Well that was a much better week of weather, until today!

Great to see so many taking on Conway, including five new riders this week, this bumps us up to around 50 total for the season so far, thank you for being a part of the series and being a part of grassroots cycling!!

I'm a little curious, did anyone pick up on the reference to the quote that's the title of the Conway segment? 🤔 This is me trying to be clever! 😂

Anyway....

This week we're headed to Triangle Mountain, and that means Walfred - although the actual segment is the top portion of it! Plus we finally hit Fulton, which is a doozy!

Racing News

Two races on the island today, there was an Island Cup up in Campbell River (results here - some familiar names there!) and a Seabrook crit here in Saanich, the results are apparently being worked on. And apparently there was a women's race too, which I don't recall any promotion of, big bummer there...not that the weather was terribly inviting, but would be good to get word out on.

Tons of pro racing this week, both the Dwars door Vlaanderen races earlier in the week were firecrackers (how did Visma lose with THREE riders?!) Flanders was today, and pretty impressive on both accounts there as well, both the Rainbow jerseys taking the wins!

There was also MTB action in Brazil, and Jenn Jackson had what I believe was her career best finishes, with 5th in the Short Track, and 6th in the Cross Country! Emilly Johnston was just outside of 20th in her first Elite races. Carter Woods was also just outside of 20th (both these riders are from the island!) In U23 action, Isabella Holmgren swept both races, and Ella MacPhee had a really strong showing as well!

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Nothing too exciting 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! 😁

4 <- THIS MANY WEEKS WITHOUT AN ERROR 🤣

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

SPONSORS AD

It was April Fool's this week, and Pinkbike has a summary of a bunch of posts, I found the Evil Athlete Intelligence from Strava to be the funniest:

"If I had to describe this activity in one word, I would say: recorded."

Also saw one on the UCI limiting tire sizes to 31mm, and Canadian Cyclist had a good one, where the UCI bans cowbells due to pressure from PETA, and surprisingly the phrasing of the 'press release' actually uses the same language PETA uses, and could actually pass as something they'd do!

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! 😊

Once again too much bike racing to catch up on this week, so had Flanders playing in the background.🎶

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

This week Brooklynn had some company on the 'B' segment, welcome back Emma!! (Check out her popular podcast: Emma's Cog!) Brooklynn set the new QOM on Conway when she blasted up those hills, and edged out Emma by 1 second on Hector!

The guys got a break from Julian's dominance, and so Phillip ended the week with his first KOM of the series! Killer time too, nearly cracking 1min! Justin got me by a solid 7 seconds to round out the podium, tho Dave B and Dan B weren't far off. Phillip also dropped a bomb on Hector, topping Dave B by 14 seconds! Once again 3rd for me, ahead of Justin and Dan.

The B's

It looks like having company has put a bit of a fire under Renata's saddle, as she wasn't far from from Gabrielle's times, who also happened to tie Brooklynn's time on Hector! Gabrielle did get hit with the Local Legend curse on Conway, so a few points lost there.

Once again it was Daniel S at the top of the podium, tho some of the shine came off as he snagged the Local Legend curse on Hector! Travis and Josh rounded out the podium on Conway, with Scott and Joel C just missing out! Over on faster segment Josh edged out Travis, ahead of newcomer Ethan, and Joel C once again! Great seeing David K and Joel W out this week too!

The C's

Almost all our C's were back this week, including the return of Lynn! Nina had the afterburners on this week, claiming the top step on both segments. Suzy was next fastest on Conway, with Lynn and Heidi tying for 3rd, just edging Kathryn off the podium. On the faster segment, Lynn was the surprise, topping Suzy's time - she's got some sprint competition again! Kathryn finished ahead of Heidi as well.

The C field grew by a Michael and a Mike, as the Hoffster returns! 7 seconds separated 1st thru 3rd, with Teddy winning on Conway ahead of Michael and Ron. Kit and Mike H were just behind! Over on Hector it was a 6 second separation for the podium, and Ron was fastest there, followed by Teddy and Kit! The two Mikes followed, and we also saw great efforts from David R, Owen and Clayton, and Bill was this week's Early Bird, collecting 5pts for that!

BONUSES & CURSES

See the Scoring section of the Event Page for more details!

As mentioned, Brooklynn claimed a QOM, and a KOM for Phil!

• Early Bird was Bill!
• No Secret Time this week (2:01 & 3:48) - it's been a tough season for secret time points!
• I didn't see any tags, so sadly no Socialite points to award.
  (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.)
• The Local Legend curse was claimed by Gabrielle and Daniel.
• No Yellow Jersey curse as usual.

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!

Prizes this week are from Trek ProCity, as well as a bunch of items from last week! The breakdown this week is: 2x A, 2x B and 3x C, and the randomizer gives me:

Phillip Jurek
Emma Skaug

Joel Wheeler
david karn

Lynn Cole
Mike Hofmann
Michael Jones, KoS

Congrats!! I'll email you on Monday with the details, be sure to reply ASAP! 😉

Check out all the prizes (so far) here - there are some really awesome items, and we're not quite done yet: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-7-prize-list/

Week #6 - Apr 7th - 13th - Doangle, or Donotangle, there is no Triangle.

We're starting to get to the pointy end of the season, so it's time to go with some more pointy-ended segments! This week we're headed over to Triangle Mountain, revisiting the infamous Walfred, as well as Fulton on the other side. Two grunts for the price of one!

Segment 6A Name: Worrall Drive Climb
Deets: 0.70km, 83m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Melanie McQuaid with a 2:40 & KOM is andrew ference with a 2:01, and the LL is Jonathan Crockford.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/4023131

We've been out to Walfred a number of times over Segment Challenge seasons, as well as the previous KOMpetitions! This time we're using just the final climb to the top, and it's a bit of a doozy! Especially since there's a pretty tough climb just to get to this spot.

Segment 6B Name: Fulton Rd Climb STEEP
Deets: 0.85km, 102m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Holly Hendry with a 3:577 & KOM is Dior Psg with a 2:31, and LL is Ian Searle.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/21035486

Fulton is full-on - over 100m climbing over 850m, owwie! This one is all about pacing, and do NOT go out too hard!! We were last on Fulton in 2021, and might hold off going back until 2030. 😂

The KOM looks pretty suss...three riders with exactly the same time, and 30sec faster than Cole Rodney who held 514w for 3min....and for all three their rides were only on this segment. 🤔

Happy riding!! 

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

Conway - the first kick..so steep
you can't even see the second kick!

Caught Dave B's pain face
as he finishes his effort!
Note that he had to repeat this,
as a dump truck turned up the street
on his first go!

The sweet finish this week!
Dave B & Phillip pictured.
And here's to making new friends
on the Segment Challenge!

This time last night I said good-bye to Luna the guinea pig. I adopted her nearly 5yrs ago, and sadly the tumour she'd been fighting the last month finally won.

These little ones..

For those unfamiliar, I've been adopting and rescuing hamsters and guinea pigs for over a decade. It's pretty depressing how poorly these beings are typically treated, for example last year one I fostered was left out on a street corner in a cage on a hot summer day.

I try to give them a good home and the best life I can. They may be small, but they're all unique individuals, and just as 'special' as any of us. Tho admittedly they're much harder to get to know. And it's a pretty tough thing to take on since they live pretty short lives, so it's also a lot of loss. I wrote a bit more about Luna in my ride today, which was dedicated to her:

https://www.strava.com/activities/14102572068

Hopefully this raises some awareness, and encourages people to understand that they aren't disposable toys, but living and feeling beings not dissimilar to us. And how they deserve care and consideration, especially given how they're completely dependent on us.

And they're pretty cute too. 🐹🥰

Thank you for checking in this week, hopefully see you out there in the next!

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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