The GP Charlevoix is a 3 day stage race held just north of Quebec City. The format has changed this year and should be quite interesting:
[list][]Friday: Evening criterium in the center of Baie Saint Paul. Goes through a church parking lot (seriously).
[]Saturday Morning: 15.7km ITT, very flat out and back. Most competitors show up with TT rigs to make you feel small and out of place.
[]Saturday evening: A mass start hill climb. New for this year. First 8km are flat (same as the TT course out leg) and then the road gains 380m in 4km, with gradients up to 25% supposedly. I’m interested to see how this pans out but in any case the time gaps shouldn’t be too big.
[]Sunday: A true road race, with no sections repeated. 120km for the men, 75km for the women. Very very hilly with a long climb in the extra 45km loop that the men do. 39*28 is pretty much a necessity for me. Stunningly beautiful course though.
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I did this race last year and it was hands down the best race I have ever done. It’s very well organized and not something you should miss out on if at all possible. Registration is about $100, and the team doesn’t currently have a lot of money to subsidize housing or travel. I’m super motivated to do this race again and hopefully some of you are as well. Sign up in the categories above so I can get a feel for interest.
Oh man if I can get to Quebec for this then I’m so down…
This sounds amazing. Any idea if we would be returning on Sunday after the RR?
Yes plenty of time to get back sunday night after the RR.
Hey Eric-do we get a deal at Chateau Mont Ste. Anne? We could hang there and drive to Baie St. Paul for the races or would it be better to get a place in Baie St. Paul?
Yeah, I hadn’t decided yet. One one hand we could probably get a good deal from Chateau MSA; but it’s also quite far away (inconvenient when we have to race 4 times) and the base price is quite steep. I was going to flip an email to them in any case. Last year we stayed at a motel just a ways out of BSP and it was nice to be able to bike to and from the start lines.
5% pending on if my bike works
No excuses, Keith. CTFU
If you’re a slightly bigger group there are also lots of chalets for rent in the area.
Apparently I might be able to get off work and get a ride to this…don’t count me out yet.
(Thanks Trevor)
it’s off season in an area with ski chalets, in other words it’s super cheap for two nights. Four of us stayed at a place two years ago that was like 15 a person per night, so you’d probably end up spending just as much in gas over the course of the weekend.
additionally, eric is right, this is an amazing race.
So we are seven confirmed:
Eric
Rik
Marie-Soleil
Zach
Mike
Trevor + Friend
Keith
And three Maybes.
Dhruv
Phil
I’ll be booking a place for 6-8 people tonight. If you are on the maybe list and decide, it’ll be first-come first-served - though sleeping bags on floor might be a thing.
In case anyone is wondering, I just got confirmation that a weekend license for $20 will be available on site that covers all races.
Just an update: I’ve booked a small house about 20km from start line. It’s further away than I’d like but there weren’t many options this late. It shouldn’t be too bad. There are beds for six, so one other person in addition to myself will have to sleep on the floor. The really good thing is that it should work out to be $35 per person for the weekend, so quite reasonable. If you have access to a car that we can borrow, you might want to ask now - it would really help us out.
What are the fees cover by mcgill ?! when you say 35$ per person, is it for the house or both house and travel?
Sorry guys, wasn’t aware that I had signed up for this. I can’t make it out this weekend (I may do a long ride or two this weekend for anyone else staying here) and I’m sorry for any confusion I caused.