My First Fondo
I left Seattle on Friday and drove around six hours to Coeur d’Alene, ID. I was spending the night so I would be there bright and early to ride in my first Fondo.
Gran Fondos are mass participation cycling events that have enjoyed a huge amount of popularity in Europe for decades, and are now increasingly spreading around the world. Currently considered cycling’s version of the marathon, ‘big rides’ come with all sorts of distance options for every level of cyclist.
RBC Gran Fondo
My hotel was the Resort City Inn Coeur d’Alene. It was smallish, but close to my race start and only $155 for the night. They also said I could keep my car in their lot until I completed my race, which meant I didn’t have to find street parking or pay to park.
I slept quite well, which is unusual before a big bike event, and was at the start location by 7am. There was a huge arch to mark the start and there were hundreds of riders.
I was riding the Piccolo route of 39 miles (the gran fondo route was 116 miles). The route was on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene and ended in Harrison where I was to take a boat back to the start location. Also, since I was on an ebike, I wouldn’t be timed like the regular bikes.
At 7am, a horn sounded and we were off. A pace vehicle led us from the start until about a mile out of downtown before we could go faster.
The ride was wonderful with gorgeous scenery in spite of the dark clouds overhead. There was one section of about a mile that was all gravel (on the uphill), but that was the only annoying section.
It was chilly and the rain finally started falling when I had seven miles left to ride. It wasn’t just a sprinkle…it was a downpour! By the time I got to my finish, I was drenched! I was wearing a rain jacket, so my upper body was dry, but my pants weren’t waterproof, no my bike gloves. I wasn’t the only one very wet…we all were! In fact, a couple of friends riding the Gran Fondo decided to bail at the 39 mile mark and ended their ride early due to the heavy rain.
The boat ride back to Coeur d’Alene too almost two hours. There wasn’t any heat running inside, so we were all shivering during the trip. The deck flooring was very wet from the group of us, making walking without slipping a big challenge.
Back at Coeur d’Alene, I collected my medal and road back to the hotel. I had already checked out, but the hotel staff allowed me to use their private bathroom to change into dry clothes before I departed for home.
I really did enjoy the ride and hope to do the 50-mile ride next time.
