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Looks like the segments last week were some new trails to a bunch of you, and they were enjoyed as well, yay! Appreciate hearing your thoughts on the selections (I honestly have no idea what I'm doing...hahah), so the validation is welcome. 😁
We also added four riders this week, including three who are first-timers, welcome!! And another JUST signed up as I was working on this update!
The draw prizes this week are pretty impressive, thank you again Brentwood Cycles!! Scroll down to see who the lucky riders are!
This week we're headed back up to Interurban Camosun for a couple shorter trails. One is quite lovely, and the other is the Challenge/Timed segment, and will rattle the body a wee bit! As always, please be respectful of other trail users on all segment rides!
(And once again, I recommend checking the event page 'Routing' section, I posted a couple more optional trails in the area that you might want to check out!)
Racing News
There was another Cross on the Rock in Port Alberni this weekend, and wow that was a tough course! There was virtually no recovery, and on the pedals the entire time, plus lots of spots to get off the bike and run over or through...including an intentional 'mud pit'. But most of us were spared the worst, the Expert fields had a MASSIVE 'run-up', and 2.5 minutes plus of hoofin' it each lap. Wow. (No joke!!)
A couple notables of our Segment riders - Kenzie had a rough start dropping her chain, losing over a minute, but worked her way through most of the entire field to finish 4th, and is now leading the Intermediate Women's Overall! Sofia had another great race and took her second consecutive win in the Women's Elite field. And Julian posted the fastest lap time of anyone (imagine that!), and claimed his first COTR Elite podium with 3rd, and currently leads the series! Lots of other great rides of course!!
If you want to take a peek at what it looked like, I posted a gallery of shots here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HFckCqUkRf68yGNU6
World Gravel Champs were this weekend too, local rider Garth finished 11th in his age group! Katja was in the elite race, and tho details are sparse, what I've heard is she started quite far back (guess not much credit for being Canadian Champ!), but worked her way close to the front, but in the city a rider crashed in front of her, taking her out. Race medics told her the race was over, but she's mostly okay, some bumps and bruises, and a broken ring finger. I believe she's headed south to join the rest of the Broadstreet team racing the USCX series (I haven't looked up results from this weekend, hoping to maybe catch the race archives.)
Pretty solid wins from van der Poel, and Vos beating Kopecky on the line, and winning ANOTHER World Champ title, further solidifying her as the GOAT of the cycling world.
And there was MTB action at Mont St Anne in Quebec with the final World Cup, Bella Holmgren crashed out of the U23 XC race, after getting second in the Short Track, but still lots of Canadians in the Top 12, and Island racer Emilly Johnston finished 2nd overall in the series, and Holmgren 4th.
Looks like we should be seeing lots more fine Canadian results in the MTB world in the upcoming years! |
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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! 😁
1 <- 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! 😊
Gorillaz is back on, and their Plastic Beach album. Really diverse album, and features one of my all-time favourite songs, 'Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach'. Just put on the album, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. 🎶 |
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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
Another non-challenge week, hello A's!
The B's
Howdy B's, one new rider added here!
The C's
Three new riders added to C this week, woohoo!
BONUSES & CURSES
See the Scoring section of the Event Page for more details!
No QOM or KOM this week of course!
- Early Bird was Tanya B, changing things up!
- No Secret Time this week as well
- Mark B got the Socialite points, lovely shot on the alloy bridge on Langford Lake (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 your post, please DM me directly, IG has been a bit finicky.)
- The Local Legend curse was unclaimed this week
- No Yellow Jersey curse as usual!
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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's prizes are from Brentwood Cycles, and wow, we've got some solid goodies, including tops and shoes, and giving away 8 items this week! Looking at the spread, I'll go with 1x A, 3x B, and 4x C, and the lucky riders are:
Ethan Swain
Kirsty H
Renata Troc
Mark Devitt
Gary Peever
Anne Edwards
Lani *
Tyler Galts
Congrats!! I'll email you tomorrow with the details. 😉
Check out all the prizes (so far) here: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-6-prize-list/ |
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Week #6 - Oct 7th - 14th - Many Names, But Let's Go With Camosun!
Is it Camosun? PISE? Layritz? The Tech Park? Too many names! But whatever you call it, there are a bunch of neat trails in there, and I'll be highlighting a few this week! And a reminder the second segment is a timed/challenge one!🔥
Segment 6A Name: Camosun Forest Up
Deets: 0.42km, 17m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM & KOM are irrelevant!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/27643270
This is a bit of a funny one, the entrance is very easy to miss, it's just up from Interurban. But it's a beautiful little trail, and I'll often hit it if I'm coming in off the Hector Connector, Logan Park, etc.. (Or will go down it if headed TO those trails!)
Segment 6B Name: Out of the blue, and into the black
Deets: 0.64km, 15m elevation gain
This is a new segment, QOM is Sofia Donnecke & KOM is Ronnie E. Beardsley, no LL!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/37907280
Here we go again, TIMED/CHALLENGE segment! I whipped this up for this week and has a nice mix of challenges!
We start at the tiny bridge just past the Dogwalker's Trail, and you can blast a short distance on the Glendale Trail, and then stay straight, and follow the rougher trail that curves up the hill. It's fairly bumpy, but not steep or technical otherwise, should be able to give it a pretty solid effort!
Note the 'main trail' curves to the left, but keep straight onto the narrower singletrack, and after it flattens out, there's a left into the woods, with a short, twisty singletrack finish, that concludes at a "T" junction.
I'd strongly suggest pre-riding it if going for a time, just so the full segment is familiar.
It's a pretty quiet section, but do be respectful if you happen upon anyone else on the trail as usual!
Happy riding!! 
Updated on the site: as always Routing for this week: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge/ |
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One of the longer bridges in the area
on the other side of Langford Lake. |
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Unfortunately there's that road stretch along Leigh Rd....
...but I think it's worth it to get to Florence Lake! |
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Connecting the trails across Millstream to Thetis.
There sure were a lot of bridges, should have used
that in the title! 🤣 |
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Get out there, looks like a little precipitation, but overall we've got a pretty nice week ahead of us!
Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲
- Dave |
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Join the @AboutTheRideCA social media accounts
for an informative range of local cycling updates! |
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If you ever have any questions,
feel free to simply hit reply! |
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