Whistler Gran Fondo Recap
Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 6:31 pm
Sorry for the late recap. My wife and I were hiking (in the snow!) around Jasper and Banff last week, and were having too much fun to be thinking about typing on a computer.
The Whistler Gran Fondo was glorious this year. The weather was absolutely perfect! Blue skies, sunshine, and 14C at the start. Blue skies, sunshine, and 24C at the finish. Blue skies, sunshine, and 18C that night for the celebration.
Two names you will all know: Matt Billinghurst and Andrew Attwell, had fantastic performances in the Masters Giro. Matt placed 4th and Andrew placed 6th. I saw Andrew the following morning having breakfast with his lovely family. Judging from the fact he was smiling from ear-to-ear, I assume he was pleased with his ride. I have to admit, I was nowhere near these two, so I don't feel right commenting on their experience. I will let them chime in, if they feel the need.
I was very pleased with my ride. This was my first Gran Fondo. The elevation chart stressed me out the whole summer. As many of you know, I geared my rides with this elevation chart in mind. I tried to incorporate lots of climbing in my week-to-week program. My goal was to ensure to finish under 5 hours, with 4-1/2 hours being my stretch (hitting a home run) goal. I lined up at the start in the 4-1/2 hour corral.
The start was pretty sketchy. Many of the riders around me didn't seem to know much about group riding. I had the feeling that there was a fairly good chance crashes would occur. So, for the first hour or so I tried to keep a high state of awareness and tried to minimize any risk. Fortunately, I did not see any crashes during this period.
Eventually, everyone started to settle down and get into their groove (including me). I had planned on two stops. One at 51km and the next at 88km. At the 51km stop, I did a progress check. I averaged about 29km/hr and had about 15 minutes in the bank for my 5 hour goal. I was feeling good, and my nutrition plan seemed to be working. 4-1/2 hours seemed to be a possibility.
51km to 88km was a tough stretch. I found that I had to dig a bit deeper but I was still feeling strong. I tried a couple of times to get groups of riders to work together as a team (2 up, short pulls to conserve energy), but no one seemed interested. It seemed like this was the point that everyone was starting to crack. Instead of doing what they should be doing: Working together; They were choosing to do it by themselves. Recipe for disaster. So, I decided to go group to group. When one group slowed down, I would cruise up the road to the next group. Andrew made the comment that if I started in one of the faster corrals, the organization would have been better.
At the 88km stop, I checked my progress. I averaged about 27.5 km/hr and had about 20 minutes in the bank for my 5 hour goal. I knew 4-1/2 hours probably wasn't in the cards but a good result was pretty much a certainty. I was still feeling good. It was time to bring it home.
I had most feared this last stretch. It appeared all uphill on the elevation chart, and I assumed that I would have tired legs at this point. Neither proved to be true. It had to be uphill (elevation charts don't lie), but it didn't feel like climbing. It actually felt pretty flat the whole stretch. As for my legs, they felt great. I must have passed 100 cyclists in this last section. When everyone else was slowing down, I was maintaining my pace. I felt great! I crossed the line in 4hrs36mins. I was proud of my performance and the strategy that I implemented on the day.
Two final thoughts:
1) I could not have completed my first Gran Fondo with the performance that I had without Tripleshot Cycling. Several members provided advice and support that were critical to achieving my performance. Also, for challenging me for when I needed to be challenged. The culture of the club pushes us all to be better cyclists
2) In Victoria, we have some of the best road cycling in BC, if not all Canada. The riding we have here is challenging, beautiful, motivating, inspiring, ... the list of adjectives could go on and on. When everyone else was suffering and fading at the end of the Gran Fondo, I was thinking "This is nothing compared to riding in Victoria. We do harder than this every weekend".
Thank you for being such a great club, and thank you for letting me be a part of it.
The Whistler Gran Fondo was glorious this year. The weather was absolutely perfect! Blue skies, sunshine, and 14C at the start. Blue skies, sunshine, and 24C at the finish. Blue skies, sunshine, and 18C that night for the celebration.
Two names you will all know: Matt Billinghurst and Andrew Attwell, had fantastic performances in the Masters Giro. Matt placed 4th and Andrew placed 6th. I saw Andrew the following morning having breakfast with his lovely family. Judging from the fact he was smiling from ear-to-ear, I assume he was pleased with his ride. I have to admit, I was nowhere near these two, so I don't feel right commenting on their experience. I will let them chime in, if they feel the need.
I was very pleased with my ride. This was my first Gran Fondo. The elevation chart stressed me out the whole summer. As many of you know, I geared my rides with this elevation chart in mind. I tried to incorporate lots of climbing in my week-to-week program. My goal was to ensure to finish under 5 hours, with 4-1/2 hours being my stretch (hitting a home run) goal. I lined up at the start in the 4-1/2 hour corral.
The start was pretty sketchy. Many of the riders around me didn't seem to know much about group riding. I had the feeling that there was a fairly good chance crashes would occur. So, for the first hour or so I tried to keep a high state of awareness and tried to minimize any risk. Fortunately, I did not see any crashes during this period.
Eventually, everyone started to settle down and get into their groove (including me). I had planned on two stops. One at 51km and the next at 88km. At the 51km stop, I did a progress check. I averaged about 29km/hr and had about 15 minutes in the bank for my 5 hour goal. I was feeling good, and my nutrition plan seemed to be working. 4-1/2 hours seemed to be a possibility.
51km to 88km was a tough stretch. I found that I had to dig a bit deeper but I was still feeling strong. I tried a couple of times to get groups of riders to work together as a team (2 up, short pulls to conserve energy), but no one seemed interested. It seemed like this was the point that everyone was starting to crack. Instead of doing what they should be doing: Working together; They were choosing to do it by themselves. Recipe for disaster. So, I decided to go group to group. When one group slowed down, I would cruise up the road to the next group. Andrew made the comment that if I started in one of the faster corrals, the organization would have been better.
At the 88km stop, I checked my progress. I averaged about 27.5 km/hr and had about 20 minutes in the bank for my 5 hour goal. I knew 4-1/2 hours probably wasn't in the cards but a good result was pretty much a certainty. I was still feeling good. It was time to bring it home.
I had most feared this last stretch. It appeared all uphill on the elevation chart, and I assumed that I would have tired legs at this point. Neither proved to be true. It had to be uphill (elevation charts don't lie), but it didn't feel like climbing. It actually felt pretty flat the whole stretch. As for my legs, they felt great. I must have passed 100 cyclists in this last section. When everyone else was slowing down, I was maintaining my pace. I felt great! I crossed the line in 4hrs36mins. I was proud of my performance and the strategy that I implemented on the day.
Two final thoughts:
1) I could not have completed my first Gran Fondo with the performance that I had without Tripleshot Cycling. Several members provided advice and support that were critical to achieving my performance. Also, for challenging me for when I needed to be challenged. The culture of the club pushes us all to be better cyclists
2) In Victoria, we have some of the best road cycling in BC, if not all Canada. The riding we have here is challenging, beautiful, motivating, inspiring, ... the list of adjectives could go on and on. When everyone else was suffering and fading at the end of the Gran Fondo, I was thinking "This is nothing compared to riding in Victoria. We do harder than this every weekend".
Thank you for being such a great club, and thank you for letting me be a part of it.