I’ve sprouted the idea in my head about bringing back some of the “excursion” rides from a few years ago that @jeremyhaak introduced. The idea was to drive somewhere and do a fairly long, adventurous ride. This way we get to explore some new or seldom used gravel roads and trails.
Was thinking of maybe three rides; one each in June, July, and August.
For June, the weekend of the 22nd-23rd seems the best bet. I’ll probably leave the exact date open between Saturday and Sunday, depending on weather. (with Sunday perhaps the preferred option if both days look good) Initial thought for June is the “Rift Ontario”. Back in 2020, a few of us were signed up for The Rift gravel race in Iceland. The race features around 2,000 m of climbing in a 200 km route, so the idea was to recreate that here. We ended up making a route using a lot of the Hockley Valley to accomplish the elevation goal.
Here’s the route, plus a shorter version. I’ll definitely be going through both routes and making some updates and changes, but this is the rough idea of what to expect. I’m totally on the fence for distance right now. 200 km feels pretty big for my current ride volume, but we’ll see. I could see myself reducing the Hockley valley portion of the short route, but adding back in The Grange sideroad to make a new version of the short route.
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Then looking ahead to July and August, I was thinking of perhaps the route Jeremy made centered in St. Mary’s, maybe in August.
For July, I’d like to try building something from Kincardine. I’d incorporate a bunch of trails in Kincardine (courtesy the Tour of Kincardine route) then do some gravel roads in the region. Start and finish at the beach
I’d love to make it out for this kind of ride. I’m already booked for June 22-23 weekend doing the 24hr so hopefully one of the other months works for me
Sounds awesome Kevin……great planning as always. If I’m able to time wise, I’m in for the adventure rides. I could probably do the grand depart for the BT700 as well (I’ve done the whole BT700 and would do it again if anyone wanted). Cheers!
I second the Durham Destroyer routes. I haven’t ridden them, but it also looks like a few of them start at the same place so they would be good if people wanted different distance options.
Ok, slight change of plans for our first excursion (the Rift Ontario route).
Rather than June 23rd, looking at July 7th instead:
there’s the recently announced club road race on the 23rd. Yes, I figure the overlap of riders for a 200 km gravel ride versus a road race may be minimal, but I still think it’s worthwhile not to overlap. (Heck I’m contemplating giving it a go) Come watch, volunter, or race it.
200 km is pretty long, especially this early in the season. Moving it to the 7th means it will be after the Canada Day 157 km ride. So kinda ramping the distance.
it’s also the 24 hour mountain bike race weekend, so a few folks won’t be able to come.
Hoping I will be available for the Kincardine route! If you want any recommendations on good gravel roads let me know! They are all pretty flat and straight, but I’ve found a couple really pretty ones.
