Tour of Alberta Sept 2/3 - Edmonton

[Coldrsx]

http://tourofalberta.ca

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013

Tour of AlbertaPrologue Festival Edmonton
Churchill Square
10:00AM – 3:00PM Featuring live musical entertainment, big screens, beer gardens, and local food vendors, fun activities for children, merchandise, bike demonstrations, and culinary displays.

Tour of Alberta Family Ride supporting CASA Edmonton
Churchill Square
11:00AM Families are invited to ride a portion of the prologue route through downtown Edmonton to celebrate the Tour of Alberta and help raise funds for CASA, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health. More information can be found at http://tourofalberta.ca/site/public-ride/family-ride/
Under 5 years
Children 5 -16
Over 16 Free
$10.00
$20.00

Tour of Alberta
Kick Off
Media Conference Edmonton City Hall
1:30PM

Opening Gala Shaw Conference Centre
Edmonton
Cocktails at 6:00PM
Dinner at 7:00PM Come along and enjoy the ride with fine dining at the official team unveiling of the 2013 Tour of Alberta.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Tour of Alberta
Prologue Festival Edmonton
Churchill Square
11:00AM – 9:00PM Featuring award presentation ceremonies, live musical entertainment, big screens for race viewing, beer gardens, local food vendors, fun activities for children, merchandise, bike demonstrations, culinary displays, and cheer team performances.
SUBWAY® Edmonton Prologue Capital Start Race Start: 6:15PM
Start and Finish at Churchill Square

Live on

6:00PM – 8:30PM The Tour of Alberta will begin with a Prologue to showcase the racers with a one at a time individual time trial through Alberta’s capital city, where racers fight for seconds for the right to wear the first ever Tour of Alberta leader’s jersey. See the route athttp://tourofalberta.ca/site/prologue/

Tour of Alberta VIP Pro Cycling Experience Hosted by Alex Stieda The ride will follow the five main stages of the route each race day hours in advance of the professionals. Like the professional athletes the participants will be fully supported each of the five days with meals, ride nutrition, mechanical support, and massage therapists at the end of each ride. More information can be found at http://tourofalberta.ca/site/public-ride/vip/

[Coldrsx]

Prologue – Capital Start
Tuesday, September 3 – Edmonton
Race Start: 6:15PM
Start/Finish Location: Sir Winston Churchill Square (99 Street and 102A Avenue)
Distance: 7.3 kilometres

The Tour of Alberta will begin with a Prologue to showcase the racers with a one at a time individual time trial through Alberta’s capital city, where racers fight for seconds for the right to wear the first ever Tour of Alberta leader’s jersey. Starting and finishing at Sir Winston Churchill Square in the heart of downtown Edmonton, this eight-kilometre course will be covered by the individual cyclists in less than 10 minutes. However, those 10 minutes will be action-packed as spectators will see racers navigate tight neighborhoods, bomb down Grierson Hill at 80-kilometres-an-hour, or fight their way up the climb from the North Saskatchewan river valley through the Alberta Legislature grounds back to downtown. The man who conquers all will be the first to etch his name in Tour of Alberta history.

[Airboy]

And word is Peter Sagan of Cannondale is coming after the US Pro tour.
Also coming are 2 of the Canadians that rode in the Tour de France
Ryder Hesjedal and Svein Tuft

I will be riding with one of the Continental teams on Friday in Banff.

[Coldrsx]

City outlines downtown road closures for Tour of Alberta

BY CAILYNN KLINGBEIL, EDMONTON JOURNAL AUGUST 20, 2013 3:02 PM

EDMONTON - The city is warning commuters to plan ahead for Tuesday, Sept. 3, when significant road closures will see numerous routes temporarily shut as Tour of Alberta competitors race through town.

Edmonton hosts the first leg of the word-class professional bicycle race on Sept. 3, with a 7.3-kilometre course that starts and ends at Sir Winston Churchill Square.

“We want folks to plan early, either to come to the race or if it’s unavoidable, to get out of the downtown area a little earlier than they normally would on a business day,” said Ellen Finn, director of the city’s civic events office.

“If you’re not interested in staying for the race, we encourage you to be out of the area by 5 p.m.”

Motorists are advised to expect major delays on all roads from 82nd Street to 112th Street, and 82nd Avenue to 107th Avenue.

There will be limited vehicle access in and out of downtown from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...343/story.html

[sdimedru]

exciting stuff, not a cycling fan myself but I'll head down to check it out.

[Airboy]

Should be exciting, as the Prologue is so short these guys are going to be hammering the whole course. The climb up the hill by the ledge will be a nice spot to watch up close.
Guys like Svien Tuft should do very well on that course.
The only other time to see the pure power of these guys would be in a stage finish sprint. And if rumors are true that Peter Sagan of Cannondale is coming then it should make for an entertaining ride.
Only crappy part is I have to be in Fort Mac all day and only get back to town by 5:00.

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by Airboy

The climb up the hill by the ledge will be a nice spot to watch up close.
.

as somebody who doesn't watch professional exercisers and thus has no idea on what part is the most interesting for specators....would that be the recomended spot?

[Coldrsx]

I am going to go either near the leg or Churchill.

[Airboy]

I will make that call later but more than likely it will be the beer tent. After a Day in Fort Mac I will need a drink.

Too bad Highwood Pass is out this year, would have loved to go watch the climb.

The Teams have been anounced but the actual rider list is still not complete as far as I know. Some are riding the US Pro tour in Colorado this week.

[s211]

I honestly don't want to turn this into a dreaded pothole discussion, but are Edmonton's roads in good enough condition to host something like this? I was there a short while ago, and some roads were almost in too poor a shape to support vehicular traffic, let alone a high end racing bike.

[Daveography]

^ Haha, I had the same thought on my commute in today...and I have thick XC tires and front shocks.

[s211]

Originally Posted by RTA

^ Haha, I had the same thought on my commute in today...and I have thick XC tires and front shocks.

And I downhill bike in Whistler, so I'm used to a few bumps too.

At the speeds those racing bikes get up to, I'd be wearing Depends and full body armour if I were in that race.

[Channing]

Originally Posted by s211

I honestly don't want to turn this into a dreaded pothole discussion, but are Edmonton's roads in good enough condition to host something like this? I was there a short while ago, and some roads were almost in too poor a shape to support vehicular traffic, let alone a high end racing bike.

They ride worse:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris%E2%80%93Roubaix

[240glt]

Originally Posted by s211

And I downhill bike in Whistler, so I'm used to a few bumps too.

At the speeds those racing bikes get up to, I'd be wearing Depends and full body armour if I were in that race.

I've hit some pretty spectacular obstacles at high speed on my Opus. Potholes, unexpected piles of gravel, chunks of 2x4.. ride around Pigeon lake a lot and the frost heaves alone are enough to rattle your molars out, especially at 70+ going downhill.. I think as long as the roads are clean they'll be fine

The scariest for me was trying to beat yellow lights one afternoon on Jasper Ave, pushing about 40 kph... got both front & back wheels stuck in an expansion joint for the LRT roof.. quick thinking and a little hop got me out of it as fast as I went in, but thought for sure I was going down for a minute there

[Airboy]

Cadel Evans, World’s No. 2-ranked Peter Sagan and Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal. All are announced as coming to Edmonton.

Evans and Herjedal have both been to Alberta for WC MTB in Canmore.

For those of you concerned about the Pot Holes, they are all former mountain bikers and if anyone has seen the youtubes of Peter Sagan you know he can ride a bike over most things.

[SHOFEAR]

the more i hear about this event the more i'm liking it. It's pretty cool to have what could turn into a very large event centered in both Edmonton and Calgary.

[240glt]

One of my co-workers has been pivotal in getting this event set up here and the goal is to make it a yearly tour. It won't take long for it to become a very high profile event

[s211]

Originally Posted by Channing

They ride worse:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris%E2%80%93Roubaix

[Airboy]

Allot of the Pros starting to get geared up for the worlds it is the perfect opportunity and event length.

Some of the teams are coming directly from the Tour of Utah, Tour of Poland and the US Pro Tour. They go to the Quebec 2 single day events after here then off to the worlds. I think the Tour of Spain Starts about now though. But Still to have some of the more spectacular riders coming is a great sign that the organizers have done a great job.

I am going to have fun riding with the United Health Care team on Friday in Banff.

One other note. A Junior Rider that won the Banff Bike Fest is going to be riding with one of the pro teams. This was part of the prize for winning.

[Airboy]

So it wasn't the united Health Guys I rode with this weekend, it was the Smart Stop Khaki and those kids are good. The 144 km ride I was on they did in about 3:30.00. Me about 2 hours slower.

Also had a chance to talk with the team owner. This team is very young oldest is 24. The Alberta Rider won the chance to ride with the team after winning Banff Bike Fest. He was also a member of Team Alberta at the Sumer games.

Word is the Peter Sagan of Cannondale is going to make a very serious effort to win this one as he didn't win the US Pro Tour.

The Prologue should be quite exciting. The riders I talked to said this one will hurt a lot of guys because they have to go flat out and not settle like the longer rides.