Saturday Sufferfest Roubaix Edition

[Josh.E]

just to mix it up a bit......

Would anyone be up for a ride straight out the goose and back tomorrow morning? It'd be mostly packed gravel, etc, but nothing that couldn't be done on road tires. Pancake flat so the group could stay together much more easily. We could leave at 6:00 from the usual cook st starbucks, Hammer straight out the goose until 7:30, wherever that gets us to, then turn around and be home by 9:00.

Belgian Style. I was thinking of this ride after the icy conditions the last two weeks, and even though it's going to be warm, I think it would be a blast.

[shawnc]

That sounds cool and it would be fun to roar along the Goose. I bet we could get pretty far out.

Would road tires really be OK though? I'm having a vision of many flat tires for us poor souls without knobby tires.

And is the trail sufficiently deserted at that time of morning? It'll be pretty dark and I don't feel like slamming into the back of a horse/stroller/shopping cart.

[Josh.E]

Road tires would be fine, I wouldn't even change my bike over. I ride along lochside regularly on the peninsula with road tires, and that's no worse. The gravel is all smooth and graded.

Once we get out past langford, I bet you we wouldn't see anybody. I'm sure we'd have to shut it down as we approached victoria on the way back in.
I've actually never seen a horse with a stroller and a shopping cart.

[shawnc]

I've actually never seen a horse with a stroller and a shopping cart.

Then count me in!

I would also love to do a Metchosin/East Sooke edition of the sufferfest at some point. Imagine how fun it would be in a paceline along Esquimalt lagoon, and then climbing back up to Metchosin Road! There are some great swoopy roads out that way too.

Maybe we could even do the Esquimalt Lagoon on the way back into town tomorrow, and then hook up with the Goose at the Tim Horton's near the Juan de Fuca Rec Centre.

[AdamD]

Likely in

[Greg Miller]

Sounds like a great idea. I'll be there.

[Greg Miller]

Ok, someone else needs to step up: Josh + Shawn + Adam =

[Lister Farrar]

Ok, someone else needs to step up: Josh + Shawn + Adam =

I feel your pain.

[AdamD]

Darn i just woke up, my alarm is very unreliable

[sylvan]

Darn i just woke up, my alarm is very unreliable

Chase down the Oak Bay ride. I'm going to meet them at Royal Oak/Lochside at 9:40. Just head for Sidney.

[Greg Miller]

That was fun! Thankfully Bruce showed up and helped keep it to a semi-sane pace. Bruce and I turned back around 7:30 somewhere in Metchosin and Josh and Shawn kept going. The path is super smooth and the dirt sections were more comfortable to ride on then pavement. The only bad part was the twisty area around View Royal in the dark where holding a wheel too close made for unpredictable turns.

Definitely recommend doing this again.

[Josh.E]

yeah, that was a blast
Made me feel like I was riding through the forests of belgium in the winter. Shawn and I went on for about 15 more minutes, and stopped for some food, and to clean the crap out from under Shawns fender. We made it past the sooke inlet before turning back. We got a flat while we were stopped, and decided to turn back after that.
Coming back it had gotten much lighter out and we hammered hard side by side for probably 30-40 minutes, really putting the nail in the coffin for the legs.

It would be super fun to start maybe a 1/2 hour later, or later in the winter when the sun is up a bit sooner, and go a bit further out, like all the way to the potholes if we could all swing it one saturday morning. The trail only seems to get more fun the further out you go.

[sylvan]

Nice, that's a great route to roll some off-season miles into the legs. I think it's 110 km return from the blue bridge to Leechtown, and I'm pretty sure you can whack your way on logging roads from there past Lubbe Lake to Goldstream Heights/Ridge if you're nuts and motivated. That would be one of the 'cross rides of the century, preferably on an epic, snowy day.

There were no off-road excursions on the Oak Bay ride, but there were three flats, so it was a long day. Manchild didn't make it. John G. did but I think he got off course at some point after Land's End and did a modified route. Big crowd. Probably 30+ riders and two groups.

[AdamD]

I didnt even ride at all today i was on a good streak too, 5 days.
What are the OBB rides like Sylvan? Distance? Red Truckers show up i imagine?

[AdamD]

Oh and i figured out what happened to my alarm. Fell off my window cill in the night followed by my excess blanket falling on top of it and pretty much muting it enough that i didn't wake up.

[sylvan]

I didnt even ride at all today i was on a good streak too, 5 days.

Disgraceful. No nachos for you. My former Eastern Bloc coach Dieter(1) would be disgusted.

What are the OBB rides like Sylvan? Distance?

About 90-100 km, full peninsula loop including Land's End, usual Interurban sprint.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/59408435 - I started at Royal Oak today and did a waterfront loop after the ride to get it up to about 110 km.

Double paceline, social pace all the way to Land's End, then the faster riders pick it up and start rolling through. Good ride if/when 6 am doesn't work out.

Red Truckers show up i imagine?

No, nothing like that. It's pretty recreational, at least this time of year and there's always a major social/group/inclusive component. They go two groups like us when the pack's big.

Tripleshot 'A' rides have gotta be the hardest group rides of the week by far, except maybe the Burnside rides. This morning I rolled through coming out of the hollow on Interurban at Viaduct, picked it up to about 85-90% effort just trying to keep it safe and strung out a bit, not planning to attack or contest the sprint, but nobody came with me and I still had about 50 metres gap at the line 2 km later. I was soft-pedaling past the college waiting for the pack to come past me and didn't even realize I had a gap 'til the first downhill past the college. Compare that to late in a Tripleshot ride where it's horrific grim and black death and I can't even survive sticking my nose in the wind let alone get a gap on anybody.

(1) not currently permitted to "practice" "medicine" or to communicate with athletes in any way.

[AdamD]

Disgraceful. No nachos for you. My former Eastern Bloc coach Dieter(1) would be disgusted.

I know its awful, oh well we can just call it a rest day or something.