Cycle Therapy - Fall 2022

Capital Bike’s purpose is to get more people cycling more places more often in Greater Victoria by

• E ncouraging people of all ages and abilities to cycle more often

• Encouraging the constrction of safe, convenient, and comfortable cycling facilities

• Providing and improving cycling education

• Improving the legal climate for cyclists

• Raising the profile of cycling by holding events

• Working towards greater cooperation and safety among all road users

• Working with the broader community to advance all modes of active transportation

• Protecting the environment and improving public health through cycling

To contribute to Cycle Therapy, please email: admin@capitalbike.ca

Submissions are greatly encouraged. Still, we reserve the right to edit copy in the interest of clarity or where necessary. The views expressed in Cycle Therapy are not necessarily those of Capital Bike. All articles, photos, and graphics published in Cycle Therapy remain the intellectual property of the authors and artist s.

Visit us online: capitalbike.ca facebook.com/CapitalBikeCa instagram.com/CapitalBikeCa twitter.com/CapitalBikeCa

Editor: Sarah Faria

Layout and Design: Jennifer Longstaff

Distribution: Susanna Grimes and NomadEx Bike Cargo

Contributors: Corey Burger, Edward Pullman, Elise Cote, James Coates, Jordan Glowicki, Kathryn Lancashire, Kay Mulholland, Kaye Low, Michael Fisher, Peggy Frank, Sam Holland, Sarah Faria, Tony Webster, and Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan.

Capital Bike Board of Directors: Co-Chairs: Rebecca Freedman and Stephen McMurray

Treasurer: Steve McKay

Secretary: Niki Sutherland

Director: Corey Burger

Director: Emma Dayton

Director: Edward Pullman

Director: Kaye Lowe

Director: John Alexander

Director: Carling Helander

Director: Mark Milotay

Director: Lynda Bell

Director: Kemal Turnador

Director: Joan Stonehocker

Bookkeeper: Ray Powell

Printed by: Metropol

We are grateful to be able to cycle on the unceded Coast Salish Territories of the Lekwungen and WSÁNEC Nations.

Capital Bike is a proud member of the British Columbia Cycling Coalition.

On the cover: A family cycles on their cargo bike on a chilly autumn day. Photo credit: Dana Yu.

Message from the Board Chairs 1 Advocacy Update 2

2022 Sticker Challenge Sticks Out as a Highlight of The Summer 3 The Best Fall Rides (in my opinion) Victoria Has to Offer 4 Planning the Safest Cycling Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Try an E-Bike! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Fall Go By Bike Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 16

The Working Bicycles of Kathmandu . . . . . . . . 8–9 Grandmothers to Grandmothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Cycling Gets me Places that Seem Too Far to Drive . . . . . . . 10–11 Off to School: Me, You, and Our Longtail Too 11 Pet Peeves on the Goose 12 Fall and Winter Fun Rides 12–13

Light up your bike! 13 Introducing Capital Bike’s ‘The Locker’ 14–15 Can you Find? 17

Message from the Board Chairs W

elcome to our 2022 fall edition of Cycle Therapy. On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff at Capital Bike, we’d like to thank you for your interest and support of the work we do.

With the easing of restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, return to the office for many, the arrival (finally!) of summer weather, and the massive success of our spring Go By Bike Week, cycling in Greater Victoria is on the rise. Go By Bike Week spring 2022 saw a record number of 4,109 people visiting our celebration stations. Fall Go By Bike Week in October included more great celebration stations, prizes and incentives. As always: don’t forget to log your rides!

Since the spring, our board and staff have worked hard in bringing about programs and events to the community, many of them highlighted in our brandnew Capital Bike mobile app. We launched the City of Victoria’s downtown free bike valet, as well as operated our newly branded “The Locker” bike valet service at over 30 event days across the Capital Regional District. We are delivering the Everyone Rides Grade 4 and 5 school program at 11 elementary schools across the region this fall, and had 24 kids, adult, and e-bike skills courses on offer across July and August. We’ve teamed up with the City of Victoria for Community Rides, the CRD for Charge Your Ride E-Bike Training, and the Tour de Victoria to host their Kids Ride. Our All-Aboard Family Cycling program offered workshops on cycling with kids or cycling while pregnant, and also ran a successful ‘bike petting zoo’ for families to learn from other families that cycle with kids. We have hosted multiple family rolling dance party rides, with more social rides to come at Halloween and in December. Our wildly successful August sticker challenge saw 62 businesses participating, many offering additional incentives for visiting cyclists during the challenge.

Our advocacy update covers more, but it is an exciting time for biking in our region – lots of new bike lanes being built, new plans underway or completed and whole new generations being introduced to biking through the new infrastructure. And of course, during the recent 2022 municipal elections, we surveyed candidates about their views on biking, walking, transit, and more alongside our colleagues with other aligned groups in the region.

On September 30, we hosted our most meaningful ride of the year: the second Truth and Reconciliation ride. We were honoured to partner with Victoria Orange Shirt Day and members of the Songhees First Nation to put on an accessible family-friendly event that offered participants the opportunity to reflect on the impact of colonization and Residential Schools. We were pleased to connect this event with the wider Indigenous community to celebrate and highlight the Songhees Nation’s first National Truth and Reconciliation Day Powwow.

With the 2022 year nearing its close, we have seen multiple successes for not only Capital Bike, but the Capital Regional District in getting more people cycling more places more often. To our valued members, we would like to thank you for your support of our work. Our Board is dedicated to building and sustaining a diverse and inclusive membership in which we can foster a sense of community that aligns with our programming and advocacy. We encourage others to join us as member and/or make a donation to amplify the amazing work that Capital Bike carries out in and for our community.

Stephen McMurray and Rebecca Freedman Capital Bike Board Chairs

ADVOCACY UPDATE

Corey Burger, Board Member

As you read this, the 2022 municipal elections will be over. Our new councils will need to tackle a variety of competing crises over the next four years, including the not-small challenges of road safety and climate change. As we look to see what amazing new bikeways are likely to be built in the next four years, let’s look back at the past four to see just how much the region has changed, because – make no mistake – our region is wildly different for bicycling now than it was in 2018.

In concrete terms, pun intended, there is a lot more out there keeping us safe while riding our bikes: new lanes have opened on Fort St, Wharf St, and Government St in downtown Victoria, the Dallas Rd multi-use trail, the new parts of the E&N in Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, as well connecting the Goose to downtown Langford, Finnerty Rd in Saanich, and the Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail, to name just a few. Oak Bay also added new bike lanes on Cadboro Bay Rd. In total, somewhere near 50 km of new bikeways or trail have been built in the last 4 years. And encouragingly, almost 25% of new bike lanes built in the past four years have been protected, up from 10% between 2014 and 2017.

On our regional trails and the work to separate and light them continues slowly. The CRD has approved a plan to separate and light the trails from Selkirk Trestle all the way to McKenzie Ave on both the Lochside and Galloping Goose. They are also working on policies on when to separate or light other trails, such as the E&N, and policies on good detours, which Saanich recently showed us is possible with their detour on Quadra during work on the Lochside. All of these projects will be expensive, but we remain hopeful that senior

governments will be able to fund the whole project at once.

On paper, the world has shifted. In 2018, most municipal bike plans were old or nonexistent, with very few talking about All Ages and Abilities (AAA) bikeways. As we head into 2023, there are now completed or inprogress plans for most of the region – Esquimalt, View Royal, Colwood, Sooke, Central and North Saanich, and Sidney, with Saanich’s under review. And these plans are starting to bear fruit – Esquimalt and both Central and North Saanich have plans to build at least some bikeways every year. What do we have to look forward to in the next four years? A lot more building! Some of the biggest transformation is likely to come in places where not much AAA exists already. Expect to see large parts of protected bike lane in Colwood, and hopefully View Royal and Sidney too. Esquimalt has just tendered work on Tillicum Rd and Saanich’s quick builds such as on Tillicum Rd will showcase a new way to build faster.

Photos from top left: Corey Burger. photo credit: Kevan Wilkie; rebuilt Todd Creek trestle; Dallas Rd bike lane; UVic connector construction. Photo credits: Corey Burger.

2022 Sticker Challenge Sticks Out as A Highlight of The Summer

Jordan Glowicki, Event Manager

his summer Capital Bike put on another of the region’s biggest and free cycling events. Originating out of the COVID-era Go By Bike Week, the Sticker Challenge was a way to engage the community in a physically distanced way. What started as a one-off to help people stay active blew up and now it’s a standalone event. This year the two-week long event had over 60 organizations participating. For the first two weeks of August, participants found exploring by bike more rewarding than ever, led by the guiding principle that the more places you visit by bike and collect stickers from, the more prizes you can win!

“I ride my bicycle to commute to work daily and for chores, but the Sticker Challenge aptly challenged me to find out just how far I can go and what I can find,” said Tim Ford, winner of the Colour Master Prize Pack. “Acquainting cyclists and newbies alike with the pathway network and the many businesses connected to it via a scavenger hunt is a great way of fostering community and local interest.”

This year we featured an even bigger geographic reach with region-specific coloured stickers. Summer is the perfect time to plan a bigger bike ride so spreading the geographical range to include more of the Westshore communities and up the Saanich Peninsula gave participants more options for these bigger bike adventures. Organizations loved it because it brings new patrons to their doors, and riders loved it because they discover awesome places to visit, shop, and explore that they might not have otherwise discovered. Different regions, or zones, had different coloured stickers, giving participants the change to collect some of each colour. One participant, Kelsey van Dyke, toured zones with her boyfriend. “On Saturday we biked into town on the Lochside Trail,” she said. “We stopped for a drink at a brewery in Vic West, souped up my ride at a bike shop in North Park, and ate supper at a restaurant downtown before heading back. On Sunday we went further up the peninsula to Sidney.”

We are honoured to have partnered with so many awesome locations this year, and many offered additional incentives to visit their locations like free coffee, drop in passes, free mini golf, or other discounts. “The Sticker Challenge is such a fun reason to hop on your bike and explore new places in the capital region,” said Stacey Toews of Level Ground Coffee, who offered a free coffee to participants. “We love welcoming people into our tasting room and seeing the joy they get from a great drink, a great view from our patio, and a shiny new sticker.”

This year’s Sticker Challenge had over $2000 worth of prizes to be won including a roundtrip on the MV COHO for two people and two bikes, whale or bear watching, and multiple prize packs valued at over $125 each. “Capital Bike continues to host great events. Their latest community event... sparked the challenge of visiting all 62 locations, and allowed me to try some awesome new treats along the way,” said Nichola Kennell, the winner of the Selfie Challenge. “Keeping movement fun is a big part of why I love to be active, and Capital Bike really does a great job encompassing that in their events.”

Next summer we plan to make the challenge even bigger and more family friendly than this year. We hope you can join us along with hundreds of other folks next summer to collect those stickers!

Photos from left: a family shows off its sticker collection, photo credit: Felix Hay; the selfie-challenge winner, photo credit: Nichola Kennell; a selfie-challenge entrant, photo credit: Tyler Johnson

The Best Fall Rides (in my opinion) Victoria Has to Offer

Sarah Faria, Editor

As soon as September 1st hits, I get excited for crunchy leaves, crisp mornings, and an orange and yellow palette. My favourite time of year to ride is in autumn because of the views and temperature. Here are some of the best rides, in my opinion, that Greater Victoria has to offer:

1)

Go the Distance

Cycling in Sooke on the Goose couldn’t be more beautiful in September and October. For riders based in the Victoria area who aren’t keen on cycling the full round trip, Matheson Lake has a parking lot with washrooms and is a great starting point. East Sooke Road all the way out to the potholes is a challenge but the mixture of ocean views, forested road, and open sunny areas, culminating in a picnic lunch back at Matheson can’t be beat. For an even longer trip, head into Metchosin past farmland and fields for lunch at My-Chosen Café.

2) Arbutus Trees in Autumn

Queenswood combines my love of arbutus trees and looking at houses I’ll never be able to afford. Watch for acorns on the road as you zip along the rolling hills on this delightful loop. A snack afterwards from Peppers eaten in Cadboro Bay looking at the water is a perfect mid-way point to eat.

3)

The Height of Perfection

Munns Road is terrible and wonderful all at the same time. If you have the stamina or an e-assist, the route up from Burnside has beautiful views that make the leg-burning climb worth it. If I cycle this route in the summer I find myself immediately bathed in sweat, but in autumn on a crisp sunny day it’s the perfect temperature. The vistas near the top when the trees open up and you can see down into fields are perfect, and the exhilarating downhill ride on the other side doesn’t hurt either.

4) Sips of Cider

Sea Cider is a great destination ride and I’ve always found it to be very bike friendly. Head along the

Lochside Trail, exiting at Mt Netwon and turning right at Central Saanich before spinning down Mt. St. Michael Rd. The Lochside Trail is beautiful at any time of year, but there’s something about cider in the fall with charcuterie that’s sublime.

5) Colquitz Kilometers

Before last year I didn’t know about the Colquitz trail, but it’s amazing. Wide gravel paths alongside the creek and through Panama Flats are only made better by the number of options to stop and snack: The Gardens at HCP, Mosi, Junction Cidery, Red Barn and Hullabaloo are all on the route (or just a short ways off). Now that the Interurban Rail Trail is complete you can bypass West Saanich completely and stop to say hello to chickens and horses along the way.

Whatever your style of cycling or type of bike you ride, enjoy the best that Greater Victoria has to offer in the autumn.

Photos from left: A happy charcuterie snack, photo credit: Sarah Faria; the perfect pit stop on a fall day, photo credit: Graeme Wright, Hullaballoo; Sarah and friend stop at the Red Gate in Sooke, photo credit: Sarah Faria.

Planning the Safest Cycling Route

E d Pullman, Board Member

One of the m ost important components of safer cycling is choosing a safe route that will offer the most safety and comfort while reducing potential conflicts with motor vehicles. Routes that travel along streets with high quality cycling infrastructure, separated trails, or low traffic side streets (with safe crossings at intersections) are much more preferable to routes that lack these amenities.

However, discovering these safe routes can prove challenging. Cycling wayfinding (ex: the bicycle symbol you see on street signs all over Vancouver) is severely lacking in our region. Mapping tools such as Google Maps often show you the most direct route from point A to point B but don’t show you the route with fewest cars or the best cycling infrastructure. Here are some tips when planning a safe route for getting yourself around:

1. Don’t trust Google Maps: I’ve been a cycle commuter in Greater Victoria for 15 years and I’m continually shocked at the extremely poor route advice that is offered when I type two destinations into Google Maps. Nine times out of ten, it will provide me a route that takes me down a busy arterial with no bike lanes, crossing a busy road with no traffic signals to allow a safe crossing, or instructing me to make an uncontrolled left turn. Google will provide you with a direct route, but very rarely a safe route.

2. Prioritize right turns and minimize uncontrolled left turns: If you need to turn left, try to do so at a traffic light or with the use of a pedestrian controlled crossing.

3. Avoid travel during rush hour: This is easier said than done but if you can avoid riding during rush hour traffic (or commuting in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic), you will save yourself the headache of having to share the road when space is at the biggest premium. Morning rush hour tends to run from 7am-9am, while afternoon is 3pm-6pm.

4. Check out the CRD’s Cycling Map: The CRD has a cycling map (print and digital) that highlights commonly used cycling routes and classifies them based on the type of cycling facilities present on the road. It’s a great resource for finding cycling routes you might not be aware of; however, it’s not without its problems. It is missing many of the cycling routes in Saanich and doesn’t differentiate between busier shared streets like Beach Drive or Oak Bay Ave and traffic-calmed side streets like Haultain or Richardson. Check it out at: www.crd. bc.ca/service/commuting-cycling/bike-maps.

5. Ask for Help! Send us an email at info@ capitalbike.ca, get on Twitter with the hashtag #yyjbike or check out the Facebook group Family Cycling Victoria.

Photo: a cyclist signals a right turn at a stop sign, photo credit: John Holland.

Try an E-Bike!

James Coates, Bike Education Coordinator

This summer, as part of the CRD’s Charge Your Ride Initiative, Capital Bike helped people try e-bikes for the first time through a series of events and skills courses. At events in the Westshore, Sidney, and in Victoria we took groups of six on 30-minute e-bike test rides. Following the short test rides, we offered longer 2.5-hour skills courses that gave people the chance to try out bike handling even more and come for a longer guided road ride. Here’s the five most common things we heard:

1. Wow! I’m really going up this hill! The electric assist on e-bikes cuts out at 32km/hr so some event attendees with dreams of flying along at high speeds were initially a bit disappointed. Their disappointment was replaced by joy, however, when we took the bikes up several steep hills. People were so happy to be able to power up hills and reach the top while only breaking the tiniest of sweats. An e-bike’s ability to flatten out hills is one of its most attractive features in a city like Victoria. And of course, if you have the leg and lung power, you can still go faster than 32 kph if you wish.

2. It handles just like a regular bike! All the bikes we used were from Oak Bay Bicycle’s rental fleet. These use mid-drive electric assist systems with a motor placed at the bottom bracket and a battery mounted on the down tube. This set up gives the bike a very natural feel for riders, just like a regular bicycle but with a boost. The only difference is a bit of extra weight. This natural feeling helped riders who were leery of trying an e-bike for the first time feel safe and comfortable on our test rides.

3. What’s the range on this thing? Like with electric cars, which were also available to try out at Charge Your Ride, people were concerned with the range of the e-bikes. It was the most common concern among those interested in buying one; however, with general ranges between 70 and 150km (depending on level of assist, terrain, weight of cargo, etc.) the rider will often be the limiting factor in trip length, not the battery range.

4. Do I still have to pedal? Yes! On the e-bikes we were riding, the electric assist will only amplify your pedaling power. With no pedaling, there’s nothing to amplify. During the test rides I found that an especially high cadence riding up hills helped to keep the electric motor engaged. With more pedal movement, there was more assist. There are other types of e-bikes that are throttle-operated, making pedaling unnecessary.

5. I’m on my way to my local bike store right now to purchase an E-bike! Great idea! After a quick 30-minute spin on an e-bike, most of our attendees were keen to learn more and interested in purchasing their own.

Thanks to the CRD for organizing the Charge Your Ride program, and thanks to Oak Bay Bicycles for use of the e-bikes. We were pleased to support the mode shift away from motor vehicles to e-bikes and share their benefits with a diverse group of people.

Photos from top: a line of e-bikes; a group heads out on a test ride.

Photo credits: CRD. Participants gather for a 30-minute test ride.

Photo credit: Capital Bike.

Photos: Scenes of excitement at Fall Go By Bike Week. Photo credits: Kris Turnbull and Capital Bike. More bike week photos: page

The Working Bicycles of Kathmandu

Just prior to the pandemic, I was in the Chhetrapati neighbourhood of Kathmandu and noticed the rich and varied types of bicycle technology that exists there. Bicycles are used as taxis, fruit stands, and for delivery of large and small items. Streets in this old city pre-date the automobile, so bicycles are an excellent transportation option for its narrow winding passages.

All the photographs for this article were taken within 100 metres of Chhetrapati’s central square.



This bicycle ‘truck’ can carry big loads of materials to construction sites or sacks of grain and other foodstuffs to neighbourhood stores. The delivery seen in this photo was for two 50 kg sacks of pulses and several smaller sacks of other grains to a local store that specializes in pulses and rice.

 These bicycles wait to deliver goods from the shop behind.

This bicycle delivers milk  directly to homes along a route.

 The fruit market bicycles are ingeniously repurposed during the day. Vendors stack wire baskets on the bicycles and then cycle from their homes to the wholesale market to fill them with fruit. Once filled, the baskets hang all over the bicycles until they can no longer be pedaled and are used during the day as mobile fruit stands. The vendors push them from place to place until all the fruit is sold, at which point they can stack up the baskets and either pedal home or return to the market to use them again for more fruit.

 Bicycle taxis are ubiquitous throughout Asia, coming in many designs. This is the Nepali design, seen in use in urban and village settings throughout the country.

Grandmothers to Grandmothers

Kay Mulholland

very fall, a group of senior women can be spotted cycling on trails and roads around Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula. They wear colourful jerseys with Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign 4 Africa printed in bold letters on the back. These women are training for an annual fundraising ride from Campbell River to Victoria for African grandmothers and their families affected by HIV. The 275 km ride is accomplished over three days in September.

I’ve loved cycling for 70 years. It started when I received a bike for my birthday, and I still enjoy riding today. However, it wasn’t until 2017 when I moved to Victoria that I started to do some serious riding with the Victoria Grandmothers 4 Africa. For me, cycling is a good way to clear my head and to keep physically active, and even better, cycling with the VG4A riders for a very worthy cause is a huge bonus.

I was looking forward to the ride this year,

especially after a two-year hiatus of virtual cycling due to Covid. Unfortunately, In the spring I injured my back and couldn’t walk without excruciating pain. A doctor advised me to give up the ride and, having had two previous back surgeries, it seemed like wise advice; however, I could cycle without pain so I continued to ride short distances.

I greatly missed the social aspect of the group rides, and so after eight weeks of recuperation I was back riding with the grannies and looking forward to the Campbell River ride in September. The doctor agreed that I could do the ride but perhaps give up tennis in the meantime.

We had 30 cyclists starting out from Campbell River on September 9th this year, and three of us are 78 years old. Some of the younger riders tell us we are an inspiration. It is fun to brag about being 78!

Cycling Gets me Places that Seem Too Far to Drive

I remember when I discovered that cycling to Quadra and Mckenzie was faster than driving from my James Bay apartment. I couldn’t believe that I had done the trip in only 25 minutes, and safely on trails for the most part. Traffic and an abundance of red lights often make this a 30-minute drive from home, not including the time to find parking.

Today, I cycle up the hill to the Blenkinsop Connector: a hub where a north-south biking trail meets one that heads east. I will join friends from the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa cycle group. Today we are

photo credits: Terry Chalmers and Lauren Wilson headed past fields of ripening pumpkins to the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula. Last week we cycled to Metchosin. I would think twice before getting in my car and heading to either of these destinations, even though they are only 23 to 30 km away.

We pass several turkey vultures soaring overhead as we make our way past the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. As the Saltspring Island ferry pulls in, I recall another day when we headed from the city towards Brentwood

Peggy Frank

photo credits: Terry Chalmers and Lauren Wilson

Off to School: Me, You, and Our Longtail Too

Kaye Lowe, Board Member

In September 2017, the morning marine air is cool and prickly on my skin as I cycle my girls to school. I navigate off the shoulder onto the path by the University, the girls’ chatter becoming more distinct as we leave the traffic behind. They’re happy on this fifteen-minute ride to their elementary school; the back of my longtail offers an experience they can’t get in a car. They sit close together, my littlest in front with an oversize backpack on her chest, and my eldest with hers resting on the seat behind. Pedalling up front, I twist the throttle and the motor whirrs to life, pulling us up the hill. Nearing the school, I brace myself knowing we’ll enter the crowded roadway once again. Drivers are attempting to park everywhere as kids and parents spill out, rushing here and there. It’s mayhem! I guide us slowly through it all, cautiously turning left across the road. We glide to a stop on an asphalt ball court next to the school. Knots of parents gather to visit as kids line up for class in the bright morning sunshine. I straddle the bike while the kids jump off. We go through the brief routine of taking helmets off and adjusting packs as I reach to straighten dishevelled clothes and hair. I’m allowed a quick hug before they move to their places. I wave goodbye, noticing how this separation seems less jarring when I’m on the bike. They don’t argue at all on the journey either.

Cycling gets me places...

continued from p. 10

Bay and hopped on the small ferry that runs across the Saanich Inlet to Mill Bay. We climbed a few hills as we spun our way across the Cowichan Valley to the Crofton/Vesuvius ferry. On Saltspring Island, there was a delightful stop in an old friend’s garden. She and I had both been captured by the ability to do a few small things that made big changes in Africa. That day a group of about 20 women sipped homemade ginger beer and shared stories. With the reinforcement of friendship and food, the island’s hills were not impossibly steep, and a stream of colourful riders made me feel safer than riding those narrow roads alone. There is something magical about that combination of good food and camaraderie that makes cycling with the Grandmothers for Africa something I am immensely grateful for.

I’ve a busy day ahead so I say a quick hello to a few parents as I walk the bike to the road, contemplating my route home. I enjoy these moments riding alone too, the gap between the drop off and return home, or to my office, leaves me time to think.

Today, my children are older and get to school independently. Cycling still isn’t “cool” for them, but this way of life is very much a part of who they are. We’ve had our electric assist bike with a longtail extension since 2012 and it’s put in a lot of years hauling groceries, Christmas trees, boating gear, and, of course, my daughters. All these years later, it’s still going strong for me after a major refit and “docking” of the tail in 2021.

Campaign.

Peggy Frank rode from Campbell River to Victoria in early September, along with 26 other women. The Victoria Grandmother’s group is part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers

Pet Peeves on the Goose

A nonymous Author

I’ve been cycle commuting to school and work for about 40 years now and it’s fantastic to see more and more people bike commuting on our trails. As ridership increases however, I’ve seen some worrying trends emerge. Here are a select few etiquette requests to make sure everyone’s ride is safe and enjoyable.

1. Lights – as the summer recedes and our days get shorter the need for bike lights increases. Please make sure your headlight is angled down towards the ground a few feet ahead of you. If pointed straight ahead, they can be blinding to oncoming users, potentially causing an accident. Many lights have low, medium, and high output settings and in most cases the low setting is sufficient and, as a bonus, saves battery power. Additionally, please avoid using the flashing or strobe settings after sundown. This setting can be very disorientating for other trail users and can also promote epileptic seizures in those susceptible.

2. Speed - please maintain a reasonable speed, slowing down especially around bends or corners. Always assume there are other cyclists or pedestrians around blind spots and use your bell in advance. If you are a slower rider, make sure to stay to the right to allow others passing on your left.

3. Overtaking – give pedestrians and other cyclists plenty of space when passing and use your bell or clearly say “on your left” in advance. You’ll often get a wave or a “thanks” from those being overtaken. On narrow sections or when there’s oncoming traffic, please wait to overtake until it is safe to do so. You may lose some momentum, but will avoid a crash.

4. Paying attention – keep your head up, eyes forward, and use all your senses. Earbuds and headphones and checking your phone while riding means you may not be aware of your surroundings because your hearing is compromised and your reaction time will therefore be slower.

5. Riding two abreast – Where the trails are narrow and/or busy, please stick to riding single file. There is not enough room on some sections of our bike trails for riding two abreast.

If everyone heeded these points our trails would be much more relaxing and safe for everyone to use.

A

Fall and Winter Fun Rides

Fall Riding Traditions: Michael Fisher

Capital Bike tradition for many years has been to organize group costume rides for Halloween, formerly called Spooks and Spokes, and Christmas, now called the December Lights Ride. The rides always attract large numbers of riders of all ages, out to enjoy the fun and sights of the season. In this post COVID reawakening, it feels so good to be out and about again.

Part of the tradition is to immerse yourself in the joy of the season by decorating your bike or dressing up. One year a couple of enterprising riders wore dinosaur costumes while riding their bikes for Halloween. On the December ride one year, Greg, who is famous for his impressive decorations and costumes, transformed his bike into Santa’s reindeer sleigh. That was the year the rain gods decided to “bless” our ride, and we were envious of Greg’s plastic rooftop providing some shelter.

During the holidays there’s no better way to see the lights displayed on houses around our beautiful city, and lights flashing from over 100 bikes always bring oohs and aahs from neighbourhood kids who think a parade is passing their house. While drivers struggle to find parking on crowded streets, our cycle tours glide by in a glorious cacophony of laughter and light.

The rides are in the cooler and wetter months of the year, so dress warmly for maximum enjoyment. Riding in the dark when you are wet and cold is not fun! It gets dark early during each ride, so safety means wearing a helmet and having working front and back lights.

Each ride will be a maximum of 10-15 kms over 1-2 hours, so it is a sedate pace for even the most novice of cyclists. We hope to see you there!

Photo: A bicycle-turned-Santa’s-sleigh in December. Photo credit: Michael Fisher

Fall and Winter Fun Rides

Our neighbourhood loves Halloween. From the overthe-top decorations to the fireworks and driveway parties, neighbourhood culture is at its finest here on Halloween. Ever since we got a family cargo bike in 2019, we have included a bike in our celebrations. My kids love zooming around with me on our bike to look at creepy decorations and dressing up to join Capital Bike’s Costume Ride. On Halloween night last year, we decorated our electric cargo trike with sunflower stalks to go with my son’s scarecrow costume and used it to get around as a family of four. I find it hard to describe how an electric cargo bike has changed my life, but enjoying Halloween by bike is a good example. To be able to transport ourselves faster than walking but at a human scale rather than in an unwieldy, large, enclosed vehicle allows us to interact with the people and environment around us while seamlessly moving between play spaces and socializing back to roadways. All this while our silly antics and decorated bike bring joy to people around us.

For ride details check: capitalbike.ca/rides-events/ or the events calendar on the Capital Bike mobile app.

Of course, there is another side to all of this excitement and joy: dangerous road conditions and driving. Even on Halloween night, with tiny trick-or-treaters flitting from house to house, some people still drive too fast or don’t choose to leave their vehicles at home. We have to keep our eyes trained on our children at all times to ensure they will not be hit by passing drivers. With better infrastructure and more bikes (and fewer cars) Halloween by bike could be even better than it already is.

Photos from top: Elise pilots the family’s Halloween bike; A unicorn and a ghoul ride from house to house; Elise cycles their family through the neighbourhood. Photo credits: Elise Cote.

Halloween: Elise Cote

Introducing Capital Bike’s ‘The Locker:’

Eight months ago, I never would have expected The Locker, Capital Bike’s attended bicycle parking service, to be so successful. Before 2022, Capital Bike had never parked more than 400 bikes in a year. In the last year we’ve parked over 8000 bikes and have partnered with the City of Victoria to offer the region’s first permanent bike valet, as a pilot.

When I first applied for a co-op position at Capital Bike, I had never heard of a bike valet program. It seemed like a great idea, but how could we turn our tiny program into something that could serve dozens or even hundreds of events in a year? Would event organizers be willing to pay for it? I had infinitely more questions than answers.

The first things I tackled were the bones of the program: costing, data tracking, and a standard valet procedure. Working with our Bike Valet Coordinator, Lise Jensen, I studied our existing program and compared it to what other cycling organizations across the world are doing. I took the best of what I found, with the goal of developing a bike valet program that is truly world-class.

a Bike Valet Program

Sam Holland, Program Developer

As soon as we had a working structure and process that we were comfortable with, I started to reach out to events. I spent much of my time explaining how valet bicycle parking works to event organizers who had never heard of something like it before. Email after email and call after call seemed to be going nowhere, and I was getting very frustrated. Then we got our first event of the season: the TC10k running race in downtown Victoria. The North Quadra Community Day and the Selkirk Waterfront Festival quickly followed, and it grew from there. Before I knew it, I was fielding calls and emails from companies and events that I’d never heard of, asking for our service. For most of the summer, we had events every weekend. When our service wasn’t at events, we’d get complaints from the community!

Capital Bike finished the summer with a world-class, newly-branded bike valet program. We can park thousands of bikes at a single time, at multiple events. I’m truly proud of the work we did this year. Looking to the future, I hope you will see us all over the South Island, making it easier for more people to cycle to more places, more often.

Photos from left: A Locker user with key tag on their helmet, photo credit: Lise Jensen; The Locker at Rifflandia, photo credit: KZPhotography; The Locker at a Pacific FC game, photo credit: Harrison Mundschutz; Bike tags and claim tags. photo credit: Jay Wallace; The Locker at the Reconciliation Day Powwow, photo credit: Jay Wallace

Fall Go By Bike Week

photos continued from page 7

Capital Bike

Scenes of excitement at Fall Go By Bike Week. Photo credits: Kris Turnbull and Capital Bike. More bike week photos: page 7