Back again from Victoria

Well, I wasn't sure when we started but we made it! Ralf drove Dad, Annie and I to Tsawwassen where we caught the 9:00 am ferry to Victoria on June 30th. There were lots of bikes on the ferry and the group of us headed out on the Galloping Goose Trail. The weekend heat wave had passed (thank goodness) so we traveled with an overcast sky during the morning. We got to Victoria around 1:00 pm and had lunch. After walking around a bit we headed towards Sooke on the second half of the trail. The trail was much hillier on the second half - Annie and I laughed out loud a few times when we went down a steep hill; laughing over the 'dread' of climbing the hill on the return trip. Dad stayed out front the whole time - finally slowing and announcing he needed some gatorade or something salty to eat. We sat down with him, a bit sympathetic, thinking he was finally showing his age. He drank a bottle of gatorade, downed a handful of pretzels and climbed on his bike. It was the last time we got within 100 metres of him!! The trail was lovely and ran along several coves, with a tree canopy overhead and arbutus trees along the sides. At one point after a particularly steep hill we checked over the side to make sure Dad wasn't at the bottom. We still hadn't seen him. Annie set out to find him and they both passed our B & B. I waited 10 minutes for their return. The Goose Trail B & B was lovely. All we could hope and we ate at the Fuse Restaurant a few minutes walk down the road. We got there around 6:30 pm. Following dinner and a hot tub soak we headed for a good night's sleep. The trip home was uneventful until Dad's competitive gene kicked in again; a couple of ladies were ahead of him and he had to speed up and pass them. Victorious, he sailed past them and headed right down the hill. Unfortunately the path was straight ahead. ...... I tried to call but he had his headphones on - the last I saw of him he was hurtling down a set of hills. Annie agreed to go after him while I stayed on the trail. Thirty minutes later I was thinking we would have a problem when I saw Dad and Annie come into view at the bottom of the hill. Apologetic Dad promised he wouldn't let it happen again and we started off. I spotted another couple up ahead on the trail...surely he wouldn't...why what is he doing?...and Dad was off again. After the usual speech about not racing people, taking time to enjoy the sights - had he not learned? Apparently not. Annie and I decided it was better than t.v. He sailed out of sight. We finally caught up to him and he described in detail how the man didn't mind being passed but the lady rider would not give up. Dad flew past them; jumped off his bike, doffed his hat and stated "50 pounds in the panniers, 72 years old - not too bad!" earning a laugh from the couple. We tried but Dad simply wouldn't believe us when we told him they weren't trying to race! We continued on enjoying the beautiful scenery and thanks to Dad's racing we arrived in time for the 3:00 ferry. We jumped aboard and on the other side had to make a decision where to meet Ralf as he was not coming to pick us up until 6:00 pm!! So we climbed back on the bike (it did make Annie and I yelp - no lie - due to a severe case of biker butt) but made it to Petra's in Tsawwassen. We sat with our feet up waiting for Ralf - converting Dad's odometer reading of 170 km into 105 miles. Not too shabby, eh?? Til next time