2011 Ride to Conquer Cancer (Van to Seattle) how steep?

[puppypilgrim]

I'm wondering anyone rode the 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer last year.

What should I expect for flat land cruising speeds and how steep was the steepest hill encountered last year?

Thanks,
Victor

[katcorot]

The organizers say the ride is for everyone, so I can't see there being any hills that are back breaking. However since I hail from New West, hills are a way of life. I just hope I get to camp.

[lhbernhardt]

I have no idea what the route is, and hilliness would depend on the route. Years ago when I was racing, I would do an end-of-season Seattle weekend, riding down from Vancouver on Saturday and returning on Sunday. It can be done as a reasonably flat ride. There are hills you need to go over just south of Bellingham; the Chuckanut is probably the easiest route, but it can get crowded with cars on weekends. Old Samish is also not that steep, just long.

After that, you roll thru the flat Skagit Valley and a little climbing to Snohomish county. If you go thru Arlington, you can get on a bike path that takes you to Snohomish, and from there you can take relatively flat roads to Monroe, Duvall, and the West Snoqualmie Valley into Bellevue, where you take the I-90 bridge to Seattle. Or you can route thru Bothell and the Burke-Gilman into Seattle.

It all depends on what roads they select.

Luis

[Watchdog]

I rode the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year. The route hardly has any hills at all. If you really want to know I could pour over my Garmin data, but my memory says that the first day was about 600 metres of elevation gain and the second day was about 400 metres of elevation gain. The first day did not have any steep hills, I'd say about 4% to 5% grade max.

Day 2 has one short hll that might be about 4% to 6%.

I'd describe the route as pancake flat.

[Boudicca]

Flat sounds good, although the organizers say there's a Big Hill just outside Seattle, which may mean they are planning a slightly different route. It also strikes me as a little mean, given that it will be after 250km of riding. But the prevailing wind will be behind us, so that should help.

Anyone out there doing the 2012 ride? I'll be the one chuntering along with the yellow survivor flag and the black Bike Friday, if anyone races past.

[tkr]

For those who are hoping for more hills there is still room few a few more in Ride2Survive 2012 400km in 1 Day, 3600 meters of climbing. oh and every penny that you raise goes to Cancer Research. -Donations are not used to run the event or for admin at the CCS. www.R2S.ca for details. Same weekend as R2CC so you cant do both. Good luck to riders on both rides!