Steve Milton: Paris to Ancaster goes Sunday as first Canadian Gravel Championship
In so many worlds, a change can be as good as a rest. But despite a dramatic contrast in just about everything from the previous weekend, Sunday will definitely not be a rest for Ruby West.
It will be no day of leisure, either, for the other 3,000-plus riders who join West in the 30th year of the iconic Paris to Ancaster road race.
In last Friday night's Team Pursuit event at track cycling's international Nations Cup, West pedalled inside the sweltering confines of the Milton velodrome, across a smooth wooden surface, at right angles to the sharp pitch of the 250-metre track's banked curves.
In Sunday morning's P2A, she'll cycle outdoors, on a completely different kind of bike, over a 100-kilometre goulash of dirt, grass, gravel, mud and who knows what else, in the Canadian Gravel Championship portion of the iconic race. And she'll face the steepest inclines head-on, either going down or up, most notoriously in the final 400-metre climb to the finish line outside Morgan Firestone Arena.
I'm so excited," says the Dundas native, an exceptional cross-discipline athlete who's excelled at cyclocross and has a strong chance of making Canada's track cycling team for the 2024 Olympics.
I've raced Paris to Ancaster ever since I got on a bike. Everyone in my family has done some of the races. It's such a cool local event, and this year taking a step up to a national championship, it will bring in more variety of riders and get more eyes on the event."
This is the first time that Cycling Canada has sanctioned a national gravel race championship, and it chose P2A over other bidders for the inaugural event because it essentially created and evolved the gravel format, regularly evolved the sport and stimulated interest in what is now cycling's fastest-growing segment.
Last year the 100-kilometre race was added to the 70- and 45-kilometre events. It starts at the Paris Fairgrounds and once it passes the 30-kilometre mark south of Cambridge, the 70-kilometre riders will start from there, then the 45-kilometre riders will get going from St. George, once the first two race groups go through.
Everyone finishes in Ancaster.
The people over at P2A have created such a classic race, it was way ahead of its time," says Inspire Athlete Management's Simon Williams, the agent for West and B.C.'s Michael van den Ham, who won last year's 100K. It was Canada's first gravel race, so many Canadian companies in cycling take notice of it. It's important to many of the Canadian cycling brands and their athletes.
The wonderful thing about P2A is you'll see people on brand new high-tech gravel bikes, people on bikes they've converted to gravel bikes, people who are on mountain bikes. It's exciting to line up with a Ruby West, a Michael van den Ham, an Adam Roberge."
Montreal's Roberge, West's Jukebox Cycling teammate, was riding toward a finishing-stretch duel for last year's title but crashed.
West and the other elite women will have to contend with pre-race favourite Maghalie Rochette the defending champion, who has made podium finishes at cyclocross World Cups.
National Championship status has added extra lure to what was already a huge magnet for competitive racers, weekend warriors and casual cyclists. More spaces had to be added to accommodate the top-level cyclists - about 250 males and 100 females - interested in competing in a Canadian title race, so this will be the biggest field since the P2A started in 1994.
Race co-director John Thorpe says the Canadian championship designation - it will likely move around the country after this year - has stimulated more registrations, and the field had to be capped at just over 3,000 because of concerns about parking space.
It's also attracted people from further away," Thorpe says. It's really brought in a lot of riders from Quebec, B.C., Manitoba and the east coast and we still have a pretty good contingent from the States."
West spent this week working on adjusting gears and tires on her cyclocross bike. Williams explains that many manufacturers have migrated from making cyclocross bikes to gravel-specific bikes, which generally have wider tires and different gears.
Thorpe says that gravel and cyclocross bikes comprise about half the overall entries, but there are a lot of mountain bikes out there and still quite a few cruisers', the regular old Canadian Tire bike that's been in your garage forever."
Sunday will be the 28th in-person P2A. The pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event and it was a virtual competition in 2021.
It's a national championship for 350 riders, but it's the more than 2000 relatively-local people who are the backbone of the race," says co-director Tim Farrar. They're our bread and butter. It's what gravel is all about: a big group; diverse levels of ability all trying the same course on the same day. And sharing stories at the end of that day."
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com
Paris to Ancaster
When: Sunday, April 30, 8 a.m.
Start: 100K from Paris; 70K from south of Cambridge; 45K from St. George
Finish: First riders will arrive behind Morgan Firestone Arena about two-and-a-half hours after the start
Best viewing: Finish area and Rail Trail crossing at Field Road in Jerseyville
Defending champions: Maghalie Rochette (women); Michael van den Ham (men)
Charity: P2A is a Ride for Research for St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation. stjoesfoundation.ca/p2a/
Noteworthy: P2A now sponsors Olympic track cycling champion Kelsey Mitchell