Saturday April 8, 2006
My long awaited vacation week is finally here.
Unfortunately my time is not all my own. I made a commitment to a company to help with their inventory before I realized the date fell on my vacation week. Last Christmas I was given a ticket to the Queen with Paul Rodgers concert that coincidentally also happened to fall during my vacation week. So, I put on my thinking cap to figure out how to make my week off feel like a vacation despite the obligations.
I made a posting on a local forum for the Victoria chapter of my riding club. I asked if there was going to be a group ride on Saturday the 8th could I please join them. I explained that I had to come to Victoria to work an inventory on the Sunday, but that I would come over a day early and stay over so I could ride with them. They responded most positively. They said they usually ride on Sunday, but that they would make it Saturday instead that week.
I also generated some interest from the mainland gang, too, because on travel day, there were actually 4 of us that went over. Dr_bar, “Jake” and Gary decided to come with me.
The night before, I went out to the garage and gave my bike a wash and polish. It has to make a good impression after all. It’s going to be in some pretty impressive company. I also attached my blue crate so I could save time in the morning. Once satisfied that my bike was indeed ready for the morning, I went inside and packed my bag for my few days away.
“Jake” emailed to inform me that his bike was washed and polished and ready to go. I emailed back to ask if washed and polished and ready to go also meant it was full of fuel, too. He said it was. I said, “Great”, I’ll see you at 7:35ish tomorrow morning. I was going to leave home about 7:20 and pick him up on the way. When dr_bar arrived (right on time), we left my place to meet up with “Jake. Dr_bar wasn’t exactly sure of the Skytrain station where we were to meet, so I led the way.
There was very little traffic due to the early hour. We were sitting at a red light on Imperial each in dominant position in our own lane. When the light turned green, the car that had been behind dr_bar, suddenly passed him on his right in his lane.
I could tell by the look on dr_bar’s face that he was supremely P.Oed. And rightly so. The guy in the car was an idiot. No, not just an idiot. A dangerous idiot. It’s a good thing I was there. If dr_bar had been riding alone, he would have gone after the guy and possibly kicked his door in. I know my presence made him hold back. The guy in the car then changed lanes into my lane but since I was going to turn right at the next light, I changed lanes and was able to pull up beside the idiot at the red light. He did not even look around him. He looked like he was zoned out. I made my right turn with dr_bar following shortly after.
When we arrived at the Skytrain, “Jake” was waiting. I guess he wanted to make sure he wasn’t late again. We had a couple of minutes to chat and then we were on our way. Rather I should say, that the two guys were chatting when I said, “We need to get going. The ferry won’t wait for us.”
We got into formation with me in the lead, “Jake” following and dr_bar taking the tail. Having dr_bar behind me sure does feel comfortable because he is so competent on his bike.
The ride to the ferry was easy. When we got to the tunnel the traffic was zipping along nicely.
Beep, beep, revvvvvv.revvvv,beep, revvvvvv. Beep, ro-o-oa-a-a-r-r-r-r, …….boys and their toys….
the noise is intensified inside the tunnel and it seemed like the two of them were trying to outdo each other in the “racket” department.
The turnoff for Tsawassen is not far from exiting the tunnel. Once you have made you turn onto #17, it is quite a straight run until the ferry terminal. If you keep your eyes open and moving all the time, you may even see an owl or a hawk perched on a fencepost along the way.
We made it to the ferry with plenty of time to spare. After paying for our passage, we rode via an empty lane all the way to the front of the lineup. I was surprised to see a bike already there ahead of us because it was still so early. We turned off our engines and “Jake” said he was surprised at how much it coast for the bike and rider on the ferry. I replied that if you want to play, you have to pay.
He just laughed and said yeah, it’s just that he hadn’t been on a ferry for quite some time and hadn’t realized how much the costs had gone up. Gary's arrival was signaled by his noisy Harley, followed by a young man on his Sport bike. While we were standing around talking, the rider of the early bird bike arrived. I said good morning and although he responded in kind, I sensed an attitude of superiority about him. I noticed he had wires hanging from his gear and so I asked him if he was wearing heated gloves. He had heated everything. Dr_bar had on his heated vest that morning but had unplugged it due to the fact that it wasn’t very cold out. The two men then were comparing notes about their heated gear.
The ferry finally arrived and the process of unloading began. Some of the trucks that came off the ferry were chicken trucks. Woooweee! They did not smell good. I pity the poor deck hand that had to be down on the truck deck with those things. The guy with the superior attitude then started to tell a story. He recalled a time when he and a friend were riding along some highway when an animal transport truck went by them. He said that since the animals getting transported were probably very afraid, there was a lot of natural body functions (my words, not his. His words were much more graphic) happening. As the truck went by, they got the full spray and splat treatment of the animals’ waste byproducts. Better he than me.
The ferry was finally empty and we got to load without further ado. After parking and chocking our bikes we headed upstairs for breakfast. A lot of people like to complain about ferry food, but it’s really not bad. Given that they need to have a lot of food ready fast, they do quite a good job. We spent the hour and a half eating and talking (or in “Jake’s” case, smoking outside) before we went back down to the car decks. After docking, some cars have to get off the ferry first to allow room for the bikes to get off. It’s really quite quick for the few cars to go before we are allowed to go, but Mr. Superior Attitude just could not wait. While there were still a few cars to go, he just throttled up and inserted himself in the line of cars and left. The deck hands were caught by surprise and tried to stop him, but he just kept going.
I had him pegged right.
After a few more cars were off, we were allowed to leave. Gary knew the meeting place so we followed him off the ferry and along the highway to the pullout where we were to meet. What a great sight. There were seven other bikes and 9 riders waiting for us. We all dismounted and made the rounds of introductions. Gary knew most of the people, but this was the first time I had met any of these people in person. They had a route planned so we all got back on our bikes and headed towards Sooke via some nice back roads and eventually on to the Sooke Highway. Now that is a nice road to ride.
....well, on a dry day, that is.
We stopped in Colwood at their favourite Tim Hortons so that we could meet up with another rider. That was great, because I happened to have a “Rolled Rim” for a free coffee. Pam, however, had other ideas. She went on her bike down the road to Starbuck’s and came back some time later with her Starbucks coffee cup in her teeth. Personally, I think she better get a cup holder for her bike.
The other rider finally arrived and we were able to get going again. The next stop was to be in Sooke at a place called Mulligans where we would be having lunch.
While we were at lunch, Rob said he would like it if we could all go to his place to sing “Happy Birthday” to his wife who was home with their kids and about a half dozen other neighbourhood kids. We all agreed to do it, but I said let’s take it one step further. “Why not pick up a birthday cake for her and put a candle in it so you can present her with a birthday cake while we sing?”
Rob liked that idea, but then he said he didn’t know how he would transport it.
Well, remember my blue crate? It happens to be just the right size to transport a cake box. So, after lunch, rob led us to the local big supermarket where he went in to get a cake. I transferred my bag from my crate to dr_bar’s bike with the help of my cargo net. We only to had a ride short distance with the extra gear stashed to his back seat. Rob finally came out with the cake and it was gently placed in my crate. We then rode over to his house where I simply carried the box and took it into the garage. His wife had no idea. Rob then lit the candle and we all sang as he presented the cake to her. You should have seen the smile on her face. It was worth the $23.00 he paid for that cake. I told him he scored big brownie points that day. His wife cut up the cake a passed pieces all around including all the kids. They were thrilled to be part of the fun and get chocolate cake. Well, actually, I suspect they liked the cake part and couldn’t have cared about why we were there.
Soon, it was time to go. Those of us that were carrying on got prepared for riding again. Another local was going to lead us back into Victoria.
Darn it! It started to rain. Now I have a fair amount of rain riding experience, but was unable to keep their pace. Once we got back on the winding highway, I slowed down to 60kmh, which incidentally is the posted speed. However, the leader of the pack was motoring at close to 100kmh. I didn’t care if I lost the group. I was not about to ride above my skill level, and potentially lose control on a slippery highway. Dr_bar and another rider stayed behind me. They informed me later that they were happy to be riding slower as well. (Dr_bar needs new tires…..) I think they got stopped at a light somewhere or they had pulled over finally to wait…it doesn’t matter which….we finally caught up with them. Some more riders went their way home which left Pam to show us back to someplace so we could get a hot drink. As a leader she was no better. At one point, dr_bar got stopped by a red light, so I pulled over to wait for him. “Jake” had noticed that we were stopped and started beeping his horn to get Pam’s attention. She finally pulled over and waited for us to catch up. By the time we got to where she was taking us, (yet another Starbuck’s) I was ready to call it a day. We finished our hot drinks and headed as a group to the harbour. “Jake” was meeting a buddy of his there and Pam and Gary were going in to have a drink and listen to some jazz singer. Dr_bar and I said our good byes at that point. I led us out of town to find a hotel that had some covered parking. My plan was to head back to Sidney, but it was raining so hard at that point (and dr_bar was not wearing rain pants) that I pulled off the highway when I spotted a new hotel that thankfully had undercover parking.
Luckily for us they had 2 non-smoking rooms left. After checking in we took our gear to our respective rooms. By now dr_bar was starting to shiver and needed to go have a hot shower to warm up. I had been dressed for the weather so I felt fine. I hung up all my wet gear and tried to make myself more presentable. A quick wash of the front of my hair and “Viola”,no more helmet hair.
We went to the lounge in the hotel for a snack and a wine. The hockey game was on and judging by the mood of the crowd, our team was doing it’s usual show of playing poorly. I had to call it a night. After getting up so early, riding all day, and now the lateness of the hour, I was ready to go upstairs and crawl into a nice comfy bed. After all, I did have to work the next day. So I said good night and told him I would call him in the morning to meet for breakfast.
The room was facing the highway so I put in my custom earplugs to block out traffic noise and promptly fell asleep.
Except for the small period of time on the twisty wet highway when the group was going too fast, the rest of the day had been exceptional.
Pacific had called and said my jacket had come in. I was off work a bit early so I said to my friends that I had an errand to do, but that I should be able to make it back in time to join them. 
Although, unlike some bikers who flew up the paved shoulders back in the gridlocked traffic, and then cut in and crossed the painted grid, I chose to stay legal.
I just kept my elbows loose and rode that thing up and down the gulleys and ruts like I was born to it. Bumpety bump. Oops. I got tossed off my saddle but I let my knees bend and my elbows bend so that I stayed on my bike and upright. I had to stop a couple of time because the mulch was so soft and deep that my bike bogged down. I gave a little more throttle to get going and finally bounced my way out to the road. 
