Hugh Trenchard

Earlier in June the Province completed paving the road between Port Renfrew and Mesachie Lake, near Lake Cowichan. This established a completely paved circle from Victoria to Port Renfrew, to Lake Cowichan, Duncan, and then back to Victoria. Soon after hearing of the pavement completion, I’d resolved to ride the route, romanticising in my mind the concept of being able to ride to Port Renfrew and back to Victoria without retracing my course, experiencing a road not travelled before, and taking in a huge variety of scenery the entire way.

Reports, however, were conflicting about the quality of the pavement, and it was not clear how a road bike would fare on the new connector route. However, I’d received enough information to be sure that I was willing to risk my road bike on the route.

Today turned out to be ideal weather-wise for the journey, which, with a day off work, began about 6:15 this morning. At its peak, the temperature near Lake Cowichan/Duncan surely must have been near 30 degrees.

As it turned out, it was no problem at all for a road bike. In fact the first 11 or so km out of Port Renfrew are highway quality, as are the last 15k or so into Mesachie Lake. There are about 25 km or so of slightly rougher chip seal, but it really isn’t bad – basically like any secondary road anywhere. There are two very short stretches of gravel, maybe 10m long, if that, and only one little spot where there were about three potholes – that’s it! 100% roadbike rideable. The last 10k into Port Renfrew are worse for potholes, but still roadbike rideable, and there is currently much roadwork being done on that stretch of road.

The total distance is, I believe about 250km. I am estimating based on road signs and time, since I don’t have an odometer. Thinking of the route as clockwise out of Victoria, I’ve seen reference to it being 104km to Port Renfrew, then when you are on the bypass road to Lake Cowichan there is a sign that says 56km to Lake Cowichan and 88km to Duncan, both of which seemed pretty accurate based on other sign posts along the way and the amount of time it took. From Duncan there is a sign saying 61km to Victoria – you add it all up and it’s at least 250km – certainly one of my longest rides ever, if not the longest. The only possibly equally long or possibly slightly longer ride was a leg of a journey in France I’d made a few days after competing in the Zofingen Powerman in Switzerland in 2001, or thereabouts.

The Circle Route is stunning, with some fantastic lakes and streams all the way. Standing out in mind are vistas of the ocean out to Port Renfrew; the corkscrew climbs and descent into Port Renfrew, which I last rode during the now defunct Gary Lund Road Race several years ago; the glades along the first 11km of flat road heading out of Port Renfrew; the encroaching jungle-like vegetation along parts of the connector, reminding me of Costa Rica – if only there were the sounds of Howler monkeys; the clearest water in streams crossing the connector or running along side it; the ascending road upward along the connector and the gradual descent into Lake Mesachie.

My splits were roughly (give or take a few minutes) 2.5 hours to Jordan River; 4 hours to Port Renfrew; 6 hours to Lake Cowichan (a short stop there); 7 hours to Duncan, and a short stop there for a more substantial meal. Taking the main highway all the way in from Duncan, and not feeling too bad up the Malahat, I was home in about 9:45 (forgot to stop my watch for an accurate time)

All in all a fantastic ride, and having managed to keep more or less properly hydrated and fed, I didn’t bonk, and at this point in the evening actually feel quite good. A couple of hours after the ride, I made it through a Julias Caesar rehearsal, in which I have a small role, without any problem (albeit with a little assistance from Dr. Pepper).

I highly recommend the ride for anyone with the time and inclination. It is one of my most memorable and will certainly stand out in my mind forever. The key for the distance is to maintain a steady pace without pushing too hard on the hills and building lactic acid, eating and drinking plenty. It is interesting how time compresses when you are out for a long ride, especially if you mentally break your journey into segments, and this is easy on this route with such beautiful and varied scenery along the way. When it was over it truly didn’t feel much longer than some rides I’ve done at half the distance.

With that, a 4 hour ride yesterday (also taken off work) and some more riding yet on Saturday and Sunday, I hope recovery will be complete by Superweek – which begins with races in Delta next weekend.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.