"Guys, I'm ready to go. Guys?" (My solo ride up the Malahat)

[Ian]

Went on the Goldstream Heights ride this morning with Josh, Shawn, Simon, Al, Dave, Mike L, other Mike, new guy Kevin, and later on Bruce. Met everyone at the Starbucks at 6am as scheduled, had my gel, and took a quick washroom break. When I came out, the place was empty and my bike was the only one that remained! I set off along Douglas anyways to see if I could catch up to the group. About halfway up the Malahat I realized that my only chance was to catch them before they left Serious Coffee in Mill Bay, and that if I didn't catch them there, I would just turn around and head back along the Malahat the way I came.

Beautiful morning this morning! As I passed the lookouts, I could see out across the water and had a great view of the misty, sunny morning. The Malahat itself actually wasn't too bad, I was able to keep a decent spin going, and got up without excessive amounts of pain. I might get flamed for this, but I actually really enjoyed that part of the ride.

I arrived at Serious Coffee to find no one there, so I sat down to have some food and a drink before heading back the way I came. Sure enough, along come Shawn and Josh. Turns out they'd taken a longer way, and were actually behind me on the climb. That and Simon somehow faked having not one but TWO flats just so I could catch up. Thanks dude!

The rest of the ride was excellent. Lots of steep, hard climbing and the view from the top was amazing (even better once your eyes uncrossed and you started breathing again). It was also by far the longest ride I've ever been on (until today the longest one was about 75km d2d). This inexperience manifested itself by me food bonking HARD as we were passing Goldstream on the way back. Al was kind enough to tow me the rest of the way in (thanks again, I owe you one!).

Awesome ride, highly recommended!

[Josh.E]

yeah, sorry again about leaving you there.
New rule, make sure all bikes have owners as we roll out.

That was definitely a beautiful ride. Shawn and I pushed each other pretty well this morning I think. The malahat was a hard, but not redline type pace. The climb up to goldstream heights we pushed the steep part to the first summit pretty good, and then met Bruce who was coming down the last 16% grade just as we started up it. Bruce had spent the entire climb thinking shawn and I were up the road, as he didn't see us duck onto a side road on shawnigan lk rd to wait for the pack. he had thought he was chasing us and couldn't catch us
He turned around to do his second rep of the 16% pitch, and proceeded to embarass me and shawn as we did our first.

Managed to take a few minutes at the top to let the heartrate drop below 180 and enjoy the view. Definitely the best part of the ride. Thanks to everyone who came out.

[leftcoaster]

I had a flu this week and thought, damn, I'm gonna miss Goldstream Heights. Well, I woke up at 5:00 and thought I was feeling better and that I could make it. Dumbass.
I was fine until Mill Bay, then five days of flu caught up to me and I passed on the Goldstream Heights climb.
Funny how the mind can play tricks on you and tell you you're recovered when you're not.
I still hit over 1400 meters of climbing and 100k in distance but had to ease back into town at a more relaxed pace.
Lesson learned.

- David B

[shawnc]

Sweet ride this morning - the kind that leaves you shattered afterward and compels you to take a two-hour nap in the afternoon. Bruce unleashed some psychological warfare on Josh and me by easily riding away from us on the 16% pitch at the top. I haven't been on the Saturday morning pain train for a while so it was great to get back in the mix. Thanks to everyone for coming out, and to Mike for pulling Josh and me to coffee after the Switch Bridge!