Sunday morning’s Cyclo Xiwuqi will be a 112km long mass-start race and timed ride through the grasslands around town. Cyclo Xiwuqi is a granfondo-style event with a competitive race up front and many others just aiming to complete the distance within the given cut-off time.
Since our last visit in 2019, new roads have been laid and as such a proper road cycling course with fantastic and serene scenery has now been designed. The course is as good as flat, and the main difficulty will be the wind – if there is wind on race day. Looking at the elevation profile, you do see a bump between km 30 and km 40, but check the scale and you know it means little to nothing. That means Cyclo Xiwuqi is a great opportunity to ride over 100 km, maybe even for your first time ever. For podium seekers, expect a high-speed big-gear race – but also stay vigilant. Fast & Flat also often means an increased risk of bunch crashes. If you have no ambition for any podium place, we recommend you to ‘let them ride ahead’ and enjoy the beautiful scenery at your own pace. Our cut-off times are lenient and should enable everyone who has done some training practice to finish without any problems. There are no mountains to conquer.
To allow local people to fully embrace our new event in Xiwuqi, we also have a 47 km MTB race. That one starts right after the 112 km and does go into the grassland after approx 25 km – essentially following the 50k running course from the day before. Hence you cannot take part in that one with a road bike. For regulatory reasons we also do not permit gravel bikes for the MTB race. It’s a MTB race, period.
