So much for relying on the weather…. wow, what a disaster to date….. trying to spend more time riding than cleaning the bike…. some days it`s awash .) but the good news is it`s early May and most of us are way ahead given the Summer like March we had…

Our 1st Annual GranFondoOttawa is taking shape nicely with close to 1,000 riders set to ride one of our great route options through the Lower Ottawa Valley.

Our Fondo-Fit rides on Wednesday (Trek|Bushtukah) and Sunday (GranFondo) are growing and last Wednesday we finally had a decent turn-out but for getting split into 2 groups and not connecting and getting soaked into a headwind on the way back!

With less than 3-months to go, be sure to follow the Training Plan and be out on the bike at least 2-3 days a week for the MedioFondo and 3-4 days for the GranFondo and SuprFondo rides.

We have added a GiroPreFesta on the 19th at Brookstreet Hotel with and Olympian theme and will have a Four Course dinner followed by an open forum panel with 4 celeb`s sharing what it was like to dedicate themselves to a specific sport, their set-backs and successes and what life is like after sport. The Four Course Italian dinner prepared by Brookstreet`s Four Diamond Chef will cost $75.00 and include 2 bottles of Cave Springs vino per table. All proceeds will support our worth charities, Camp Quality and Ride for Dad.

Be sure to check out the Silent Auction section of the website as we have loads of great items…

We will be launching a specific charity initiative to be announced shortly aimed at supporting Camp Quality and Ride for Dad via specific pledge programs. With 1,000 riders and a minimal effort to raise $200.00 each, we should easily hit $200,000.00 for these charities.

Many riders have asked about the fit of the Biemme gear and to showcase how awesome their gear is and to encourage your purchase of the matching bibs, arm & leg warmers, gloves, caps and socks…. on May 27th we will have a Fit-Day with a double purpose. From 9AM until Noon we will offer fittings and showcase product in an Expo format from Biemme, Diadora, Enervit, Veloflex and Stella Azzura and plan to have Trek and Bontragger there as well given Trek is our Official Bike Sponsor.

GranFondoOttawa~FondoFitTraining page is being updated to make it more user friendly and we will be adding nutritional tips and the TrainingPlan in 2 formats for easier use. Our FondoFit rides powered by Trek/Bushtukah & fueled by KBeer are taking shape….. not much luck with the weather so far bvut the season is young.  The plan is to host rides Wednesday’s at 5:30PM and Sunday’s at 11AM from the Westboro Beach parking lot off the Ottawa River Parkway, west of Island Park Drive. Once the days get a little longer, we can push the Wednesday time to 6PM. The post ride “haunt” will be the Pavilion at Westboro Beach (operated by Moe’s Newport) but until it opens we can use its’ sister restaurant, Donna’s on Churchill Ave at Scott St. Check our Facebook page for updates on the day of the ride so we can adjust for weather etc.

Last week I attended the CTS Camp in Santa Ynez to ride with Chris Carmichael and see firsthand how he worked his magic on a guy named Lance for 20-years via his guru-like approach to training with power and wow what an eye opener.

I will skip over the first round of golf on Monday AM at Pebble and the crazy drive after down Hgwy 1 along the coast and get to the good part…..

The drive from the Central Coastal area took me through some of the most beautiful areas in the world flanked by vineyards and horse stables with mountains all around… and waiting for me was the Four Diamond Santa Ynez Inn, an awesome retreat with huge rooms and great staff. Across the street is CTS and after a team meet & greet dinner and a great sleep…. waiting there for us in the AM are the 4 coaches, led by Kirk + Dave, Jason and Julia, all Cat 1 racers and true disciples of their leader, Chris. Parked out front are 2 fully decked out Sram cars with our pro mechanics, Jason and Chad to take care of us and Soigner Jen with the sag wagon fully stocked with GU and bearing the CTS logos. How good is that…. better than good, awesome. Next…. who pops out but Chris to greet us and tell us a little about what they have in store…. can it get any better….. of course it can.

Off we go along the same scenic rural roads, with horse stables to the left and vineyards to the right and mountains in the horizon. Day 1 is the Field Test, good thing I read the fine print….. ouch that hurt, a short ride with some skill sessions followed by 2 x 8 minute time trials on a 2% false flat to set the bar and after the ride back, 60K was in the books. After a great dinner with Leonardo from Reggio di Calabria (home to Granpa Capello) at Grappolo and a few too many glasses of wine, okay 7 to be exact….  I hit the sack well after Midnight, bad idea!

On day 2, Chris tells us about a ride named after Manny, a cancer victim and off we go to the ocean…. 140K and 5,000 feet later I am better than cooked, these boys can ride and the Gat^s seems like rollers compared to the roads we covered. Thanks to the masseuse or Day 2 would be a total bust.

At dinner the coaches ask if we are ready for Fig Mountain….. Fig what….. So on Day 3 we ride 70K, not bad but for Fig Mountain is a legit euro-style Cat 1 climb with 10 long miles at 2% followed by another 10 miles up at an average grade of 8% and at least a dozen pitches of 14%, again, where did I see that…. wow, a little beyond what I came ready for but a real quad crack^n challenge for sure…. and as a follow-up to the 140K ride but I survived the day earlier, yowszer…..and the descent was unreal. I was happy to see the masseuse again and took an extra half-hour treatment. That night the wine stayed in the cork but the Fig Mountain Brewery lost a few soldiers for sure…..

Day 4 was an easy day with about 70K of roller riding but for Ballard Canyon and it^s 12% short pitch but lucky the GU was doing the trick and the descent was long and fun as the next day was the real stinger as Chris so aptly noted. After another great massage, followed by a hot tub and stretch, that night Chris gave a great talk about his days with 7-11 and the adventures of Alex Steida, the first rider from North America (Canada) to wear the yellow jersey at the TdeF, awesome story teller, wow, are we in for a treat if I can get him here….

Day 5 was the Solvang Century, 170K ride with 5,500 feet of climbing. I made the mistake of taking off with Group A incl Chris and a few too many Cat 1 guys and got dropped after hanging on for 40 minutes…. but managed to complete the ride at just under 32K/hour, not bad for March and riding mostly alone…. That night we had a great dinner and exchanged stories and listened to Chris and took some pics before calling it a quits…

The next day I headed back to Pebble Beach for another shot or two…. to pursue my other passion but found myself wishing I had stuck around for another easy day on the bike in Santa Ynez…. maybe next year….. yes, next year for sure!

With it seeming like Spring is around the corner…. many riders are asking about upcoming group rides….. and as per the Training Plan and our web section, we will do Wednesday rides and Sunday rides but for now its trainers, spin classes and xc skiing for most of us!
For our friends from out of town, we plan ahead and look into what Brookstreet will offer for April or May or June weekend specials as I am sure they would welcome the extra Spring or Summer traffic.
On the subject of Brookstreet and those coming from afar OR anyone wanting to add a little something extra to enhance your GranFondoOttawa experience…. be sure to check out http://www.brookstreet.com/granfondo.php and do not wait too too long as I can assure you there is NO better hotel in the ReggioCapitale nor can you beat the rates Brookstreet has offered for our riders. Not only is Brookstreet a Four Diamond resort hotel, but it is adjacent to the start|finish area on Legget Drive in Kanata meaning when you roll out of bed at the crack of dawn on the 21st the host venue is next door in plain view of your hotel room window…. better yet, join us for the Thursday GiroPreFesta and combine it with a Noon ride Friday to be followed by a yoga stretch before the Friday Event Expo BBQ and Kit p|u begins in the later afternoon…

Having done an Ironman way back in ’93 before tri’s became so popular…. I can still recall how boring the long solo training rides were without even the company of an iPod…. often wondering “why” but pushing ahead to build the base needed to swim/bike/run for 9+ hours at a decent pace to reach my personal goal. Twenty years later…. cycling is the NEW golf and riding 60K seems so easy with the iPod or when dragging a group or a cycling buddy along for a 100K ride and now it’s great fun and having renewed myself last year with Rideau Lake’s + a few 100K fundraiser’s and the GranFondoLasVegas the bug certainly bit ME and listening to fellow cyclists comment about their event experiences and thinking about my own and in particular [GFLV] I couldn’t help but wonder…. these events could offer so much more so rather than be an arm-chair critic, wanting to make a difference is what inspired me to offer something WE could build into a pure cycling FESTA and call our own! Continue reading →