If you fancied a straight road, you’ve got one. If you fancied a lumpy stage, you’ve got one of those too. Stage 572 is calm in the first half then gets angry after halfway. It heads directly south from just south of Entwhistle to just north of Drayton Valley in central Alberta. Edmonton is about fifty miles away to the east at the start and the Edmonton Airport is about fifty miles away to the east at the finish.
The rollout is flat for two miles before the road rises sharply and quickly as it makes its way past the Pembina River just after three miles. As the road heads further south, it’s going against the direction of flow of the river, and as the river meanders its way north while the road remains straight, that leads to some wild undulations in the elevation profile. There are climbs at seven miles (steep), eleven miles (steep), fifteen miles (less steep but longer) and nineteen miles (less steep and longer). To counter that, there are descents at nine miles, ten miles, sixteen miles and at twenty one miles (down to the finish). It’s that sort of a stage, especially after the kite at halfway.
Apart from the hills, there’s little in the way of features to report, other than Township road junctions at regular intervals. The road does a left/right shimmy at the foot of the descent at fourteen miles, but after that it’s a straight run south to the finish at the Rocky Rapids Natural Area next to Drayton Valley Industrial Airport.
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Ascent: 810 feet / 247 metres
RGT Magic Road: fflBHEXJM44O
Max elevation: 2888 ft
Min elevation: 2549 ft
Total climbing: 809 ft
Total descent: -666 ft
You must log in to post a comment.