104’s an interesting stage. It’s never flat for a one thing. It kicks off going steeply uphill as the M77 heads north away from the Kuybyshevskoye reservoir, and continues to climb, albeit in a more undulating fashion, as the road passes by Osinovskoy before hanging a long right hander, which is actually the combination of two lesser rights separated by a straight: the effect is to start heading east again, and by the time the road reaches Novonikolayevskiy at seven miles, you’ve pretty much nailed the first climb.
That sets you up nicely for a ten mile descent that’s punctuated by short intervals of flat stuff: but the bottom line is that the highway loses three hundred feet of elevation between Novonikolayevskiy and Chayka where the road crosses the Kazanka river.
Then the fun starts. Leaving aside the steep mad dash down to the finish, the focal point of this stage is the increasingly steep climb between Chayka at seventeen miles, and Zarya at twenty three miles. The ascent is four hundred feet, but it’s the nature of the climb that sets it apart from the rest. Despite a couple of short digs uphill that will have you reaching for the smaller gears, it’s the transition from gentle slope to something much more severe that will have your legs screaming for the sanctuary of the other side. Once you’re over the top however, it’s a straight mile downhill to the finish where the highway crosses the Kinderka river.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 837 feet / 255 metres
RGT Magic Road: PQEr5VJKukss
Max elevation: 644 ft
Min elevation: 240 ft
Total climbing: 832 ft
Total descent: -709 ft
You must log in to post a comment.