de Ronde Van Cowtown route info

I hope everyone is getting pumped for Paris Roubaix on Sunday morning! As Trev mentioned one of the ride options after the race coverage is the route of de Ronde Van Cowtown. A few people have reached out to ask what the ride is about and the route.

A bit of background, this route was devised several years ago as an homage to the spring classics, in particular the Tour of Flanders (Ronde de Vlaanderen). It has been held as an informal ride on and off for several years. The route basically traverses much of Calgary and features 18 named climbs that much like the Tour of Flanders are short, steep that will sap your legs over time. It is not an overly long route around 75km.

From a training perspective the best way to approach it is to use the climbs as in effect intervals, with loads of recovery time in between. There are lots of bike paths and city streets that connect the different climbs so it is not a route suited to long steady efforts.

One of the great things about the route is that you are never terribly far from the start so if time, motivation or family commitments require you can peel off at any point and head back to the store or home as need be. The plan is to leave from the shop after the race coverage and breakfast is done. There will be lots of opportunities to regroup as we go. It is a go idea to print out the map as the route is not marked and if you are on your own in a part of town you are not familiar with you may find your own interpretation of the route. There are also loads of other pitches you can throw in if you aren't finding the route challenging enough.

I will post this in the training ride forum as well.

Michael



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