Why we ride

There is lots of Skatelife GranFondo info to come, including our registration page, sponsor pages, and some valuable tips about how to prepare for a 2 day cycling tour. But first we wanted to give some perspective on why we ride.

The Skatelife GranFondo is a really great way to raise money to help young people across Canada. Skatelife has found a niche working with a very unique group of youth, skateboarders. We reach out to skaters because most the forty five Skatelife volunteers and staff have roots in skateboarding and understand what a valuable activity it is for young people to grow up with.

Skatelife is more than just skateboarding however. “Having a positive role model was something that was definitely needed when I was growing up,” said Alex Hondas, a Skatelife volunteer from Calgary. “Now I have the chance to mentor these kids through skateboarding".

There is lots more to learn about Skatelife's work with young people. Check our website at skatelife.ca  . Or you can find us on facebook. 
Thanks for your support as we reach out!

A couple route pics

A couple weeks ago I took a drive through the Skatelife GranFondo route & took a couple pics of the terrain. It was a pretty overcast day in late April. When we ride it- June 23-24 we'll see deep blue sky & bright sun!

Dry open terrain between Kamloops & Cache Creek- Day 1 preview

A sign of things to come on Day 2- except we're going up, and it's more than 2 km!

After the peak, it's all open ranch land

the final stretch gradually descending into Merritt

The roads are pretty quiet & decent quality for secondary highways. It will be a great out of the way loop to ride. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Elevations!

After checking out the actual route of a ride, the very next thing I want to figure out is how many hills am I going to be climbing?
Thanks to Map My Ride we have all the details of this summer's Skatelife GranFondo elevations.
Day 1 from Merritt to Cache Creek is actually not a strenuous day of huge elevation changes (save that for day 2!). We will actually lose altitude over-all. Check out the general altitude chart with the expanded categorized climb chart following it.

Overall elevations for day 1

Climbing details

Day 2 is the big climb day. After a 12km warm up from Cache Creek to Ashcroft it's up, up, and away on a 17 km ascent to high country ranch land- and a surreal open pit copper mine. You'll feel like you'll have ascended up into an alien landscape!
Not to worry, from the peak its a great & beautiful cruise South- East for the remaining 70km back to Merritt.

Day two elevation overview

Climbing details