Foldable Bikes Party: Mavic Haute Route Rockies announced

Tuesday, 2 August 2016

Mavic Haute Route Rockies announced

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Haute Route’s spectacular multi-stage cycling events are heading stateside in 2017 with the Mavic Haute Route Rockies, June 24-30. I rode a 550mi reconnaissance test event from Boulder to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Today Haute Route announced the start and finish cities of each stage.

First, a quick primer on the Haute Route. Born in the Alps, the Haute Route events are weeklong stage-race adventures for well-heeled amateur cyclists that feature nearly absurd amounts of climbing. Each day is a massive timed sportive on its own, with a running cumulative time kept just as in professional stage races like the Tour de France. Add up seven back-to-back stages and you have something for amateurs like nothing else in the world.

Who is Haute Route for? And how competitive is it?

Haute Route events are not traditional amateur racing events. License amateur racers will certainly appreciate the timed, stage-race format and the Mavic support, but a racing license is not required. For riders who don’t consider themselves racers but enjoy challenging rides like tough gran fondos or even Ironman-length triathlons, a Haute Route is a bucket-list elite challenge wrapped in luxury treatment.

So how competitive is it? Well, that’s up to you. As in a marathon, you can make the Haute Route what you want it to be. Some riders will race at or near the front every day, watching their competitors. Others will ride at their own pace, and consider it a success to finish the massive challenge. However you choose to ride it, you’ll receive the same pro-level technical support from Mavic, which will be on route with mechanics on motos and in cars, with your luggage shuttled from hotel to hotel and daily briefings from the race directors.

Unlike its European counterpoints in the Alps, Pyrenees and Dolomites, the Mavic Haute Route Rockies will tackle multiple stretches of dirt and gravel roads in addition to tarmac. For our test event, we used mostly 28mm tires with some riders running 25s. Either is adequate for the course; choose wider for more comfort and narrower for a little more speed. Or, bring both and tailor your tire set-up for each stage.

The stages

Stage 1: Boulder > Boulder, 75 miles, 7,300ft / 2,225m
Stage 2: Boulder > Winter Park, 85 miles, 10,000ft / 2,300m
Stage 3: Winter Park > Avon, 98 miles, 7,500ft / 2,286m
Stage 4: Vail Time Trail, 11 miles, 1,600ft / 500m
Stage 5: Avon > Snowmass, 103 miles, 10,500ft / 3,200m
Stage 6: Snowmass > Crested Butte, 106 miles, 8,500ft / 2,600m
Stage 7: TBD > Colorado Springs, TBD miles, TBDft / TBDm

Our test run

You can read more at BikeRadar.com

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