![\"Steve,](\"\/\/www.livetoplaysports.com\/news-press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Victoria-gran-fondo-2013-norco-bicycle-riders.png\")
<\/a>(L-R) Steve, Logan, Shaun, and local riding buddies Joe Gard and Ben Lorenzo of Oak Bay Bicycles.<\/p><\/div>\n
Writes Steve Pukesh<\/strong>, “By the numbers, we completed the timed section of the 265 kilometres in 9 hours and 45mins, with Shaun edging Logan and I out by a couple of minutes to be the “fastest” Norco rider of the day\u2014Shaun at 9:40 and Logan at 9:41.<\/p>\n “We rolled out of Victoria at the Empress hotel<\/a> at 6:30am under clear skies and with a police escort for the first 12 kilometres. The pack stayed together until Sooke and then the “hammerheads” (fast and fit guys) hit the gas on their way to a 7 hour, 30min finish.<\/p>\n “The scenery was epic and beautiful<\/strong>. The support stations were fantastic with excellent food to keep us riding strong all day. Lots of Honey Stinger<\/a> products at each stop, but also hot coffee, Coke, Red Bull, tea, and hot chocolate. Food included muffins, brownies, cinnamon buns, veggie chilli, huge deli sandwiches and delicious PB&J<\/a> wraps.<\/p>\n Rider Logan Johns felt like a Tour de France pro when he saw his name chalked on the gruelling ascent.<\/p><\/div>\n “We burned over 7500 calories on the ride so good food was crucial. I’m sure there was more good stuff to eat but I was always full!\u00a0 The volunteers and Oak Bay Bikes<\/a> support crew were super awesome\u2014cheering us on each leg of the ride and encouraging everyone as if we were in the lead\u2014a nice touch was chalking every riders name on the road on a huge climb on the way to Lake Cowichan<\/a>\u2014very Tour de France-like.<\/p>\n “We hit over 3500 meters of climbing<\/strong> with some grades close to 20 percent at times but we all rode the climbs at a good pace, working together to pull one another up (OK, mostly pulling me along). Our speed on some descents hit 80km\/hour. Our average for the day was around 27km\/hour.<\/p>\n “Along the way we saw many local deer with lots of moms and babies. We also had to stop about 125 kilometres into the ride to allow an adolescent black bear<\/strong> to cross the road at his own pace. Along one of the big climbs up to Lake Cowichan we spotted some rather large turkey vultures. I’m pretty sure they had their eye on me thinking I was the easy pickin’s of our group.<\/p>\n “The weather cooperated the entire day. We started dressed warmly for the 14-degree Celsius temperature and then peeled off layers at each support stop.\u00a0 By ride’s end it was 23 degrees and sunny as we descended the Malahat section of Highway 1 back into Victoria.<\/p>\n “We had the pleasure of meeting lots of riders from various places<\/strong>\u2014Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto\u2014and we rode with some great locals: Kim and Joe Gard who were a couple of awesome Oak Bay Bikes ambassadors. They gave us some insider knowledge on each area we rode through (Joe has ridden the route six times!) and they kept us rolling.<\/p>\n “All-in-all it was a truly epic day of riding. With our extra riding to and from the starting line and then back to our hotel we did almost 280 kilometres of riding for the day. Two days later we are still recovering but all three of us are happy we did it.”<\/p>\n![\"Logan](\"\/\/www.livetoplaysports.com\/news-press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Victoria-gran-fondo-norco-bicycles-logan.png\")
<\/a>Norco Bicycles and Live to Play staff riders and their bikes for the Victoria Gran Fondo:\n\t\t