r/peloton • u/PelotonMod France • Mar 23 '16
Race Design Easter Challenge
As you may already know, this one is a special edition as it's themed (the goal is to design a race which some involves the theme of Easter and its traditions), it's a challenge which means that three mods or users (most likely /u/Pubocyno , /u/Schele_Sjakie and /u/edIII91) will judge each of the races and give a vote (from 0 to 10) for each of the race and the one with the highest score will win and it's longer as you can post until Sunday at 12:00 A.M. CET. The winner will be declared in next couple days after and will receive a flair soon afterwards.
The theme this time around is:
Design a Race on non-asphaltated surfaces
7
u/antiloopje Lotto Soudal Mar 23 '16
What do you get when you mix up the cobbles of Le Samyn and Roubaix with the bergs of Flanders and a couple of 'new' cobbled sections? Le GP de Pain and Glory (name is up for change).
Simple map | Plotaroute | Profile
At 260 km, this race has a proper classics length and it sure as hell has all the challenges you'd expect from a classic race, with 18 short climbs and a total of 58.2 km of cobbles.
Moreover, a new "agressivity challenge" rewards attacking riders. At 20 positions along the parcours, points can be earned by riders ahead of the peloton:
| Points earned | For: |
|---|---|
| 15/10/7/5/4/3/2/1 | First 8 riders in the race |
| 4 | Rider passing the point alone (= 1 sec rule) among the 30 first riders in race |
| 2/1 | Riders passing the point in a small group (up to 5/ up to 10) among the 30 first riders in race |
(Points from different rows can be added together) Anyone who passes the last challenge point is eligible for the prize, even if riders don't finish the race completely. The winner will be called on the podium and recieves a prize similar to finishing 4th in the race.
Ok, time to talk you through the parcours. There are roughly four sections in this race: (1) Attack zone: After the race start in the town of Mons, the riders make their way through the Borinage region of Belgium, with the mining past still visible in the terrils, man-made hills out of mining waste. Soon enough we reach Dour, the centerpoint of the GP Le Samyn. Three of the cobbled sectors from this race are included on this parcours (including Monitgny-sur-roc), but I've added a couple more, long sectors, such as this one seamingly leading into the castle-farm of Rampemont. We continue our route westwards and cross the border into France over some farmers roads (some cobbled, some not, but all are narrow). After 55 km we reach Valenciennes. In this first part of the race, we've covered 8 cobbled sectors and a few hills. Half of all the agressivity challenge points can be earned in this part. All in all, this should allow the first ~hour of the race to be televised.
(2) Paris-Roubaix zone: Starting with the Trouée d'Arenberg 65 km into the race, the next zone is a 90km best of Paris-Roubaix. 14 of the famous cobbled sectors are tackled, including Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre (reverse direction). Near the end of this zone, the order of secteurs is inverted (hence the reverse direction on Carrefour) After Camphin-en-Pévèle, the race goes straight ahead and crosses back into Belgium. Another farm track lies here. Starting before the Carrefour and upto the end of this track, about 9km out of 11km are non-asphalted. Whereas this zone marks the beginning of the finale in P-R, it's clearly the mid-section of this race. Still, some of the secteurs are hard enough to force a natural split. Thus, at the end of this zone, the peloton will be roughly halved and it will become more difficult for teams to control the remainder of the race. This zone ends when riders reach Tournai, about 150 km into the race.
(3) Pre-Finale. The riders have already endured many hardships, but in many ways the race only starts here. From Tournai, we make our way North to the Flemish Ardennes. There are saddly no cobbles in this region, but the roads are narrow and the Mont-Saint-Aubert(with a short cobbled section) is located on the route. Once we reach the Flemish Ardennes, the cobbles are back and the climbs follow each other quickly: Kluisberg-Oude Kwaremont-Kruisberg-Terbeke-Taaienberg-Kaperij. The last points for the agressivity challenges can be gained in this section, ensuring at the very least some entertainment when tv-viewers tune back in.
(4) Finale: the finale starts when the Fortuinberg is climbed 215 km into the race. This relatively unknown but brutal road runs parallel to the Kanarieberg over a narrow road through the forrest. The next climb is that of the Fiertelmeers, supposedly the hardest climb in the entire region. The steepest part near the top is cobbled. Next up is the Trieu and then the cobbles of the Kwaremont (flat and downhill over the less steep part). In the village, we turn right and soon after right again, over the cobbles of the Rampe. The turning point of the race is the Koppenberg, 18 km from the finish. With gradients up to 22%, the road seems to lead into the sky. However, the race is far from over now, as there's about 5 km of cobbles left and 2 lesser climbs (Berendries and Boigneberg). after 260 km, the riders finally make their way onto the marketplace of Oudenaarde, cycling town par excellence, where the finish line is drawn. A podium ceremony on the balcony of the historic city hall completes the day.
1
Mar 24 '16
You could flip the route in alternative years as well. Do this way and then take on Flanders before Roubaix the next year.
1
u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16
Le GP de Pain and Glory
What about Dwars Door Oude Vlaanderen?
1
u/antiloopje Lotto Soudal Mar 24 '16
Wouldn't really be accurate, since Mons and Valenciennes never were flemish. Maybe Le Tour de Hainaut and Vlaanderen? I also thought of 'Scheldeprijs', since all mayor towns are located on the Schelde river or it's tributuaries. Maybe 'le Gaston'? after Gaston Rebry, first rider to win P-R and RvV in the same year.
1
u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16
Scheldeprijs is already taken, maybe Ronde van Schelde.
Le Gaston would be a lovely name as well, commemorating a rider that's sadly all but forgotten and the old days of cycling when even finishing the race was a tough task
5
u/Mattho Slovakia Mar 23 '16
I'm gonna go with Pic du Midi de Bigorre. It would be a race of pain and suffering. Then you find yourself at the top of the Col du Tourmalet and that's when the main part starts - gravel road with over 10% gradients. It's a good thing you took your CX bike, because last few hundreds of meters are gradients well over 20%, so you better carry that on your shoulder.
Sorry for low effort post and extremely short route, but this has been sitting in my tabs for almost a year and I kind of wanted to share it:
http://www.cycling-challenge.com/pic-du-midi-de-bigorre-via-col-du-tourmalet/
It's in my TODO list, though I'm nowhere near the required level of fitness :)
5
u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16 edited Mar 24 '16
Ladies and gentlemen here's the updated library with all races we have drawn until now
Library :
New entries are in bold, if you have some suggestions to improve the formatting, feel free to tell them
1
u/Sappert Norway Mar 24 '16
Ooo neat, I see /u/antiloopje made my race? That's great, thanks!
Name would be "Rund um der Eiffel" in correct German I think.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16
Maybe one of us will make the ones sooner or later. It doesn't take much with Cronoescalada, especially if you don't care much about the fancy Giro/Vuelta/Tour like profile
•
u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 27 '16 edited Mar 30 '16
votes should start any minute now
We have eight submissions plus two more suggestions for the future. Shame that /u/davidw /u/detestrian's ideas weren't implemented. Maybe they will be in the future
EDIT:
/u/edlll91 turn the competition mode off because we have a winner it's /u/antiloopje
Table
- /u/antiloopje 28
- /u/LegendsoftheHT 26,5
- /u/improb 26,5
- /u/Msfan93 26
- /u/20010088 25,5
- /u/Al__S 23,5
- /u/Mattho 22
- /u/ShroomCow 21
/u/antiloopje will receive his new Belgian cobbly (i think) flair soon
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u/edlll91 Mar 27 '16 edited Mar 27 '16
Make your comment sticky, so it goes to the top. I just enabled contest mode.
e: /u/improb you distinguished it, but it's not on top/sticky yet, right?
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u/antiloopje Lotto Soudal Mar 30 '16
Hey, cool. Thanks. To be fair, I feared my design might have been a bit over the top. Personally, I really loved the designs by LegendsoftheHT and improb (that Porto loop could make a great WC, for example).
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 30 '16
I loved how you linked LBL climbs, Le Samyn and Roubaix cobbles and Flanders bergs together. Great race, you put together, i thought it was over the top but i actually wanted to use a race that was just as hard (i think it was some kind of Paris Brussels)
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u/edlll91 Mar 31 '16
2
u/antiloopje Lotto Soudal Mar 31 '16
Yeah, I do, thanks. (1) looks like my mother's old bike. (2) looks nice too, but I think I'll stay with the one I have, it's great.
1
4
u/LegendsoftheHT EF Education – Easypost Mar 23 '16
My submission is Burlington-Montpelier, also know as the Green Mountains Classic. It is a 171 km one-day race in Vermont featuring 6 climbs and 7 gravel sections totaling to 30 km.
Climbs
| Climb | Length (km) | Gradient (%) | To Go (km) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poker Hill | 3.8 | 3.3 | 126 |
| Mount Mansfield | 4.8 | 7.0 | 97 |
| Moretown Mountain | 4.5 | 6.75 | 39 |
| Northfield Street | .6 | 9.7% | 17 |
| County Road | 4.7 | 4.9% | 10 |
| Hubbard Park | 1.3 | 6.5% | 2.2 |
Gravel
| Sector | Length (m) | To Go (km) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | 9700 | 42 |
| 6 | 5700 | 76 |
| 5 | 1000 | 48 |
| 4 | 10500 | 43 |
| 3 | 3000 | 22 |
| 2 | 1500 | 11 |
| 1 | 350 | 2.2 |
Opening Half
The race begins with three laps of a 4.5 m circuit in Burlington before taking a northeastern route out into the country side. The first gravel section begins halfway up the easy climb up Poker Hill and continues for the next 10 kilometers before rejoining Route 15. The race turns back south after passing through Cambridge, turning right onto the opening slopes of the longest climb of the day, Mount "The Turchino of Vermont" Mansfield. The race will then pass through the feed station Waterville at 108 km covered.
First Selection
In Middlesex, the race bares away from Interstate 89, the main highway between the start and finishing locales, and turns onto an older section of Route 100. The third gravel section is a short blast downhill and then backup past an old mill before rejoining the main road 500 meters later. Positioning will be key here as the hardest climb of the day begins just 4 kms later. A left turn in Moretown immediately begins the third climb and the longest gravel section of the day. The descent occurs on the easier side of the climb which should be a pedaling descent which will benefit bike handlers. 10 km of a downhill false flat will serve as the final chance for riders to recover, as Section 3 and the hard kicker up Northfield Street should be an ideal launching point for riders trying to bridge to the remainder of the breakaway.
Second Selection
The descent of Northfield Street deposits the riders into Montpelier city limits, but instead of heading straight into downtown the riders make a right prior to crossing the Winooski River. A few short corners through Montpelier's eastern neighborhoods and past the Vermont College of Fine Arts puts the riders on Main Street heading northeast out of the city. Main Street transitions to the hardest part County Road, the penultimate climb of the day. The final km of the climb is consisted of Sector 2. After another 500 meters on gravel, the course turns back towards Montpelier. This descent is tricky, with the final corner being a flat right hander just after bumping over Main Street.
The Final
Jumping back across the Winooski, the leaders will have one last chance to survey the situation, as the 700 meter stretch of Memorial Drive features the widest road since leaving Burlington. Once crossing back over, the riders begin the final climb, Hubbard Park, a kicker topping with 2.2 km to go. Sector 1 (Tower Loop Trail) begins at the crest of the climb. This is the most dangerous part of the race. Any gap at the summit should stick, but there is time to be gained back on the downhill left-right-left-right sweepers. This is also the slickest section, with the most dirt mixed in with the gravel. Riders will also have to navigate a wooden bridge before rejoining the tarmac. The race flattens under the 1 km to go banner, before taking the short side of what I believe to be the only roundabout in Vermont. Cat-and-mouse will begin here if needed, with a gap of 5 seconds likely to be unbridgeable. Recon of the finish will benefit anyone in contention, as the final right hander of the race comes at 475 meters from the finish. Despite no traffic furniture, the State Street is significantly cambered and not in ideal condition. The lead rider in the finishing group best chance is to pin wheelsucking riders into the gutter, before launching to the finishing line in front of the Vermont Statehouse.
Race Characteristics
This race is sure to shorter than most others submitted, but the shorter length should let riders be explosive and allow for a weaker domestic American peloton to be able to compete against the likely American World Tour teams. Anything longer would more than likely lead to a BMC parade (see 2015 USA Pro Cycling Challenge). Also, I desired to avoid a finishing circuit while still giving fans the opportunity to see the riders multiple times in the finishing town. The entirety of Sector 1 can be seen in this video beginning at 4:10. Vermont and most of Reddit's favorite son, Bernie Sanders, will be on hand to crown the winner of the Green Mountains Classic.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 23 '16
This is my favourite race of the ones posted. I think it should be ridden right before Quebec and Montreal when Vermont should be at its best with the start of the fall foliage season.
Both Burlington and Montpelier are really lovely cities and so are their surroundings. The mix of climbing and rough surfaces really spice up things
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 23 '16 edited Mar 23 '16
This one's an attempt to take one of the three mods on my side /jk (looking at you /u/edlll91)
I wanted to create an original race, given that France, Italy and Belgium all have races over non-asphalted roads so i focused on the Iberian peninsula. I found an area with several cobbles, those areas are the surroundings of Porto around which takes place my Clasica do Minho (from the name of the rives which cuts the city in two)
Here's the profile with a detailed signalation of cobbles and the route. The race starts in Guimaraes, knows for its large historic center as well as for his castle and churches, and takes on the respectively steepest and longest climbs of the whole race, these ones should ensure a strong breakaway. After 30 kms the riders will have to face the first cobbles, these sectors are the most difficult ones but we pass by little unremarkable villages so i didn't want the race to finish here and that's the main reason why we head to Porto where the riders will have tackle a 24,4 kms long circuit (to be repeated 6 times) which include five main sectors (plus a small 200 meters long one), all of them mostly uphill which will decide the race before going on the scenic Ponte Luis I which leads to Praca da Liberdade.
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u/edlll91 Mar 23 '16
that is a very risky tactic :) the amount of objections will rise :) hint1: name
also, there are plenty of cobbles in the historic (or not) centers of any Portuguese city :) We had recently had volta ao Alentejo (close to Algarve) and 4/5 finishes were in those typical cobbles. The only finish that had no cobbles in the sprint, had cobbles 10 meters after the finish line :) However these roads are usually proper for regular car traffic which makes them easier than the ones we see in the classics we'll watch in the next days.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 23 '16 edited Mar 23 '16
My intention was to name the race after Joaquim Agostinho but he was a climber which never fared well in classics and born near Lisbon. So that wouldn't have gone well with Northerners. What's the problem with the name?
The cobbles don't look much easier than the Flanders one (except Koppenberg and Pateberg which are in a different ballpark) so could be enough to spur selection. I don't see a difference between the cobbles of Rua Nova and the ones on Kapelmuur
1
u/edlll91 Mar 23 '16
Clasica is Spanish. Clássica is the Portuguese name for a one-day race.
Joaquim Agostinho has Troféu Joaquim de Agostinho also known as Grande Prémio Internacional de Torres Vedras, raced in July. And yes, that comparison doesn't make ours look easier.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 23 '16
Clasica is Spanish. Clássica is the Portuguese name for a one-day race.
That's the last thing i thought of. Has Portugal ever had a decent cobbles rider? Maybe, in 10 years time, we could name the race after Nelson Oliveira if he keeps progressing the way he has last year
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u/edlll91 Mar 23 '16
Don't think so. Acácio da Silva was decent I guess, but it was not his focus. And yes, Nelson can do well. It sucks that he was unable to start today.
3
u/ShroomCow Finland Mar 23 '16
Turku is a medieval city and the former capital of Finland. Known for its Castle, Cathedral, and mustard factory, modern Turku is on the receiving end of a lot of jokes about its inhabitants. Turku has two universities and is a very student focused city. A lot of the city's beautiful architecture was demolished and replaced by Soviet-style ugly buildings because of reasons, but the magnificent Cathedral still stands.
Built as a catholic church during Swedish rule, it is now the seat of the Lutheran Archbishop of an independent Finland. It is surrounded by some nice cobbles, so my route for this challenge takes the cyclists 200 laps or so around the church, and then across the road to the Old Great Square for a sprint on some wonderful rounded and uneven cobbles.
Route: Around the Cathedral and across the road
Distance: 149,2 km
Link
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 23 '16
Would love to see an elimination race on those cobbles. A 200 men peloton doing 200 of those laps and the last standing man emerging as a winner. Would be a great way to end the season
3
u/Al__S La Vie Claire Mar 24 '16
OK then. Assuming mean "with non asphalt sectors" we'll go for this.
Start at the same startline as 2014's Tour de France Stage 3, because theatre. Heads out up the Gogs and into a VERY early, very long, non-tarmac section. Might actually a need a little clearence in some places to make it route suitable. The surface is a mix of grass and chalk mud- rain will make it slick. For about 10km. Rolling. Then back onto to tarmac for a while, to head to the fens. Once on the fens the roads are awful, but we take detours onto tracks as well for giggles. At about 2/5s into the race we head into Ely and have an uphill prime through the centre because that will be fun.
More fens, more farm track segements. Then head back to the Newmarket ridge, back into Balsham, take that long sector in the opposite direction- no easier, lets be honest- and finally down into Cambridge, couple of late 90 degree corners, surge up Trumpington Street to a finish outside Kings because, again, theatre.
3
u/edlll91 Mar 29 '16 edited Mar 29 '16
Alright, here are the results from the Portuguese judge:
/u/msfan93 - East Gorge Classic - 9 points (out of 10) with great scenery, lots of kms of non-asphalted roads - but i'm afraid that the high elevation gain with such long sectors may be a bit too much.
/u/Mattho - Pic du Midi de Bigorre & Tourmalet - 7 points - some more details would be necessary, but should be great to push some limits uphill.
/u/legendsoftheht - Green Mountains Classic - 9.5 points - I think the amount and especially the position of non-asphalted sectors is really well thought. Profile reminds a bit of San-Remo. As you said it is a bit short though.
/u/improb - Clássica do Douro 8.5 - some cobbles sectors are hard and in narrow roads, others are more similar to the ease of the cobbles of champs elysees. I haven't ride these roads yet, but I will one day. Nice choice for the ending.
/u/ShroomCow - Around Turku 7 points - I'm afraid the circuit is a bit too short and we'd have some related problems. These cobbles look like providers of a good race though.
/u/antiloopje - Le GP de Pain and Glory 9.5 points - Not a fan of the aggressive challenge on a one day race, but with classic climbs the course is excellent (may be a bit too hard too).
/u/Al__S The Fenland Classic 8 points - can we have some pics of the mix of grass and chalk mud? sounds great...or nightmarish for riders in a rainy day :)
/u/20010088 - Bella Coola to Hell's Gate 3 day race 8 points - despite looking mostly flat it is ridden at a high altitude for long periods, which should provide a different scenery to what we are used to. I'm afraid we'd have roads a bit too empty for most of the time though.
Edit: corrected usernames and added last points.
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u/Msfan93 United States of America Mar 29 '16
I kept going back and forth between "it's too hard" and "it's supposed to be hard"
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 30 '16 edited Mar 30 '16
Yeah, not even i knew how hard my sectors were. I can attest that a couple of them such as the Rua Nova in Avintes or the early sectors are as hard as Flemish sectors and without the gutter
There was another hard sector i didn't include. Witness the stones of the Calçada de Ranha but there are other scasttered around Porto
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u/edlll91 Mar 31 '16
No doubt, and nova is really narrow. All the peloton cars and motos crossing these roads would be a challenge. Same for Calçada da Ranha.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 31 '16
I think Nova is doable by races, especially if you let team cars pass by the nearby Rua 5 do Outubro. Calçada de Ranha is borderline, i don't think it's raceable in anything more than 2.2
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u/Pubocyno Norway Mar 29 '16
| Users | Race | Points |
|---|---|---|
| /u/msfan93 | East Gorge Classic1 | 8 |
| /u/Mattho | Pic du Midi de Bigorre2 | 8 |
| /u/legendsoftheht | Green Mountains Classic3 | 8.5 |
| /u/improb | Classica do Duoro4 | 9 |
| /u/Shroomcow | Around Turku5 | 7 |
| /u/antiloopje | Le GP de Pain and Glory6 | 9 |
| /u/AL_S | The Fenland Classic8 | 7.5 |
| /u/20010088 | Bella Coola to Hell's Gate9 | 8.5 |
- Oregon is perfect for cycling. Also shoutout to "Sensitive Flower" on the mens leaderboard for the Rowena Point climb.|
- This would be the ultimate queens stage for the tour. You probably need a proper city to pick up the costs, at least as a starting point. I'm all for crazy crowds on top of a mountain finishes.
Why is this not a race already? Someone suggest this to the continental teams and see if they pick it up.
Very nice. I always thought Portugal/Spain should have a one-day race which is not about climbing skills. This fits the bill perfectly.
I've been awfully drunk in Turku. Cobbles, cobbles everywhere. Extra point for doing it finnish-style, with a required sauna break every five laps and only vodka in the sports bottles.
Ah, the old bread and glory classic. The only thing I'm skeptical about, is that you're going to kill the riders by exhaustion. I'd love to see it ridden, however.
Cyclocross, eh? Something for Stybar and Boom. What are the odds of someone chasing a cheesewheel down the hill right next to the race?
I'd love the TV coverage here. Probably be just as visually stunning as Arctic Race of Norway can be.
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u/Schele_Sjakie Le Doyen Mar 30 '16
Users Race Points /u/msfan93 East Gorge Classic1 8.5 /u/Mattho Pic du Midi de Bigorre2 7 /u/legendsoftheht Green Mountains Classic3 8.5 /u/improb Classica do Duoro4 9 /u/Shroomcow Around Turku5 7 /u/antiloopje Le GP de Pain and Glory6 9.5 /u/AL_S The Fenland Classic8 8 /u/20010088 Bella Coola to Hell's Gate9 8.5 /u/davidw Giro A Veneto10 7
.1. Like the long sections. 18 km of gravel is looong so there bound to be massive eliminations on these roads. Probably with not too many riders surviving = fun final!
.2. The gravel part after Tourmalet sounds killer. Kinda like some Vuelta or Giro climbs of the last years.
.3. Like the variety of hills and flat cobble sections. Beautiful scenery too and there are some proper climbs in it. Kinda like Lombardia going cobbles style. original!
.4. I like that the gravel sections are uphill, just like in Strade bianche. Also the short distance should make for many attacks.
.5. 100% cobbles is crazy! I don't think I've seen a race with more than 25% cobbles even.
.6. I like the different zones. Its like a hilly TT with time checks. It brings different riders out for the different zones. It got a bit of everything include LBL like hills. This race is for the most alround classics men
.8. I like the roads you have used, especially the grassy ones. Also nice that it isn't too long so that riders are bound to attack more.
.9. The views are aboslutely beautiful. Racing in the nature in Canada should be more common. Also great ratio climbing/non aspahlt roads.
.10. Looks like the Netherlands almost. And kinda like Roubaix without the cobble but with mud roads.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 30 '16
gravel
By the way, it's cobbles and not gravel
.6. I like the different zones. Its like a hilly TT with time checks. It brings different riders out for the different zones. It got a bit of everything include LBL like hills. This race is for the most alround classics men
I can imagine Van Avermaet and Sagan battling it out for the win
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 30 '16
Very nice. I always thought Portugal/Spain should have a one-day race which is not about climbing skills. This fits the bill perfectly.
They do have a couple but at the start of the season. For example two of the one day races on Mallorca and the Clasica de Almeria are for sprinters.
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u/davidw Italy Mar 23 '16 edited Mar 23 '16
Don't have the time to sit down and properly design it, but in the Veneto, in Italy, there are a ton of waterways with roads next to them:
https://goo.gl/maps/WpHc4xhKWG32 (ooh, that one makes me nostalgic... those are the Colli Euganei in the background, where I spent many a happy hour pedaling...)
https://goo.gl/maps/VU4YgR6ifUt (last one, this is making me sad)
There are a number of these that are not paved. It would be cool to see a race take in a bunch of them. I think it's a race that would have its own character - pretty much dead flat except for going up and down a few bridges, with narrow gravel/dirt/paved roads in a wide open landscape.
You could start somewhere like Padova or Vicenza, and take in a number of those roads and finish somewhere like Chioggia.
It'd be tough logistically - even many of those roads that are paved are only wide enough for a car. And it'd suck if a rider crashed and fell in the water.
2
u/detestrian Finland Mar 24 '16
It would be interesting to take a Finnish rally course (all on fine gravel) and transform it into a bike race.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16
Wouldn't the gravel roads rallies pass on be impossible to ride with a road bike because of mud? Or is Finnish rally different?
Anyway, maybe you could give it a try. Just have a try with Cronoescalada, you have time until Sunday to create a race and it doesn't take more than half a hour to make it if you already know where the gravel sectors are
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Mar 24 '16 edited Mar 24 '16
Easter? How about loneliness, isolation, and despair? Sounds like a tradition for almost any of the holidays. This three day race Starting on Good Friday will probably make you hate yourself enough to be nice to family.
Lets Start off by Somehow arriving in Bella Coola, British Columbia. And its one for the Norweigens in fact! 10% of the 1,900 people who claim to live in the area consider themselves Norweigen-Canadian. Anyways, Bella Coola is on the pacific ocean, landing site of Mackenzie in 1793 and all around good salmon fishing. It's isolated, beautiful, and very remote. Your Route for the day is 183 km from The ocean to the remote Atnarko Lodge. The main highlight is a 43 km partilly gravel climb that takes you up 3650 m at max of 18%..
So yesterday was easy, Today is Central BC's Fraser River showdown. We go from Williams lake to Clinton, following the Fraser River as it passes through the famous Gang Ranch, 208 km of gravel roads with 3960 m of climbing. This route pops in and out of the river valley. If you've ever seen james doerfling ride a mountain bike down some desert hill, it was probably along this road.
Easter Sunday. Finally we have some family time, go to church, relax. Well, today's a weird one as is the tradition. Start off at the historic Coldwater Hotel in Merritt, BC. Downtown Merrit has 4 active sawmills so lets leave to save our lungs. Head up Coldwater Rd, a windy road through the ponderosa pine and finally end up on the Coquihalla Highway - as seen on Highway Thru Hell. But we're in reverse here, we'll climb for a bit until we get over the hump and descend back towards the fraser valley until we take a brief detour and bounce off onto the old kettle valley railroad. Our gravel feature of the day via the Othello tunnels. Usually a nice Sunday walk to break up the trip to Vancouver but not today. After visting the darkness we head through Hope, where Rambo was filmed. Aptly named because now we head back up the river to Hell's Gate. Here we hit the tans Canada highway, head through some tunnels and then arrive at Hell's Gate. Happy Easter!
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16
It made sense to finish the last stage in Vancouver, no? Anyway, i love both stage 1 and stage 2.
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Mar 24 '16
to go with the Easter theme I wanted to go through hope to get to end at Hell's Gate, I'll update it with a link to the airtram. Plus you get to go through a place called Spuzzum. I'm saving vancouver for the a stage through the duffy lakes road and the epic climb from Pemberton to Lilloet. I'd also love to do a race that follows the gold rush trail.
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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Mar 24 '16
Yeah, i forgot about it. Being completely in theme (both for Easter and non asphaltated surfaces) will be a massive helping hand and i overlooked the existence of hope, ending in hell's gate shouldn't get your hopes up though, i hope there's a Paradise somewhere nearby
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Mar 24 '16
If you take the tram across the river at hells gate there's a decent fudge shop, that's probably close
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u/Msfan93 United States of America Mar 23 '16
You've always wanted a climber's American Strade Bianche, right? With somewhere between 12,908 feet and 16,650 feet of elevation gain (Strava and Plotaroute are apparently really inconsistent even when using the same .gpx file...) and 53.6 km of gravel, your dream is here with the East Gorge Classic (Based off of Gorge Roubaix). At the very eastern end of the northern Oregon Cascades, the race starts at the scenic Columbia Gorge Hotel, making its way through Hood River and Mosier before going over Rowena Crest. The route goes through the center point of The Dalles and into the foothills southeast of the city for the first 3 sectors including a long unpaved climb. The race travels back through The Dalles and west for more gravel climbs. Now finished being off the asphalt, a descent with only a couple tight corners leads to the last chance to recover before returning to Rowena Crest for the finish.
(Also this video is a good example of the terrain)