Mile Zero – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

My National Ride of Hope for cancer research begins from Victoria - the capital city of the province of British Columbia.  Located near the southern end of Vancouver Island, it is the western terminus of the 8,000 km long (5,000 mile) Trans-Canada Highway.  Fittingly, for the purposes of my trip, there is a Terry Fox Memorial adjacent to the Mile Zero sign at the start of the road.  All donations for my ride go directly to the Terry Fox Foundation.

Donate Here

I will be spending some time riding on the Trans-Canada Highway (it is the only option in some places), but will spend a significant portion of the trip on quieter roads, trails (including sections of the Trans-Canada Trail), and cycling paths.

I had beautiful weather and a beautiful city for the start of my cycling journey.  I spent much of the day making final tweaks and adjustments to the trike and trailer, and making some final purchases of items that I didn’t want to pack on the plane.  It was a rather late start by the time I got rolling so I only travelled about 30km today.

Victoria has lots of dedicated bike lanes and there were plenty of cyclists making use of them. I even saw a few trikes.  There are also a number of recreational paths that cyclists can use.  I used a section of the Galloping Goose Trail as I headed west out of the city.

The hills weren’t bad until I reached the Langford area and I began to have serious concerns about how much weight I am hauling.  Every touring cyclist knows that you have to pack light and learn to minimize.  That being said, I don’t have anything with me that isn’t going to get used.  I might have to make some compromises to shed some weight.  Anything up to a 5% grade was manageable.  Above that, it slowed me to a crawl.  Anything over a 10% grade, I treated like intervals.  Ride 40 or 50 metres, stop for a brief rest break, ride another 40 or 50 metres, etc.  It was very slow progress in those sections – slower than walking pace for sure.  I definitely miss my upright bike when climbing hills.  Even without standing on the pedals, I can generate more power and speed in an upright riding position than a recumbent one.  But things being as they are after my surgery, recumbent is my best option right now until things have healed better.

I pushed on through the evening until I was running out of daylight and then found a secluded spot to camp for the night.