Introduction

This competition will run from April 2022 until October 2022 and is open to all Sotonia club members.

Each month will feature a different segment, within the typical riding range of Sotonia members. There will be a variety of segments, including 2 hill climbs, 3 rollers and 2 flat segments.

Champions will be announced in four categories:

  • Overall points winner: female
  • Overall points winner: male
  • Overall points winner: female U16
  • Overall points winner: male U16

Riders must be under 16 on the first day of the competition (1 April 2022) in order to be eligible for the U16 category.

 

Event rules

  1. To enter the competition, you must join the Sotonia Strava segment of the month Strava club: https://www.strava.com/clubs/SSOTM2022
  2. Record your ride at any time during the relevant month, but before 1800 on the penultimate day of the month*. 
  3. All rides must be solo and on a regular road bike (or gravel bike if you prefer!). No TT bikes, no leadouts, no e-bikes. 
  4. In the event of two identical times by riders in the same category, points will be awarded to both riders.
  5. Ride the segment as many times as you want: only your fastest ride will count.
  6. Sotonia’s insurance with Cycling UK covers the club’s third party liability; however, all riders are:
    • required to obey the rules of the road
    • advised to gain their own personal cycling insurance
  7. The organiser’s decision is final in all cases.
 * Note that the cut off time is 1800 on the penultimate day, not the last day of the month. This is to allow us time to analyse the data and award points before the monthly stats roll over.

 

Points allocation

Points can be earned in any or all of three ways:

  1. Fastest time.  Points will be awarded to the fastest 15 in each of the four gender/age categories, in descending order: 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
  2. Joker. Each rider has one joker to play across the season. Examine the segments in the competition and work out which segment you think you will perform best in. Playing your joker will multiply your points score for that month by 150% (half numbers will be rounded up). You must play your joker in the first 3 days of the month. Send Tim Cooke an email on info@sotonia.co.uk with the subject title “Segment of the month joker” and your name in the body of the message, but make sure you do it in the first 3 days of the month. If your email is received after the end of the third day, your joker will not count.
  3. Consistency. If you complete segments in two consecutive months, you earn 2 bonus points. In three consecutive months: 3 bonus points. In four: 4 etc. If you miss a month, the ticker resets and you can start earning again by riding in 2 consecutive months.

 

Results

Results will be posted on the Sotonia Facebook site and the Sotonia website each month, to show the achievements each month and the current competition winner

 

The segments

April

Red Shoot roller. 1.7 km of rolling road through a beautiful part of the Forest. Reward yourself shortly afterwards by a well earned pint at the Red Shoot pub.

May

Poles Lane Westerly. 3.5km of lovely flat road just south of Winchester. Find yourself a nice westerly wind and settle in.

June

Cow Drove Hill. The first of the climbs. Just under 500 metres at just under 9% just outside of Kings Somborne. This will make your legs burn.

July

Flat on Forest Road. Something to help your legs recover after June’s hill climb. 2.5km of flat, out near Roger Penny Way. Can you steal Red Walters’ KoM?

August

Longstock park roller. Transport yourself back to a bygone age in this forgotten backwater. Actually not so forgotten: it’s got a lovely Waitrose cafe up near the top! 1.8km at an average 1.3%.

September

Beacon Hill. This will test who’s kept their form going over the summer holidays. 1.6km at 6% will make you wish you’d kept up the interval training.

October

Rhinefield Drive. What a beautiful road to finish the season on. 5km at an average 0.2% (but don’t be deceived – there are some uphill bits).

November

Time to rest up and plan your assault on next season’s competition.

 

And one last thing

If you’ve got some favourite segments, please let us know on info@sotonia.co.uk. If your segment is selected for the 2023 segment of the month competition, we’ll reward you with 5 bonus points to start the season! Each segment must be:

  • safe (no right turns, limited traffic, decent sight lines)
  • within riding distance of a typical Sotonia rider

 

Tim Cooke