We had the BEST time yesterday at Levi Leipheimer's GranFondo. Jett signed us up for this ride back in January. We were both overweight and out of shape. Jett posted the words "Gran Fondo" on our bathroom mirror as a daily reminder to lose the weight and get ready. Here's a photo of us in our chubby state:
In May 2010, we finally got serious about our diet and exercise. Then we found our secret diet weapon: the BodyBugg (worn by the Biggest Loser TV show contestants). The weight started coming off and we attended to our exercising. To date Jett has lost 35 pounds and I have lost 17.
By GranFondo day, Jett, despite 3 weeks overcoming a knee injury, Jett was mentally prepared. (I had not trained as well as I would have liked due to too much work and a recent neck injury, but I was prepared to muddle along as best I could and suffer the consequences.) Let the excitement start! On Friday (Oct 9) night, we drove to Santa Rosa and went straight away to the event registration to pick up our numbers, t-shirts, jerseys, and cool musette-style swag bags. Saweet!
Below is our cool jersey. Cycling jerseys are the best souvenirs ever. You get to wear them again and again - they give you both bragging rights and sweet memories. Jett was #776 and I was #307. I think they went by alpha. We understand there were 6000 riders at the GranFondo. 3000 for the full Gran (103 miles) and another 3000 for the Medio and Piccolo (65 and 32 miles).
Here's Jett rocking her jersey.
And her I am being all sassy... We started out with removeable arm and leg warmers. Riding in Sonoma County means cold in the morning and who knows what you'll get in the afternoon.
The GranFondo is scheduled to "start" at 8:00 AM. We were advised to arrive at 7:15-7:30. Which we did. Along with 6000 other people. I have never been in a starting group this large. It was a sea of people. Everyone was in a great mood. Here's Jett pointing out fashion/cycling gear violation. (You know you may be in the wrong section when you see people wearing khaki shorts with a belt...)
Finally at 8 AM the BIG START HAPPENED!!! There were so many people, and the route was so narrow, it took a full 20 minutes for us to actually get moving...
This was the first ride I ever had to "stage" myself based on my speed and experience. We chose "Intermediate Expert" which seemed reasonable to us. In the end, we really should have moved way up in the line.. Next time...
While we were in line, we saw some very cute young girls, rocking their pink cycling accessories. Future world class female cycling champions??
Our route took us through the Monte Rio, the base camp we used for our July cycling/camping vacation. It was fun to ride through all these familiar roads. And let me tell you - the weather in October was so much better than July. We had beautiful warm sun this weekend, rather than the coastal foggy murk from July.
Here's the sign that welcomed us to the much feared "King Ridge." Difficult? Understatement. I call it brutal and endless. A suffer-fest. Wicked hard and wicked long. But we steadily progressed around the bike hikers (who couldn't climb up the >10% grades) and the weavers (who couldn't climb straight up, they had to weave back and forth in a zig-zag up the grade) for the 30 miles of steep climbing and crazy descents..
And as we arrived at the rest stop after King Ridge, this kid was estatic! He was nearly weeping with relief. We celebrated with him. Very cute.
The next leg brought us out to the coast - and it was a perfectly gorgeous day. The ocean was beautiful. The CHP patrols kept us safe on Highway 1. (Have you ever had a CHP motor cop applaud you? We did! It was surreal!) Below is the last rest stop before the 2nd feared climb: Coleman Valley Road. It was great to have a stop right there on the coast. But we were tired and spent. Ready to be done. We were having a hard time eating at this point. And my poor neck was aching. The Motrin I pounded was having no impact. But I am smiling! I was loving every painful moment of this epic ride.
With 77 miles and thousands of feet of climbing on our legs, we begin the vertical grade up Coleman Valley Road. This road is extremely difficult when you are fresh. Words fail to describe how it felt when we were this tired. One word Jett said earlier in the day inspired me: Courage. Here's Jett moving up the steep steepness of that first wicked section of Coleman Valley Road. Look at the gorgeous Pacific behind us!
And here' Jett moving up past the super steep section into the lesser steep section - it's still steep as hell!!!
After Coleman Valley, we had another 20 miles to go. Mostly flat thank God... But no more photos. Both me and my camera pooped out. It was all I had to finish. The last 15 miles were the longest of my cycling career. Jett powered me and a paceline of 2 other he-men all the way home. I was never so happy to see a finish line! In total, we had 9000 feet of climbing and 107 miles of cycling for the day (103 GranFondo + 4 commute miles to/from hotel).
