There were 4 course profiles: (http://www.echelongranfondo.org/seattle ... ourse.html)
- 30 mile - 1700 ft of climbing - 41 riders completed
- 70 mile - 4500 ft of climbing - 89 riders completed
- 100 mile - 6500 ft of climbing - 121 riders completed
- 101 mile, hurricane ridge finish (this was the "super" fondo) - 10,000 ft of climbing, 81 riders completed
Being all wrapt up in the excitement of the TdF and the idea of a mountain top finish, I registered for the "super" fondo course, finishing on top of hurricane ridge. Fortunately, I had been up the ridge once before, so I knew what to expect, but it was a lot harder this time around after 84 miles of riding, not to mention the 16 mile "commute" to get to the ferry from Seattle before the event.
It was a very well organized event and a spectacular course. I would describe it as somewhere between the TdVictoria course and Victoria Gran Fondo in terms of size and organization, etc. The atmosphere was great...one guy dressed up as Elvis, another as the devel, several as saskwatch things, tons of food at the rest stations. For the most part there were decent size packs that rode and took breaks together - probably about 3x 15min breaks in total. I managed to stay in the front group or ahead of the front group for most of the race. There was one breakaway group of 4 which I mistakingly tried to go with after the first rest stop...oops! It didn't cost me too much in the end.
Anyway, a long story short, I managed to finish 12 out 81 on the hurricane ridge climb, and 11 out of 81 overall. The total times aren't spectacular, so I won't post them, but compared to some of the of the other riders I am quite happy. Details can be found here: http://echelongranfondo.org/documents/s ... esults.pdf
If anyone has any questions, let me know. It was a great event and I would highly recommend it to any other Tripleshotters looking to put us in the top ten next year
Gabriel