Sooke camping
Wow... a total of 169 Km's... 2 days of all day bicycling... my legs hurt still. :P actually, so does my bum, damn bike seats are not very comfortable, let me tell you.
So we drove to the ferry on this side Saturday morning, parked in over night parking & took the 1.5 hour ferry on foot with out bikes to Vancouver Island. I with my mountain bike, James on his hybrid bike & Jay on his road bike. Good thing was it was super sunny & warm the whole weekend so that was nice.
So we get off the Ferry at 11am Saturday & go to Victoria to eat lunch, we hit Subway at 1:30ish for food & back on the road at 2. We get to the campgrounds without much incident, by 6:30pm, was fairly smooth ride but my body was really beginning to shut down the last 5kms. I was weak, I admit it, I wasn't really prepared for the long ride but I guess I made it. Jay's knees were giving out on him too so it wasn't just me. lol. only James was still doing good. hmm... nice to be young. fucker. lol. So, 84.5kms the first day.
We set up camp find out the camp site has no fresh water & no access to drinking water at all. We didn't really have much water left after the first phase, so we just filled up on the fresh water from the potholes. They said to boil it before drinking but we figures, it's moving water so it's fine. *cough* ya... ;P
Oh, oddly enough, as a side note to this, also camped there that night was the entire Womans UBC soccer team. haha... ya... was, entertaining to say the least. Get a bunch of 20 year old girls camping out... damn loud & giggly.
So we woke up early & headed out by 9:30am. We wanted to go sit by the potholes for a few hours & enjoy it before we took off. So we lounged on the rocks till 11am... then the trip back. Actually the trip back was way easier, bit more down hills... so the first 10km's flew by. then... tragedy, Jay hits a flat in his front tire. & we couldn't repair it since his tires are tubeless on his road bike. So we has to ask a few people that passed by for the nearest bike repair shop... ya so anyway... he rode on his rims for 30Km's to get to the bike shop to only have them tell him they can't fix it. & then someone at another shop told him that since it was tubeless, they could repair it but the glue that keeps the tire in the rim & the air in the tire, would need 24 hours to set so you couldn't ride it even if they fix it. So he took the bus back to the ferry. Leaving me & James to go the rest of the way back.
The way back, very smooth... well, except that I got a flat tire too but as luck would have it, James had a spare mountain bike tube on him, he's like a boy scout, always prepared...all in all a very fun trip. Changing my tire took maybe 10 minutes & we were off again. We get to the Ferry terminal about 15 minutes after Jay & his bus.... yes, the Bus system is just that slow. If we hadn't detoured in Victoria for 30 minutes while James went to his rental house to collect the change from the laundry machine, we would have been at the ferry before Jay. heh. go figure.
Anyway, we debark the ferry at 8:45, Lo & behold, James left the lights on in his van & we were stranded. His old VW Westfalia's battery compartment is behind this compartment, u need a Robertson head screw driver to get the cover off & we call BC Ferries to jump start us & no one... not one person there had a screw driver... don't they need them to repair the ferries & stuff? I mean come on. Ok fine, we call a tow service & tell them we need a jump & to make sure the driver has some tools to open the battery compartment. we were assured, every tow driver has a full set of tools. great. Fast forward 45 minutes... ya, 45 minutes waiting for the Tow truck... & he shows up & no.. he has no tools. WTF? how does he not have tools? this gets better & better.
So we tow the van to my place cause I have tools... I mean, so basic. & presto the thing starts up & those 2 drive home. lol. & this is now 11:45... 2 hours after landing at Tswassen ferry terminal. hehe, nuts I say.
Me, James & Jay about 10 KM's into the trip.
Berry picking... damn those were fresh & organic.
KM 55... need... rest...
The Potholes campgrounds
James & myself at the potholes... come crazy rock formations.
Jays flat tire, first of the trip, mine is about 50km's away still.
Pig balls... just because. Actually, I got my flat just in front of this bad boy.
Just when we thought we were home...
So we drove to the ferry on this side Saturday morning, parked in over night parking & took the 1.5 hour ferry on foot with out bikes to Vancouver Island. I with my mountain bike, James on his hybrid bike & Jay on his road bike. Good thing was it was super sunny & warm the whole weekend so that was nice.
So we get off the Ferry at 11am Saturday & go to Victoria to eat lunch, we hit Subway at 1:30ish for food & back on the road at 2. We get to the campgrounds without much incident, by 6:30pm, was fairly smooth ride but my body was really beginning to shut down the last 5kms. I was weak, I admit it, I wasn't really prepared for the long ride but I guess I made it. Jay's knees were giving out on him too so it wasn't just me. lol. only James was still doing good. hmm... nice to be young. fucker. lol. So, 84.5kms the first day.
We set up camp find out the camp site has no fresh water & no access to drinking water at all. We didn't really have much water left after the first phase, so we just filled up on the fresh water from the potholes. They said to boil it before drinking but we figures, it's moving water so it's fine. *cough* ya... ;P
Oh, oddly enough, as a side note to this, also camped there that night was the entire Womans UBC soccer team. haha... ya... was, entertaining to say the least. Get a bunch of 20 year old girls camping out... damn loud & giggly.
So we woke up early & headed out by 9:30am. We wanted to go sit by the potholes for a few hours & enjoy it before we took off. So we lounged on the rocks till 11am... then the trip back. Actually the trip back was way easier, bit more down hills... so the first 10km's flew by. then... tragedy, Jay hits a flat in his front tire. & we couldn't repair it since his tires are tubeless on his road bike. So we has to ask a few people that passed by for the nearest bike repair shop... ya so anyway... he rode on his rims for 30Km's to get to the bike shop to only have them tell him they can't fix it. & then someone at another shop told him that since it was tubeless, they could repair it but the glue that keeps the tire in the rim & the air in the tire, would need 24 hours to set so you couldn't ride it even if they fix it. So he took the bus back to the ferry. Leaving me & James to go the rest of the way back.
The way back, very smooth... well, except that I got a flat tire too but as luck would have it, James had a spare mountain bike tube on him, he's like a boy scout, always prepared...all in all a very fun trip. Changing my tire took maybe 10 minutes & we were off again. We get to the Ferry terminal about 15 minutes after Jay & his bus.... yes, the Bus system is just that slow. If we hadn't detoured in Victoria for 30 minutes while James went to his rental house to collect the change from the laundry machine, we would have been at the ferry before Jay. heh. go figure.
Anyway, we debark the ferry at 8:45, Lo & behold, James left the lights on in his van & we were stranded. His old VW Westfalia's battery compartment is behind this compartment, u need a Robertson head screw driver to get the cover off & we call BC Ferries to jump start us & no one... not one person there had a screw driver... don't they need them to repair the ferries & stuff? I mean come on. Ok fine, we call a tow service & tell them we need a jump & to make sure the driver has some tools to open the battery compartment. we were assured, every tow driver has a full set of tools. great. Fast forward 45 minutes... ya, 45 minutes waiting for the Tow truck... & he shows up & no.. he has no tools. WTF? how does he not have tools? this gets better & better.
So we tow the van to my place cause I have tools... I mean, so basic. & presto the thing starts up & those 2 drive home. lol. & this is now 11:45... 2 hours after landing at Tswassen ferry terminal. hehe, nuts I say.
Me, James & Jay about 10 KM's into the trip.
Berry picking... damn those were fresh & organic.
KM 55... need... rest...
The Potholes campgrounds
James & myself at the potholes... come crazy rock formations.
Jays flat tire, first of the trip, mine is about 50km's away still.
Pig balls... just because. Actually, I got my flat just in front of this bad boy.
Just when we thought we were home...