This was the final week for the Spring Segment Challenge, a KOM & QOM were claimed, and we have our pending series podiums!!

Please take a moment to check the results, and let me know ASAP if there's anything amiss, especially if it affects the Top 3 in a category.

Scroll down to see the reports for this week, plus another reminder the new climbing series So You Think You Can Climb starts up Monday!

As mentioned the segments/weeks are all posted on the site, and sign-up is live, check it out! I'm also going to test out a Teams scoring option, so if you're on a club/team, or want to team up with friends, create a team name and be sure to have everyone enter it!

Racing News

Locally there was another Island Cup at Cobble Hill, looked like a bit of a lower turnout, results here for the curious.

In New Mexico is the Tour of the Gila, and Canadian rider Sidney Swierenga appears to have 2nd overall wrapped up!

Earlier in the week was La Fleche Wallonne, and in the women's race it was amazing to see Puck Pieterse take a big W, she showed amazing restraint, and launched just at the right time on that horrible final climb (reminded me of Fulton!) Vollering was the only one to go with her, but Puck held her off!! Magdeleine Vallieres Mill was the top Canadian in 14th.

In the men's race it was pretty insane to watch Pogacar simply ride away like it was nothing.

The Tour of the Alps was this week as well, and Derek Gee, who started off a bit rough, ended up 3rd overall after 5 stages, showing he's in great form for the Giro, where I'm pretty sure he'll be GC for IPT.

I haven't seen today's races yet...so no report or spoilers there. 😉

And the Pan Am Games are on right now in Costa Rica, Jenn Jackson won the XCC (short track) with Island racer Emilly Johnston in 3rd! Ella MacPhee and Marin Lowe were also 5th & 6th. Haven't seen the XCO results yet..

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

No excitement 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! 😁

7 <- 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 wind anything up this week, but there's a new Brian Eno album I've been meaning to check out! 🎶

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

Nice to see every category had more than one finisher this week, including our A women! Jen joined me and a few others to hit the segments on Wednesday, and she set to fantastic times, but Brooklynn was just a bit faster (but both beating most of the guys!!🔥🔥🔥)

No need to sugarcoat this one, no one was close to Julian on Alberts Head, ripping it up by 20sec over my 2nd place time of 1:23! Dave B and Dan tied for 3rd, and Justin unfortunately had some GPS drift, and was awarded the 'slowest time', but would have been cool to see his time there. On the TT, we watched Julian on his effort, and he would have cracked 5mins were it not for a car that was happening by on Sundancer at the exact wrong moment! Justin was 2nd fastest there, with Dave B rounding out the podium. 

The B's

Our two B's this season battled it out one final week, and they each took a W, with Gabrielle 10sec faster on Alberts Head, and Renata 11sec faster on the TT. Hopefully we see these two battle it out further on the upcoming climbs!!

Daniel S posted his final B times, as he'll DEFINITELY be moved up to A for the future! And they were pretty darn fast, right up there with the top A times. On Albert it was Evan who had the 2nd fastest time ahead of Joel C. David K and Ryan T were just behind. Over on the TT, Joel had a healthy lead to claim 2nd, and David K beat Evan by just 1sec!! 

The C's

Just 10sec separated the three riders on the A segment, and Kathryn took the W ahead of Nina and Suzy (who apparently got caught by the quirky ending of the segment.) The results were reversed on the TT, with Suzy finishing 11sec ahead of Nina, and Kathryn in 3rd there!

John F posted an incredible 1:16 on Alberts Head, topping nearly everyone on the segment!! Greg, edged out Teddy, and Tony and Bill were just off the mark. Teddy was on fire on the TT, beating Greg and Tony, but only 5sec separated them!! John and Kit were just off the podium there. Great season for all the C's tho, amazing riding and results, it was a pleasure to score every week!!

BONUSES & CURSES

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

Julian was our KOM and congrats Brooklyn for adding another QOM to her CV!

• Early Bird was Tyler G!
• No secret time this week.
• A few people tagged the ATR account this, and Mike Jones with a video of Kathryn finishing her segment claims the Socialite points!
  (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 on your post, please DM me directly, IG has been a bit finicky.)
• The Local Legend curse was claimed by Daniel S on the TT.
• The only Yellow Jersey curse this season was awarded to....me! I had the KOM since I made the segment, and failed to defend it, so -5pts for me! 😂

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!

Since this is the final week, we've got LOTS to give out!! By my math, nearly everyone who rode the final week should get a goodie!

I'll send out a Season Final Overall Update in the next day or two with more details on the prizes there. Thanks for being a part of Season 7!!

Check out all the prizes here - we've got so many generous event supporters: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-7-prize-list/

The Alberts Head segment finish - it was a
bit tricky, you had to go around the corner to
the telephone pole on the far left.
Wait, are they still called telephone poles? 🤔

Definitely not a staged photo!!
(Thanks for entertaining me, Dave B & Jen!)

Finish line for the final segment of Season 7!
Solid finish by Jen!!

So one more Season Final Report to go, keep an eye on our inbox, may get it done tomorrow or Tuesday.

Thank you all for joining in the season, if it was for one segment, or all, great seeing you get out there! Also a huge thank you to all our event supporters for kicking in so many amazing draw prizes!! If you happen by any of those shops, be sure to mention how grateful you are that they're supporting grassroots cycling events like this. 🥰

In the meantime, make sure you're signed up for So You Think You Can Climb, and be sure to study the start and finish spots for the climbs this week, and go get 'em!!

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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