Just for fun we’re going to host a couple of self-directed races this spring and summer. The idea is just to have a good time, direct some traffic onto our trails, and celebrate riders who are pushing themselves to go faster.
Here’s how it works. We’ll create a segment on Strava with our new RVC Race Bunny account and we’ll post it as open on our social channels. You go chase the bunny on your own time, and we’ll keep track of both the men’s and women’s leaderboards. We’ll keep each segment open for 3 weeks and you’re welcome to try it as many times as you want. At the end of the 3 weeks we’ll post up some big kudos to the fastest men’s and women’s time. We’ll also keep track of participation over the entire series… and there may be a few prize draws at the end.
What do you need: basically a Strava App working on a GPS-enabled device and your RVC membership!
Now a few tips:
- Safety first – we know some riders like the competitive angle of Strava and we expect to see people pushing hard. Just ride within your limits!
- Pre-ride – we know that short distance segments can do some squirrely things with GPS so most of our races will be a few kilometers. That means there may be some intersections and the potential for wrong turns. Pre-ride each race so you know where you are going.
- Mind your manners – a Strava race is not an excuse for poor trail etiquette. If you ride the segment on a busy weekend with beautiful weather expect to encounter other parties on the trail. Share the trail! If that means you lose your speed and need to do another lap look at it as a bonus.
- Over-shoot – you may not want to take a big break just before or just after your push on the segment. Speed up before the digital start line and overshoot the finish by a healthy margin. GPS can do frustrating things and this is your insurance policy.
A note about bikes… we don’t mind what bike you ride. This is just for fun and we’re not taking things too seriously so we’re not keeping track. We anticipate the question: “Can I use my fatbike / gravel / singlespeed / e-bike / etc”. The answer as far as we are concerned is yes… ride the bike you have… but if you’re on an e-bike you’re just doing this for fun… e-bike times are not going to count towards the leaderboard.
Solo Strava Race #1 will start at Woolastook with a route that captures all of the work over last fall and this spring on the Shoreline trail. Have a look at our map, and be aware of the turns you need to take along the segment. The remainder of the races over the season will be posted on our social feeds. This segment opens today and we’ll look at the results on June 1st. Have fun!
