NYC Gran Fondo

We completely underestimated this event.   At last year's Maratona Gran Fondo in the Dolomites, we came across a small booth in the expo area for the NYC Gran Fondo.  Anxious for other english-speakers to talk to, we struck up a conversation and eventually signed up.

How hard could 110 miles in and around New York City be?

We were about to find out.

Fred started with the warnings a few weeks ago -- "Guys, have you noticed there's over 8,000 feet of climbing in this thing?"

"There's got to be some bad math in that profile - no way that's right," we said.

We said wrong.  There was every bit of 8500 feet of climbing.  In fact, over 9,000 feet and 122 miles when you add in the ride to and from the hotel.

And we forgot to check the calendar -- it's only May and we've only been on the bikes a little over a month.

Now with sandbags fully filled, I'll tell you we had a blast.  We rode together the whole way.  We somehow came up with 7 hours of banter to keep things interesting.  It was a great 24 hours in New York.

Here's how it went down.  First, to registration, then Tom Snow found Cannibal, a Belgium pub themed after Eddy Merckx.  We imbibed one and I tripped across the Sean Kelly door (Irish winner of Paris Roubaix).

There's a group picture hiding out somewhere, but I couldn't find it.  Fred made a great pick for a pasta feed, Coppola's on 29th.  We combined efforts with the Needham/Wellesley guys:  Tom Snow, Guiseppe, Thom Cranley, Chip and John.  About 20,000 calories got consumed in an hour.  

Up at 430a to get cracking towards the start.  Trick was we're on the New Jersey side and we had to be on the lower deck of the GW at 615a or miss the start.  None of us knew where we were going.  It turned out to be a Rube Goldberg -- take this ramp to this path to GW upper deck, across to Harlem, down to 165th, back up to 176th...my head was exploding.  Some great pics on the ride over though...

The Big Apple at Dawn:

Bill and Fred at the upper deck entrance:

Sun's coming up and Schlags is psyched:

Finally to the lower deck and heading to the starting grid -- we've got low numbers - yeah baby!

Jeff & Fred all smiles

Bill in amazement at Eric's ability to chat up any female rider within 25 yards

A Jersey barrier can make a pretty comfortable seat for 45 minutes...

5000 riders ready to start...

The first 10 miles we cranked in a Posse paceline (ah, the alliteration).  

Unfortunately, those were the only flat 10 miles on the day.  It started to become clear that the 8500 feet of climbing was going to come 85 feet at a time x 100 hills.  At 14%.  Climbs were punchy and given the testosterone, we weren't exactly easing our way up them.  The profile showed the big climbs, but left all the smaller climbs to self-discovery ;)

The Posse lumbers up climb #37:

Most of the day, I tried to pin myself to Bill's wheel.   Mostly to no avail as he can drop me like a bad habit on most climbs and descents.  This one I miraculously (thanks to Eric's EPO) managed to stay with him.  Thank God a photographer was there to catch the impossible:

 Mile 50 brings Bear Mountain.  About 4.5 miles at 7%.  The warning sign appears innocently enough...

Then the real fun begins as it kicks up.  There are five timed climbs with a new Pinnarello at stake for each age group champion.  Its at this point that the men get separated from the boys and Mike and Bill blow us right off of their wheels as they bee-line it for the summit.  

The top of Bear Mountain is a bit like a moonscape.  Even though we've been slowed by a flat tire and a couple of stops, we're still there relatively early and run into the second biggest personality in elite amateur cycling (after Eric):  Peter Loeb.   Pete rode the Etape du Tour with us in France a few years back.  Great guy.  Huge personality.  Bigger smile.  

Pete warns us of what's to come: 5 killer hills, the last is the worst -- a 15%, 1.5 mile climb through a neighborhood that's off the set of the Sopranos.  I've never seen so many concrete animal sculptures in one mile in my life.  Oh yeah, the climb was a killer.  We're now at mile 70 wondering how the heck we're going to finish this beast of a ride.  There are dozens of hills still left on the profile.  

Not happy...

Really not happy...

Finally to the top, Mikey and I hunt for prey on the descent...

Jeff was a diesel engine from here on.  Mr. Steady --  driving us up the climbs and keeping the group together.  The next 40 miles were a repeat of the outbound course, one more flat, longer grinding climbs, no more closed roads or police at intersections.  It was like the organizer ran out of budget.  Felt like we were now on a regular weekend ride dodging traffic and on our own as there were no more support stops either.

Finally onto the Hudson River bike path, then emerging onto the equivalent of Route 9 in Natick during the highest traffic hours of the weekend.  It was dangerous and an ugly way to end what had been a great ride.

With two miles to go, I couldn't wait to get this thing over with, so found a second wind and pushed the pace up to 25 mph.  Finally, the finish line appeared...

 Fred and Billy come across the line...

Once we crossed the line, Jeff asked if we'd do that ride again.  Here's how I'd rate the event:

Company:  A+.  Really great riding as a team together.  These guys are a blast to be around.

Course:  C-.  It's an out and back training ride for New Yorkers.  A little like Wachusett for us.  The road quality though was horrendous.  Makes our roads look brand new.  100s of really deep potholes.  Two of them got us for flats.  Had the ride ended 10 miles earlier, we'd have likely been back again next year.  The last 10 miles ruined it for us.  Too many near misses, a finishing straight with 180 degree turn onto gravel and then an ugly 7 miles uphill back to the hotel.

Event:  B.   Registration was great, expo great.  Support on the ride, not so much.   Only 6 buckets at each water stop led to lines 100s deep and long delays.  Easy to fix, but a pain in the neck.   The base of Bear Mountain has a water stop.  However, descending riders coming down have to use the same stop, so riders going up and down; crossing the road to get to water, not a great combo.  Dangerous.  The organizers could just copy the Etape/Gran Fondos in Europe (50 yards of tables in a line, mega fluids and easy in and out).   No support for last 30 miles and no police presence leave you largely on your own.  No stores to self-support.  

Definitely worth doing once, but already on the hunt for next year's big event.  Posse+Guisseppe+Tom's group+ Italy??