Strava segment snipers rejoice,
the bane of coaches everywhere is back!
/ O P E R A T I O N / S E G M E N T E D / R E A L I T Y /
Season 10 — THE SPRING SEGMENT CHALLENGE HAS CONCLUDED!
ON RIGHT NOW: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CLIMB!
The segment challenge will return in June! Sign up for our emails (below), or join the Climb series!!
The Summer Segment Challenge starts in just a few weeks!! We’ll be back on the road for another 8 weeks featuring a variety of segments and the return of the Rider’s Choice – where you get to suggest segments to be included! Climbs, sprints, twisty roads – expect all the good stuff as usual!
How It Works
In a nutshell, every week for 8 weeks we feature two segments, and riders can go ride them as fast or slow as they want. The main goal is to (hopefully!) check out some new road and routes and get the heart rate up a bit. Segments times are tracked, and if you’re feeling competitive, give it a go. I collect results and scores, and there’s a ton of awesome draw prizes each week thanks to our supporters (see below)! You do need a Strava account, but doesn’t matter if it’s free or paid, all are welcome. And jump in any time – join the fun part way through!
Looking for our poster? Here’s the PDF!
Safety is a huge priority of course, and all efforts are made to select quiet roads/trails that are low traffic, but please do not take any unnecessary risks, this is just for fun!
Victoria Segment Challenge Rules & Sign-Up
A few rules to try to keep things fun for all:
- There’s a full week to complete segments, ride any time you wish, as many times as you wish, your fastest result will be the one that counts.
- Make sure your ride(s) is ‘public’ on Strava so I can see it in the segment list.
- The hard cut-off is 6pm Sunday when I pull the results from the segments, if you upload after that, tough luck!
- These are to be SOLO efforts! You are not allowed help! Cannot draft another rider during any portion of a segment. Any riders found to be cheating will be removed from the competition. (It’s fine being side-by-side with a friend however, since there is no drafting benefit.)
- Bikes: this is intended to be done on road bikes, ‘Merckx-style‘ – no aero bars! TT bikes are fine if riding on the drop bars. No swapping between road and gravel bikes. (Tho if you only have a gravel bike, fine to ride that all the time.) Main intention is to level the field, and not turn this into an arms race!
- Do not edit your Strava ride files. Do not crop your ride files to the segments. There must be a ‘substantial’ amount of time and distance before and after each segment, so it’s part of a ‘ride’, and not an edited/cropped file of only the segment. This is supposed to be a fun cycling challenge, not a hack-a-thon.
- Safety safety safety – please follow the rules of the road!
There are Female and Open categories, and you can select A, B or C. ‘A’ riders are typically pretty fit folk (or have been!), C’s are definitely on the more casual end of the spectrum, or just planning to ride the segments as a fun destination or goal each week!
- A’s should know who you are – you’re already fairly fast! For Open A, if your 1hr FTP has been over 4w/kg, this is for you. For Female A, above 3.6w/kg.
- Open C’s should be below 3w/kg, Female C’s under 2.6w/kg for 1hr FTP. Typically pretty casual riders.
- B’s should find themselves in-between these.
- If unfamiliar, or unsure, just add a note on sign-up. I will move riders around if necessary. Riders can upgrade during the ‘season’, but will lose half their points.
And yes, it’s totally free!
The segments will be a rich variety of roads – there will be climbs, but there will be sprints. Some will be short, and some may end up rather long efforts! (And all appropriate for 23mm road tires, no crazy gravel sections!) Most will be within 20-60mins riding distance from the Switch Bridge. The segments themselves will normally be nearby each other as well, so reasonable to do in one ride.
To join the Victoria Segment Challenge:
That’s it, welcome to the series! Note the sign-up form is a GoogleDocs form.
Sorry, but failure to follow these two steps will likely result in omission from weekly results.
Weekly Updates: Each week on Sunday evening I’ll send out an email and post in the Strava group an update with the weekly results and upcoming segments! Sign-up for emails is at the bottom of the page. Note: the upcoming segments WILL be updated each Sunday night for sure, so check in the evening if you tend to ride them on Mondays.
Season 10 Archives – coming soon! The full email Newsletter Archive can be found here as well!
Any questions? Hopefully most questions are answered, but feel free to send a note!
And for those keen on past segments, check the blog posts for previous Season Reports, there’s an archive of all the segments there!
Our Strava Group Stats!
🔥🔥🔥😲🤯🔥🔥🔥
Week #8: Apr 27th – May 3rd – Achin’ on Atkins
It’s finals week, and we’ve got a doozy for you! First up is another rematch from the first season, up Langvista Hill, a pretty straightforward climb that doesn’t really relent.
And then our final is the full meal deal on Atkins, plus we keep spiraling upwards to Crystalview…and then even higher to the very top at Goldstone Heights! Who’s been up there before? Not too many! I was originally planning just Atkins, but since it keeps going up…and up…and up…we wanna end on a high note, right? 😁
Segment 8A Name: Langvista Hill Climb
Deets: 0.87km, 11m elevation gain. (Not correct, probably closer to 60m)
This is an existing segment, QOM is Jellybeans ! with a 3:04, KOM is Elijah B. with a 2:24 & LL is Reckless Ricky with 1 ride!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/2184826
I remember this one, it was a pretty warm day, 3yrs ago almost exactly! You get a little speed going into it, but that zip runs out very quickly, and you’re on the pedals. And it’s a grind all the way to the top!
Segment 8B Name: Who knew there was so much climbing here?
Deets: 1.84km, 106m elevation gain.
This is a new segment, QOM is Magalie Pouliot with a 7:40, KOM is Baili Guidi with a 3:42 & LL is none so far!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/41098523
What have I created here? Oh boy, this is a long and tough one. I’d advise pre-riding this so you know all the twists and turns at the end. It makes sense once you’re on there (just keep going up!) but worth previewing. Just cruise up Atkins off the Goose on the second crossing and you’ll get to experience most of the segments without triggering the LL curse.
When you start from the bottom however, note that it’s a good kick right at the beginning, but then levels off for a bit, so don’t blow up there!
Also there’s been construction on the lower section of Atkins for the last month, but looks like they’re wrapping up, so hopefully there aren’t any interruptions and everyone gets a clean run at the start!
Suggested Routing
Not to much to these ones, Atkins crosses the Goose a couple times, so pick your direction if doing the big one first! Otherwise if you want to do the 8A segment first, take the E&N exit off the Goose (just before that trestle that leads into Colwood), and then take the the right hand exit that takes you to Westwind, and up to Atkins. Jump on Selwyn there, and you’re at the B segment start minute down the road!
Happy riding!! 🚵♀️
Extra Tip: Strava for some dumb reason doesn’t let you save Segments as Routes. But here’s a website where you can enter the segment, and download the GPX file so you can ride it as a route: https://www.doogal.co.uk/SegmentExplorer (Thanks Spencer for the tip!!) Also, if you’re ever trying to find out when you rode a specific road, Find That Ride is an amazing website: https://www.findthatride.com/activitymap
Victoria Segment Challenge – Week #7 Hints
Note: full details will be posted Sunday evening! Hints may change as well..
Segment 7A: Not quite sure yet, will see where the wind blows us..
Segment 7B: Probably not another faster one sadly, only so many of those..
Results!
Below are our Season 10 results. Note the tabs at the bottom to flip between overall and individual weeks. Please contact me if there are any errors. If a PDF is preferred, simply click here! Here is the full link to the GoogleDoc. (You can view the Notes each week for the Bonus and Curse details, which doesn’t show up in the table below.)
We have very generous event supporters, so as always a huge thank-you to the businesses and groups below for contributing to our Season 10 draw prizes!
Each week we gave away some of this awesome swag by random draw!
Scoring
Scoring is geared towards rewarding the consistent!
For each segment completed, points will be awarded this way for the A, B & C fields:
1st – 50pts
2nd – 47pts
3rd – 45pts
4th – 43pts
5th – 41pts
6th – 40pts (and one point spread beyond 6th, to 30pts, which all below this will receive.)
Have fun and ride safe!
Bonus Points
There are a few opportunities to score extra points! Since these are awarded to ‘one’ person each week, the rider may be Open or Female, A, B or C. Some are random, some you can actually go for.
- New QOM/KOM – if a new QOM or KOM is set on the segment, that rider gets an extra 5pts.
- Time Bonus – a time will be secretly pre-selected for each segment, any who happen to ride that exact time will be awarded 5pts.
- The Early Bird – the earliest locked-in effort for the ‘A’ segment will get 5pts. (Eg: someone might preview the segment on Monday, and be the ‘first’, but if they ride it again and their final result tops that one, then the second is what counts – sorry, I just don’t want to have to refresh the segment pages constantly! 😉 )
- The Socialite – tag @AboutTheRideCA on Twitter, FB or IG in a post relating to the competition, and my favourite post each week will get 5pts.
- Birthday Bonus – if you ride one of the weekly segments on your birthday, and let me know, and you’ll get 5 bonus points! (Note: you have to email me before 6pm Sunday that week so I know.)
- Bonus Segments – some weeks there may be a bonus challenge, it won’t be scored like the others, but a declared number of points will be awarded to all who simply complete that segment.
Curses
But it’s not all roses – there are also a few ways to lose points each segment!
- Yellow Jersey Curse – if a rider in the competition holds the QOM/KOM at the start, and they fail to defend it, they lose 5pts.
- Try-Hard Penalty – if a rider becomes the Local Legend during the week of the segment, they lose 5pts. (If they go into it already as the LL, then this will be ignored.)
There’s a few surprises to keep you on your toes! (Also note that in fairness Dave the organizer will be omitted from winning any bonuses, but can collect the curses!)
Help Get Word Out!
Ain’t this more fun with more people? Help get word out! Follow our social channels, and share posts, mention what you’re doing on your Strava rides, invite friends to sign up and join you, get your clubs and bike shops to get word out!
Anything Confusing?
Fire over a note on the contact page if you’ve got any questions, ideas, suggestions, etc!
Bonus Tip
Browse the site, you might find something helpful – like here’s my blog post covering the basics for getting PRs on segments. 😉
Segment Challenge FAQ
The Segment Challenge is inspired by the KOMpetition challenge that came about during the COVID lockdowns.
It was a way for riders to compete safely, without coming into contact with others. Perfect for introverts as well. 🤣
Shout out to Dirtious J Dirt for the OG season in 2020, and Dan Blackwell who took it on in 2021. Here’s the original Strava group as well.
In 2023 I volunteered to continue the series, as I found it to be a really great format, and super accessible to a wide range of riders, and really should be a regular thing.
Do I Have to Ride Every Week?
Nope, ride any week or segment that’s convenient for you!
It does make it a bit easier for me scoring if people ride all the segments, but it’s not required.
Is It Free?
Yup, it’s totally free!
On sign-up you can check a box if you want to ‘chip in’ to the series, but it’s 100% optional, and there’s no difference in scoring, prizing, etc..
Is It On Road or Offroad?
The Victoria Segment Challenge is fully on the road! If you’re looking for something similar on trails, check out the GravelQuest which runs in the fall and winter!
What If I Don't Want To 'Race' The Segments?
A big focus of this series is simply exploring new trails. There’s requirement to ‘race’ or give it 100%, tho that’s a fun element for many!
If you just want to join in and cruise each week, please do!
How Long Does The Series Run?
Each season should run 8 weeks, and typically there will be 2 segments a week, but sometimes you might find a bonus segment as well!
Where Can I Find Out About Segments From Past Seasons? (AKA Series Archive!)
Here’s our series history!
Feel free to relive each season, it’s especially fun for the Gravel seasons if unfamiliar with local trails.
- Season 1 – our first season ran 12 weeks, February 27th thru May 22nd, 2023! Here’s a the write-up for the season!
- Season 2 – our second season of 9 weeks, ran June 19th thru August 20th, 2023! Here’s our Season 2 Final Report!
- Season 3 – this was our first GRAVEL Edition! 8 weeks, ran September 11th thru November 5th, 2023! Here’s the Season 3 Final Report!
- Season 4 – back on the road for the spring, March 4th thru May 12th, 2024! Here’s the Season Finale Report!
- Season 5 – the theme was RIDER’S CHOICE! It was awesome, ran June 10th thru August 4th, 2024, and here’s the Season 5 Final Report!
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