This long ride through gorgeous scenery on the Saanich Peninsula will give you a good workout — along with some ideal “hydration stops” at local breweries.
I’ve always enjoyed cycling, but I’ve definitely taken it up a notch in recent years, both because of the exercise and stress relief the activity provides for me and also because I’ve been trying to use my car as rarely as possible to cut down on carbon emissions.
Every year, I look forward to the Tour de Victoria, which usually takes place in August. I’ve been doing it for several years now — I started off with the entry-level 45km route which ran from Sidney to downtown Victoria, and then graduated to the 60km loop before making the jump to the 100km level, which definitely was a big challenge. Best of all there is always a beer garden serving Spinnakers Kölsch at the finish line!
As I’ve written here before, I love to cycle between breweries. I am able to do that easily and regularly here in Victoria because there are simply so many breweries spread around the city. Actually, I’m spoiled with options: with several brewpubs and breweries in the city itself I barely even get warmed up before an optional “hydration stop” presents itself. But when you consider several more breweries in smaller communities around Victoria, including View Royal, Langford, and the Saanich Peninsula, there are some excellent longer ride options that will let you build up a bit of a sweat before you reward yourself with a flight of samples or a pint of your favourite beer style.
One of my favourite longer rides involves visiting one or more of the breweries located on the Saanich Peninsula north of Victoria. There are many different ways to approach this ride, including dedicated bike paths, busy roads with bike lanes marked by painted lines, and quieter back roads with less traffic. All told, this ride is a loop of about 70 kilometres from downtown Victoria so it’s not for beginners, but much of it is on flat terrain so it’s not too challenging, and it’s definitely do-able by e-bike too. Or you can extend it out to a “Century Ride” of 100km if you really want to push yourself.
Cycling the Saanich Peninsula
Starting off in downtown Victoria, take the Galloping Goose trail north and turn right (east) at the Switch Bridge (unless you want to go to Sooke, which is also a great ride!). You are now officially on the Lochside Regional Trail, a 29-km multi-use trail that opened in 2001 and runs all the way up the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal.
Along the way, it runs past beaches and through farmlands, sometimes sharing roads or laneways with residential or farm traffic. Horseback riders are a fairly common site, too. Like most independent bike trails it was once a rail line, which means it is generally quite flat. If you want to stop for a beer sooner rather than later, you can make a side trip to Twa Dogs Brewery within the first 10 kilometres, but I usually save it for later on this ride. As you ride north on the Lochside Trail, you pass the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary and Blenkinsop Lake, with an optional turn-off for Mount Douglas Park, and through the shady suburban streets of Cordova Bay into farm country.
About halfway to Sidney is Michell’s Farm Market at Island View Rd, which is a great rest stop thanks to the produce they sell along with the Harvest Rd. Farm to Table Grill, a food truck-style restaurant that is situated right next to the market with an open air seating area. You might also consider a side trip to Island View Beach here, but be warned: you have to first climb and then descend a steep ridge to get to the water, and there are no other roads to or from the beach so you’ll have to do it all over again on the way back.
Category 12 Brewing is directly west of Michell’s Farm Market, but if you choose to cross the highway there you will have to climb a steep hill so I recommend saving it for the way back down the peninsula when you can approach it from a different angle and avoid that major climb.
Continuing north on the Lochside Trail will lead you towards the town of Sidney, which is also the location of the Victoria International Airport. I mention this because YYJ is encircled by the Flight Path, an excellent, paved cycling route that runs 9.3 km total and you can easily join it wherever you approach the airport.
Two Breweries in Sidney
Happily, two breweries have opened in Sidney in recent years making it an ideal destination. They are actually in the same building complex just a few steps apart.
First to open back in 2021 was Beacon Brewing.
Founders Alexa and Tristan Fetherston were inspired by the breweries they visited on a road trip to Oregon. While sitting in a brewery in Astoria — a community that seemed very similar to Sidney to them — they decided they had to open their own. Tristan has applied his home brewing background and Alexa’s brother joined them as a business partner and helps out in the tasting room.
And then soon after Beacon opened, it was followed by Small Gods Brewing, just two doors down in the same complex.
Small Gods Brewing is a literary-themed brewery that celebrates Sidney’s famous bookstore culture. Each beer is named after a book relating to its ingredients or origins. For example, the flagship German pilsner, Neverending, is named after the classic German tale, The Neverending Story.
Located just off Beacon Ave, Sidney’s main street, Small Gods is designed to fit into the surrounding community and provide a family-friendly atmosphere where everyone is welcome to stop by, satiate their hunger with artisan sandwiches and charcuterie boards, and have a beer with friends, family, or their favourite book. And if you forgot to bring a book, you can find one to reach on the brewery’s bookshelf.
Once you’ve had your fill in Sidney you can head back towards Victoria. You have the option of retracing your route on the Lochside Trail but if you want to visit another brewery, you might want to take another road. If you cross over to the other side of the highway you can ride around the airport to take West Saanich Rd down the peninsula, but this is a bit more of a hilly route that is busy with vehicles so less vigorous riders might prefer to ride south down East Saanich Rd instead.
Next stop is Category 12 Brewing.
Category 12 Brewing is located on Keating X Rd, which is a fairly busy four-lane route used by a variety of vehicles, including big trucks. As you head south down the peninsula from Sidney, you’ll need to switch to either Veyaness Rd or Central Saanich Rd at some point — whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of riding down the steep hill towards the highway!
Founded by Karen and Michael Kuzyk, Category 12 thoroughly embraces Michael’s pedigree as a PhD biochemist with its “mystery science” marketing. The brewery’s tasting room has a kitchen that prepares a tasty range of delicious dishes to go along with the excellent beers, and if you’re a cyclist who perspires a bit (an understatement for me) you will be happy to cool off on the patio set up in the parking lot in front of the brewery. There is always something interesting on tap, including a range of staple styles, juicy/hazy IPAs, sours, and barrel-aged beauties.
After catching your breath and getting refreshed at C12, it’s time to head south back towards Victoria. Again, you have two options for getting to the third brewery on this tour: you can return to the Lochside Trail by coasting down the big hill at Island View Rd or you can take Oldfield Rd to Old West Saanich Rd to West Saanich Rd (again, more experienced cyclists might prefer this winding, hilly route, but be warned that West Saanich Rd can be very busy with traffic, including big trucks).
Twa Dogs Brewery
The final “rehydration stop” on this tour is Twa Dogs Brewery at Macaloney’s Island Distillery located in an industrial area beside the Pat Bay Highway just off Glanford Ave. Founded by a transplanted Scots named Graeme Macaloney, the focus here is equal parts whisky and beer. The tasting room serves sample flights of its whiskies as well as flights or glasses of beer made on site. There is an outdoor patio space next to the bike parking area, and although the highway is visible, it’s quite a peaceful spot. The name Twa Dogs is a reference to the 18th century Scottish poet Robbie Burns; indeed, each beer’s name comes from a Burns poem as well. If tours are being offered, they are highly recommended — the tour guides are very entertaining, and with both a distillery and a brewery on site, it is a unique facility.
Afterwards, it’s a short ride back into Victoria. Whether or not you choose to continue your brewery tour at any one of many breweries within the city limits is up to you, but needless to say, stay safe and be sure you are not getting back on your bike if you are over your limit. Actually, good advice for any beer-cycling tour is to drink water along with beer at each stop.
Note: This ride might be a bit too ambitious for some readers, but don’t be deterred if you don’t own cycling shorts (OK, I admit I do) or a $5,000 road bike (I don’t — my ride is a commuter bike that is a “Livestrong” edition, which tells you how old it is since Lance Armstrong hasn’t been in vogue for a looong time). You can try something shorter. From Victoria, you can make it to Twa Dogs fairly easily, and even Category 12 is pretty do-able with some rest stops along the way. If it’s too far for you to ride all the way up to Sidney, you could always transport your bike by car or bus and then do the Flight Path loop for exercise — or ride one-way back to Victoria.
See you on the bike paths!
