This 895 km, eight-day tour starts in Calgary and embraces the foothills in the Bragg Creek area before turning south into sweeping ranchlands and on to High River. Then it’s up and over the Highwood Pass, Canada’s highest paved road, and back down through Kananaskis Country and onto Bow Valley Trail. From there, cyclists steadily climb up from Canmore to Banff along the Legacy Trail bike path, then onto the spectacular Bow Valley Parkway until Lake Louise.
Cyclists then take a big uphill to the Bow Summit (the highest point on the Icefields Parkway) passing some of the most breath-taking mountain scenery in Canada. An exciting downhill ride takes them close to the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan River where they turn east toward the Kootenay Plains/Abraham Lake region behind the Bighorn Dam.
The mountain terrain is slowly replaced by gentle, rolling hills as the tour hits Rocky Mountain House. Then it’s due northeast along the straight roads of farm country through Rimbey, Ponoka, Maskwacis and Wetaskiwin to the finish in Sherwood Park.
- Saturday, June 17 – Travel from Edmonton to Calgary
- Stage 1 – Sunday, June 18 – Calgary to High River – 134 km
- Stage 2 – Monday, June 19 – Longview (via car jump) to Stoney Nakoda Resort – 148 km
- Stage 3 – Tuesday, June 20 – Stoney Nakoda Resort to Lake Louise – 117 km
- Stage 4 – Wednesday, June 21 – Lake Louise to David Thompson Resort – 122 km
- Stage 5 – Thursday, June 22 – David Thompson Resort to Rocky Mountain House – 135 km
- Stage 6 – Friday, June 23 – Rocky Mountain House to Wetaskiwin – 159 km
- Stage 7 – Saturday, June 24 – Wetaskiwin to Sherwood Park – 71 km
Elevation:
- Total Gain: 7,440 m
- Total Loss: 7,699 m
View route maps.