Whistler Gran Fondo - the Epic part - ride planning needed!

[4827north]

Hi,

Looking for a show of hands committed to riding Victoria-Whistler-Victoria, with the Whistler Gran Fondo as the key leg of the epic. If you're interested, I have a few proposed routes, and we all have logistics to sort out. Ideally, we'll have a courier of sorts to shuttle our bags from Whistler to Victoria.

If you're interested, respond to this, and I'll setup a 'meeting' at Spinnakers to plan how to do this.

[John D]

Brad;

I'm still in. A courier/shuttle car of some sort would be a huge asset from a logistics perspective.

John

[conway]

Hi Brad:

I am interested in the ride - let me know when you wish to meet.

Mark

[FairweatherMike]

I'm, uh, conceptually interested - is an overnight at Whistler part of the grand plan? Would be happy to meet to talk about it -

mike

[Kevin F]

I'm up for riding to Vancouver leaving Friday and home from Whistler Sunday.

[4827north]

Yes, the plan is to stay overnight and ride back the next morning after a hearty breakfast. There are logistics to sort out and it would be good to have a backup plan... i.e. an ability to be shuttled home the next day if the weather totally sucks. It would also be good to have a back-pack transport for the morning return, so we can ride unhindered, and then collect them either back in Victoria or at a designated spot in Van.

My preferred return route is the reverse of the ride out... riding to Waterfront station and taking the Skytrain to Guildford then cycling to the ferry along River Road. This is a bit less effort than my original proposal to ferry to Nanaimo and cycle back from there.

[wonger]

Hey all,

We can make arrangements for all who are interested to stay at the Accent Inn at Boundary and Lougheed on Friday night. A bunch of us did this last year and it worked really well to ride to the start along the bike route - maybe 20 minutes.

We also have a few comp nights that could be spread out among people to make it more affordable.

And I would think teaming up for accommodation in Whistler would also make sense. I might be interested in riding back but I'm definitely going to be driving over.

Also, keep in mind that package pick-up closed last year at 7:00 or so, so you have to ensure that you're there before that to get your race number and timing chip.

Maybe we should get together after a ride to talk logistics?

[EricS]

Maybe we should get together after a ride to talk logistics?

+1

I have a place to stay in the west end, but I would love to see, and start with, as many TSers as possible. I may get dropped like a hot potato after a few km, but I would like to at least start together.

Eric

[Andrew]

My wife will bring our van and a good sized covered trailer to bring back bikes, gear and bikers. I can bring the gear back for you. I may have some room in the trailer to take a couple of bikes from Victoria to Vancouver and Whistler to Victoria as well. Andrew

[4827north]

Hi Andrew, thanks! I think that provides good contingency for bad weather. So, what we need now is a body count of who's in for the to and fro epic. I reckon Vic-Surrey, Van-Whistler and reserve is the best route, with the Skytrain route between Guildford and Waterfront Station, where we hop off and check-in for ride packs then head to our respective overnight accomodations.

Cheers,

Brad

[esilnarson]

Hi,

I went ahead and booked a room at the Accent Inn in Burnaby for the Friday night before the fondo. I am confirmed to send my bike with Dave S. on Friday and to travel back to Vancouver in his truck on Saturday after the ride. Other than that, I am just trying to sort out travel plans for the trip to Vancouver on Friday. I have Friday off so can I leave anytime. I am hoping to have all my plans in place in the next few days, as we're headed to Hornby and I intend to be completely "off the grid" for the two weeks that I'm over there.

[FairweatherMike]

Kevin was interested in doing the ride out to Vancouver Friday and the return from Whistler Sunday (i.e., leave home by bike and return the same way - sounds epic to me). Anyone else interested? After going to all that effort on the way up it seems a shame to waste the gravity-assisted return on motorized transit... I'm also open to doing the immediate return after grabbing some grub in Whistler.