Now we're in the thick of it, with two more big climbs coming up! A few less riders this week, with about 44 out, but we've welcomed 6 B's into the series this week, and we took on Munn and Bear Mtn.

Given the low response to the experimental Teams competition, I'm likely going to skip that, unless I hear from a bunch of people in the next few days - the silence tells me this isn't of interest, which is totally fine, saves me some time on the spreadsheets. 😉

Coming up - this week we've got two more doozies, with Willis Point (which is both steep, and is a fair bit of climbing just to get there), and Dean Park, with a nasty extra-long segment I created for the Segment Challenge last summer, that includes riding up Ravensview. A real treat if you haven't ridden there before!

Personal request - anyone have an aero rim brake wheelset they're looking to get rid of? The cheap carbon rims I picked up a year ago deformed coming down Bear this week, so am on the lookout for a replacement set. Alloy brake track would be ideal (any old 303s?!), but carbon seems most likely - thanks for letting me know!!

Finally I came across this on Bike Radar, and it was a surprisingly helpful piece on fueling, and explains how high-carb is changing pro racing for the better. While training your gut to absorb 120g of carbs per hour isn't for the majority of us, there are some helpful takeaways that can benefit us all, such as understanding how carb absorption is heavily reduced at intensity, and also if you're dehydrated. Take a gander when you have a few minutes:

https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/nutrition/rising-carb-limits

Let's carry on with the rest of the updates!

Racing News

Last weekend several locals were down in Washington to race at the Tour de Bloom, and congrats to segment riders Julian, Glennon and Kimberly for jumping into some pretty solid stage racing, and Jen Ward who ran away with the overall Masters GC!

Today was the first Windsor Park VCL as well, and a bit of an historic one, featuring an all-women's race, which is a first at this course! There was a really large B field, including 14 women, so they had two races instead (a women's-only, and regular B race). There was a break with 4 riders, including Jen Ward, that sat off the front for many laps, but Red Truck had other plans, and reeled it in quite quickly with a few laps to go, and Kimberly was untouchable in the sprint, here's the results for that one: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=389554&did=516822

The B race was also pretty action-packed, with the late break of two winning there. And the A race had some good action at the start, but eventually settled with Red Truck completely controlling the final 15mins or so, but they couldn't out-sprint Evan Russell in the end. Results for those races here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=389565

In Pro news, the Vuelta Femenina wrapped up this weekend, and Demi Vollering dominated the hills, taking the overall. Big congrats to Mara Rolden, top Canadian, finished 23rd overall despite crashing 3/7 stages!

The Giro is on right now as well, and there's been some exciting racing, tho Canadian Derek Gee hasn't found his legs yet, hopefully he can reel back in some time and contend for the overall podium.

There were some races in France, and Sarah Van Dam had some solid finishes, a 5th and 8th, as she continues earning high placements, so cool to see!

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Moved Billy from the B's to the A's, and Adam K from the C's to the B's, scores for all three categories reshuffled a bit from last week.

Jamie C should also probably be in the B's...

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! 😁

1 <- 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! 😊

Forgot to turn on some tunes tonight, check back next week! 🎶

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

Tina was our lone A this week, but still set some blazing times, hoping we'll see a few more names in this space next week with Willis and Dean! Side note: Mara Roldan is the QOM on the Bear segment.

Over with the guys, with was a clean sweep with Stephane Tran setting the fastest times on both climbs, solid efforts there! On Munn, Philip was closest, followed by the upgraded Billy T. Justin and Dave B were just off the podium, and surprisingly Dan B and Graham F had the exact same time of 18:19. On Bear, Billy had the upper hand over Justin, with Graham and Dave B just behind the pace.

The B's

We had 5 B's out this week, and in a first, they all finished in exactly the same order on both segments, so Gabrielle was first on both, Renata was only 1 second off on Bear, but 2nd for both, Megan earned 2x 3rds. Jen C was 4th, and newcomer Julia was 5th on both segments!

The B's have grown quite a bit after a few upgrades last week, and five riders joining this week! On Munn, Kevin took top honours, one second ahead of Michael Jones, and Joel Cave slotted in for 3rd, ahead of upgraded Adam K and Mark D. Bear mixed things up a bit more, with Michael over 40 seconds ahead of Mark D, and Adam K moved up a spot into 3rd. Kevin had to settle for 4th, and Thom, who's rejoined us, snuck in for 5th! This field is hotting up! Great to see Josh back, who's been off the bike with illness for the last month.

The C's

It was all hands on deck with our C ladies, and Terra took top honours on both climbs, nicely done! On Munn, Laura earned 2nd by a hearty margin ahead of Kathryn, with Heidi, Camila and Kd just off the podium. On Bear it was Kathryn who topped Laura by 4 seconds, and again, Camila and Kd just off those podium steps.

Jamie C flew up both climbs, winning both climbs by over 90 seconds ahead of Rafael. On Munn Tyler G was several minutes further back in 3rd. Chad and Kit were seconds apart off the podium. Adam B made a podium appearance on Bear, with Tyler and Chad earning the final honourable mentions!

DRAW 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!

This week our regular event supporter Cycles West has a bunch of goodies to give away - I'm a bit behind with the Prizing page, I'll get that up tomorrow! As mentioned, for this series I'll simply pull names from the entire group that rode this week, and those names are:

Tyler Galts

Dave Bitschy

Renata Troc

Rafael Castillo Henao

Joel Crocker

Ryan Taylor

Ethan Swain

NOTE: One of the prizes is a pair of XL cool weather riding gloves - if these are your size and would be useful to you, please reply as well, there's probably not too many they'll fit!

Congrats!! I'll email you on Monday with the details, be sure to reply ASAP! 😉

I've still got to put together the prize list, but check back soon, our event supporters (so far) are all listed tho!

Week #3 - May 12th - May 18th - Willis Point & Dean Park (Segment Challenge Edition)

Two more tough ones - don't really need to say that I guess! 😂😭

Segment #3A Title: wach-u talkin bout ..
Deets: 2.41km, 165m elevation gain, average 6.5%.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/21606356

Willis is a tough one...it's a tough one to get to as well, but I guess it's a good warm-up!

Segment #3B Name: Please point to the segment that hurt you. 🤢 (Another way up Dean)
Deets: 3.98km, 219m elevation gain, average 5.1%.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/37264076

I devised this segment as a season finale for the Segment Challenge series last year, it starts on West Saanich, and includes Ravenview, which is pretty nasty on its own - enjoy!!

Happy riding!!

The 'finish line' at the top of Munn!
And oops - I forgot a pic on Bear Mtn this week!

So great seeing so many take these climbs on, keep it going, you're only getting better at this cycling thing!!

Have fun, and as always, safe and speedy riding! 🚲

- Dave

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