I wonder if we can hold an ITT on the NW and/or NE ring road sections before they open this fall?
I rode the NW section today on my mountain bike, only because I noticed there was no active work being done and the snowdrifts are manageable (otherwise it's not a good idea and I assume it is somewhat illegal). It's paved and it's billiard-table smooth. The distance from the Country Hills interchange to the Harvest Hills interchange is about 11 km, so good enough for a 20 km out and back with some interesting elevation gains. You can even use the same side for both directions as it's 3 lanes wide so lots of turnaround space. You can't extend the course further east from Harvest Hills Blvd because that is (and will be) a level crossing with Harvest Hills Blvd.
The Northeast section from Deerfoot to 17 Ave SE is supposed to be 21 km with no level crossings, so good enough for a 40km ITT.
I guess it would need cooperation from the Province of Alberta (who is building the NW section) and the Stony Trail Group (who is building the NE section), plus a sanction from the ABA to run a race on a "closed" road.
It would be great to have an ITT where you can concentrate on your race and not being hit by cars while riding on the shoulder or at the turnaround... even if it was just this once. Maybe it has media possibilities?
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Dennis, we still don't have our June 6th ITT venue established. Maybe the city wouldn't mind us using the roads while they are closed? This would be a cool 'one-off' type venue. Could you make several phone calls and see what type of reception you get from the city/Stoney Trail guys/etc.
Trev
Are we planning a 20k or 40k ITT on June 6?
Well, up until your good idea, Alex and I were thinking of doing the race exactly where we did it for our Sept. 2008 ITT, on Retreat Road there since the surface is awesome and the traffic is minimal. We were going to do 2 loops to make it around 25 - 30km. But any distance between 20 and 40 is good. I would prefer 40km since it is kind of a 'standard' distance.
Trev
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