Hey all y'all!! It's fun to be back in your inbox with a Segment Challenge update!! Got lots on the go, it's pretty much About The Ride day for me, so let's get past the pleasantries! 🤣

Scrabblethon Tournament Round 2!

A quick report on today's event! It was the second round, we were back at the Francis King loop, but reversed it, which was actually pretty fun! Hard to say which direction I like better.

Kenzie was our amazing volunteer and tile distributor, and five other riders joined me, and they were all on hardtail MTBs, while I was on my gravel bike with pretty skinny 35mm tires. And this course definitely favoured fatter rubber. 😬

Needless to say I was slowest, and some of the guys put in VERY fast times! But at the end it was about the Scrabble tiles, and words, and today's winner was 'Fez'! Jordan got 15pts, and with 15pts from Round 1 is leading the series, the full results are on the site:

https://abouttheride.ca/scrabblethon/

I'm reluctant to put on a 3rd round, as it's hard to pull out volunteers to help with an event with really low numbers, but if you're willing to commit to the 16th, email me back ASAP and we'll see how it goes. Otherwise, it's been a really fun series, and no doubt will try to do again.

Oh, and here's the Strava segment for the lap, it still hadn't populated last time I checked, but hopefully will soon: https://www.strava.com/segments/38725562

On to the Segment Challenge!

Back on track!

The Segment Challenge launched this year, I've got over 40 people signed up, and a bunch are first-timers, welcome to the series!! 

I have 21 riders recorded, however if you don't see your name in the results, there are a number of reasons why, usually if your ride is 'Private', or possibly if you're not in the About The Ride group on Strava. But if your times aren't there, hit reply and we'll figure it out!

Keep scrolling for the summaries below!

Racing News

I like to share some pro cycling racing highlights every week, it was Strade Bianche on Saturday, I've seen the highlights for the men's race, and that was quite the recovery by Pogacar!! I haven't had a chance to watch the women's race yet, but looking forward to it.

Canadian rider Derek Gee won the O Gran Camiño stage race last week, which was his first stage race win, and he's looking on track to pick up some great results in a Grand Tour!! Mara Roldan, who lives in Vic when not racing internationally, had a pretty nasty tumble yesterday in a race, hopefully she's okay. There was also the Belgium Waffle Ride in Arizona on March 1st, and in the women's race Haley Smith was the top Canadian with 5th, and Segment Challenge alumni Katja Verkerk finished 8th, about 1hr down on the leader, and 30min behind Smith.

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! 😁

0 <- 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! 😊

Didn't actually put anything on today, but FWIW I've been listening to Trail of Dead a whole lot the last week!

Watched the SNL from last night as well, and the second Lady Gaga song was REALLY catchy, will be checking out her new album. (That episode was surprisingly funny, some pretty hilarious skits.)🎶

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

We're back at it, and Jen Ward stretched her legs for the first time in a bit, and dropped some solid times! She beat most of the men, including some A riders on the climb, and posted the second fastest time of everyone on the descent! Great start to the year!! 🔥🔥🔥

Lots of familiar names on the guys leaderboard, and Julian was the only one to crack the 2mins mark, putting in his effort today (with less than ideal conditions!) Rich and Spencer were just a few seconds off, to round out the podium. On the descent, I had a surprisingly good run as well, and I guess that's my first W of the year! Spencer and Rich once again were a few seconds off, but Dave B also snuck in there with the third fastest time. Less than 20 seconds separated 1st from 6th. Speedy!

The B's

Renata is back, and dropped some solid times, but unfortunately she was the only B on the lady's side (that I could find!) Hopefully next week we'll see some of our regulars (and newbies!) out on the road!

Travis O is opening the season with a top result in the B's, Evan wasn't too far behind on the climb, and Josh rounds out the podium. On the descent, Evan edged out newcomer Mark Andreassen by 3 seconds, and Josh was just a few seconds off that. Good to see Joel C back out as well!

The C's

It's the return of Suzy Sylvester! She claimed top points this week, but unfortunately there weren't any other C riders, hopefully we'll see them back next week. Although they've got some tough competition: Suzy's descent time was faster than all the guys in C, and a few seconds faster than Renata as well!

Cool to see some new fellas in the C field, Tony Biccum set a high bar logging a 2:48 on the climb! Greg was almost 20sec behind for 2nd, and Tyler G was 3rd ahead of another newcomer, Owen Summerville. On the descent, Greg topped Tyler G by 3 seconds, and Tony was 5 seconds behind that, once again followed by Owen. Great riding!!

BONUSES & CURSES

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

No QOMs or KOMs this week - tougher in the early season!

• Early Bird was Clayton!
• No Secret Time this week (2:22 & 3:33)
• 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 your post, please DM me directly, IG has been a bit finicky.)
• The Local Legend curse was safe this week!
• 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!

Thanks to Cycles West for the prizes this week! There's a bunch of really great items, and the randomizer has picked 1 rider from each field (A, B & C), and the winners are:

Julian Cameron

Evan Thomas

David Robertson 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

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

Check out all the prizes (so far) here: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-7-prize-list/

Week #2 - Mar 10th - 16th - Ambling Around Amblewood

If you've been with the Segment Challenge for a while, you know this is one of my favourite areas! Quiet, wide streets, and lots of fun up and down sections, here's what's on the dance card this week:

Segment 2A Name: Woodside-Amblewood 1k
Deets: 1.01km, 56m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is The Squaremeat with a 2:44 & KOM is Sam Garber with a 2:14, LL is Logan Kuzyk with 8 efforts.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/7220482

A classic if there ever was one, we've done this at least once - just the regular haul up Amblewood, finishing around the corner(s) at the very top. Pace yourself, you'll want a bit in the tank for the last kicker!

Segment 2B Name: Boulderwood climb - Amblewood to Bearwood (summit)
Deets: 0.52km, 27m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Julie van Veelen with a 1:02 & KOM is Eugene Hahn with a 47s, LL is justin kobbero with 11 efforts.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/6426824

Here's a new one - we've done part of this as a longer climb coming off Lochside, but this time we're starting right at the beginning of Boulderwood, and carrying along the top for a while.

There's a slow way and a fast way to get through this segment, hopefully you can figure it out! 😁

Happy riding!! 

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

Had good conditions on Tuesday,
but not so great this weekend!

And that's it for Week #1! Who's excited to climb Amblewood once more? 🤣😭

A final reminder if you're keen on the Scrabblethon, send me a note!

Otherwise safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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