The Early Bird route this year will be a variation of the "All But Three" brevet route of years past.  If you have ridden this route before, you will notice that the track, this year has even less traffic!  After starting in Saanichton, the rider will head to Lochside Trail and turn south following a traditional route to the Victoria waterfront. The first control is in the bus loop at Dallas Rd and Niagara St. 

The first change comes after this, as you turn right onto bike-friendly Humbolt Street, right onto Vancouver and then left on Rockland in order to miss the confusing array of bike lanes on the left and right hand sides of Fort Street.  You join Fort Street  from Linden, beyond all of the messy bit! 

The second change in route occurs in North Saanich as you are heading south on Chalet Rd.  The road is currently closed beyond Tatlow Rd. because the November 'atmospheric river"  decided to divert the creek in many ways, making the bridge crossing unsafe.

Instead of going into the Esquimalt Lagoon, your journey in this community will take you through Private Married Quarters (PMQ's) at Belmont and into the grounds of Hatley Castle.  You remain on pavement as you head up Serpentine eventually coming out through a gate onto Wishart Rd.  A right onto Happy Valley Rd, a left onto the "Goose", left onto Veteran's Memorial Pkwy and you then you are on the new section of the E&N Bike Trail.

The addition of the Sax Point control is new. The route after this until you get to the 'Goose' is also changed to take out a few confusing turns.

Lastly, the route used to go up Oldfield Rd in Central Saanich. It has become far to busy in later afternoons. You will cycle up West Saanich Rd instead before turning right on Stelly's X Rd  and then heading to loop the airport on the trail.  Then is is a short jaunt back to the start where you will be greeted royally by Dave.

Pre-Ride Report

We had a pretty good day for our pre-ride with the threatened precipitation holding off and mild temperatures. Registrations close at 7am on Saturday morning. It isn't to late to sign up!

Here are a few specific things to watch for.                                               

 The roads were in generally good shape for the ride.

• Watch for a steel plate and construction for about 50 meters immediately after the first control

• Coming into Brentwood Bay up the hill at about the 100 km mark, there are a lot of glass shards on the shoulder. This is normal for this area!
• There are roadworks on West Saanich and Prospect Lake Rd which is at 109km. Hopefully the crews don’t work on weekends.
• At the intersection of West Saanich and Interurban, there is debris between the bollards on the fog line and edge of the pavement.  The riders will pass through bollards here at 111km southbound turning left and at 167km straight through on West Saanich Road. Even with no debris, the bollards can be a surprise as you are approaching them at speed in either direction!
• There is detour on the Galloping Goose Trail heading west at Talcott Road (121.4 km). It is well signed, marked on our route sheet and also changed in the RwGPS data.
• Exercise caution on Latoria Rd where the bike lanes come and go. Where they exist, they can be full of debris because of construction.
• Coming out of Saxe Point Park and turning left on Bewdley (152.1km), the street sign is at opposite side of the road, hard to spot!
• Debris on shoulder from Pat Bay to Brentwood
• The water is still shut off at the Capitol Regional District water locations as well as the one at the Lost Airmen of the Empire Control.There is a short stretch on the Pat Bay Highway at 77.8 km. if you prefer to take the bike path that parallels the highway the deviation will be accepted.
• The same applies for the route around the airport starting at 186 km. Take the path or the road according to traffic on both and what you feel comfortable with.

See you on Sunday