Grand Valley/Horse Creek Road, int, 60 km, Lyle O

Coordinator: Lyle Opseth

Distance: 60 km

Pace: 22-24 km/h 

Elevation Gain: 349 m

E-bikes allowed: Yes

Meeting place: Mountain Ridge Plaza, Cochrane (Corner of Bow Valley Trail and Horse Creek Road). Park on Horse Creek Road, not in the plaza parking lot to avoid the risk of a parking ticket.

<Cranky Anonymous Member>: Finally! You finally scheduled your first ride ride. I've been impatiently waiting and a ride on a holiday, Good Friday, is better than nothing I suppose. I haven't ridden outside since last year and my legs need more rides. Remember that Grand Valley/Horse Creek Road ride last April 8? It was a warm afternoon but windy at 70 km/h and really cold at the start (+2). Please do it again but do better with the wind and cold start.

<Coordinator>: Easter Monday looks to be warm (+18C). Several ride participants also commented last year that warm afternoons in April don't mean warm mornings and I've learned my lesson. To keep you happy Cranky, as well as others, I'll start later. I can't do much about the wind, however. 

It's time for a ride out of Cochrane with warm weather promised on Easter Monday at the time of writing this. Let's hope the promise is kept.

We start at Mountain Ridge Plaza, head west on Hwy 1A and turn north on Grand Valley Road, cycling it to the end of the road. We will only stop for a brief regrouping before resuming. We turn around and at Township Road 280 we turn east.  We turn right and head south on Horse Creek Road to enjoy a social at the end of the ride.

Those wishing a shorter ride can turn right when we get to Township Road 280 at 20 km and shorten the ride by 17 km (i.e., total distance 43 km).

Safety:

There are no services on this ride.

The shoulders are narrow on Grand Valley Road and Horse Creek Road. (Traffic is usually light on weekdays.)