Wowwee! At the start of the week I had about 10 people signed up, and thought the series was a bust....and as of writing this I have nearly 70 signed up, and 50 rode at least one of the hills this week, amazing!! Welcome to all the new peeps, this is your weekly update, hope you enjoy my ramblings. 😁

Below you'll find the results, details on the segments this week, and a bunch of other mostly-related content. I also want to highlight that we have a number of event supporters who've kicked in draw prizes, and I'll be awarding 10x $20 Goldstream Bicycles Gift Cards, a big thank you to them, and the rest of our supporters!

Also, there may have been some confusion about the Teams category, this is open to everyone! As long as there are two or more riders, any mix of categories, you can make up a team. Have fun with the name. Existing clubs/teams welcome too of course, but I'll hold off scoring the Teams section until Tuesday, so please get back to me by Monday night if you'd like to create a team, and let me know who's on it, and I'll tally it up - you can see in the current 'Week #1' results there are team names for bunch of riders already.

Finally, as a little tip, I'm passing on word about a blog post I've written on how to get PRs on segments, which are all basically time trials - and that include these climbs. Take a peek and you might save a few seconds (or minutes!) Who wouldn't want to get these over with a little bit faster? 😁

https://abouttheride.ca/tips-to-pr-that-next-strava-segment/

Let's keep this update rolling!

Racing News

No local racing this week, tho there's a Windsor Park crit next weekend, they could use volunteers as well if anyone has a few hours!

In pro racing news, the Vuelta Espana Femenina started today with a Team Time Trial. Pretty close time gaps, 9 seconds separate the top 6 teams with the 8.1km effort! Top Canadian is Mara Roldan, she's 11sec down and on the Picnic-PostNL team, and we can also expect some solid finishes from fellow Canadians Olivia Baril and Magdeleine Vallieres as well - tune in all week, should be some amazing racing!

There were a couple races in the Netherlands, and Sarah Van Dam finished 3rd and 5th on the two days there! (She's from Victoria for those who aren't familiar, on the the Ceratizit team.) Alison Jackson on EF-Oatly also won a stage race in Czechia, and won one of the stages as well!

The Tour of Romandie finished today, some shake-ups in the GC after the TT today, but young Canadian Michael Leonard was there racing on the INEOS team, and finished 24th, just 1:06 down from Olympic gold medalist & World Champ TT rider Remco Evenepoel, will want to keep an eye on him for the future! The men's Giro d'Italia starts up on Friday as well, and Canadian Derek Gee will likely have GC ambitions!

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Upgrading the following people from C to B: Greg G, Michael Jones KoS, Teddy G, John F - your times all fit in there nicely!

Upgrading Travis O from B to A as well, you've earned your wings!

Dan B - your registration is required!

Billy T and Denes, you're on notice; your B times are AWFULLY quick! Feel free to hit reply and confirm you're good to move up. 😉

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

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Remember the Tetherball Provincial Championships? Of course you don't, they never happened, don't be ridiculous.

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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! 😊

Two-for-one report this week! A new Propaghandi album dropped, but metal really isn't my thing...but could be some fond Canadian content for a reader out there!

The Mars Volta also released a new album, and it's quite unlike their previous albums...a fair bit more mellow, with a lot of electronic elements. Not sure if I'm a fan, will have to give it a few more listens, but not really promising unfortunately. I'm a big fan of a lot of their previous material tho, including their OG band At The Drive In. 🎶

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

Here we go! As always we'll start with our Female A category, and Season 7 Segment Challenge champ Brooklyn set the top time on PKOLS, 9 seconds ahead of newcomer Tina! But it looks like steep suits Tina more, and she took the segment by 19 seconds. Both riders also topped the times of many of the guys in A, awesome riding, looking forward to seeing how the next hills go, and I believe there are a few more planning to join in the competition!!

On PKOLS Philip set the top time early on in the week, and his 6:21 held!! 10 seconds behind was Justin, and Graham trailed by another 30sec to round out the podium. Not far off was Daniel S, and Travis O, making his first appearance in the A field! Andrew McC crushed it up the Observatory, the only rider to crack 4mins, with a 3:51! Phil's 4:07 earned him 2nd, and Stephane was just 4sec off that. Graham and Ethan were not far off.

The B's

Our Female B category had six riders out, and Gabrielle made a clean sweep, setting the top time in both (and just 2sec behind Brooklyn on the Ob!) The sweep continued with Laura B making her return to our events, and setting the next fastest times on both, just seconds ahead of Season 7 champ Renata. Great seeing Megan, Jen C and Kenzie out as well!

Over with the guys, newcomer Billy T set two BLISTERING times to take the top steps on both segments, and with times that would sit comfortably in the A field, is here-by invited to upgrade, or potentially face ridicule the rest of the series if times like that are posted. 😉 Mark D edged out David K for the final podium spots on PKOLS, trailed by Joel C and and John F (who was bumped up from C due to his times!) On the Ob, newcomer Denes also posted a very fast time, ahead of another newcomer, Mike C! David K and John F were just off the mark there, but a stacked field with 11 riders!

The C's

Our Female C category also featured 6 riders this week, with a few more new faces! Newcomer Terra set the fastest time on PKOLS, ahead of Kd, and Kathryn. Laura H wasn't far behind, along with Heidi and Camila. On the Ob, Kathryn set the fastest time, but Kd held onto second again, and Laura H earned herself 3rd, with Terra, Heidi and Camila filling 4th-6th. Great riding!!

Even with several riders getting moved out of the guys C field, there were 14 left duking it out! Newcomer Adam K set the fastest time on PKOLS by nearly a minute, ahead of another new rider, Rafael, and Kit rounded out the podium there. Tyler G and newcomer Adam B were just off the podium. Jamie C also had a pretty impressive time on the Observatory, Rafael and Kit once again rounded out the podium, with Adam B and Adam K just out of contention. Great to see so many C's, looking forward to seeing how the season plays out, lots of climbing to go!!

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!

This week our evergreen sponsor Goldstream Bicycles has a bunch of $20 Gift Cards for me to give away, and for this series I'll simply pull names from the entire group, and those names are:

Jamie Caskenette

Teddy Grosson

Denes Purnhauser

Billy Turcotte

Greg Goforth

kenzie McLeod

Stéphane Tran

Camila Gonzalez

Adam Krupper

Bill Ransford

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

I've still got to put together the prize list, but check back soon, our event supporters (so far) are all listed tho!

Week #2 - May 5th - May 11th - Munn & Bear Mtn (south side)

Now we're cookin'! Munn is the biggest climb, with the highest elevation gain of any of the climbs (249m), but Bear Mountain won't be too much easier.

Segment #2A Title: Munn's, Prospect to top
Deets: 7.36km, 249m elevation gain, average 2.7%. (That doesn't seem right!)
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/1125679

Munn is the biggun'! And I'll make it a bit easier, and just start it on Prospect rather than Burnside!

Oh, and the grammar fiend in me has to emphasize it's just "Munn Rd", there's no "s" on the end. 😉

Segment #2B Name: Big Bear Invite Segment
Deets: 4.53km, 208m elevation gain, average 4.2%.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/31446758

Not nearly as long, but more of a grunt than Munn, once again, we're going all the way to the top! Please do be careful in the traffic circles, this is mainly for fun!

Happy riding!!

Definitely not another staged
photo on PKOLS!

My favourite climb - you can maintain
a nice cadence and pace the whole way!
Well, until a piece of glass gets you in the
switchback! 😂😭

A rare 'artsy' shot
atop PKOLS.

Week 1 is over, and this week we're headed to Munn and Bear Mtn....these are the longest two climbs (by distance), but actually aren't as bad as you'd think so long as you pace them well. Don't go out too hard!!

Have fun, and as always, safe and speedy riding! 🚲

- Dave

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