ENSO station on the northeast corner). Pace and route very similar to this ride from last March—though probably swapping Viaduct in place of Calvert, and Trillium instead of staying on Highland.

If coming from Gordon Head and wishing to meet us: last time we passed the intersection of Lochside Trail and the Blenkinsop Greenway at 6:14:10 a.m. Other aspirational timing points (provided we're small, fast, and virtually never stop ):

• 0621 - Quadra at Pat Bay Highway
• 0630 - Viaduct at Interurban Road
• 0645 - Panhandle Trail at Munn Road
• 0655 - Highland at Barker
• 0710 - Goose at Watkiss
• 0735 - Coffee at Shoal Point (provided we can draft some big, strong Wally all the way back into town)

The last time we did this, it was four guys mostly drilling it throughout. This ride will not be everybody's cup of tea. If you'd like to instead ride a regular Oak Bay / UVic / Fairfield route leaving from OBHS at 0605, please indicate here or on another thread—I'm confident you will not be alone!

[JTyre]

Thank you, Rolf, for jogging my memory. I totally forgot about the "Goose" you gave Alan at "Watkiss" at 0710.



See you at the "ENSO" station at 6 am, ready to show off my new physique,

[myboys]

I can't make this ride, although I'd love to. I'll be at Oak Bay at 6:05 if there are any takers (or anyone taking pity on me) for an alternative route.

Mary

[schouten]

Weathering looks kinda maybe okay for a portion of it. But getting out to Francis King on a weekday is akways a treat. Such a conundrum...

[benmoore]

If by “Enso” you mean “Esso” then I’ll be there

I think. I hope.

Depends if I can get this headset back together

[Thomasmeg]

That looks fun...but speedy. I’m good with a shorter route Mary. See you at OBH!

[LouiseF]

These Gordon-headers are going to make it out. I'm bringing my husband so I assume if I become the ride's anchor and hold you back from your pursuit of coffee, he'll drop back with me.

We're undecided as to meet up spot at the moment so if we're not at Wonger's Wait, we'll be at the greenway/lochside meet up by 615.

See you in the downpour.

[Claire]

Sounds like this outing has a lot going for it. I'm always up for a bit of a mission and I'll do all I can to support the desired outcome.

Steve, too (likely). See you at Esso.

[Alan]

I'm willing to fall in line with this plan..

[JTyre]

Rolf, thanks for the ride.

This is what I felt like when we hit the Viaduct hills,

Thanks for coming back and pretending that you were tired too. I knew you were bullsh*ting, but it helped. Thank you also for the nutrition at coffee. You're a real chimp*.

*champ.

[Rolf]

JT: I feigned nothing—Viaduct is a grind! Also: the downside of my compulsion to drift to the front of every damn ride I join, is not getting elbow-time with everyone—especially funny, friendly people like you. So I came back for the craic, as much as cuz I'd cracked.

I found this morning quite hard but damn fun. It's awesome to see a dozen folks ready and up for that kind of rip in the dark. Thanks all! Sorry we couldn't squeeze in the extra ten minutes for Trillium. It was that, or have less coffee. (Or tea.)