No kidding, and judging by the reaction you get from the folks out in the valley, they may want to arm the racers!
All kidding aside this is pretty cool. Glad that Canada is getting such a high profile race.
Although it sounds nuts to us BCers to not have this race here, could you imaging the gong show having a UCI race in the Lower Mainland? If the Tour of Alberta goes through the foothills it will be an awesome venue. The roads west of Calgary/west and north of Cochrane beat our conjested mess hands down. Very very light traffic, amazing views, and perfect road surface with good climbs. I remember doing big 4 hour loops in the Turner Valley and seeing maybe 10 cars the whole day. In terms of climbing it's a bit like Beauce (from what I remember-it's been almost 15 years!). The climbs look like nothing from a distance until you hit about half way up them. From 70kph into the climbs to 12kph, in about 10 seconds:| The National parks will have big long climbs, but the Foothills don't typically have much more than 2k climbs at the most….but there are countless options. It should be fun to watch. Maybe a moto trip to spectate!