Well that was another week! Fun fact, according to Reddit user garry-oak on a recent thread, we're on track for 5th (and likely 3rd) wettest December on record, in 128yrs. Currently wettest since 1979 - so almost none of the people reading this or riding will have ever ridden through a December this wet here. Kinda bonkers. We're also competing with the amount of rain Vancouver has seen this month.

Normal for the entire month is 87.2mm, and on the 19th we were at 197mm (so doesn't include yesterday's deluge.) In the last 20yrs, we'd normally see around 33% partly cloudy or clear skies, and we're currently sitting around 12%, so yes it's also been a lot more gloomy.

If you follow my Strava account (feel free to BTW!), I've posted some pics of the flooding we've encountered - offroad, and on-road (like on Hastings!)

Hope everyone enjoyed the segments this week - looks like the weather got to a few with only 25 making it out to Thetis this week! (Good on ya!) The 2B trail was a bit tricky with the flooding but thankfully there was a couple detour options, and everyone saw the detour post on the Strava group.

This week you may be back out there, because the new 3A segment isn't far from 2B, and is a fun little decent a little ways up Bear Mountain. And 3B is a nifty new find, but be sure to take note of the access points and times!

Also, we'll be running the segment 2 week to accommodate for the holidays. (Next segments posted evening of Jan 4th.)

Be sure to check the Scoring page, it's starting to take shape with all the icons/animal tokens! Let's see how things shake out this week..I can share there are our first three-of-a-kind point winners!

Finally thanks to all who've chipped in so far, it's really, really appreciated!! 🥰 And if you haven't been to the ATR website, there's a ton of updates! There's been a design refresh - check out the dropdown menus on the desktop view! Much better organized. The front and GravelQuest pages also got a bit of a refresh.

And I've also updated the Road, CX & Gravel, and MTB event pages with a ton of dates of different events that have released dates. Take a peek, and you can start planning out your 2026 activity calendar!

RACING NEWS

Note: expect spoilers!

If you're a cyclocross fan, very exciting weekend (and another race tomorrow!) with two World Cups - both sand courses!

I'll keep it brief, but Saturday was Antwerp, and on the women's side the return of riders like Puck Pieterse, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Maria Schrieber, and others - 80 to be exact, huge race!!

Brand looked quite strong, and didn't seem too pressured to take the win over Alvarado. Aniek Van Alphen had a tremendous race, and also beat Pieterse. There were also 6 Canadians in this race, with the World Cup return of Rafaelle Carrier the highest ranked in 25th, 3:35 down. Sidney McGill was 30th, 40th for Rochette, and the other three Canadians were the last to get pulled, with Knoll, Verkerk and Perron finishing 66th-68th. (Katja Verkerk is a Victoria rider, and joined us for a couple seasons of the Segment Challenge, typically beating most guys!)

On the Men's side van der Poel predictably rode away from the bunch, with Sweek looking top notch in 2nd! There were 5 Canadians, with National Champ Tyler Clark finishing 37th, 5:09 down, Victoria rider Liam Sargent was 68th, Cody Scott 69th, Rhett Bates 72nd (he's been finishing higher up, so a bit of a surprise), and 75th for Remi Brisebois (who's just 19!).

Today was a rejigged Koksijde, which bypassed the muddy sections, so it was either grass or sand. Still lots of sand tho! And Brand did amazing in the sand, taking yet another W, ahead of van Anrooij and Alvarado. McGill was 33rd at 7:03, Katja was 64th, and was bummed to see Carrier listed as DNS. The gang might be saving their legs for Monday.

Over with the Men, same podium as Saturday, but Vandeputte snuck into the bronze position. Clark was actually 'last not lapped' 😂, 36th and 7:59 down. Scott was 47th. 

Doesn't look like Canadians enjoy the sand much!

Lots more races coming over the next week with 'Christmas Cross'!!!

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Some updates from last week:

• Welcome Brayden and Darryl, they rode last week but their segments weren't listed, but all good now!
• Also forgot to check IG directly, Bicycle Dave had a cool video, with a Sloan tune to boot, so collected the Socialite pts last week as well!

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!

2 <- THIS MANY WEEKS WITHOUT AN ERROR 🤣

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

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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! 😊

There's a cool new segment on Colbert's Late Show called 'Under the Covers', where they get a musician to cover another artist's song, and talk about it as well. St. Vincent was featured this week, and covered a David Bowie song.

But even cooler, Colbert asked her what her favourite cover by another artist was, and she praised The Slits and their cover of Heard It Through The Grape Vine.

Now TBH I'm not a fan of the song. However, I do love the Slits - they're a 70's post-punk (??) band that's quite quirky, and I looked up that cover, and it's fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSq3-lE377Q

Huge improvement on Grapevine if you ask me! Sorta realized Wet Leg seems to be fairly influenced by them.

If you like that cover, check out The Slits, the album 'Cut' is a great place to start. 🎶

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.

Cougars & Raccoons

As mentioned we welcomed Darryl last week! In this category we've got a Match 3 for Gary as well, 3 Wolves!! Bicycle Dave also collects 2 bonus points for another cool video of his ride! (A much sunnier day!)

Bears & Otters

Brayden was our other latecomer last week and added to the results, and Sonya also posted some cool pics from her ride, and collects a couple bonus points this week as well!

Seals & Wolves

I might start awarding 'best attendance', only two from this group missed the week, best of the bunch! Dan C also got a match with three Bears! And welcome David K and Ken T to the group as well!

BONUSES & CURSES

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

No KOM or QOM points this week.

• Early Bird (or should we call this 'Oyster Catcher'?) was Bicycle Dave
• Socialite points go to...B Dave and Sonya!
  (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!

Still sorting these out, tho I've got an extra prize now as well - should be emailing a couple people later this week, one for last week, and one for this week!

Week #3: Dec 22nd - Jan 4th - The Bear and the Lily

And now for something new and exciting! Segments this week involve a bit of Bear Mtn, as well as neat trail along Lily Creek near Jordie Lunn Park.

There's a much bigger distance between the segments this week, but if you've been around, you'll know a few great connectors (or check the Suggested Routing section as always!)

Also note we'll run these segments two weeks, until Jan 4th, to accommodate the holiday trips and Festive 500 riding. So you can ride this week, or next week, or both! We'll still do 8 different weeks, but will extend into Feb now.

Segment 3A Name: bare tracks
Deets: 0.36km, 0m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Claire Townsend with an 0:52 & KOM is Vinko Poldrugovac with a 0:43, and the LL is Jennifer Ward with 1 effort! (Reminder these really don't matter.)
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/19376785

This will be a new trail for most, I see only 12 in the group have ridden it so far! It's a lovely little trail, mostly downhill, and a bit of an alternative to my 'Paw Patrol' routing.

The closest trail to connect to this, coincidentally, is the 2B segment from last week. 🤯 When you exit on Bellamy, head down to Goldie, and there's a another little connector that spits you out on Millstream, and then head up to Bear Mtn. It's just a couple minutes up the hill, but a delightful descent Setchfield.

If you want to keep the connectors going, just a wee bit down Setchfield on the right is another connector that takes you over to Shaw, but most roads lead to Florence Lake. 😉

Segment 3B Name: Lunn to Luxton
Deets: 0.65km, 5m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Claire Townsend with a 3:11 & KOM is Nicolas Parlee with a 2:13, and the LL is Nicolas Parlee with 2 efforts! (Reminder these really don't matter.)
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/35971552

This one's another treat! Even fewer people have ridden this one than the 3A segment - and it's a fantastic trail that runs alongside Lily Creek, and is apparently also a disc golf course. The trail is pretty much straight, which seems boring, but it has a bunch of fun little ups and downs.

⚠ Very important: accessing this trail depends on when you're riding, please pay attention closely! ⚠

If you're riding on a weekend or holiday, you can access it off Parkdale - many are familiar with this route to get to Jordie Lunn, there's the round-about, and at the end of Parkdale on the right you jump onto the trails that cross over. Instead of going right, you go...straight! This is a construction company's property however, and should not be accessed during business hours (ie when the gate is open.) If the gate is closed, you can cruise down this dirt road, and hit the head of the trail on the other side of their lot. Also note that there's an automated voice when you get in there, it's a bit of a surprise!

Otherwise, if riding during business hours, or you don't want to go through this property, you'll want to make this an 'out and back'. Cruise down Sooke Road (off Glen Lake Rd) to Ronald, and you will find the 'end' of the trail there - congrats, you get to enjoy it both ways!! Not the worst thing. ;)

When done, the Goose is just a couple minutes away - head out Chan Pl, and directly across the road (careful crossing!) is the Luxton Fairgrounds, and the Goose is just on the other side, and can continue your ride from there!

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 3 - Black Bears

Since we're headed up Bear Mountain, let's talk about black bears! Unfortunately probably not too many of them left on Bear Mountain now.

Black bears are not always black. They can be brown, cinnamon, blond, or even bluish white here on the coast. Colour alone does not reliably tell you the species!

They are excellent climbers at almost any age. Black bears use trees to escape danger, rest, and reach food.

Most of their diet is plant based. Around 85% of a black bear’s diet comes from fruit, roots, grasses and nuts. Meat, including fish and insects, is a small and opportunistic part of what they eat.

Their poop matters! Seeds and compost all-in-one! Bears poop often contains intact seeds, which "when dropped" can help regenerate plants and trees across large forest areas.

Photo credit: Black bear family, John E. Marriott

THE SEGMENTS IN PHOTOS

Here's a few snapshots of the segments this week!

This climb on Bellamy is always
a bit of a challenge - now featuring
runoff cut-outs!!

I know Dave and I weren't the only ones
who missed the Fairedge trailhead, and
went this way instead to start. 😂

Pretty nice little trail section,
we're pretty lucky around here!

TRAILEND

That's the week, good job all who made it out, and you've all got a couple weeks to get in the segments this week (and as a bonus you'll probably visit the segments from last week!)

It's neat seeing the scoring shape up as well. These designs do lend themselves to stickers or patches, would there be any interest in that?

If you're new to the series, also be sure to check out our socials, I post fairly regularly to Instagram and Facebook.

And keep an eye on the Strava group, I'll usually post there if there's an update, like how the segment had a flooded section this week, and how to bypass it. (Seems like the best place for that sort of thing, eh?)

Let's hope for some drier weather, safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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feel free to simply hit reply!