Do you have a different
shortcut or a good shortcut story? Why did you take a shortcut?
Who were you with? E-mail
HarperRide.net to tell us that story!
Shortcuts
Feeling bad on
a Harper? Haven't trained enough? Just getting back into riding
after a decade-long lay-off? Out too late the night before?
If so, you might need to use a Harper Shortcut--though some
riders will never take one, each rider should know where
they are...
The
Half Cut
Did the hills on
Central hurt? Feeling the pain through Payton's Neighborhood?
If so, cut out most of Harper and see the bunch
on Ela. A right turn here at Penny and Old Sutton to head
north on Old Sutton will take you up to Hillside. With
enough time to dawdle while the pack rides the rest of
the route, you can conserve your eneergy for the finale.
Eventually, Hillside will lead you right back to Ela, between
Lake-Cook and Dundee Roads. From there, you are only about
six kilometers from the finish.
Missing the
Hills 1
After riding
up the hill from Lake Cook Road, you are not feeling
so fresh. If that is the case, another grand shortcut is
a right turn on Spring Creek when the bunch turns left to
head toward the hills. Turning right will allow you a fast
straight descent into the middle of the Hill n Dale horse
farm. Running right through the middle of the farm, you will
encounter a nast brute of a climb on the other end of the
farm, though it is really short, to get up to the intersection
at Ridge. With a right turn on Ridge, you are back on course,
with just a short drop down to the Ommegang. Once over that,
it's mostly flat on the ride down Cuba and Ela back to Harper.
Braeburn--Skip
the Rollers, Keep the Big Ones
If
you really want to give it to the bunch on the StairStep
and the Ommegang, Harper's famed double whammy, keep something
in reserve by cutting out Haeger's Bend and the Rollers
on Algonquin River Road. A right turn on Braeburn at this
stop sign will allow you to do just that. Heading south,
Braeburn features a difficult climb followed by a long
section of flat and false flat. Heading north, the first
part is flat, followed by a quick descent. You will emerge
back at Algonquin River Road just before the fork in the
road that takes the group to the StairStep.
The Old Route
If
you just get tailed off going over the StairStep, there
is still one more chance to get back into the thick of
the action by taking the old route and skipping the Ommegang.
Following the StairStep, there is a short descent and a
hard (and dangerous) blind right turn. The next section
features some rollers with everyone scampering to get back
to the front. Along this section, at the bottom of a roller,
is the stop sign that is the western-most end of Cuba Road.
While the pack will now go straight, a left turn will take
you back toward Northwest Highway, and the bunch will re-join
there after the additional loop of the Ommegang.
Harper
Etiquette
The
HarperRide expects riders to complete the whole ride! After
all, the fun is in the hills. At the same time, no one really
cares what you do, so if you want to, take a shortcut--just
don't claim to "win" the HarperRide at the end of the day.
