Central Saanich residents hoping to gain bike skills and learn routes for cycling in their community can join guided bike tours put on by Capital Bike.
The district has partnered with the cycling advocacy group to organize six guided rides through the municipality.
“We’re hoping that people learn about new routes as well as gain some on-road skills that make them feel confident with their knowledge of how to be a cyclist and how to navigate the district,” said Britt Burnham, the district’s manager of community engagement.
Rides are open to people of all cycling abilities and experience and they start with some basic road skills to make sure everyone feels comfortable getting on the road, she said. Instructors lead the group to key amenities in the district, such as the recreation centre and the fairgrounds, showing residents good cycling routes to reach the popular spots, Burnham said.
The district is hoping to encourage cycling and other forms of active transportation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because transportation is responsible for the “vast majority” of the district’s emissions, she said.
By 2050, the municipality wants to see half of all trips within the district to be made using active transportation, which means every resident would be taking four times as many trips by active transportation as they are now, Burnham said.
“So we’re starting with promoting the shorter trips. We want to see people choosing to walk to the grocery a couple blocks away versus driving their car,” she said.
The first two rides have been popular, Burnham said, and the next is a 12-kilometre route on Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to noon that includes Centennial Park and the Saanich Fairgrounds.
The rides will show residents how to comfortably ride along roads like Mount Newton Cross Road and how to cross the highway overpass, and help people new to biking become more confident, said Colleen Sparks, executive director of Capital Bike.
“We want people to be safe and we want them to enjoy riding,” Sparks said.
Capital Bike has partnered with the City of Victoria in the past to run guided rides and last month held a bike skills clinic for children sponsored by Hillside Shopping Centre.
More details on the rides are available on the district’s website at centralsaanich.ca/our-community/news.
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