That was quite a mix of segments, another short one, and a much longer one...especially with that northern headwind we've had the last few days, which made the flat 'time trial' portion of the segment a real challenge along Wallace! I know it ate 10-20sec of my own time!

At least the weather was MOSTLY pleasant otherwise, except for that hail on Wednesday. I got caught in that too. 😂

Not that I believe anyone has done this, but a quick reminder that one of the rules of the Segment Challenge is no drafting! These are intended to be individual efforts, like mini time trials. Most wouldn't really matter, as they're typically climbs, but both segments this week could have benefitted tremendously from a 'lead-out'! Thanks for playing fair, and if you haven't, check out the rules on the event page.

There's a lot of cycling products out there, not too many 'wow' me, but I thought this was really cool: it's a bell that's designed to be heard by noise cancelling headphones! Apparently 750hz cuts through, so this bell is designed to highlight that frequency, read more here.

Also just a heads up, you've probably heard about the Shimano crank recall - there's a deadline to apply, which is August 2026. If you've got cranks that need attention, keep an eye out, more info here.

Back to segments - we've got just two weeks left, and coming up after is So You Think You Can Climb that runs four weeks in May (register now so you don't forget!)

In honour of that, there's a 'popular' mountain that we don't feature in the Climb series, so we'll give it a go this week, and nearby road climb that I despise is on the dance card as well...at least they're two brand new segments to the series! 🤢

ATR CLUB UPDATES

Things are all falling into place for the Royal Bay Crit! It's Sunday, May 10th, so hope you'll come out and race, cheer, or volunteer! (Hit reply if you want to help out!)

We're also looking into potentially offering a Youth and Women's race - in addition to our regular A, B & C. The Youth race is for riders 12-14 - registration is now live on the site, please sign up ASAP so we can get a sense of what the interest levels are! (No payment collected at that point.)

If you're on a team or club or have riding buddies, please help get word out about the Royal Bay Crit as well!

Aaaand we're still looking for a laser printer, ideally colour, but B&W would be welcome, if anyone happens to have one kicking around they want to give away (or sell cheap!)

About The Ride is a registered non-profit and CyclingBC Club.

RACING NEWS

⚠Note: expect spoilers!⚠

Yesterday on the mainland was a road race in Langley, props to occasional Segment Challenge rider Jen Ward for her 3rd place finish there - looks like she was in a solid break, finishing over 6mins ahead of the rest of the field!

Some pretty cool racing in the pro ranks this week, concluding with the Amstel Gold race today!

The ladies race was action-packed from about 32km to go - pretty incredible solo win from Blasi!

In the interview she mentioned she wasn't even originally supposed to do that race (another ride fell ill), and she said she'd been dropped (??!) just before she got back on and attacked (!!) She got a gap, and took it out to 1min!

Pretty amazing, and great inspiration to be brave and just give it, you never know what may come of it!

Also of note, Victoria pro Sarah Van Dam finished 7th in the chasing bunch - the rest of her team, including GOAT Marianne Vos, had all been dropped. (Understandably Vos was probably still recovering from finishing 2nd at Paris-Roubaix last Sunday, that race takes it out of you!!) But Sarah was right there with some of the biggest names in the sport. So cool.

On the men's side, it was a bit less exciting, but still some great racing action!

Coming up is the next Island Cup XC race in Campbell River on Saturday, and Sunday is supposed to be the Newton Heights VCL race, fingers crossed it happens. Well, mostly, it's a brutal lap.

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

• One new racer this week!

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!

5 <- THIS MANY WEEKS WITHOUT AN ERROR 🤣

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

SPONSORS AD

There's now an Saturday Night Live UK, and last week they had a pretty funny one, so handing it over to them with the Dadswap App: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFgC16z8Qko

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! 😊

Thanks to Dave B for sending this my way! I hadn't heard of Angine de Poitrine before - they're a two-man band from France. One plays drums, the other plays a cool double-neck guitar with a bass and electric guitar, plus loop pedals.

Apparently they're popular on social sites with people using their sound clips..? Anyway, there's a bit of a review here, and it totally cracked me up, not to mention the band is freaking awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnMjRW7pCPw🎶

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.

The A's

Welcome Marco J to the group, and he made an impactful intro by winning both segments this week!! He was the only one to crack the 5min mark on Glen Nevis as well! Sam wasn't too far off at 5min 11sec, tho apparently this was also on his 30lb commuter bike! Travis also put in a solid time despite that Saturday headwind. Best of the rest were Joel Wheeler and myself. On the sprint, I managed to secure 2nd, one second slower than Marco's 43sec. Two tied for 3rd with Sam and Travis a second further back. Evan and Josh tied 4th, and Joel W and Rizzi tied 5th, with Jon B putting in a solid time as well! Only 7sec separated the entire field!!

The B's

Our B ladies showcased who's more 'sprinty' and who's more 'endurance'! Pippa was fastest on the long segment, 12sec ahead of Renata, and Sarah P rounded out the podium, edging out Sarah D. But it was a complete reversal on the sprint, with Sarah D putting in 2sec on Sarah P, with Renata and Pippa finishing in that order! Renata also picked up the Local Legend curse on the climb - wah wah!

Only three guys out this week oddly. But the order was the same on both segments - Greg was the fastest on both, Michael Jones just edged out Dan B by 1sec on the climb, and and that was also the finish on the sprint.

The C's

Julia once again had the upper hand on both segments, but I'm confident Kathryn will rally in the final weeks!

Bicycle Dave was the only C to crack 7mins, but just, by 2sec! A bit behind was Derek K, and Kit was just behind him as well! Ken and Tyler were best of the rest, tho it wasn't by much! On the sprint Bill and Kit tied for 1st, Dave had 2nd to himself, and 3rd was a three-way tied between David R, Derek and Tyler! Ken, Clayton and James had to settle off the podium this week as well, but great job getting out there and giving it a go!!

BONUSES & CURSES

See the Scoring section of the Event Page for more details on how you can score extra points every week.

• No QOMs or KOMs this week
• Early Bird was Bicycle Dave once more
• No secret times, but many were close!
• No Socialite points this week sadly!
  (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.)
• No Yellow Jersey curse
• Renata found herself with the Try Hard 'Local Legend' curse.

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!

It's #OmNomNom time with Bunny's Kitchen for the draw prizes this week, and we've got another 6 names to pull! The Google randomizer has decided the following are worthy of a draw prize this week:

Jon B
Renata Troc
Derek Kasper
Marco Joly
Joel Wheeler
Sarah Pullman

Congrats!! I'll email you on Monday with the details!

Our prize page is live on the site, we've got so many fantastic items, most are now listed, take a peek!

Week #7: Apr 20th - 26th - They Tolmie it was a Climb!

It's our penultimate week, and since the next series is So You Think You Can Climb, let's get a little practice in! We'll be hitting a bunch of 'Mounts' for it, but Mount Tolmie isn't one of them....so let's give it a little love here!

And while we're in the area, and since it's got a fresh new surface...let's do Sinclair as well! I've done an impressive job avoiding it, last time I rode it was Sept 2011! Hopefully won't ride it again for another 15yrs. "This hurts me as much as it hurts you." 😂

Segment 7A Name: Mt Tolmie long
Deets: 0.96km, 82m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Sarah Van Dam with a 3:22, KOM is Rob Britton with a 2:18 & LL is Harley Machielse with 11 rides!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/1188112

There were a couple segment choices, so I went with the longer one that has a bit more elevation. It starts on Iona Dr, which reminds me of Richmond....it's pancake flat there tho. You'll head up the hill, and make a right onto the climb proper - don't gas out too early!

Segment 7B Name: Hobbs to Lam
Deets: 0.59km, 2m elevation gain. (This isn't right, closer to 40m.)
This is an existing segment, QOM is Rhonda Callender with a 1:44, KOM is Matthew Thibodeau with a 1:15 & LL is Harley Machielse with 15 rides!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/21832992

Oh boy, not looking forward to this one! There's a new bike lane as well as the vehicle lane, pick your poison, both go uphill for far too long...but if you're strong enough, it's done in just over a minute apparently! 😂😭

Happy riding!! 🚵‍♀️

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

THE WEEK IN PHOTOS

Jon headed up Durrance Rd
(Prior to the hail!)

Sarah P approaching the finish line!!

It's been 6yrs since I saw ya, Greig!
Maybe see you in another 6!

That's another week down, hope to see your times on the segments!!

People sometimes ask me 'Dave, what do you do for a living', and while I play a silly event organizer on the internet, I also play a freelance web designer! Holler if you've got something that needs fixing, or anything from edits to site rebuilds!

Keep those legs going 'round, and safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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If you ever have any questions,
feel free to simply hit reply!