Harbour Road Closure:
Harbour Road, the first link from downtown to The Galloping Goose, will be closed for approximately six weeks from July 6th., while the city of Victoria paves and rebuilds sidewalks to redefine the route. Plans include coloured bike lanes and other touches, to provide strong support for cyclists and walkers headed to and from the trail.
Rail and Trail:
It’s a slow train, but the E&N trail — planned for the railway line that connects downtown Victoria with points west — is a few steps closer to reality. Last month the Capital Regional District picked through reports on what sections of the trail to proceed with. The challenge of building a trail within an active rail corridor has pushed costs higher than original estimates. Coupled with bridges, rock cuts and links to other road projects, trail construction should begin soon, with completion dates uncertain. The initial project sequence will include a continuous trail 
through Esquimalt, near downtown Victoria, and provide sections in View Royal and Langford to link neighbourhoods with on- and off-road facilities. Completion of the trail and paving awaits assembly of additional funding. But, like the popular Galloping Goose and Lochside trails, expect new pieces of the capital’s cycling network to explode with use.
Here’s what’s planned (the trail is already in place in Nanaimo, 115 km north of Victoria). Once that trail is up and running, it will connect to the Trans Canada Trail, aiming to cross the Kinsol Trestle in the Cowichan Valley. Fundraising has begun to complete the project.
See what lies ahead of the trail at Bill Irvine’s Flickr pages:
Bikes and the Car Crowd:
The BC Automobile Association is now offering services to its members while they are biking. BCAA members can call in for flat tires or mechanical breakdowns (sorry, a sore butt or a soggy ride don’t qualify). The service call (expect to wait about half an hour) will be deducted from the member’s annual allotment of freebies. Seems like it was a service that paying customers wanted from their automobile association. BCAA has seen the future and was happy to oblige.
Find out more about “Bike Assist”
Here’s another service in Victoria, provided by BCAA.
Fort St. Cycle recycles:
This local Victoria bike shop is run by obsessive recyclers. Some of us have the bug. Waste nothing and tread lightly on the planet. Doug and Denise Grams, owners of the store, tell me they drop not much more than a teabag’s worth of trash into the can most days. From plastics to old bike tires, every bit of refuse has a re-use. BC Scrap-it Program
Pedalheads teaches bike skills:
It’s transportation summer school for kids aged 4-14. It’s a great way to get them ready for the big tour.
Considering all the requests I get for family friendly rides, it’s timely. Pedalheads
Pedal for the Planet is off to Ottawa:
Pedal for the Planet left Victoria on July 3 with plans to arrive in Ottawa in September. Follow their journey.
The ride is to raise awareness about climate change.
Another group of riders will be heading to Ottawa from Canada’s east coast. It’s a shorter ride, but at least those riding from Victoria should get some tailwinds!
Speaking of Ottawa, here’s one of their newest bike racks.
Bicycle Parking Online
A Capital Bike and Walk project, bicycle parking online, is still in development, but you can flip through pages illustrating best practices and look at a growing list of case studies that showcase some of the installations we have studied. Thanks again to Translink, the Metro Vancouver Transportation Authority, for sponsoring the project. Here’s a unique bike parking facility we helped to make happen:
Going Car Free:
Author Joel Crawford visited Victoria several years ago and liked what he saw. He continues to promote the virtues of car-free cities around the world. For an interesting read, visit Carfree
Walk: Taking over the street
Victoria’s Moss St. Paint-In takes over the street for most of the day on Saturday, July 18. It’s an annual Car-free works event that draws tens of thousands to the city’s Fairfield neighbourhood. Get our NEW walk map.
Killer Map:
Surprisingly enough, Dan Cammiade is still in one piece, given the miles (sorry that’s kilometers here) he’s logged on the knarliest mountain bike trails on Vancouver Island. He’s created a new mountain biking guide book that is a work of art and an essential source for anyone looking for the dirt on the Island. Lately, it’s the only new print guide for bikers of any sort. Well illustrated and full of key information on accessing trails, the highlight of the guide book is found in the richly coloured maps detailing trail clusters from Victoria to Port Hardy. Dan is planning to ride and map more of the Island now that he’s gotten through the first print run and has time for the bike again. Order yours. or Email
Blast from the Past:
How long has Victoria been the Cycling Capital of Canada? Well, officially only since 1997 or so. That’s when we made our declaration.
Locals, it seems, have long been discovering the Capital on two wheels. A University of Victoria bike map discovery is now online and presents some appealing routes to explore. The online map dates from 1897 and illustrates a Victoria vastly different from the modern city of today, but many of the routes and features live on. 1897 Map
You can order the modern map, too.
The Greater Victoria Cycling and Walking Map covers Victoria and the south island. It’s pure 21st century.
The first bicycle theatre event, at least that I have heard of: Victoria’s impresarios at Theatre Skam corralled local talent and put on a series of short plays, readings and musical performances along the Galloping Goose trail also thick with commuter cyclists. The hit of the series was undoubtedly the “Pine Beetles,” singing their ditty about the approaching menace of climate change. “Ladies and gentleman . . . the Pine Beetles”
Advice column:
Thanks John for sending me this so quickly. We, 5 women friends, are planning to get out to Vancouver Island by June 30th to bike and camp for a week. We hope that is possible. We often cycle here in the mountains, but we thought some different scenery would be great.
Denise
Note to file: We do have mountains on Vancouver Island but there’s lots more to see – beaches, farm country, the wine ride and more.
Here’s one of my favourite rides
Cycling + Walking Matters is sponsored by:
Lighthouse Breweries Found in pubs and restaurants across Vancouver Island and select locations on mainland BC. Also available in 6-pac cans in liquor stores, cold beer and wine stores.
Also sponsored by:
Cottage Pirouette Cyclist friendly accommodation near the heart of Victoria
And, many thanks to our sponsor Schwalbe Tires
Cycling and Walking Matters is written by John Luton.