# gran fondo colnago Philly



## Bee-an-key (May 5, 2007)

Does anyone know the routes for the Gran Fondo coming up next month in Philly?


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## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

http://granfondophiladelphia.com/routes/


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## colnago italy (Feb 12, 2010)

we will be there !!!


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## Tommy Walker (Aug 14, 2009)

I have signed up


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2010)

I"ll be there as well. Making a weekend out of it with the family, ride the bike, see the sights, and catch a Phillies game. 

Looking forward to it and glad to see a "Fondo" on the east coast.


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## Tommy Walker (Aug 14, 2009)

Oh my goodness, the course was hilly. It was a lot of fun, but the hills. I loved the start and then the trip around Logan Circle; loved Valley Forge, but the hills. I do not want to see another hill for a few weeks,


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## aries14 (Sep 4, 2009)

*Grand Fondo Hills*



Tommy Walker said:


> Oh my goodness, the course was hilly. It was a lot of fun, but the hills. I loved the start and then the trip around Logan Circle; loved Valley Forge, but the hills. I do not want to see another hill for a few weeks,


I only rode 60 miles and I have to tell you, that it got to a point that I put my head down and didn’t look up when climbing.. If I looked up, I think my mental weakness would have kicked in. .. Toughest ride I’ve ever done on the road! For some reason “I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT” once I got back to the food area that is!


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## iraform (Apr 1, 2010)

I completed the 100 and I thought the course was downright unfair. I've never seen so many people walk their bikes up hills - that tells you something. Disappointed in a couple of other things: The bathroom and water lines were huge at the second rest stop (the first one I stopped at) and several of the rest stops ran out of PBJ sandwiches, leaving only snack foods. You just can't do that when you've to 1,700 cyclists who need nutrition on a 90 degree day. I also thought the "expo" where you picked up the ride packet and the post-race party were lame. On the good side, the course was marked extremely well and was easy to follow, and the volunteers were nothing short of awesome. Still, I don't know if I'd be up for that kind of punishment again anytime soon.


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## Tommy Walker (Aug 14, 2009)

iraform said:


> I completed the 100 and I thought the course was downright unfair. I've never seen so many people walk their bikes up hills - that tells you something. Disappointed in a couple of other things: The bathroom and water lines were huge at the second rest stop (the first one I stopped at) and several of the rest stops ran out of PBJ sandwiches, leaving only snack foods. You just can't do that when you've to 1,700 cyclists who need nutrition on a 90 degree day. I also thought the "expo" where you picked up the ride packet and the post-race party were lame. On the good side, the course was marked extremely well and was easy to follow, and the volunteers were nothing short of awesome. Still, I don't know if I'd be up for that kind of punishment again anytime soon.


Congrads on completing the Century. I was ready to spend some cash at the expo, but the only thing you could buy was the Garneau shoes. They were giving $50 off, but it still wasn't a great buy. I did get a free pair of socks for trying them on.

I have seen much better rest stops, glad I had nutrition with me. The volunteers were great and I loved the kids who gave you water and almonds after you finished the KOM. Also the police and other volunteers at the traffic intersections were great. I hated coming off the decents only to come to a busy intersection and slow the momentum.

I can't decide if I don't want to do it again or if I need to train harder. The hills just killed me; just when you thought it was safe to shift to the big ring, up popped another killer hill.


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## CdaleNut (Aug 2, 2009)

I was thinking about doing this ride next year as long as it comes back to the area. are the hills really that bad ? What type of training did you do that makes it still that hard ?


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## Tommy Walker (Aug 14, 2009)

CdaleNut said:


> I was thinking about doing this ride next year as long as it comes back to the area. are the hills really that bad ? What type of training did you do that makes it still that hard ?


Did not train for hills, I can do 63 easily; but this was a lot of hills. I made the first hill, which was actually the hardest one; but there were about 10 more afterwards.


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## iraform (Apr 1, 2010)

CdaleNut: I'm no great rider - I don't race or anything - but I train on hills, do repeats, and have regular routes that require climbing. This was my third century of the summer, and it made the first two look like a cruise around the block. I don't want to discourage you, but you should definitely do some training before you try this next year, and just be prepared for lots and lots of hills. Hey, you might be a much better climber than I am and find the course not so hard.
Tommy Walker: I agree that the first hill was tough. It took almost everything I had to make it to the top, and that's when I first thought, "Uh-oh" Thought the KOM climb was easier than the first one and several others, to tell you the truth.


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## Bee-an-key (May 5, 2007)

Agree with you guys on a couple of points, the KOM was just another hill when you compare it to many we crossed. The rest stops were embarassing. For the cost of entry it sucks to have to wait for water from a hose because they only have 8 dispensers and two are always empty. The one stop that you could hit twice had a kid saying it was closed! I have been on club organized events with 1000 + riders that had 100 times the support. Kill the photo op of the helicopter and put the money into the stops. The course was well marked except the intersection where the 65 separates from the 100 miles. A guy standing there was not the best, a couple 100 mile guys wound up on the 65 ride because of that turn. Not being a hater, but for such a big event it could have been better organized.


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## iraform (Apr 1, 2010)

You hit it right on the nose Bee-an-key: Forget the Ferraris leading the pack at the start and all the big talk about the "expo" and post-race party, and give us what we need to ride - and, by the way, what we paid for. Also, if you're going to end the ride a couple of miles from where it started, you'd better make it damn clear how to get back to the start, where a lot of people had hotel rooms. The only directions I saw were in a final e-mail the day before. There was nothing in the packet, and the only person I could find who knew how to get back gave me such bad directions I had to stop at a gas station. I usually wouldn't be so snippy, but the way this was marketed was as a fairly big-time event, and I just think they took their eye off the ball.


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## Tommy Walker (Aug 14, 2009)

Also, on the last rode, why weren't those two gates opened?


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## mleptuck (Jul 29, 2002)

iraform said:


> I completed the 100 and I thought the course was downright unfair. I've never seen so many people walk their bikes up hills - that tells you something.


Are you from the area, or out of town? If you're from out of town, I can understand how the ride might be hillier than expected. If you're from the area, that honestly is NOT what I'd call a severely hilly ride. I ended up with just at 8000' of climbing on the 102.x mile ride, or about 80' per mile. That's about average in the area - I can find 'flat' rides of 50-60' per mile, and can also go find rides of over 100' per mile of climbing. 

And my observation of a lot of people walking up hills was that many of them seemed more of the non-hardcore MS-150 types. Not knocking anyone, but a Gran Fondo, from what I understand, is NOT intended for a casual rider...


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## clonechemist (Sep 8, 2006)

I did 35 miles that morning, and only remembered that the Gran Fondo was going on when I saw some not-so-hardcore folks with numbers on their bikes walking up hills.

I have to say I normally train in that area (NW Philly burbs), and it is a bit hilly if you're not used to seeking out hills, but it also just happens to have the nicest riding close to the city.


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## iraform (Apr 1, 2010)

You are wrong, Mleptuck, about a grand fondo not being intended for what you called a "casual" rider. Here is what the GFC Philly website says:

"Gran Fondos are long distance, mass-participation cycling events – not races – that have become immensely popular in Italy. *Participation is open to recreational and competitive amateur cyclists, and tens of thousands of riders of all abilities participate.*"

Gran fondo is just another name for an organized ride - a century, if you're going the full route. There are thousands of them all across the country. I have ridden in many of them.

Hence my point: For a ride that draws all abilities of cyclists and that is not a race, the GFC Philly course seemed a bit over the top. 

And my observation was actually the opposite of yours. I thought the level of rider was higher at this event than most others I've ridden, and I saw plenty of what appeared to me to be decent, experienced riders walking up hills.


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## Tommy Walker (Aug 14, 2009)

clonechemist said:


> I did 35 miles that morning, and only remembered that the Gran Fondo was going on when I saw some not-so-hardcore folks with numbers on their bikes walking up hills.
> 
> I have to say I normally train in that area (NW Philly burbs), and it is a bit hilly if you're not used to seeking out hills, but it also just happens to have the nicest riding close to the city.


I might have been one of those not-so-hardcore folks walking up a hill, but it was really the hill after hill after hill that made the Gran Fondo tough. I was mentally exhausted looking at hills. I actually did very well on the first hill, which I thought was the toughest; but they kept coming. I really had a tough time with countyline road that went through Villanova; mainly because there was a stoplight at the bottom, my momemntum was gone and we were over 40 miles (I did the medium fondo..63 miles) into the ride, thinking we are on the way home after doing about 8 hills to this point. I got half way up that hill, just mentally gave up (I wasn't having problems climbing but I was going 3 mph); when I got off the bike and started walking, I looked back and there must have been 75 people behind me walkiing their bikes and that was not the toughest climb.

I read the same thing as iraform *recreational* and *all abilities *. I actually signed up because my wife's Family Reunion was that weekend and I thought it was a great way to get a ride in (I'm from out of town). I really have not trained on hills; my ride this weekend, the hills I thought were tough will be a piece of cake. I am at the crossroads here; do I train to get to the point where I can do a ride like the Gran Fondo or just forget it. I do want to ride Skyline Drive (on my bucket list) which is 105 miles through the Shennadoh Moutains here in Virginia. The first 4 miles of that is suppose to be really tough.

Yes it was nice riding in that area; very fortunate that the Skuykil (sp) has a nice road that leads to other areas. I loved the start of the ride and got to meet a lot of great people, but those hills showed no _brotherly love._


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## pulser955 (Apr 18, 2009)

This ride looks like allot of fun. Its all roads I use to train on when I lived in Norristown. I might come home from Colorado next year to see my parents and do this ride. When I was home last summer all the hills that gave me problems in the past were nothing.


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## clonechemist (Sep 8, 2006)

Tommy Walker said:


> Yes it was nice riding in that area; very fortunate that the Skuykil (sp) has a nice road that leads to other areas. I loved the start of the ride and got to meet a lot of great people, but those hills showed no _brotherly love._


I completely understand. When I say I 'train' in the area, I mean that I go up there expecting to hurt. And, when I take people out there who I know don't ride a ton, I intentionally avoid those hills. And I tooooooooooootally hear you about some of the downhills that end with a stop sign or traffic light. In fact, now that I look at the actual route you guys did, I'd have to agree that it's a pretty stupid route for a 'mass-marketed' ride.


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## aries14 (Sep 4, 2009)

*Kom*



iraform said:


> CdaleNut: I'm no great rider - I don't race or anything - but I train on hills, do repeats, and have regular routes that require climbing. This was my third century of the summer, and it made the first two look like a cruise around the block. I don't want to discourage you, but you should definitely do some training before you try this next year, and just be prepared for lots and lots of hills. Hey, you might be a much better climber than I am and find the course not so hard.
> Tommy Walker: I agree that the first hill was tough. It took almost everything I had to make it to the top, and that's when I first thought, "Uh-oh" Thought the KOM climb was easier than the first one and several others, to tell you the truth.


I think at least two of the hills were tougher then the KOM. No question.


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## LigonierA1 (Aug 12, 2005)

A few riders from my part of the world(SW Pa) went and they reported that many many many volunteers were no shows come event time. That would certainly explain a few of the issues. Oh, and it was hilly.


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