Starting off with some very sad and unfortunate news; a rider lost her life in the Penticton Gran Fondo today, new story here.

Details are sparse, but from what I've gathered messaging friends, she was on a fast descent, possibly a corner, and ended up in the oncoming lane. Two others were injured as well. Sending warm thoughts to all affected.

I've also updated how these emails are sent out, and that means they are delivered a lot more quickly, which is nice! They seem to work fine on my end, but let me know if you're having any issues!

Turning to our own event, nice to have a bigger turnout, with nearly 40 riders back at it this week! I get the feeling the segments further out of town are a challenge for many, so the final two weeks are fairly close/central (thanks to those who submitted segments out by the ferries, I'd LOVE to use them, but I think there'd be about 12 riders!!) We've also got four new riders as well, so welcome you all, or welcome back!

We also had a bonus segment, which 28 rode (if you don't see an extra 30pts in the B section, but rode the bonus segment, let me know!) I was out with Dave B and Laura (aka The Squaremeat), and we did a fun (but hard!) Team Time Trial effort, and came up just a couple seconds short of the KOM! Hope the rest of you had some fun with it! The bonus this week won't be appropriate for that however, so please don't try and smash it!

Typo last week, the Royal Bay Crit *potential* date is Aug 2nd, and I'm scheming and hoping to tie it in with the Windsor Park on the 3rd for something new and special, stay tuned!

Since the Summer Segment Challenge is nearly done, other upcoming ATR events will be the Gravel Segment Challenge in September, my annual Cyclocross Skills School, and for August I'm thinking of putting on some more Scrabblethon gravel events. Hit reply if you'd be keen on that, so I can get a sense of interest!

Let's carry on, sorry this update is a bit shorter this week.

Racing News

There was the Gastown Grand Prix on Wednesday, both races were pretty darn exciting! Some Segment Challenge riders in there as well! If you didn't catch it live, there's a video archive, be sure to check it out here. And find the results here.

Le Tour rolled through the week, so much action!! Pretty cool stage today with van der Poel breaking away at the very start, and holding it until....650m to go...crazy. I'm cheer for Remco FWIW, but am pretty impressed with how Vingegaard is staying on Pog's wheel when he attacks. It's too bad he lost so much time in the TT, but we'll see how the next two weeks play out. Tomorrow's stage could have some more fireworks.

The Women's Giro was fantastic!! Amazing to see Elisa Longo Borghini take the win!! In the interview today, Reusser says she was very sick the last three days....which is all the more impressive that she stuck it out today! Isabella Holmgren (from Ontario) had an AMAZING tour, finishing 3rd on one stage, and 7th overall, 2nd in the fight for the White (young riders) jersey. The other Canadian, Victoria rider Sarah Van Dam also had an amazing race, with several high placings, and 21st overall, highest from her team as well. I can't imagine she wouldn't start the Tour de France Femme in a few weeks, maybe she'll be GC there?! Anyway, amazing riding from the two Canadians including our local hero!

The MTB World Cup in Andorra was excellent as well, with features that remind me of Hartland! Raw chunky rock sections and roots... Solid finishes by Canadians in the Short Track, with Jenn Jackson mixing it in the front once again! The XCO races were also quite thrilling, I watched the women's race pretty much start to finish, the action never stopped!! This is apparently Pidcock's only World Cup appearance, but 'he came, he saw, he conquered'. Canadians finishing around 20th in both as well.

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Not too much 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

This week's sponsor is a return of the popular roadie website RoadDiscBrakesKill.com.

Rim brake fans rejoin, this website is tracking all the gruesome injuries and deaths in the pro peloton and amateur ranks due to disc brakes on road bikes, since road bikes started switching over to disc brakes several years ago.

Can you believe practically no bikes use rim brakes any more? We'll be seeing the end of all our favourite pro cyclists soon, taken out with these hazards! Pogacar? More like Po-got-chopped-up-into-a-bunch-of-little-pieces!

While there are no injuries or deaths to report at this time, we're still watching and waiting, and will be there to raise hell when it happens! Disc brakes are extremely dangerous, and it's only a matter of time until this is fully revealed.

Be sure to subscribe to our site, and use #RimBrakesRule for 20% off your braking ability!

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! 😊

Another night with too much racing to catch up on, so no tunes, tho I've had a Dismemberment Plan song stuck in my head - you are invited!!! 🎶

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

Woohoo - The Squaremeat's back! Many will recall her kicking most of the A men's butts in our first few seasons, and she's back to her old tricks, once again topping most of our guys! Brooklynn was out of town this week, but hopefully we see some fireworks for the final two weeks!

Over with our guys, on Woodsend Ethan posted the fastest time of the week, although ironically he brought along a fellow UVic Cycling friend who topped his time as well, denying Ethan the KOM points, but that friend hasn't signed up...so no points for you! Ethan's time topped Julian by just one second, so Julian's going to have to take these a bit more seriously - and was also the rare victim of the Yellow Jersey Curse (where an incoming KOM doesn't defend their title!!)! 🤯 Dave B rounds out the podium, topping newcomer Sam P. Over on Holland, Julian's time was untouchable, 20 seconds ahead of Ethan...and myself! Dave B once again was third, with Dan B and Sam just missing the podium.

The B's

Julia Barron dropped some solid times, taking 1st on both segments this week! Renata was 2nd on both, and Sarah DV claimed 3rd on Woodsend ahead of Kathleen and newcomer C.L. On Holland, 3rd was claimed by Kathleen, with Sarah being denied that podium. Great to see so many out, let's keep this battle going!!

Tons of guys out as well, but on Woodsend Matt P finished 10sec ahead of Todd, with Evan rounding out the podium. Josh and Joel C were just seconds off. Greg R was fastest on Holland, also 10sec ahead of Josh, and one second behind was Greg G and Matt P, who tied for 3rd. Joel C and Todd also tied for 4th, and Tristan D was 2sec behind them. The rest of the times were extremely close as well, with about 50sec separating all 13 riders!

The C's

Kirsty set the fastest time in the C's, ahead of Kathryn and newcomer Sue in the C's, but Kathryn got the jump on Holland, followed by Kirsty and Sue - solid riding!!

Our guys saw Hobbers once again on the top step, with Kit and Dan C completing the podium. Tyler and Sean not far off the mark. On Holland Sean had the upper hand, with Hobbers and Bill just trailing, and Kit and Dan also just off the mark. Great efforts by David and Mike J as well!!

BONUSES & CURSES

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

The Squaremeat claimed both QOMs, plus Julian claimed the one on Holland!

• Early Bird was Mike J!
• No secret times this week, such a drought!
• Todd collects the Socialite points this week! (NOTE: Normally I only select one post, but awarded all this week since it's been so quiet.)
  (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 taken by me on Woodsend, and Kathleen on Holland!
• As mentioned, the Yellow Jersey curse finally caught someone, and no surprise it was KOM collector Julian!

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 thanks to Oak Bay Bikes, and lots of good'uns this week! The Google randomizer has decided the following are worthy of a draw prize this week:

Josh Durgin
Sam Preshaw
Greg Rinsma*
Tyler Galts
Dan Blackwell*
Evan Thomas*
C.L. Marshall
Tristan Daniel

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

Our prize page is live on the site, take a peek!

Week #7 - July 14th - July 20th - Flowers for Amblewood

Back to Royal Oak in our penultimate week! Came across yet another version of the Amblewood climb to use (hello Sea Ridge Dr!), and a rematch with the Bossi segment from a couple years ago. Plus another bonus segment, the return of The Flower!

Segment 7A Name: If you don't like hills, don't do them, or do it & shut up
Deets: 1.83km, 73m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Lindsay Warder with a 5:07 & KOM is Ron Ronald with a 3:54, and the LL is Gr GR with 17 efforts!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/12581091

The fun thing about the Amblewood area is there's so much variety! Study the map well, tho it's pretty straight-forward. The elevation profile is correct - starts flat, then up with an extra bit of a kick, then pretty flat again, and a wee bit of a rise at the end. Please be careful with that left turn onto Sea Ridge!

Segment 7B Name: Climbing that cherry tree to Bossi
Deets: 1.14km, 47m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is The Squaremeat with a 2:34 & KOM is Chuck Detheridge with a 2:11, and LL is john kirkendale with 2 efforts!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/35090064

Many will recall this from 2023, starts pretty steep, then level, and finishes with a good kick! Looks like the KOM Chuck saw us doing it, he went the following week and took the KOM from Travis - let's take that back for the Segment Challenge!!

*BONUS SEGMENT NAME: A flower in Sunnymead 🌺
Deets: 2.60km, 22m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is jellybeans ! with a 5:08 & KOM is Logan Kuzyk with a 4:51, and LL is no one!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/34320340

BONUS SEGMENT! The times don't count for this one, simply complete this segment, and earn 30 points this week! I created this one for an earlier season.

Please don't hit this one too hard if feeling feisty, it's fairly dangerous at speed and in a dense residential zone. No other bonuses available for this one (other than the Secret Time), otherwise as long as your name is on there this week, you'll collect some sweet, easy points!

Happy riding!! 

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

The turn-off for Woodsend - I'm sure nearly everyone
has ridden by this one....how many wondered what
was up there? 🤔😁

Here's Dave B flying at the line on Holland!!!

And here's The Squaremeat, so great to see
you back at it - look how aero she is, yikes!! 🔥🔥🔥

Thanks for tuning in again, and another big shout out and thank you to those who've chipped in, thank you for supporting the series!! 🥰

Hope you enjoy the segments this week, can't wait to see how it all plays out, it's been an exciting season!!

As always, extra safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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