Although the date was September 1, 2015, the weather was more autumnal than late summer. There had been some heavy rain in recent days, evidence of which was the number of leaves and branches on many sections of the trail. The dust that we had been accustomed to over the past few months was well and truly under control after the rain. The forecast was for a 30% chance of rain, but the Peloton managed to dodge the showers.

This was the second week of the new invite and ride format - Norm T. had kindly organized the ride, although he was in Alaska. Thanks, Norm T. There were two starting points - Fol Epi and Hatley Gardens sharing a common starting time. That was the official version, but there were variations - Ken W. and Norm L rode from home, arriving at Hatley Gardens for the 9.30 departure. Those who had driven to the start point [James, Tom and Doug] encountered severe traffic on Highway One.

Doug led the Peloton at a good clip almost the whole way to Metchosin. The surface was firm, with one or two wet patches and the occasional hazard [branches, horse manure and an unusually large number of dogs off leash]. The biggest decision of the day was where to go for coffee. Given our numbers, The Broken Paddle was the venue of choice.

Over coffee, there was discussion of James' bike shed - despite assistance from many members of the wolf cub pack, there was still a problem of rain seeping in between the roof and a beam. One smart ass suggested asking a dentist for some extra filling to fix the problem. Perhaps there should be a special blog post on James' bike shed complete with a photo gallery???Despite the election being in full swing, it scarcely got a mention.

As the group was getting ready to leave, the "other" group was pulling in to My Chosen Café. Ken W. experienced a slow leak in his rear tyre, so opted to cycle up Happy Valley Road to the Outpost Bike store, frequented by Rusty and Cy among others. We discovered that it is faster to come up Happy Valley Road than to follow the Goose, unless Ken was going exceptionally fast, or got a lift from someone!!! Either that or the rest of us were cycling very slowly!

The only other incident of note was that a fly got stuck between Tom's scalp and his bike helmet.

The newly discovered bike rack for the Broken Paddle

The fly stop!

Rather than create another blog post, here is a link to two cycle related news items.

First from The Economist and the second from the CBC