How good was getting drenched last weekend? It is officially that time of the year…
giro + tour + winter = pull the ripchord
What pearl of hope can inspire us all to put on those stinking wet riding shoes and get squirted up our backside in the pitch black I hear you say?
Look no further for that missing inspiration than Amy’s Gran Fondo to be held on 16 September 2012. Recommended to me as the mostest enjoyable ride by a number of friends who did it last year, it completely closes all the roads that it travels along including the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. I particularly like the thought of making enemies with 200,000 grey nomads, and not even having to get smacked on the arm by their extended rear view mirrors.
The event starts in Lorne and cruises through Cadel’s favourite parts of….Lorne (and the Otways). The scenery is wonderful (whilst going at low speed in a car), not ridiculously hilly (ok just the one main nasty hill 9km long but at similar gradients to Perth Hills), and not a circuit where you go completely bonkers (unless you do 2 x 120km loops).
There are varying lengths of ride but the Gran Fondo is a 120km timed event, and UCWT qualifier for the 2013 UCWT Final. As the field is 4000 and it maxed out last year, you don’t have to beat Ed Hollands to make it to the UCWT final (this goes out to you Luke, and how many others …ahem….)
I have started an SPR team, the unfortunately named….. SPR Twitchers….( but hey Phil Liggett is a twitcher too) and welcome anyone to join up and come across for a fun-filled flog-fest. You can always ask me stuff that I have no clue about too, like the average rainfall, how many of the 11 apostles are still standing up, and what year the london bridge rock formation fell onto 6,000 penguins posing for a fleet of 17 Winobago mobile mcmansions.
Um…. more info at http://www.amygillett.org.au/amy-s-gran-fondo-2 (just google amys gran fondo)
Thanks for sharing, ride well
Nick Churchill
hah, thanks nick….yay to me for being the first loser in my category! 🙁
It was an awesome ride, don’t ever think I’ll get near it. Combined with a few of the road races on the calendar I reckon you can peak big time for this one…
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with so much positive reinforcment (thanks Jordan :P) …im in!
Will sign up this week!
Great Race did it last year, highly recommended
OK Nick, You talked me in to it, cant wait to see the spot where all the penguins got taken out.
My kids would have a melt down…dead penguins and three girls under 7 years old is not a pretty sight. (not dead kids let me say)
Did the ride last year – this is my country, I grew up in Colac, only 60k’s from Lorne. With this biased background, coupled with an absolutely perfect spring day in Sep 2011, I would have to say that the 2011 event was one of the most enjoyable rides of my life. Otways are spectacular and the opportunity to own one of the most scenic roads in the world for a few hours is not to be sneezed at.
Not to mention, infinitely easier to qualify for UCI compared with the Perth ride in March. The Amy Gillet ride is (appropriately) marketed as a participation ride, not a race. I chose to do it at a social pace with some mates and didn’t qualify. I did, however, fang it up the timed hill climb and easily got a top 10% time in my age group for that segment – a contrast to the Perth ride / race, where I just snuck into the top 25% in a field of 44. About 80 riders in Victoria (1/4 of 325ish) qualified for SA in the 50-55 male category alone.
Jim
I promise to train harder this year….(read didnt train last year!) you will have to save the brownies so you can back up after the Worlds.