Last Blast of Summer Pre-ride
Tour of the Cowichan Valley route - Report and rider info
by Kristy Lee Mighton

Ride Date: Saturday September 6th
Start time: 7:30 end 4:46 pm

I could not have asked for a better day to pre-ride the ‘Tour of Cowichan Valley’ route. It is a cool start early in the morning so I recommend a full glove, arm/leg warmers. The beginning of the ride is the most challenging, hill wise. A couple of good climbs out of Crofton and then once again out of Cowichan. If you can hold off your breakfast coffee until Cowichan they have the best and I mean one of the best bakery’s around. True Grain. This route is a nice route covering the Cowichan Valley nicely. As the day warmed up the wind also picked up. I had a head wind all the way back from YouBou (I guess that is what a lot of people say on the last leg), but I really did. I did stop at all of the control destinations and pre warned them that BC Randonneurs may be visiting this coming Sunday. I spoke with personnel at the Best Western in Chemainus and she informed me that accommodation rates are 150/night including a continental breakfast but if there is a group of 2 or more, BC Randonneurs the rate will be $135.00. Your car will be safe in the Best Western parking lot during your adventure; they have a heads up that we will be organizing an event out of that location. The route had no construction and if your bike computer is up to snuff ~ the turns are all where they should be. One last thing is that due to the nature of the route most of the roads are secondary and there is little to no shoulder at times to ride on so we need to have our ‘spidey senses’ on. I found this much more enjoyable than battling the rushed, load traffic on major highways. See ya on da rode!

September 8, 2014