Get your bike ready for an early May gravel growl from Sharbot Lake up through the woods and hills of North Frontenac to Calabogie and back.
Click here to see the Ride with GPS event page and the route. Approximately 70% of the route is on unpaved surfaces. The route is entirely on roads, except for a couple of kilometres on the K&P Trail near Sharbot Lake. Thus, absent unexpected erosion issues, there shouldn't be any unplanned single track, bushwhacking or abandoned rail trail adventures! However, we'll do additional due diligence on the route prior to the event. The actual travelled elevation is likely to be significantly greater than the 1792 metres estimated by RWGPS. In the past we have found that the RWGPS elevation calculator doesn't like continually rolling Canadian Shield back country roads as much as we do. In addition to your riding kit, you'll need to bring some after ride clothing and sleeping gear.
We are planning to stay with the friendly folks at the Calabogie Motor Inn (
website). The rooms open directly on to the parking lot, and so you won't need to worry about passing strangers in a narrow hotel hallway. The motel has eleven rooms, which obviously puts an upper limit on our numbers. If the weather looks like it may not cooperate on one of those days, we may want move the event a day earlier or later, or a week later. Because of the possibility of a date change and the issue of non-refundable reservation deposits, we are not going to make a firm reservation with the hotel until approximately May 1 by which time we should have a reasonable fix on the weather forecast. The hotel has advised us that mid-week in early May is usually a quiet time for them, and so the risk of not getting rooms is low. There are also other potential accommodation options in Calabogie.
If you are interested in joining the Calabogie Gravel Challenge, please register as soon as possible We want to get a reasonable sense of who is potentially coming so that we can possibly invite some out-of-town friends to join the KVC and participate with us in the Challenge. If you ultimately can't come, including because the dates change in response to the weather, not a problem.
Click here tor driving directions to the start/parking location in Sharbot Lake. The start time in Sharbot Lake will be 9:30 am.
Click here for KVC Etiquette Guide.
Click here for KVC Covid Policy.
If you have any questions at any time about this event, please contact us at kvcgravel@gmail.com.