9/17/15 6:23 AM

Returned and rode this event for the second time this year, after riding the inaugural event four years ago. It's a fairly hilly loop of 110km over closed roads that takes in coastal road, mountain and rainforest, and rolling farmland. We just rode the event recreationally, but it was also a qualification event for the UCI masters road world titles in Perth next year, so the entrants were about equally divided between those trying for qualification and those just out for a ride, though some of the "recreational" riders (I noticed Phil Anderson was one) were setting a pretty torrid pace as well. I rode as domestique for my wife and one of her friends, and we got around the course a bit faster than on our first attempt, though still a couple of hours back of the first finisher.

There were about 5500 starters, but as we were sent off in waves over about 20 minutes, the roads weren't too crowded. The timing gates actually formally started us about one kilometre from where we actually started riding, and finished us at the top of the last climb just before the 10km long descent back to the coast - I guess they didn't want riders racing down the rather long and winding descent - as it was, during the course of the ride I saw a couple of riders being loaded into ambulances after prangs in the bunches.

Some photos:

The hillclimb event run the evening before, up a 20% climb from the beachfront:


Waiting on the start line:


The Great Ocean Road - it runs along the coast for almost 300km, we covered about 40km of it before turning inland up Mt Sabine:


Mt Sabine - a climb from sea level to just over 500m:

9/17/15 8:11 AM

Man, that looks beautiful. And a pretty good class of "recreational rider" ....

9/17/15 9:53 AM

Boy that look exactly like the West Coast here.. Yum. ;)

9/18/15 5:42 AM

Linda and I recently rode the Gran Fondo PEI on Prince Edward Island. It is recreational by design, in that there are no overall winners, just two timed sections, a 900 KOM climb and a 350 meter sprint at the end. This creates an atmosphere of camaraderie, rather than competition. There is also an organized lunch break and since no one is racing for overall time, people stop, mingle and generally enjoy themselves. We really loved the format and hope that it's repeated in events closer to home.

9/18/15 3:11 PM

First, Brian's event sounds great, and PEI is a place I need to get to and don't really have an excuse for not getting to before now. Maybe I'll look at doing that.

I first thought, well, that sounds like a century, but a little googling reveals a real alphabet soup of ride descriptions.

A Gran Fondo I read is technically a race with chipped timing and road closures, but lots of things are called Gran Fondos but don't fit that definition.

The event in Mallorca I signed up for is technically a "cyclosportive," which is sort of like a Gran Fondo without the race element. But a lot of cyclosportives are called Gran Fondos.

Than there are Randonnees and Audax events, which are a bit different still. D2R2 is called a randonee, but the founder, Samdy Whittlesley (who I believe was once first finisher in Boston Montreal Boston) remarked to me "I thought about all the randonee rules and thought, do I really want to do that?"

Anyway, IMO all these events, no matter what you call them, celebrate the passion of cycling without cutthroat competitiveness. Forza!

9/20/15 5:49 AM

PEI is beautiful and the event is a lot of fun. We did the Medio length (100k), but I'm sure you'd enjoy the Gran route (150k). PEI isn't flat, but there's nothing particularly steep, either. The event is very well organized and the people a exceptionally friendly (as they say, "there's friendly and there's Canadian friendly!"). Most importantly, the banquet was outstanding!

There are photos of the event at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/quq8oerorn8pptz/AAAf8yv2nQkYLBi9KVQEi5RCa?dl=0

There's a somewhat embarrassing sequence of me out-sprinting Linda at the line. There's nothing that makes a guy feel more macho than out-sprinting a 5'1", 110#, 60-something woman!

In fairness, I was coasting along waiting for us to cross together, along with our new friend Hap, when Linda flew by me. I couldn't just let that go, could I???

9/20/15 10:29 AM

This thread makes me realize why I'm so out of sync with much of the cycling community: I'm not competitive in my recreation!

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I care much about competition in ANY aspect of life. It's more of a necessity that I put up with (I may need to "compete" to get a job or bid on a house etc) rather than enjoy. I don't even get the kick out of winning when I do win!

So, recreational racing doesn't sound too appealing to me. Though the event Brian described sounds more like just a garden variety century that I would be ok with.

9/20/15 2:15 PM

April, how are you feeling regarding your past posts pertaining to cycling and waning impetus etc?

9/20/15 9:05 PM

Compare to other activities, cycling is easier. Not much gear, not much worry about weather. But it also feels like same-old same old just as easily too.

I was on vacation last week. 6 days of kayaking, 2 days of cycling. Granted, Cape Cod has a lot of beaches, bays and harbors but few roads.

Alone, no need to keep up. Lots of dirt road and some rail trails, so the speed is totally irrelevant.

I still enjoy riding. But only if it takes me to places I haven't been before. Totally lost interest in group rides of the same loops near home. I prefer to ride long, to far away places, stop for an hour for a good lunch... AND BRAKE FOR WILD LIFE SIGHTING!

Getting lost was the high point of a tour. :D Thanks to google map, I was led to a jeep trail, which then peter out into single track with baby heads. All of it on my gravel grinder. FUN!

Oh yeah, there's an asshole on my home club who is unfortunately a darling of the club "leadership" that I don't need to deal with any more. (I also ride with two other clubs in the region occasionally, seems dirt road is the new "in" thing so I get request to lead rides that has as much dirt as possible)

Ironically, I had received an invitation to a reception (in Manhattan) from the Franklin Land Trust (the organization that D2R2 benefits). I know in my heart of hearts that I'll probably not do it again any more. It is one of those things that had run its course for me. I'm moving on.

Next few weeks are the northeast's best season: Fall = colored foliage. I'll be hiking, exclusively. Probably November before I would think about riding again. (Citibike around the city notwithstanding)

9/21/15 4:22 PM

BTW Brian, how did you get to PEI? Drive? Seems as quick as anything else...

9/22/15 5:30 AM

We took the overnight Ferry from Portland to Yarmouth, which saved two days of driving. It's not cheap, but it was worth it to us and it was nice to crawl into a cabin in the evening and wake up in Nova Scotia. Although we actually drove from there to Halifax and ultimately to the tip of Cape Bretton over the course of a few days, you could drive from Yarmouth and take either the bridge or the ferry from Pictou to PEI and be there in a day. One thing to keep in mind is that it's free to take either route to the island, but you pay to get back and the bridge is much cheaper than the Ferry. We took the ferry over and the bridge back, which worked out perfectly. Once you're on the island, it's a short trip to Charlottetown.

You may want to consider making the trip up to Cape Bretton to ride the Cabot trail. It's a mountainous area with a lot of long, steep climbs (like 4k @ 12%) and the scenery is pretty spectacular. There are multiple tour groups on the island, if you don't want to do it self-supported. There's only one bike shop on the entire route, so bring any spares that you think you may need. The roads are typically shoulderless and the pavement quality varies, but it's nothing that you haven't seen in Maine. We brought our 'cross bikes and two sets of wheels, so we could do a bit of off-road riding. There's a pretty extensive network of gravel trails up there.

9/22/15 6:24 AM

Sounds like a great trip.