That was a fun week - lots of twisty, windy segments to test your navigation skills! And one unexpected 'detour', as a rider was passing through the cemetery there was actually a ceremony happening, so she made it up another way! (I still awarded her points of course!)

Hope you all continue using these routes, and those who missed them this week, check them out! They'll be on the Season 6 Archives page of the site.

This week is a bit of a 'grudge match' for me personally - there's a bit of a repeat of Week #2 going up Executive at Hartland, but this time the segment goes all the way into the park! That's the non-challenge segment.

The challenge segment is a nasty little climb than many will be familiar with, as it's featured in the TS Crossfondo! It's a 'baby head rock' ascent that takes you to Munn. I remember it from my own Crossfondo ride, and having to walk up it... (It was ~2hrs into racing, and having been forced to walk through a waist-deep ditch shortly before!!) I'm pretty sure it'll be in this year's event as well, so no time like the present to give it some practice!!

I was humming and hawing about including this segment since it's a bit of a trek and there's a Cross on the Rock race on Sunday.....but since there's no Wed night Cross Club, I'd encourage those folks to hit these segments instead. 😉

In other news, a few of us rode to the Red Gate on Saturday (the very end of the Goose for those unfamiliar, over 56km of gravel!), and while technically we're not supposed to at this time, you can get through pretty easily.

Fortunately it was a fairly short stretch that was damaged by the Sooke fire last month, and many trees are actually still standing. The floor of the forest is totally burnt, as well as all the moss on the rocks (kind of weird seeing them exposed.) I posted a few pics on my Strava ride, take a peek if interested.

Finally a big thank you goes out to all who've chipped in, I really appreciate it, and goes a long way to helping me keep up the quality of the Segment Challenge!! 🥰

Racing News

This weekend was the Tour de Gatineau in Quebec, the highest ranked women's race in North America! As mentioned last week, our own Katja Verkerk raced as part of the Canadian National Team, and she had some great results, finishing 15th in the Time Trial (1:50 down from the winner), and was 35th in the Road Race, finishing with the main bunch, but I'm told a broken cleat held her back from joining the sprint. Still pretty awesome she's right in there with some of the top pros! She's headed to the Gravel World Champs in a couple weeks as well!

Another local rider racing was Sarah Van Dam, and a flat kyboshed her TT goals, but sprinted to 3rd in the Road Race! There was a crit a few hours ago, but I haven't been able to locate any results, but would expect SVD to be up there in the finish!

The USCX series is on, and Canadians are kicking butt there, too many to mention this time around, but cool to see!

And finally, I spotted this thread on Reddit.... I think many will be able to relate, tho I'd have to think twice about pulling the person out of the car after something like that!! 😬

HOUSEKEEPING

Notes for the week:

For some reason I'm not getting notifications when mentioned/tagged on IG, but Greg has won the Socialite points the last three weeks! Again, if I don't respond/react, send me a DM to let me know if you make a post! (Yay technology!)

Also as mentioned a couple riders had a little trouble with the segments, but since they made it to the end eventually, I still gave them credit.

And finally Tania from the B's forgot to make her ride public last week, but she's been added in, and turns out she rode the 2nd fastest time, nicely done!

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! 😁

2 <- 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! 😊

Checked out the new Moby album, I like some of his poppy stuff, but this is a more 'mellow' album, and not really my jam. 🎶

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

Hello A's! We'll keep this short since there were no timed segments.

Note that all who rode the 'Bonus' segment should have 15pts added to their 'B' segment bonus section.

The B's

The Women's B group is the complete opposite of last season, and instead of it being solely Renata, she's currently got 8 other competitors!! So great to see, keep it up!

The C's

Howdy C riders! =)

BONUSES & CURSES

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

No QOM or KOM this week of course!

• Early Bird was Mark D once again
• No Secret Time this week as well
• Greg collected 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 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 newest supporter, Oddburger Victoria - yummy vegan fast food, located at Blanshard & Fisgard, and I've got a bunch of $25 Gift Cards! Looking at the spread, I'll go with 1x A, 3x B, and 2x C, and the lucky riders are:

Dan Blackwell

Megan Thomas
Kirsty H
Joel Wheeler

Tanya Binette
Anne Edwards

Congrats!! I'll email you tomorrow with the details. 😉

Check out all the prizes (so far) - just added is a VERY cool prize from our own Louis, who's an artist, and will do two pencil portraits, check them out: https://abouttheride.ca/victoria-segment-challenge-season-6-prize-list/

Week #4 - Sept 23rd - Sept 29th - A Hardy Climb in Hartland

We're headed back to Hartland, and this week we're going into the park! Our first segment is a longer version of the timed segment from a couple weeks ago, and the second segment, which is a Timed/Challenge segment, takes us up one of the lesser ridden climbs in Hartland (which the TS Crossfondo tends to love using!) The nice thing is that you can give it 100% on this, with very little chance of running into another person...and if you do, they're most likely doing the same thing!

Segment 4A Name: Executive trail, up
Deets: 1.14km, 84m elevation gain.
This is an existing segment, QOM & KOM are irrelevant!
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/748383

We're all familiar with the start of this one now! Let's continue on...there are some steep bits, and a nice root in the middle of one of them...but ride or hike-a-bike, we shall persevere and get to Hartland!! The segment terminates conveniently at the Regional Trail.

Segment 4B Name: Baby Heads
Deets: 1.71km, 25m elevation gain (definitely not correct, closer to 70m!)
This is an existing segment, QOM is Liz Carr with a 5:13, KOM is Keith Encinas with a 4:02, Local Legend is Bicycle Dave with 4 efforts.
Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/10399270

Here we go - reminder this is a Timed/Challenge segment!

You'll need to turn right on the Regional Trail after 4A to get to the start of this one. If going for a good time, best continue down the Regional Trail for a bit to ensure you don't trigger the start prematurely, then turn around and get a bit of a run at it.

From there, it's go time! The elevation profile on the segment is definitely incorrect! It starts off with a bit of a downhill, but then goes up, and a hard up, and the segment ends at the top! It's called Baby Heads because of the rocks on the trail, which are baby head sized. It'll be a good ride...or hike!

Here's another version of this, which I decided not to use because you may not wish to exit the park on Westridge, but the elevation profile is much more accurate: https://www.strava.com/segments/33088005

Suggested Routing

You'll want to reference Week #2 for routing, the Week #1 segments lead up nicely as well!

Once you're done, of course you can exit the way you came in, or continue down one of the trails - there's one going to Eagle's Lake Rd (here's a segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/26005227 ), or Lakeridge Pl, or Westridge Pl (which is where the TS Crossfondo typically exits, also in the example link above.)

From there you can head up Munn to Kallie's Trail for a fun descent into Thetis (I suggest taking the trail to the right, much less technical than what we came up last year for the finale!) Or scoot down Munn a bit, and get the gravel portion of Highland Rd ( https://www.strava.com/segments/16604885 ) which also takes you to Thetis.

I noticed our own Markus K did a loop through here last year as part of a Segment Challenge ride, you could also copy this route if looking for a longer day on the bike: https://www.strava.com/activities/9934500862/overview

Happy riding!! 

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

Once you got past the Donwood hike...
...a more welcoming trail!

A trail at the end of
a cemetery!
It used to be hardpack, nice little
extra challenge with the cedar chips.

Some tight, twisty singletrack
to get you to the top!

I hope everyone stopped
to enjoy the view at the end
of Del Monte!

Week #3 is a wrap, and here we go into Week #4 - should be another fun challenge!!

I usually keep to myself, but a few people have asked what I do for a living...and you might not be surprised to learn I'm an independent web designer! If you or someone you know is looking to refresh, update or manage a site, feel free to send me a note!

And is anyone else watching the TV series 'From'? Season 3 just started, still trying to figure out what's going on with the show... 🤔🤣

Safe and speedy riding all! 🚲

- Dave

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If you ever have any questions,
feel free to simply hit reply!