Our first week of gravel segments are done and dusted! (Thankfully not too dusty this week tho!)

For many these are already really common trails, but I'm happy to hear back from those who didn't even know they existed - they're a staple in my riding, and hopefully will be for you as well!

Sign-up has been great, over 40 have expressed interest, and over 30 rode this week, and around 10 people are new to the series, welcome! This is your weekly update, featuring a tiny bit of useful info, and lots of inane and/or incoherent ramblings. 😂

This week was a non-challenge week, so I didn't bother tallying the 'overall' series points, tho there is one person with more points than everyone else, congrats Greg who earned the Early Bird award, riding the 1A segment before anyone else and scoring an extra 5pts for that, taking the early lead in his category.

Coming up things will start to shuffle more, as we have our first timed segment, and we're headed up Executive (that leads into Hartland!) More on that below...

Racing News

In local news, the Whistler Gran Fondo was yesterday, and several Segment Challenge riders were in it, posting some pretty awesome results - nicely done!!

The Vuelta wrapped up today, and besides the obvious, I found it amusing how well Australians finished, with O'Connor in the red jersey most of the race, and holding on to 2nd. The points jersey finished with Groves, and the climber's jersey with Vine, both Australians as well!

Still bummed about Wout Van Aert's crash and injury, hoping he's back for the CX season to give MVDP a challenge!

On the women's side, the Tour de l'Ardèche had around a dozen Canadians, and they had some top finishes! (Unfortunately I haven't come across any race footage.) The Tour de Romandie is also on, and there've been some great battles between the top names!

And back to the local scene, the Wed night 'practice' CX series starts up this week, and block off next Sunday for the first Cross on the Rock at Topaz Park right in town - come watch if not racing, it's a total spectacle and you'll see a ton of Segment Challenge folks there as well!! (If looking for details, check the Cyclocross section on the ATR website.)

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

Paging Laura Ockenden & Eli Schmidt! I have times for both segments this week, so I'm assuming you're joining in, but I don't have a sign-up on the website, so please do that ASAP, and I can add in your rides!

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! 😁

0 <- 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! 😊

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame has a new one - and as expected, it's definitely got that Pink Floyd vibe and sound!

'Live It Out' is good, but it's missing the edge that the deeply problematic Roger Waters brings....both lyrically and musically. (I must confess I'm a much bigger fan of Waters solo projects than Gilmour's.)

Enjoyable regardless if this genre is your jam, but IMO doesn't make you 'feel it' quite the same as when Waters is present. 🎶

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

Yay A riders! (Keeping it short since we're all getting 30pts anyway.)

The B's

Yay B riders!

The C's

Yay C riders!

BONUSES & CURSES

No QOM's or KOM's this week of course.

• Early Bird was Greg this week
• No Secret Times this week
• No 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 your post, please DM me directly, IG has been a bit finiky.)
• The Local Legend curse was unclaimed this week
• No Yellow Jersey curse as usual!

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!

Prizes this week are from our long-time supporters Goldstream Bicycles! I'm giving away 5x $20 Gift Cards, and the split will be 1x A's, 2x B's and 2x C's, and the lucky riders are:

Julian Cameron

Ryan Taylor
Renata Troc

Chad Dalrymple
Tyler Galts

Congrats!! I'll email you later in the week, I still have to pick these up, so will be a few days. 😉

We've got lots of awesome prizes, including some more new goodies, like gift cards to the new vegan fast food joint Oddburger, and our own Louis is offering a couple hand-drawn portraits (WOW!) - will have a link to the prizes soon!

Week #2 - Sept 9th - Sept 15th - Executive Action!

It's the second week already! If you were wondering where we were headed....it's Hartland! AKA 'The Dump'! Well, not quite this week..

Our first segment will probably be the easiest of the series, just a short jaunt on a gravel roadway. The second is pretty short, but it's a solid climb, and the start of a common trail to get into Hartland. AND - it's our first challenge/timed segment!! It's go time! 🔥

Segment 2A Name: Off Goward Gravel to Prospect
Deets: 1.84km, 26m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM & KOM are irrelevant!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/17775754

This one is easy as a Sunday morning! It picks up where the second segment last week concludes (sweet, you can ride those segments again!) Says 26m elevation but that's pretty suspect... It's a slight uphill, but only a few meters.

When finished, head left on Prospect Lake Rd, and continue to Meadowbrook which takes us to...

Segment 2B Name: Executive First Climb
Deets: 0.45km, 34m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM is Eva Poidevin with a 1:53 & KOM is Marc-André Fortier with a 1:21!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/4587949

🔥🔥🔥 TIMED / CHALLENGE SEGMENT! This means the times count - if this matters to you! 🔥🔥🔥

It's a short one, starts with a good kick and carries on, then levels out for the second half. I think the elevation is off on this one too, definitely feels like more than 34m anyway!

It's pretty interesting to see the range of dates on the leaderboard, let's see if someone in our group can set some new top times - good luck!!

Suggested Routing

As mentioned, simply ride the segments from last week, how convenient is that! It's just a short jaunt down Prospect Lake Road to get to Meadowbrook, and 2B begins at the end of that where you see the road go up. 😬

When finished, feel free to explore some of the trails, and keep going up into Hartland, or double back. If looking for a shorter adventure, you can pop over to Killarney Lake, although be mindful a few of the trails over there are no-bike, but it's a pretty spot!

On the way back (or there) there are a few connectors you can try out, I'd recommend going up Goward and hitting the 'Mountain Road' trail that connects Excelsior to Quayle: https://www.strava.com/segments/35844222

Happy riding!! 

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

This week we started out along
the Colquitz trail - love this windy
route beside the bubbling creek

This rickety clackikty
bridge is iconic too!

Another favourite section, the windy
bit just after the descent (and over
another tiny bridge!)

And of course there's this kicker
just after the pond....
Who got a nice surprise? 😂

The Gravel Edition is just a wee bit more photogenic, wouldn't you say? 🤩

So great having you all on for the Gravel Edition of the Segment Challenge to wrap up the year - good luck on Executive this week!! 🤢

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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