Hey everyone, good to be back in your inbox, and with a brand new series (and brand new graphics!) - and nearly 60 people signed up so far!!

Welcome to our regular riders, as well as a batch of new riders, nice to 'meet' you!

This is a bit of an experiment with a new scoring system and more, but should be fun!

In short, two segments are posted every Sunday evening (see below, and on the website as well), and you've got the week to ride them! Be sure to save on Strava, and that'll allow me to track your ride, and include you in the results (along with joining the ATR Strava group/club). Each segment also awards you a random wildlife icon/token, and collecting these will get you points as well. The scoring system is listed on the site, and after results are collected next Sunday, you'll find the scoring on the event page on the website.

We've also teamed up with The Fur-Bearers, celebrating island wildlife, and we'll have some neat info from them each week as well! Be sure to check out their socials, lots of info as well as advocacy news.

We'll have some draw prizes as well, I haven't really pushed since so many establishments have been so generous over our previous three series this year, but I do have a few goodies for ya!

The segments this week are admittedly not terribly exciting, but after three seasons we've hit a lot of the nearby trails, but these are still useful connectors depending on the routing you want to take, and how can we resist an area that I love for the road segments: Granville & Hastings! 😂

Thanks to all who filled out the surveys, I was particularly intrigued with the responses to this newsletter content, and that many selected the 'Soundtrack' (aka music) section as a highlight! I figured no one was reading that, but you surprise and delight me! I was a bit disappointed more didn't select the Sponsors Ad, if I were a reader, that'd be my favourite section hands down! But fear not, I will continue my attempts to entertain.

That said....here we go..!

RACING NEWS

Note: expect spoilers!

No local racing to speak of....for now, we'll have a few timed segments down the road!

If the Tripleshot Cross Fondo is on your bingo list, the sign-up is now live with early bird savings.

Also, Tripleshot is looking for a few women to help lead their annual women's clinic series. You don't have to be 'pro', and they provide all the instructional material, you just need to show up and lead the clinic. If interested, please email Elaine: elainelucyg@gmail.com

In the pro world, I want to refer back to last week's remarks from Thibau Nys about the race in France - he loved the course, and I thought it was hilarious that he said the courses in Belgium are "shit" and they don't know how to design courses there. 😂😂😂😂

You may hear me complaining about some of our local courses as well (Port Alberni and Jordie Lunn this year for example!) Very relatable. If you know CX, you know CX!

It was a pretty cool World Cup cyclocross course in Italy today! Lots of grass, as well as standing water and sand, tho very little running. Very messy!

Lucinda Brand had a monumental result, with her 52nd consecutive podium finish - that's right, in cyclocross racing, she's finished on the podium in the last 52 races IN A ROW. 🤯 Last week she tied the record with the GOAT, Marianne Vos, and topped it this week. Absolutely incredible. Canadian Sidney McGill has been doing great in the World Cups, she was well in the Top 10 for the first 3 laps, and eventually finished 15th, 3mins down. Rochette has come back to Canada for a few weeks, but should be back over in Europe soon.

On the men's side it was bunch racing, with the front changing hands many times, but in the end Michael VanTurnip (as I like to call him) took another W! Sadly no Canadians are currently racing.

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Nothing this week since we're just getting started!

Reminder if your time didn't record (this week or any), please either tag me in your ride, comment on the Strava group post, or send me an email -- if you rode it, I can usually figure out a 'manual' time for you, but you need to let me know!

0 <- THIS MANY WEEKS WITHOUT AN ERROR 🤣

If there are any errors, omissions, issues, concerns, or anything else, feel free to hit reply!

SPONSORS AD

This week's sponsor a real product, but would have been something I would have made up for this!!!

Can you believe there's a Jesus Energy Drink??!

Of course there is. I direct you to: https://drinkyahweh.com/

Yeah, so that exists. 😂😂😂

SOUNDTRACK NOTES

Note: 'back in my day' people talked about music, albums, etc.. Doesn't really seem to happen much these days, so I'm carrying on the tradition here! 😊

This week I learned.....there was a new album from Canadian rockers Sloan in 2022, and somehow I missed that! So it's been on repeat the last week.

It's reminiscent of their last few albums, rock-y with hints of the Beatles, but definitely that Sloan sound. Nothing really jumps out to me as a 'hit', but 'Steady' seems to be a good listen, with a few catchy tunes.

Side note - they played Victoria a few weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure I saw their tour bus arrive on Yates St! 🎶

THIS WEEK IN RIDES

For those new to the series, results are tabulated each week, and the event page has all the results updated each Sunday night! To see the weekly results, hit the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

Check back next week, when there have been rides!

BONUSES & CURSES

See the Scoring section of the Event Page for more details - note that there aren't any curses for the Gravel Edition!

No KOM or QOM points this week.

• Early Bird was...
• Socialite points go to...
  (Post a shot of your ride on IG or FB and tag @AboutTheRideCA for a chance for 5pts each week! If you've posted, but I haven't given you credit, or liked or commented on your post, please DM me directly, IG has been a bit finicky.)

PRIZES!

We've always got some sweet draw prizes every week! Watch our socials (Insta & Facebook) to see what we'll be giving away each week!

We've got a few little goodies, check back next week!

Week #1: Dec 8th - Dec 14th - Granville & Hastings (Gravel Style!)

Those who've been around know that I'm strangely entertained that we have a 'Granville & Hastings' intersection in Strawberry Vale, and on the road we've made use of these 'country roads', and we'll be passing through this week as well!

The two segments are a couple handy connectors - coming from the Colquitz River Trail just past the Panama Flats, taking us over to Prospect Lake Rd, where you've got a number of fun options. And of course if you're out that way, it's a fairly fast way to bail from that area and get over to the Panama Flats.

Reminder these aren't timed segments, so no need to go for fast times, unless you're so inclined anyway!

Segment 1A Name: The Strawberry Knob
Deets: 0.37km, 19m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Sofia Donnecke with an 1:20 & KOM is Bryce Molder with a 55s, and the LL is Claire Townsend with 4 efforts! (Reminder these really don't matter.)
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/28094254

We've got a pretty short one, and a little up and down - I've only ridden this a handful of times, but I believe the start will be fairly mucky as well! One could ride Hastings, but this way avoids some elevation, and of course keeps us off the road.

Once out of the park, I recommend crossing over to Herbert, then over to Hastings, although if you head south there's a pretty neat and surprisingly steep road climb if that's your jam!

Segment 1B Name: charlton to prospect connector
Deets: 0.25km, 0m elevation gain. (Not true, definitely some climbing!)
This is an existing segment, QOM is Sofia Donnecke with a 55s & KOM is Bryce Molder with a 40s, and the LL is Alex Roudenko with 6 efforts! (Reminder these really don't matter.)
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/8998090

Another short one, it's a bit tricky to spot off Charlton, partway down the hill, note that it's a bit past the creek. The trail is also a bit of a climb up to Prospect Lake Rd, but nothing crazy at all, just don't go out too hard at the start.

Suggested Routing

A lot more road than I normally feature, but at least we're avoiding more trail repetition for now!

As mentioned, you'll probably want to ride the Colquitz trail, and head west on Roy, and then stick to Roy all the way to the end, where it connects to Strawberry Knoll Park.

Once on Hastings, carry on and make a right on Granville (note the intersection!😂) and then around the corner on Charlton you'll find the second segment.

Over on Prospect, you've got several options - if you head right, you'll continue along Prospect, and can head into the powerlines and the 'long way' to Francis King, or on the east side there's Hector Connector, Calvert Park and of course Viaduct, if you wanted to head back east.

Alternatively if you head over to and up Munn, you can head into Francis-King via Panhandle and the other fun trails in there. Or carry on up Munn and head into Hartland or Thetis.

Choose this direction to mix things up a bit heading out of town, or if you're leaving any of those areas, you can get over to the Colquitz trail a fair bit faster.

Happy riding!! 🚵‍♀️

Updated on the site - as always Suggested Routing for this week: https://abouttheride.ca/gravelquest/

ISLAND WILDLIFE CORNER

Each week we'll feature a little highlight about island wildlife, thanks to The Fur-Bearers! Consider becoming a member and supporting their work, and check out their socials for lots of great posts about wildlife, advocacy and peaceful co-existence.

Week 1 - Raccoons

Rascals of both urban areas and the forests!

Raccoons are excellent climbers and are one of the few mammals that can descend vertical tree trunks headfirst.

Their dark mask around their eyes isn’t just for show. It deflects the sun’s glare and helps enhance their night vision.

They are very smart and curious. Their little hands can open latches, lids, jars, boxes, and turn door knobs.

Raccoons den up in winter but don't truly hibernate, they rely on their fat stores for energy.

They don’t ‘wash’ their food. They have poor eyesight, so when they dip their food in water, it helps them feel their food, so they can identify what it is, their hands are very sensitive.

THE SEGMENTS IN PHOTOS

Check back next week!

TRAILEND

What are you doing reading emails, go hit those trails!! 😁

For those new, check out the ATR social channels as well (see below for links to IG & FB).

Hope you enjoy the segments this week, and our new updated format and new features. Lots more to come, and hopefully not too much rain as we keep things going through the winter.

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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