Victoria: A Three Year Old Pedaling the Bike Trails

Spring seemed to finally arrive to Vancouver just on the week before this trip, but alas on Saturday morning we woke up to rain. We contemplated what to do, not too excited about a whole day of riding in the rain. In the end we decided that it would be an important lesson for Neil, not to cancel the trip because of the rain…

Neil started riding his own pedal bike about a month and a half before this trip, and we wanted to see how far he’d be able to ride on his own. A few days earlier Gili bought a trail-gator, a pole that connects a child’s bike to an adult bike, so we figured that if Neil gets tired we’ll just connect it to Gili’s bike. The problem was that we never tried it out before the weekend, and once Neil got on his bike with the trail-gator he felt very uncomfortable and was sliding backwards so much that we couldn’t even leave our parking garage.

So  in the end we decided to leave the-trail gator at home, and try it out a different time in the city. Since it was raining the trailer seemed like a better option anyway. So we quickly reorganized our things, tied Neil’s bike to the trailer, made a quick stop at our favourite French bakery and off we went to the SkyTrain station.

On the SkyTrain there was another cyclist, actually a girl that we know from the VOC. We just managed to miss one bus to the ferry and we let her catch the next one, but there was another one a few minutes after that, so all of us made it in time to the ferry. Luckily it was a rainy day so there were no other cyclists at the bus stop.

On the ferry Neil rediscovered the Kids Zone, his favourite part of the ferry ride. It was still raining in Victoria and by the time we arrived Neil was ready for his nap and fell asleep in the trailer in no time, it was lucky that we brought it.

The Lochside Trail, which starts at the ferry terminal and takes one right into Victoria is one of the most fantastic bike trails in the area. After Neil woke up and we had a sheltered stop for a rest and snack Neil got on his bike and rode all the way to Victoria, about 13 km, or even a bit more. He didn’t mind the rain, or the distance, he was just very determined to keep going. When we arrived to Victoria we asked him to go into the trailer again, since from there the ride was more urban and not on a designated bike path the whole way. Neil however wanted to keep going, but in the end we managed to convince him to stop.

We found our way to the home of the very friendly family which hosted us through WarmShowers. The dad and the two kids, Henry and Lucy, greeted us and showed us around their yard and our room. Their yard had a very impressive wooden boat with a slide that the dad, Giles, built himself.

It was great to have two older kids around – after a yummy dinner they entertained Neil while we could have a nice adult conversation. Then it was time to hit the sack, we were all exhausted after a day of riding around 45km, most of it in the rain.

Luckily the next day was cloudy but with no rain. After breakfast we said goodbye to our host family, and before we left Neil checked out the fun slide a few more times. We stopped in downtown Victoria since it was just the end of a local 10 km race. In front of the parliament building there were a few bouncy castles and Neil had a blast going over and under and jumping on all of them. Then we ate at a below average Mexican eatery, we should really invest more time in checking culinary options in Victoria, because so far we haven’t found anything really good…

Then back on the trail and Neil was back on his bike. He got tired a bit earlier so we stopped at a school, where he played around in the playground for a bit and then into his trailer for his nap. Then we rode to the ferry terminal and arrived in time for the 5pm ferry, where of course we met our VOC friends again. 

Since there was a Sikh event in Victoria, the ferry was full of Indians and the Kids Zone was buzzing with kids. Then again, a bus and the SkyTrain back to Vancouver. We grabbed some ramen on Cambie and Broadway, all the while watching over our bikes since we didn’t bring a lock.

It was an awesome weekend that proved to us that we can now start doing more bike trips with Neil riding part of the way by himself. Now we just need to find bike trails that are as awesome as the Lochside and Galloping Goose trails, and we’ll be golden.