This route, based upon the map is 350 Kilometers, from Downtown Calgary and back.  Living in the South part of the city, it was only about 320 kilometers.

I prefer to do this ride in a Clockwise direction as I get a better view of the Mountains as I head back East towards them.  Starting south, you get to highway 22X and then turn East. It is about 30 kilometers from the junction of the Deerfoot Freeway till you get to the 4-way stop at highway 24.  The road is about as straight as you can get with a wide shoulder.  Turning South (right) onto highway 24 you are faced with a narrow paved road that can have lots of truck traffic on it.  But, you'll be riding past farmland on both sides!  You'll cross a set of railway tracks, come to another 4-way stop and turn left (East) again.   Within a couple of minutes you'll breeze past the town of Caresland.  Suddenly, you'll be faced with the unexpected - a corner!  Fear not, it is a large sweeper.  By the summer of 2001 I expect that the golf course they are building will be completed and ready for play.

Highway 24 magically becomes highway 23. As you drop into the valley and cross the Bow River, you'll see the sign welcoming you to "Vulcan County" - make the appropriate hand sign!  Continuing on, you'll come to the town of Vulcan.  The road actually bypasses the town so you'll want to turn left into town.  You'll see the large "Enterprise" and it will be evident how to get to it for a picture or a look-see! 

Back on highway 23, you head South till you get to the end of Vulcan at which point you turn West (right) on highway 533.  This road takes you through more farmland and gives you a great view of the mountains as you get closer to them.  As you approach Nanton (you can purchase "Nanton Water" from lots of stores in the surrounding area), you'll ride by the golf course and come up to a Stop sign.  Be careful at this point, you are on a bit of an uphill and the road you are about to cross is the main Alberta North / South artery - highway 2.  Fortunately, because you are in town, the speed limit is down to 50KPH but don't be surprised to see folks traveling a bit faster.  Highway 2 is actually comprised of two 1-way streets in Nanton.  You want to cross over the North bound lanes, stop at the next intersection and turn Left (South) onto the South bound Lanes.  If you are interested, Nanton boasts an air museum (and you can find a Dairy Queen if you'd like.

Head South on Highway 2 until you get to the end of town, staying in the right lane.  Turn right (West) on highway 533 (look for the sign to "Chain Lakes" provincial park).  As you ride due West, you'll come to a series of hills but just before that you'll see a sign that the pavement ends!  It does IF you go straight - DON'T.  Instead, turn left (South) and follow the road.  The first time I tried this route, I didn't turn, I stayed on the road, immediately got into gravel which turned into dirt which became a farmer's field with cows all over the place which ran by a farm house when turned back into gravel and finally lead out to highway 22 (where we want to go).  This may be a great road for dual sport bike and I have to admit I didn't mind traveling it on my Wing but, I didn't appreciate having to clean dust out of every nook and cranny (not to mention the sideways wheel slide in the deep gravel!).

OK, so we are still on Pavement.  As you continue along, take a stop at the "Magnetic Hill" (I'll have to do that myself someday).  You'll be able to experience some corners as the highway curves through the surrounding valley - nice for a change!  This highway will eventually intersect Highway 22.  Up until 2000, the last part of this road was not paved but sometime during the year the Province paved the road cause when I was on it (22Nov00), it was completely paved!  At this intersection you can continue straight through to the Chain Lakes area - haven't been there, don't know what it is like!

Turning North on Highway 22, the first town that you'll come to is Longview!  Obey the speed limit, particularly the school sign!  I've seen a police cruiser there more often than not, just waiting to write more tickets!  At the North of Longview you'll come to an intersection where you can continue on straight North (on Highway 22) which is what we are going to do.  But, depending upon the time of year and amount of gas you have, you could turn left (West) and go through Kananaskis Country!

Due North the next town is "Black Diamond".  Along the ride to get there, you'll continue to pass by farms and ranches and the Rocky Mountains will be omnipresent whenever you glance towards the West.   At Black Diamond, you'll come to a 4-way intersection but, just a block before that is a small coffee shop to your right.  You'll often see bikes parked there and folks sipping Coffee or whatever.  At the 4-way stop, there is a hotel on the left, during the weekends, you'll often see cruiser style bikes parked there (I suspect the riders are in having a cool one)!  Turn left at the 4-way stop, ride through town, pick up your speed to 100KPH and ride the 4 kilometers to Turner Valley.

Turner Valley and Black Diamond have a long rivalry going.  Black Diamond seems to be larger but you may want to check out the Oil Derrick in Turner Valley - stop for Ice Cream.  Be Cautious, similar to LongView's School Zone on the main highway, Turner Valley has a Playground Zone on the main highway.

Heading North out of Turner Valley, you get into a few corners again and in fact are headed towards one of Calgary's best curvy roads.  This section of the road was under construction for most of 2000 but When I road through near the end of November, most of that had been completed.  I expect that to be all completed by Spring 2001.  At Millarville, you either continue straight North up the hill or, you turn West onto Highway 762.  For this ride, I didn't ride 762 (it would add about 50 Kilometers to your trip and you'd end up in Bragg Creek) but trust me, it is a great road with about the best corners in the Calgary Vicinity.

Sadly bypassing 762 (hey, it was 4:00PM and starting to get dark!), we continue due North on highway 22 until we reach a "T" intersection at highway 22X.  Just before we get to the intersection (a couple of kilometers before), if you look carefully, you'll be able to see the University of Calgary Planetarium!

22X - sound familiar?  It should, it is where we really started our trip except, we are about 25 kilometers West of our starting point.  Simply turn right (East) onto 22X and follow it back to where we started.

Note that when I did this trip it was November 22, 2000.  Anyone familiar with Calgary weather knows that weather conditions can be miserable or great - you just don't know.  This particular day saw bright blue sky with zero clouds.  An Air Inversion layer hung over Calgary (fancy word for Smog being held in a valley) which meant the temperatures in Calgary were decent (a little under 10C (49F)) but, when leaving Calgary I never saw temperatures that warm.  At one point, my thermometer read 0.1C - can't get any closer to freezing.   And, at one point the road I was on was in shadow so much of the day that there was ice from one ditch to the other - Ride Slow, Ride straight up!  Parts of the journey had snow covering fields on both sides and other parts had very little snow.  I had taken the afternoon off from work (to ride in 5C temperatures!) so I could get one more ride in!