Another week, another report, this one fueled by a delicious vegan brownie dropped off by Lani when she picked up her prizes, thank you!! 🥰

There's always a bit more excitement when we have a timed/challenge segment, and keep on scrolling for some stories!! And if you're being lazy, here's two quick links:

* Cool IG post from Mark B, vid of his effort, and that soundtrack is very relatable to me! And Socialite points well-earned as well: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBDFAyPP9vx/

* Wanna see a KOM? Here's Julian's footage as well, tying for the KOM this week (maybe would have got it solo without the extra weight of the camera!!🤣): https://youtu.be/wIo4PDicDRc

Segments this week connect us from Highland all the way over to Interurban Camosun. There's a mix of everything, with some climbing, switchbacks, and technical spots!

Another quick thank you to all who've chipped in this season🤩, hopefully you're all pumpkin spice fans. 🤣

Racing News

A bit of a slower week in the world of bike racing, but Pogacar had another dominant ride in Il Lombardi. Women's racing has been interesting, today's race had an impressive breakaway effort that very nearly hit the line...and a good bounce back from Kopecky who had a tumble yesterday.

Cyclocross is kicking off in Europe as well, and while I haven't seen the end of yesterday's men's race from Beringen, Belgium, in the portion I saw I did see some very unsporting conduct from Eli Iserbyt, who took a tumble with another rider on a loose descent, but ended up intentionally stomping on the other rider's wheel as he was walking away. Don't ever be this kind of rider!

It doesn't appear there were any USCX races this week (a number of Vic riders are down there), but you can keep an eye on the results here: https://cyclocross24.com/standings/uscx-cyclocross-series/

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! 😁

2 <- 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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And of course, pumpkin spice scented!

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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! 😊

Was looking for a good pick-me-up and energizing album, and also in the G's was Group Love, and so today's tunes feature their 2011 album 'Never Trust A Happy Song', which is in my Top 10 Albums of All Time.

Iconic opening rift, and every song is pretty outstanding in some way, and is fantastic to sing along with (great for a road trip I'd imagine!) Spin it up if you're not familiar, a few times in and I think you'll be hooked as well! 🎶

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

Good to have Sofia back in town, got to ride with her this week for the effort, and this was one of the few times someone's blasted by me WHILE I was in the middle of a segment effort! She ended up with the CR aka Top Time for most of the week, and finished with the 2nd fastest time of anyone with a 1:43!

A little drama this week with the guys! While the KOM changed hands a number of times, this week it actually ended in a TIE! I believe this is a first! I had it for a day or two, but on Thursday Jimmy dropped a bomb riding a 1:37. Julian gave it a rip, first time on actual CX tires this season, and maybe a bit too high pressure...but ended up tying Jimmy. Dave B was just a couple seconds behind me, and Dan B made a wrong turn, so his time is simply 'the slowest' of the A's. Watch those instructions everyone! 🤣

The B's

The ladies in our B field continue to battle on, I almost feel like we should have more timed segments just for them! Kenzie logged a commanding time, with 2min even. Kirsty and Megan rounded out the podium not far behind, with Tania and Laura behind them, and Renata in 6th, who apparently prefers straight lines!

Adam Lawrence made his return impactful, with an A-worthy time of 1:47. 2nd - 4th were only separated by 1 second each, and the order was Josh, Markus and Joel C, very close!! (Markus set an early KOM time, and lasted just hours as Josh topped it! Then I believe I snagged it from Josh. Something in the Fairfield water!)

The C's

Tanya B was the fastest of our C's this week, topping the times set by Anne and Lani! The final is going to be a good battle!

We've also got a lot of the guys in C duking it out all season, and this week videographer Mark B got the upper hand with a 2:05! Greg and Kit had to settle for the other podium spots, with Tyler G and Gary just missing out, but ahead of Devon and Bart. Must be something to filming your ride! 🤔

BONUSES & CURSES

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

The QOM of course went to Sofia, and the KOM went to both Jimmy and Julian this week!

• Early Bird was back to Mark D!
• No Secret Time this week as well, tho someone was one second off..
• Mark B once again got the Socialite points, as highlighted in the intro. (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 snagged by Markus, who had a rough week with bald tires we well!
• No Yellow Jersey curse as usual, tho it could have applied if Sofia hadn't beat her previous time!

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 a bunch of gift cards to vegan spots, including Vegan Supply, Meet on Blanshard, Yates Coffee Bar and a few remaining GCs to earlier draw Oddburger! I'm going with 2x A, 3x B and 3x C this week, and the lucky riders are:

Dave Bitschy
Dan Blackwell

Josh Durgin
Megan Thomas
Joel Crocker

Bart Konings
Lani *
Devon Greenway

Congrats!! I'll email you on Tuesday with the details. 😉

Check out all the prizes (so far) here: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-6-prize-list/

Week #7 - Oct 14th - 20th - Eastbound and Down

Our penultimate week features a couple more connectors, starting on Highland Road by Thetis, going through the southern end of Francis King, across Munn and Prospect ending with the fabled Hector Connector! (Reminder, these aren't timed segments this week, it's just about the ride!)

Surprisingly the only existing segments in this area were going the other way, so this week features two brand-new segments.

Segment 7A Name: Francis King Southside Grind
Deets: 1.73km, 58m elevation gain.
This is a new segment, QOM & KOM are irrelevant!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/37933403

When riding in this area I normally head north on the unpaved portion of Highland Road (the paved section continuing north becomes Barker Rd there!) but this week we go into Francis King proper. This is the south end of the Panhandle trail as well, and we'll be sticking to it, mostly. There's a couple forks, but we'll be headed to the left for the first two (or three), rather than take the 'long way' around. The trail starts pretty smooth, but the climb portion is fairly steep and pretty rocky, as is the descent, but finishes pretty smooth, and you'll end up at Munn if all goes well!

Segment 7B Name: Munn to Hector - Connected!
Deets: 1.30km, 31m elevation gain
This is a new segment, QOM & KOM are irrelevant!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/37933412

7B picks up directly across the road where 7A ends - you can see a trail cutting into the woods right there! Careful entering, there are a few tricky spots at the start.

Sadly we begin with that horrible new rocky surface under the powerlines, and where the 'dip' is, you continue up the rocky slope (probably a short hike for most, including me last week when it was wet!) Fortunately the trail smooths out there, and returns to nice singletrack to Prospect, where once again we cross the road, and simply follow the singletrack there. The trail heads into the woods with several really tight switchbacks on the climb, then cruise for a short bit, and more technical switchbacks for the descent, and this section is known as the Hector Connector.

If you haven't been this way for a while, the corners are MUCH better than they used to be, but still quite technical. Good chance many will want to walk 2-3 of the descending corners to be safe. The segment ends in a driveway, but this has been a commonly used trail for a long time, so just be respectful as always. See the Routing section for one more short trail option after leaving this spot!

Happy riding!! 

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

The lovely Camosun Forest trail
is quite nice going up or down!

Sofia (partially airborne) and Kenzie, as they're headed
'Into the Black'!
Also definitely not staged. 🤣

The end of the timed segment, probably
a few skid marks here by the end
of the week!

Don't forget to vote!
Even if it's for Mr. Bean the Cat!

Good luck to everyone headed to Nanaimo for the cross race tomorrow, looks wet, but should be fun! The Elite Women's race sounds like it could be pretty epic, word has it there are three pro's entered...our Sofia will be tested for sure!

And the final segments have been selected, there's actually detailed hints on the site, and they actually do help reveal where the timed segment is......that one will run two weeks as well.

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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