Hello everyone! Nice to see some riders out today on Rob's The Last Ride shenanigans, and I trust lots were out for International Women's Day as well - it was pretty nice out until it wasn't!

The group is picking up some momentum! We had 36 people riding this week, nearly 80 have signed up, and are just about to hit 100 members in the Strava club! (Hello lurkers!)

The weather was MUCH better this week as well, with several decent days. Did you know we normally have a median temperature of 10C by this point? 10C would be nice..

HOUSEKEEPING

Just a few notes:

Welcome Evan Acosta, due to your excellent riding you've been moved from C to B.

Moving forward the Early Bird will only apply to the "A" segment each week, typically the same person will collect both, so that's a bit too many points each week. ;)

If there are any errors, omissions, issues, concerns, or anything else, feel free to hit reply!

SPONSORS AD

This email is sponsored by Ozempek(Tm), because they have a lot of money, and apparently everyone has diabetes now.

THIS WEEK IN RIDES

The A's

Claire once again is uncontested! Damian locked in the fastest overall times, but good to see Reagan and Vinko join in - Vinko claimed the KOM on Lead Foot as well!

The B's

We had a couple new riders join in this week, and while K :) cleaned up again this week, Justine no doubt had her nervous on Lead Foot, just a few seconds behind. K :) also collected the QOM on there (claiming it from Justine who had taken it a day earlier!)

On the side of the guys, I managed to pull the top time on Grinding, I was still 3 seconds off my PB time, but I think I had a wicked tailwind when I got that.. Travis was a couple seconds behind, and Adam and Jon tied for 3rd. Over on Granville Kirk snagged the fastest time, newcomer (and my neighbour) Markus tied me for 2nd, and Evan and Travis tied again for 3rd. Kevin was the Early Bird!

This field has exploded, now over 20 riders!

The C's

No Female riders out this week sadly, but two new Open riders Marc and Matt collected top spots on Grinding, but Dan has a need for speed with the time to beat on Lead Foot, and Marc and Mikael tied for 2nd! Welcome Tyler as well!

The secret times were 3:11 and 2:22 respectively, which weren't ridden.

PRIZES!

As mentioned in the Strava group, draw prizes go to 3 random Open and 3 random Female riders from this week, with Gift Cards from Cinnaholic and Yates Coffee Bar - yummy vegan treats!!

And the winners are:

Jennifer R.
Justine Calder (she/her)
K :)
Evan Acosta
Dave Shishkoff (OOPS - redrawing)
Brandon Smith '78
Mikael Jansson

I'll email you all privately!

For Week #3, I'll be giving away several items from Fort St Cycle, if you haven't checked out the prize list, there are a LOT of great items up for grabs, thanks again to all our supporters!! 

https://abouttheride.ca/vsc-s1-prizelist/

Week #3 - Mar 13 - 19 - Too Cool For School

I don't think any of the KOMpetition segments were really in town…so let's change that!

Both are climbs, but maybe not for the climbers…but hopefully we all have the luck of the Irish this week!

Segment 3A Name: Changed my mind, too nice out, going to skip class
Deets: 1.08km, 37m elevation gain.
This is a new segment I created, QOM is Claire Townsend with a 3:00, KOM is Ethan Pauly with a 2:38. LL is unclaimed!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/33892492

This isn't the segment I wanted.. The segment I wanted to create was basically the start of this, but just a short section between the two crosswalks on Gordon Head Rd. I wanted a 'really nasty sprint'. You get no momentum from coming down the hill, and makes this practically a standing start..but Strava said the segment I wanted was too short, your loss! Instead you've got a pretty mean climb, and then a long, flat TT finish! No one in their right mind goes this way, the times are nowhere near potential, so the QOM/KOM should be wide open!

Segment 3B Name: Bend it like Beckham
Deets: 1.36km, 27m elevation gain
This is an existing segment, QOM is Jessica Dulong with a 1:52, KOM is Cole Glover with a 1:55, LL is Nic Pegg with 8 efforts.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/2707084

Sorry Jessica if someone else claims it, this is quite the QOM/KOM!! This is some type-A fun, it's a very gradual climb, and I'll be very surprised if anyone can top these times, I have a feeling there was some favourable wind in the past. But let's see what you've all got! Fortunately whoever created this segment ended it in a good spot.

Updated on the site: Week #4 Hints, and Routing for this week as well: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge/

That's about it for this week! I was going to come up with a bonus segment this week for St Patrick's Day, this terrible map is what I drew - it's supposed to be a 4 leaf clover..hahah.. If anyone is more skilled than me and can whip something up, send me a note and I'll see what can be done! 😂

Also, new on the ATR site this week is a list of all the local clubs & teams! Take a peek and let me know if there's anyone I'm missing!

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

Join any of our social media accounts for other updates!