Ride Report Catalina island grand fondo

Gran Fondo rocked! Weather was perfect. Hills were green. The organizers were great. We even had frozen smoothies and sandwiches at the aid stations. I rode the middle route with Baub. Pinnacle10 took off for the long route on his SS. He still beat us back by over an hour. Turns out that our route was not as avertised...we did 5800 feet and over 42 miles (supposed to be 35 and 4200 ft). No way did I think I could pull it off, but we finished strong in the middle of the pack. After the ride, the local Rotary Club watched all the bikes while we relaxed at the beach club. Over 600 riders. Hopefully someone will post some pix. Baub took one of me standing (too) close to a buffalo.

 

Catalina Grand Fondo Race 5/12/12

Had a great time this weekend at the Catalina Grand Fondo Event. Took my girl friend with me to see the island and have a good time.Got to the Island Friday morning and left Saturday evening. Got to see alot of STR friends and friends from different trails. Also got to meet alot of great people at the event and people from the Island.Thank you to all the people who helped run this event. It was great!!
I did the 41 mile route. The views were amazing!! And with 600+ bikers... I didn't think we would get to see any buffalo. But we did! Also a bald eagle! Great to see everyone!! Hope you like the pics!.........

 

More Grand Fondo Pics....

A few more pictures from the start of the race.

 

Great Pictures...especially the one of my ass.

 

Damn. Now I want to go next year. I passed because it looked expensive, but hot diggity dog if that don't look like fun.

 

Very cool guys!
Sherpa D and G-Lat were out there today too. Cant wait to hear the stories and see more pics.

 

And here are the results. 5:37...I can live with that!
http://uscup.net/up/file/CatalinaGranFondo.pdf

 

Thanks for posting the results Wiz.

Yup. Looking forward to seeing more pics.

 

Our photos are currently loading here: http://www.calledtocreation.com/Galleries/US-Cup-Catalina-Gran-Fondo2012

 

That ride was an absoulte blast. This was my first organized ride and I really enjoyed the whole experience.

Wizard, As for the picture. Yes TOO CLOSE! I thought I had told you about the one that charged the rider behind me earlier in the ride.

 

Who won the prize money?

 

I heard from the Team Big Bear guys that Dana Weber won the male money. Not sure about the girls $$.

 

wow, I should have shot photos in the back country with the Bison - cool shots people

 

This was a great event! I hope to come back to Catalina a couple times a year, and will always bring my bike. It's a great way to see the island and everything it has to offer. What a great finish line, 50 feet away was a full bar along with food service.

I also got to see the Avengers in the historic Casino theater. Probably the best movie theater I've been to.

A special thanks to the Wizard. It's great to hangout with a local and him offering a place to stay couldn't have worked out better. Plus, at 60 years old he tore up the middle route. Nice work!

An FYI.....if you did the Gran Fondo, you'll get a conservancy member card when/if you pick up your bike pass. The conservancy card is great for discounts. My wife and I got a good discount on kayak rentals when we were there in March, then yesterday I used it to get into the Botanical Gardens for free.

 

Good to know about the discounts...
We had a great time too! Going back for sure this year.
Thanks...

 

@ abuck55 -- Where is this location on the island? It looks like it will fire huge lefts on a big south swell. 8-[

 

IDK?
It was about half way through the middle route. I was thinking the same thing... It would be cool to camp there for a day or two. Someone will know....

 

That's near Little Harbor. I believe this is the same spot with Little Harbor mid picture and the break in the lower right of this pic:


I took this when I went there solo to ride in 2006

 

I saw on facebook that Eric Bostrom was in the top 5. And looking at the results Dana Weber was 6 minutes faster so it's a good bet he was at least in the top 3.

It would be nice to see all the results in order, but I guess since it wasn't a race they didn't want to list them that way.

How about for the women? I saw Pua was entered but didn't ride. Anyone know who the fastest woman was?

 

Last night I imported the results into a spreadsheet and sorted them by time. I will append it to this thread tonight. Hopefully we can get a pre ride STR party going for next year's event.