First Kilometers: Victoria to Esquimalt

Symbolic start: back wheel starts the journey made wet from the salt water of the Pacific Ocean

October 15, 2013

A thousand mile journey begins with a single step, or in this case, with one revolution of the bike’s wheels. A completed journey ties the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. After taking a tour of Victoria by bus, it was around 2:30 and time to actually start the bike journey, if indeed I was going to do this. Actually it was a pain to roll/carry the bike down to the water. There was a steep embankment, and this was just a symbolic tradition, and pointless unless the ride spans the entire nation. That would be a far more ambitious goal, possibly in the future. The current goal was more Forrest Gumpian: I would ride until I got tired of riding. Then I would stop. Just a tiny start would be all that could be accomplished in 2013. 6 days later I would be attending an actuarial conference in San Diego. For now this was a one year commitment. If I enjoyed it enough, I will come back and continue.

So with no fanfare at all, thank goodness because I would have been uncomfortable explaining the beginning of a ride with no real ending point, I lugged the bike back up to street level and proceeded to follow my guidebook entry for Km Zero: “The TCT runs west along Dallas Road and follows the shoreline into downtown Victoria”. You should be saying, “Wait a minute! You should be going East, the Pacific Ocean is to the West.” So two points right away; the trail is not always a bike path. It’s roads and highways and bike paths, ATV trails, mountain hiking trails. It’s continuous, but not always trail-like. And it is not a direct route. I’ll have more to say about that later. So at Km Zero, the ocean is southerly, and to follow the shoreline to downtown, the initial direction is West.

So time for a little geography. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, which Canadians always say BC, just like Americans say Washington DC. Victoria is situated on Vancouver Island, the largest island on the Pacific Coast of North America. There are around 300k residents in Victoria. By contrast the city of Vancouver is actually on the mainland and six times the population of Victoria. We will visit the city of Vancouver later, but not this year. Stay tuned for future attractions. Downtown Victoria is very “British”, the influence of the homeland, perhaps more clearly evident here, than any other place in Canada. Horse drawn carriages and double-decker buses lend an Old-World charm. English pubs cater to the over three million visitors welcomed by Victoria every year. Victoria is Canada’s 14th largest metropolitan area, and as of 2013, around 200 Kms of bike trails criss cross the Capital region. Undoubtedly many more now. Over 7,000 Victorians use their bikes daily for transportation. Six percent of Victorians commute to work by bike, the highest ratio of any place in Canada. I could live here!j

The Trans Canada Trail winds on a route through the downtown area, sometimes on bike paths, and other times on streets with good bike lanes. It’s not always easy to follow the exact route of the TCT; often times there is no signage to indicate which direction to take. But I find that if I just keep riding in generally the correct direction, I usually find my way back to the TCT. Some of the stand out sights in downtown are the BC Parliament Buildings, and the luxurious Empress Hotel. Eventually I found that I was leaving the downtown area behind and riding in a more suburban setting. At this point, I found the Galloping Goose Trail. This is the first actual trail of the western TCT. The trail is named for the nickname of the train that used to travel this route before they tore up the tracks. It’s beautiful trail, new and smooth, and on the sunshine filled autumn day, it was very scenic with fall color. A couple photos appear below.

The Galloping Goose Trail is representative of some of the very best segments of the TCT. Perhaps what people first envision as they think about a bike trail that spans Canada. My biking day ends at the 21 Km point of the TCT, a distance of just 13 miles. I made a few wrong turns and did some sight seeing. My purpose is not to ride fast or far; rather to experience Canada. I finish the day at Esquimalt.

Finally a word about distances. This is not the USA! All road signs give distances in kilometers, not miles. And so I shall in this blog. Km distances are more impressive anyway. For mathematical readers who would like to relate mileages, a couple tricks. 100 kilometers is about 62 miles. Canadian open highway speed limits are usually around 100 Kms per hour. A 100 Km ride is a significant distance for one day, especially on a loaded touring bike. However I prefer to use a 5 to 8 ratio, easier I think. For miles to Kim’s, multiply by 8/5. For kilometers to mile, multiply by 5/8. The distance of the TCT across Canada is around 8000 Kms. I’ll let you figure out how many miles that is.

Ciao. Time to get some sleep in the first of who knows how many hotels?

Distance: 21 Km