Spring Grando—Beaches & Stream
Vancouver Island Spring 100km
Ride Date: March 8, 2025
by Murray Tough

The course was very much as described in the pre-ride notes—except for the rain. No-one said anything about rain.

I arrived at the start 20 minutes early. It was raining. It was miserable enough that only half the registered riders showed up to ride. I decided to stay in the car, where it was warm and dry, until the last minute. Not surprisingly, the last minute arrived and we set of into the gloom for a day of gravel riding.

“The first 62km are relatively gentle, with some intermixed road and gravel sections.”

We eased into the gravel with a gentle ride through the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific and then the Colquitz River Trail. When we weren’t on bike paths and trails, the route took us down quiet residential streets. Peaceful, wet, riding. It’s spring in Victoria. Flowers like crocuses, daffodils, snow-in-summer and cherry blossoms were helping to brighten the gloom. Everywhere, the grass was a lush green blanket.

Our first control was on the shore of Portage Inlet. It was still raining but the sky looked like it was clearing. I opted to keep my control card dry and took a picture of the signpost to mark my time of passage. There were four of us at the start but we had separated by this point. Nick and I were riding at a similar pace so we mostly stuck together through the remainder of the ride.

We followed the Galloping Goose to Royal Roads University. We rode through the dark forest under grey clouds before descending to the open ground below the stately Hatley Castle. Our control was on the shore of the Esquimalt Lagoon. The rain stopped and the sky was getting brighter. It looked like it might clear up. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t.) Time for a banana and a photo, then back on the bike. From the Esquimalt Lagoon, all roads go in one direction—up.

We rode some of the new bike paths in Royal Bay before ending up on Metchosin Road. We had a 10k section on Metchosin Road, past fields, farms and the golf course. Traffic and the rain were both light. We were able to make up some time on smooth roads. We soon arrived at the Weirs Beach control near William Head. A short gravel trail near Pearson College put us back on the Galloping Goose to Langford. It took me some time to recognize that we were on the familiar Galloping Goose Trail. The rain had returned but it was not raining hard so it wasn’t much of a concern.

We left the Goose at Glen Lake and pedalled towards the Humpback Reservoir. Along the way, we followed trails and bike path and went through a covered bridge. We looped around Langford Lake and stopped at a beach at the NW end of the lake for the control. There was a steady a series of lakes that I could not have named or even knew existed. We passed Florence Lake, Lake Ida Ann and more as the day wore on.

“After that the gravel gets a bit more "gravely". Expect to spend over an hour to conquer the next 15km.”

The “next 15km” started with Thetis Lake Regional Park. The gravel was indeed more challenging. I was happy to let Nick take the lead through most of this. He is a much better gravel rider than me so I could follow his line on the hills.

   

I wasn’t getting good traction. If I stood up to climb a hill, my rear wheel would lose traction. If I stayed seated, I had to pedal hard at a low cadence to make it to the crest. I had to be careful not to pull up too hard on the handlebars because that was causing my front wheel to lose traction. Each hill would involve pedalling hard to get momentum before hitting the climb. On a couple of hills, I jumped off and pushed before I lost all my momentum. The downhills were fast, rocky and a little frightening. If I braked too hard, I would skid and lose control. If I didn’t brake hard enough, I would skid and lose control. There was one section near the exit that I was too afraid to tackle and decided to walk my bike down the steepest section. There were, of course, many puddles. Most were shallow but one or two washed the dirt off my shoes as I pedalled through.

We left the trails at Westoby Road for a short, fun, hilly, windy ride on pavement to Francis/King Regional Park. There we followed the Panhandle Trail to Munn Road. Munn Road is a popular cycling route but not today, in the rain. We turned off at the mailboxes to find our next control at Eagles Lake. I decided to try lowering my tire pressure in the hope of getting better traction on the last gravel section.

The last gravel section was on the Regional Trail through Mount Work Regional Park to the Hartland landfill. We had only just left Eagles Lake Road when we ran into a downed tree. We had been warned of this at the start. At the start briefing it sounded small. The reality was much bigger. I was glad to have a riding partner so that we could pass the bikes over the log from one to the other.

My lower tire pressure made a huge difference. I could stand on the pedals without losing traction and was able to tackle the descents with more confidence. I watched Nick ride through a puddle in front on me. It was deep. His bike was bouncing and wabbling as he pedalled through the rocky pool. What could I do? I wasn’t going to wade through the puddle so I bounced and wabbled my way through it and tried not to think about what would happen if lost my balance on an unseen rock.

We emerged onto Hartland Avenue for a roaring descent to the Interurban Rail Trail. Up to this point, the rain hadn’t really bothered us but now the rain hurt. Each droplet stung as it exploded on my face. But I couldn’t slow down, the thrill of the descent was too great.

From here on, the gravel sections were straight and flat but the course designer needed to ensure that our legs did not receive a break. It started with the climb up Durance Road from Wallace Drive to West Saanich Road and then the steep climb up Verling Avenue to Oldfield Road. There is a section where the grade is around 15%. And when we finished those climbs, we were rewarded with a headwind as we rode south. We had one last series of climbs through Royal Oak. After that, an easy spin back to the start on the shore of Beaver Lake.

It was still raining, I was filthy, but we were smiling.