Well there you have it - officially done with the first competitive Gran Fondo for me. How did I do? By the pure numbers terribly, but how do I feel about it - well let’s talk about that shall we…

So yeah, for my age group I was at the bottom, not the last person but not that far away from being so. And for the overall I did a little better, but only marginally being at the bottom 20%. I haven’t done the required math to see if the percentages match between my placement for my age group and my overall placement, so we will just go with “I did a little better overall” yeah I like how that sounds.

Approximately a 12.5 hour drive (closer to 14 after taking into account stops and such) to do a bike ride where you finished near the bottom, was it worth it? Hell yeah it was. I challenged myself this year to something I knew would be difficult. I knew it would be very hard. If you remember, my goal was to see how close I could get to qualifying, it wasn’t to actually qualify. - although I would have been overly stoked to do so - but to see how far I could get.

How do you truly know where you stand not just within yourself and your own capabilities and where you stand with others until you venture out and try something new - jumping head first into it. This first ride was meant to primarily establish a baseline as to where my current fitness and capabilities are.

I’ve never attempted something like this and I didn’t know what to expect. Sure I read the materials and watched videos, so I know the logistics of what to expect but I didn’t know how things would feel and how I would perform. You don’t know until you try right?

The weather for the day was just perfect, there wasn’t much of a wind and the temperature stayed in a nice comfortable range. For a good part of the ride it was overcast but even when the sun came out it wasn’t oppressive - that said, apparently my sunscreen needed to be replaced before this ride because it did not do me any favors and I got cooked. Let this be a PSA for all, check your sunscreen before going out!

Anyway - the way I viewed the course was in 8 chunks, 4 timed sections and 4 rest stops. These rest stops were about halfway-ish between the timed sections so it wasn’t like you crossed the line and then a couple minutes down the road you rolled to a shaded area to sip on pickle juice and fresh gatorade. I like having markers to aim for. I mean, who doesn’t do that on their bike ride? You think you want to stop and pause for a bit but maybe after finishing that corner, or I know there is a building a little bit down the road, so after that we will stop - these mental markers help us push that little extra effort.

It was time, we were at the morning of the ride and there was nothing left to do but get kitted up, get to the start line, cue up that playlist and wait for the 3…2…1…GO!

Time to swing the leg over the bike and take that journey, not just through the winding roads of a bike race, but through the nerves, worry, excitement, and yes, still a little bemusement that I was actually doing this. The anticipation building at the start line, the adrenaline coursing through my veins, the sheer excitement of what lies ahead.

They were having people do staggered starts - a group of 20 or so riders (I’m just guessing, I didn’t really count) launching at a time. The beginning of the course puts people on a bike trail and this would help prevent a traffic jam on the trail.

I was on the bike, left foot clipped in and ready to go.

3…..

Ok, this will be great, it's just like the Bike MS rides but with fun sections spread...