Two road cycling events will speed through Pitt Meadows this weekend, with the launch of the new Pitt-Polder Time Trial on Saturday, and the fourth annual Barry’s Roubaix Road Race on Sunday.
“The popularity of our Roubaix race over the years has allowed us to offer a new and challenging event on the Saturday,” said race organizer Barry Lyster of Local Ride Bike Shop.
“There is new and growing excitement around road racing right now, and we expect to have record numbers out this weekend.”
The Pitt-Polder Time Trial will see riders race against the clock in a 12.5km course, finishing at Pitt Lake. The route is mostly flat, but it promises to be tough, with rough pavement and likely strong winds.
The event is a new one on the calendar and will also act as a qualifier for the Canada Summer Games.
Sunday will entice some of the province’s top cyclists to hit the rural roads and scenic Pitt Meadows dyke network for Barry’s Roubaix, a road race that pays homage to the historic European Spring Classic Paris-Roubaix held on the same day. Barry’s Roubaix simulates the famed French event’s bone-rattling sectors of cobblestones by including a large section of gravel dike in the course.
• For more information about these events and how to register, visit www.localride.ca/wp/2013/01/22/barrys-roubaix-2013-info/.