Western Canada - Is The Galloping Goose Trail Worth It??
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leftcoast
08-10-09, 11:25 PM
Hi All
I'm going over to Victoria on the weekend to visit a friend and In would like to get in a good long ride on Saturday. People tell me to take the Goose however I am wondering if it's a good ride for someone who likes the open road with a few nice climbs? Any other suggestions for an 80 - 100K round trip??
The goose is a fairly nice ride, but not much in the way of climbs due to following an old rail-line. Trains didn't like climbing, so they took long, gentle climbs. But you can fit some climbs in.
There's an intersection at the highway under an overpass in Colwood. Get off there and onto the highway. You'll cross a bridge right after the 6 Mile pub, and then you have a solid 200ft climb. But the rest of the goose out towards Sooke is pretty level, except for a couple of very shot, but very steel hills that you need to go slow down on (ask my destroyed Surly how I know).
Or you could follow the B.C. Rando's 100k route that you can find on their site:
Route; http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Victoria-Populaire-100km
Site: http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/
Or I could try my hand at mapping a route though the quieter roads we have out here...which means forests and awesome views of course!
leftcoast
08-11-09, 11:06 PM
Thx. I'm going to take the trail in from Swartz to Langford and then head out to Sooke and maybe a little farther on Sat. I assume one can go past Sooke? BTW, I thought Surly's were Indestructible...
Jim
Yeah, you can go beyond Sooke, but not very far up the Goose. You can get up to the Potholes, but it is closed beyond that for construction on the water main (Though I did go up there anyways on my LHT with Kenda Karma 2.1s back in march...)
If you want to continue following the coast, you can just follow the highway through Sooke. Or you Could do a loop around Otter Point Rd, and follow the highway back (or keep going...)
Also:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=9412059&postcount=1400
Not so indestructible when you plow into a boulder.
leftcoast
08-11-09, 11:43 PM
O that was you. I saw that post awhile back. Your lucky to still be riding.