DateRund um den Harz
03. April 2027
Around the Harz Long Distance
297 kilometers // 2650 meters of elevation gain
Around the Harz Short Distance
145 kilometers // 1550 meters of elevation gain
Rund um den HarzYour start into theultracycling season
Spring is here
Rund um den Harz takes place at the time when the ultracycling season really begins. After winter training, indoor sessions, cold weather and long base miles, it is time to return to real asphalt. The days get longer, the legs want to know where they stand, and the first major date in the calendar starts to matter. This event is not an easy spring ride, but an early form test: be ready, start, ride and get an honest first answer at the finish.
Around the Harz in one day
The long route turns the name into the task: once around the Harz, in one day, with everything this region offers. Open landscapes, small towns, rolling terrain, short climbs, fast descents and repeated views of the mountain range. The Harz is not just scenery here, but becomes the testing ground. The loop is short enough to commit to and demanding enough to test spring form intensively.
A real ultracycling feeling
Rund um den Harz is compact, but not small. Around 300 kilometers, public roads, GPS tracking, classification, race number and a finish moment turn a long training ride into a real format. Many use the day as preparation for bigger projects, others as the first major goal of the season. That is exactly the appeal: you get the pressure and clarity of an official setting on one spring day, still far away from bigger goals.
From the scene for the scene
Rund um den Harz is not an anonymous event product, but the result of real ultracycling experience. People behind it know how a long race day feels, how the excitement before the start builds and how much performance is already contained in good preparation. That closeness should be felt: in the route, in the communication, in the categories and in the way the event develops. Down-to-earth, professional and respectful of everyone who starts early in the year.
Supported: The test with a crew
In the supported category, Rund um den Harz becomes a rehearsal for bigger ultracycling projects. Riders and support crews can test nutrition, communication, equipment, pacing and routines under real race conditions. That is exactly why the early date is so valuable: long enough for mistakes to show, compact enough to learn from them for the rest of the season. Anyone planning something bigger later gets an honest first impression of route, pressure and team reality.
Unsupported: Your own plan
Unsupported means that you ride the loop from your own preparation. Nutrition, clothing, equipment, navigation and decisions on the road are up to you. The event provides the route, rules, tracking and finish framework, but the responsibility stays with you on the bike. For you, Rund um den Harz should be exactly the right entry into the ultracycling season: not artificially extreme, but serious enough that you know after the finish whether your plan works after winter.
Long distance: The full loop
The long distance leads once completely around the Harz and is the classic form test of the event. Nearly 300 kilometers and rolling terrain are enough to honestly test form, mindset, position, nutrition and equipment. It is not about one single big mountain, but many small decisions over many hours: when to press on the pedals, when to let it roll, when to eat, when to stay calm. Whoever finishes this loop has not just planned the start of the season, but ridden it.
Short distance: Compact, but not easy
The shorter distance is not an escape from the bigger task, but its own entry into the same character. It leads along the edge of the Harz, up into the High Harz and back through hilly terrain. Here too, there are real elevation meters, speed, weather and the question of how well the form from winter already holds. Anyone who starts here gets a compact challenge with race feeling – shorter than the full loop, but far from casual.