Jeremiah Bishop’s Alpine Gran Fondo

[Dirt]

A few of us made the trip down to Harrisonburg, VA for the Alpine Gran Fundo last weekend. It was totally worth the trip. It was a lovely, though seriously challenging ride that snaked through the mountains between Harrisonburg and Franklin, WV. There was a 35 mile loop that was comprised of some lovely, rolling hills and a few short climbs, a 75 mile loop with 2 big mountain climbs and a 93 mile loop with 4 big mountain climbs. We chose the 93 mile loop. Each of the major climbs was at least 6 miles in duration and had plenty of elevation gain…. over 11,000 ft. of climbing for the whole loop. What was more entertaining was that the 2 toughest climbs were on dirt roads, the steepest of which was a bit on the muddy side after Friday’s rain.

If you are interested in a Century ride that is very scenic and challenging, this is your baby! I rode with a 34×25 lowest gear (and cyclocross tires) and that was not low enough. I could have used a 27 or 28 tooth cog for sure.

Here’s the loop: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/402398

Here’s the web site: http://www.alpineloopgranfondo.com/

Here are a few photos:

2nd climb of the day. Short (about 6 miles) steep (about 21% gradient at most) and fun.

Riding through H-burg on the way west.

I think a lot of people felt this way toward the top of the last climb.

Harrisonburg is a great place to ride both mountain and road bikes. This Gran Fondo was planned perfectly and well executed. For those who brought family down that were not taking part in the ride, the Harrisonburg fair was the same weekend and there was lots to do and see. The downtown restaurants are great and there’s a cool, historic vibe to the town.

I’ll definitely be going back (with a few extra teeth on my cogs) next year… and the year after that.

Love,

Pete

Topic

[CCrew]

Looking at the GPS tracks, looks like a lot of the FR’s I take the Jeep out on.

[Dirt]

They were neither rough nor steep enough to require a jeep, but it was definitely something that made tire/bike choice interesting. I chose the cross bike because it had the lowest gearing that I’ve got on a road-ish bike. I was one of the few people that made that choice and one of a very few that had really fat tires on.

That choice was very good in some ways: I was able to really bomb the gravel downhills. I had great traction on the climbs.

It wasn’t so great in other ways: The knobbies are pretty heavy and I felt that on the climbs. Hitting 50+mph on knobby tires is “interesting”. Trying to diesel the last 30 miles was definitely inhibited a bit by knobby tires. They don’t roll that smoothly. The truck-like sound that they make is really cool though.

Next year I will likely ride it on my road bike, but with a compact crank to help with the climbs.

[jabberwocky]

I went down with Pete and had a great time. It was definitely a really tough route. The climbs were not only long, but steep. Nothing like, say, Skyline Drive (which is long but not terribly steep). I ran my road bike with a 34/28 low combo and even then had to stand up and work sometimes. I passed quite a few fit-looking roadies walking their bikes on the steeper sections of the dirt road climbs. With my 23mm road tires, I had trouble keeping traction in a few places but managed to ride everything (I never walk if I can help it ).

I’ll definitely be back next year. It was a fun, well run event. And very challenging.

[Mark Blacknell]

Okay, I’ll Goldilocks it – my 700×25 Conti 4 Season’s were just about right. (When Dirt said he was bringing his cross bike, I’d assumed he’d be swapping tires . . .) But my tires weren’t perfect – that first dirt/gravel climb was slick enough that standing let me spin my back wheel. So I sat my @ss right back down and ground it out. Still, I was quite happy for them when on the pavement (esp., say, bombing the Reddish descent @~50mph).

(More about this ride later, after I conclude my photo rights negotiations with Dirt.)

[americancyclo]

This looks like an incredibly fun ride. I’m marking it on my calendar for 2013.

[Arlingtonrider]

That sounds like a tough ride! I think some helmet cams would be a great addition – at least for those not having to carry/wear them!

[Mark Blacknell]

There were a couple of helmet cams on the ride – I’ll link the video here, if I come across it.

(I thought about taking my GoPro, but by the time I was slogging up Reddish, I was happy with my choice to leave it at home. It would have looked like stop-motion video . . .)

[CCrew]

@Dirt 8565 wrote:

They were neither rough nor steep enough to require a jeep, .

Yeah, but they’re the FR access roads to a lot of the side trails up in those parts.

We moved to Winchester from Harrisonburg, know it well. Used to commute to Bethesda from right by JMU

[americancyclo]

2013 date was announced, Sep 29th. Registration opens next friday, and I’ve put it on my calendar. Anyone else planning on registering? Did they really only have 300 slots open last year?

[Dirt]

@americancyclo 41554 wrote:

2013 date was announced, Sep 29th. Registration opens next friday, and I’ve put it on my calendar. Anyone else planning on registering? Did they really only have 300 slots open last year?

I don’t remember what the numbers were last year, but it isn’t a huge ride. It isn’t Seagull Century in many, many ways. It was one of the most difficult rides I did last year…. second only to the Fixie double century done mostly in below-freezing weather.

That said, it was a very fun ride and a seriously challenging event. The climbs are significant and pushing hard in between them to keep pace up makes them hurt much more.

I will likely be back again for more this year. I have to check and see how it fits into my schedule.

[Tim Kelley]

It was the best marked organized ride I’ve done in awhile. The aid stations were somewhat lacking. Total200 was better in that respect (although their on route directions were quite poor, Derecho and all that…)

[Dirt]

@Tim Kelley 41567 wrote:

It was the best marked organized ride I’ve done in awhile. The aid stations were somewhat lacking. Total200 was better in that respect (although their on route directions were quite poor, Derecho and all that…)

I found that the aid stations were placed well for me… I think some ran low on water later in the day. I lost a water bottle on one of the bumpy descents and that put me in a hole before starting up Reddish. Not good, but it worked out in the end. I think I bonked pretty hard on the last little climb because I’d dug too deep into a dehydration hole 25 miles earlier.

[americancyclo]

Thanks for the input guys, this one has been on my list for over a year. now I just need to find some climbing to do in the meantime. When’s the next Kill Bill?

[Megabeth]

I did the Medio route (77miles) and the aid stations were well placed and well-stocked once I rolled up on them. (Although, I wish there was someone at the top of Reddish Knob to say, “YAY!” when I finally panted my way up, but the awesome descent made up for that.) The medio route got most of us to the last rest stop before the Alpine folks made it so we didn’t run out of anything.

It’s an awesome ride through some beautiful countryside. I swore halfway up Reddish Knob, as I was winding and wobbling slowly up, that I’d never do it again…uh, yeah, I think I’m most likely signing up again in 2013.

[vvill]

I imagine that gravel grinders would actually be better preparation than Kill Bill (then again I was done halfway or so up Reddish so what do I know.). The constant drain of energy required to get up (and even down) some of the unpaved sections of Reddish was the toughest thing for me – my vision was going a bit weird so I perhaps didn’t eat enough. The earlier road climbs were longish but not any worse than Skyline, while the earlier dirt climbs were steep but not that long.

I do remember that Reddish section being the first time I ever heard Tim complain about not having low enough gearing! I was happy to have bought a 11-28 cassette specifically for this event, and tougher 700x25s (a Panaracer RibMo up front and a Gatorskin on the rear – no punctures). Even Jeremiah Bishop got a flat last year, and I heard the course was more washed out from rain than when it was mapped out, so the rocks, roots, etc were more exposed than expected by the organisers.

The scenery is beautiful. I would happily go there just to ride some of those climbs without it being part of an event.

@Megabeth 41597 wrote:

I swore halfway up Reddish Knob, as I was winding and wobbling slowly up, that I’d never do it again…uh, yeah, I think I’m most likely signing up again in 2013.

Same. If I do I won’t sign up until later though, I don’t think it was anywhere near full even a few weeks out from the event date.

[Author]

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