Here we go folks: the big descent is finally gathering pace! But first you’ve to endure more pain because the first four miles of stage 275 are uphill. Actually that’s not quite true because the rollout is slightly flat downhill but from less than a mile into the stage, the road starts to kick upwards: never too steeply, it must be said, but upward it is.
But don’t focus on the first four miles: focus instead on the remaining twenty, which manage to shed nineteen hundred feet between them. One hundred feet a mile, almost, is the stuff of dreams when you consider some of the climbs in Siberia and Mongolia from around stage 220.
The rollout from Gaomiaozi town is straight for two miles before two a couple of rights then a left deliver you to a sweeping left hander at the top of the climb. Three thousand five hundred feet is once again a significant elevation but it’s short lived. The descent begins with a series of left/right twists and turns that don’t quite qualify as hairpins, but at speed they’ll certainly be fun.
The road then meanders on to a looping left hand bend at Lake Xiyanghe which feeds into the Xiyang river on its eastern side. The road crosses the Jingxin expressway not once but twice before it swings south across the river. Thereafter it tracks along Xingfu East Street, taking a big right/left/left/right course before setting up the run into the finish in the centre of Chaigoubu, the first of many towns on the western approach to Beijing.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 486 feet / 148 metres
RGT Magic Road: yhsAHDAMid4T
Max elevation: 3511 ft
Min elevation: 1648 ft
Total climbing: 486 ft
Total descent: -2044 ft
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