I Did It – Rode to Sooke

Almost ten years living out here, and I finally did it: I rode from downtown to Sooke..

I figured I could do it. I have a “long” cycling route that I do occasionally which is 36 km, and I thought the distance from downtown to Sooke was 38 km. Turns out it was 41 km. So 5 km longer than my “long” ride. I was lucky, and the weather was nice. My biggest complaint was that since it was a spur of the moment thing, I had my backpack instead of panniers (saddlebags) to carry my stuff. Having about 16 pounds of stuff on your shoulders really makes a difference. My shoulders started to ache when I was only about halfway home. My sit bones started up around the 30 km mark. I was pretty much exhausted by the time I got home.

So what spurred it on? I was going into the office today, and I wasn’t happy that I would miss out on my regular rides. I started thinking about doing something that I have done in the past: taking my bike on the bus to about the hospital, then getting off and riding downtown, and then reversing it in the evening. But the evening isn’t fun, because I have to wait (probably in the rain) in Colwood for a 61 bus to come by, and there’s a pretty good chance the two bike rack spaces would be full. That then led to the A-HA! moment when I considered the possibility of riding all the way home. So I rushed around this morning and got everything ready.

I would definitely get some pannier bags before I do that again. My shoulders are killing me.