Cyclists braved the weather for the annual Race the Ridge bike race on Saturday. (Neil Corbett/THE NEWS)

Cyclists braved the weather for the annual Race the Ridge bike race on Saturday. (Neil Corbett/THE NEWS)

Race the Ridge competition this weekend

Cycling in downtown Maple Ridge on Sunday

The annual Race the Ridge omnium bike race is under way this weekend.

Cyclists were competing in the Thornhill road race and hill climb events on Saturday, with the starting line on 256th Street and the race taking place in the Maple Ridge countryside.

Stage three of the race will feature the town core criterium, and on Sunday cyclists will speed through a downtown circuit that includes the Memorial Peace Park loop, and continues down McIntosh Avenue to 223rd Street, and back east on 119th Avenue.

Race the Ridge is one of the three impressive cycling events put on in Maple Ridge by Barry Lyster of Local Ride Racing, along with the Pumpkin Cross costume race at Halloween and the Jeremy’s Roubaix in Pitt Meadows in early April.

The downtown racing is scheduled to begin with youth classes at 10 a.m. and end with an elite men’s criterium at 1:40 p.m.

Maple Ridge News