That was a bit of an odd week with some interesting weather, and hopefully more interesting segments!

Had a great time racing a bunch of you at the Cobble Hill VCL today - couldn't quite hang on to the bunch for the final climb, impressive riding y'all!!

Almost 40 peeps again this week, and a few more new names, so glad you've joined us!

This week we've got yet another rematch with an OG KOMpetition segment, a BIG climb - we're headed to the back side of Bear Mountain! This will be our highest road climb, the GRAVEL segment up Bellamy & Kallie's was just 4m higher tho, and much longer. The previously highest road segment was.....Old Mossy, and just 167m climbing. This is gonna be epic!!

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

No notes for the 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! 😁

05 <- 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

The Black Keys have a new album out, but similar to their previous release (in 2019?) I gotta say, I'm not a fan - even with a guest vocal from Beck!

Their first album, El Camino, is one of my favourite albums - and the first guitar lick on the first track (Lonely Boy) is just so frickin' cool and catchy. The rest of the album rocks, and has White Stripes vibes; so good! (Even tho apparently Jack White wasn't a fan!)

But I haven't liked what I've heard since, and the new album 'Ohio Players' doesn't catch me at all after one listen... It seems a bit too poppy, or dives into rockabilly but not in a good way. I'll give it a few more spins, but El Camino remains a Lonely Boy as albums I love from them. 🎶

THIS WEEK IN RIDES

The A's

This week we welcome back Jen, who took the top step on the A segment, after Sofia dropped her chain (but still posted a pretty fast time!) Sofia logged the faster time on Old West however, but hopefully we'll see some more dueling! No Kat this week, apparently there's some faulty steering with her bike, as she wasn't out that way.

Lots of action with the guys however! Great to see Damian back leaving some flaming trails on the tarmac, and set an early top time under 2mins on the A segment, but Julian topped it by 10sec, and Nicky came in just a few seconds over 2min. But he may have been saving his legs, because Nicky was the first this season to top Julian's time and take the top step on Old West, chapeau!! Julian finished just 5sec back, and Damian also finished just 10sec behind Nicky. Pretty wild that 10sec was the difference on that road!! Great efforts by Dan B and Spencer as well.

The B's

Our B ladies had another shake-up this week, with newcomer Renata taking the top step on Bear Hill! Tania and Maria continue their dueling, and were only a few seconds off, and great to see Shannon B return! On Old West Tania once again had the fastest time, but Maria, Renata and Shan weren't far behind!

This week was once again the Travis F show, being the only other rider to crack 2mins on Central Saanich, and matching Damian's time on Central Saanich. Travis O and Joel W tied for 2nd, and I beat my previous PB by 1sec to claim the 3rd step. Glen, Joel C and Josh weren't far off either! On Old West I'm surprised to find myself on the 2nd step, also tying with Glenn! Joel C didn't want to give up the podium, and edged out Alan by just 1sec for it!

The C's

Suzy continues to show no mercy, taking the top spot in both, with Jane and Lani taking 2nd and 3rd in both segments as well, but Shannon M isn't out of the battle, keep it up!

Evan once again claimed the top spot at Bear Hill, with Peter S in 2nd, and tied for 3rd were Kit and newcomer Keith! And Keith finally unseated Evan, taking top spot on Central Saanich by 15sec over Evan! Donnie was 3rd, and Craig 4th, including the segments as part of a 100km day, woof! 

Such great competition and efforts, apologies for those who haven't seen your name mentioned, hopefully this week!

BONUSES & CURSES

Lots going on this week! Neither of the QOMs or KOMs taken!

• Early Bird was Tania
• Yet again no Secret Times this week, tho a close one!
• Socialite was Evan T again with another story post on IG about his effort to Bear Hill - sounded like he enjoyed that one! 😆 (post a shot of your ride on IG or FB and tag @AboutTheRideCA for a chance for 5pts each week!)
• The Local Legend curse was claimed Jane on Bear Hill, dang!
• No Yellow Jersey curse this week!

PRIZES!

Prizes this week are the women's items from Giant, as well as 6x Gift Cards from Goldstream Bicycles!

I'm going to go with 5x Female riders, and 5x Open, and our lucky riders are:

Jennifer Ward
Sofia Donnecke 
Suzy Sylvester
Renata Troc
Jane Logan

Travis Orr
Travis Field
Peter Spindloe
Josh Durgin
Peter Burgess

Congrats! I'll email you all privately on Monday with details, note that the first to reply will get their top prize choices!

For Week #6, prizes will be from Straight Up Cycles and West Shore Bikes!

As always a huge thanks to all our event supporters, check out the (growing) prize list here - and happy to welcome Dockside Physio (thanks Evan Thomas) for the first time contribution to the event with a couple physio or bike fit sessions (!!) and Dan B has also kicked in some cash so more great Gift Cards abound:

https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-4-prize-list/

Week #6 – Apr 8th – Apr 14th – From Bear Hill to Bear Mountain

Let's make a mountain out of a bear hill...although sadly it's better described as 'Bare Mountain' with the destruction of the forests up there. First we've got another rematch, some may recall the one up Shaw by Florence Lake, and then a nasty new segment specially designed for this on the back side of Bear Mountain! (And a reminder I post Suggested Routing on the website, for the newcomers I suggest some ways to get to these areas that are a bit more bike friendly!)

Segment 6A Name: Shaw and Gade
Deets: 0.58km, 50m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Julie van Veelen with a 2:43, KOM is Clayton Hiltz with a 1:06 & LL is no one!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/15356102

This was a fun one in the KOMpetition - it's short, and there's a neat little pathway cut-through (watch the bollard!!) but we're going with a slightly longer segment this time, going all the way up to Ironwood (previously we used a shorter segment that ended lower down.) This one is a good grunt!

Segment 6B Name: I am Jack's inflamed sense of fatigue.
Deets: 3.32km, 190m elevation gain.
This is a new segment, QOM is Rhonda Callender with a 9:42, KOM is Chris MacLeod with a 7:11 & LL is no one!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/36610754

This one is shorter in distance than last week's big'un, but will no doubt take longer due to all the elevation!! Nearly 200m - this is a record for on the road for the VSC! Rather than start on Leigh (which has some lights), we're beginning down on McCallum, with a good kick to start, then up Bear Mtn proper. The end point is a bit vague, but should be where it levels out a bit after the round-about. This one is gonna hurt for everyone!! Special thanks to Nick P for creating this for me! (I haven't actually ridden this way before!)

Happy riding!! 🚵‍♀️

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

I forgot to snap a pic this week, no
blood left in my brain!!
Thanks to Brandon Smith for this shot
looking down on the climb to Bear Hill!

This is gonna be a big one on Bear Mountain - we've been seeing ~40 people regularly, lets see if we can get up closer to 50 riders this week - hope to see you out there!

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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