Bicycling to the NWTR Victoria, BC

June & July - 2009

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Today we ate breakfast at the University Cafeteria, walked around campus waiting to see if the bicycle brake could be fixed. We finally heard from the bike shop in the middle of the afternoon that the Bike was ready to be picked up. So two bus rides later and about 2 block walk we got to the bike shop and rode the bicycle back to the dorm. Problem was we picked the wrong rode and want up a couple of hills that were not necessary to climb. It is good to have the bicycle working again.

We had a great supper on campus with our fiends. It was great to eat out doors and listen to Jazz.

All over the campus are lots and lots of Rabbits, all sizes and colors.

Today the North West Tandem Rally started with registration, and getting the route information. We decided to take a short ride to make sure the disk brake was working. Sure enough 6 miles into the ride the brakes want out again, the disk brake once again stripped the brake pad away from the backing. After contacting "our" local bike shop owner, he found another bike shop which had brake pads that would fit our bicycle. He gave Jim a ride downtown to the bike shop and then continued to his own bicycle shop. When this bicycle shop showed Jim the brake pads that they thought fit our bicycle, Jim knew that they were the wrong bicycle brake pads. Jim then walked a half mile to the first bicycle shop where the owner again got on the telephone and found another set of bicycle disk brake pads that would fit our bicycle. He then gave Jim a second ride to this new bicycle shop near downtown Victoria where Jim purchased two sets of brake pads. He then took Jim back to his shop where Jim used the bus transit system to get back to the University of Victoria, all in all about 3 hour process. Jim got to the dorm just in time to eat supper and then we put the new brake pads on the bicycle. We are ready to try to ride tomorrow.

Today was the mass start of the North West Tandem Rally (NWTR) We don't know how many bicycles were signed up but most thought around 600 bicycles. As we pushed the bicycle to start we noticed a clicking sound which meant the brake needed to be shimmed. We talked to the mechanic and he said he would bring a shim out the next day so we could fix the bicycle.

Here we are with our friends getting ready to ride.

After a short speech we were ready to start the first 5 miles was a log jam, with bicycles filling the road, fortunately we had people blocking the road so we could get through the intersections and out on the road. It was a great ride with good food and friends at the rest stops. A total different kind of bicycle ride when you always have bicycles in front of you, stopping or doing stuff you do not expect.

6:00 found is back in the cafeteria for a social hour before the banquet. Was the room ever noisy everyone had to shout to talk to the person next to them, and when the banquet speaker started you could not hear what he had to say. The food was good, but the sound was terrible. The room was also very hot, about half the crowd left before the program was over.

We started riding with the knowledge that the bike mechanic had not remembered to bring out the shim we needed to fix our bicycle. At the first rest stop a couple of other bicycles needed major repairs so they decided to haul our bicycle into the shop to fix the brake. We rode into the bicycle shop in one of the sag autos. It was Jim's third trip to this shop, but this time in about 10 minutes they had our bicycle working so we decided to continue the ride by heading back to the University of Victoria via the planned route. The bad news was we were so far ahead of everyone that we missed the lunch stop and the only rest stop we passed did not have the food delivered yet. As we passed the Empress Hotel we could hear the Blue Danube playing on the speaker and we stopped and watched the water ferries dancing in the bay, a wonderful sight.

We then proceeded back to the University via the bay.

The good news is we returned to the dorm early and we were able to use the washer and dryer and we now have clean clothes, a working bicycle for the ride back to Pasco.

For supper we walked down the hill for the final social event of the NWTR, but after looking at the food choices, we decided to share our last meal at a local pub. Once again we had a good supper and a walk up the hill to the dorm. By the way it is very hard to sleep in the dorm, when you are not used to listening to everyone getting up all night and flushing a noisy toilet.