plpete

This saturday, I rode the most difficult and at the same time the most beautiful ride I've ever done. It was the Jeremiah Bishop's Alpine Loop Granfondo (https://www.alpineloopgranfondo.com) Jeremiah Bishop is a bit more known in the mountain bike world and is a very accomplished athlete. As a surprise, Ben King of Nissan - Trek team was also present and rode the entire Granfondo with us!. It was an awesome experience riding together in the pack with some pros This ride not only tested me physically as a cyclist but also mentally as it really was a hell of a tough ride that featured 4 tough climbs of which two were on a rocky gravel surface with steep inclines of as much as 18% - 22%. The total distance was 104 miles with almost 11,500ft of elevation gain. The ride details can be seen on my Strava page (https://app.strava.com/rides/22082234)

I did a good amount of training for this ride and upgraded my rear cassette to a 12-28. Judging from my experience, for next year Ill invest in a Rival long cage RD and at least a 32t cassette to make the steep rocky gravel more manageable. Other than that the bike performed flawlessly. I'm still amazed that I did not have a single puncture with my Conti GP4000s tires after running over so much gravel and sharp rocks! I weigh about 167lbs and had them pumped to about 100psi front and rear. It felt and performed perfect.





I've also decided to make a small cue sheet outlining certain sections of the ride which ended up being a great idea.



The ride started at 9am as we all rolled out of the local farmers market.



The first 20 miles were quite easy as we rolled out as a large group and cruised towards the first climb which was also a timed KOM. It was 4 miles in length and on curvy paved mountain roads. The secret to this ride was to ride your own pace as trying to catch up with anyone would only bite you in the a** later when you blow up with miles still to go. I've kept a steady pace and passed many guys who passed me at the bottom part of the climb. After the super fast descent with -9%+ grades we got to the first food stop. After a cup of coffee and a bar with a gel we headed out to tackle the second climb which was also the first rocky gravel section. As we turned into the gravel road the road picked up to an immediate 14% for a short section. It was unexpected and forced you to tackle it in saddle as standing on pedals would have anyone spinning out and crashing. This climb was 4 miles long.



The third climb was the longest at 12 miles. It dipped down a few times and was all paved. In the mean time I tried to enjoy some of the beautiful scenery!

plpete

After the descent from the third climb we reached another food stop to power up for the final climb, the backend of reddish knob. This was the last climb, 11 miles in length, rocky gravel & KOM. This one really took a lot out of me as I already had over 60 hard climbing miles in my legs and it reached the highest elevation of the entire ride.


It gets the name of reddish knob for the red dirt gravel!





After a long suffer fest I've reached the top!





After another awesome long descent a small group that we formed on our way down stopped for a quick snack and a drink at the final food stop and began to cruise back into town and the finish line.





Each participant that reached the finish line before the cut off time had their name and number announced and got to ring a big alpine cow bell. Everyone also received a small replica alpine cowbell as a finishing medal and headed straight for the beer booth





All in all it was a single greatest ride I've done that kicked the crap out of me but I enjoyed every mile of it and I'm looking forward to it next year! If anyone lives a driving distance to Harrisonburg, VA I highly recommend this Granfondo. I traveled from DC for it.

Munk69

Looked like a lot of fun. Grats on the accomplishment!

rvk5150

Nice ride!

Dudelsack 

Kudos for the ride, nice pics and summary.

hecfoto

Hi Peter,

Great ride report and photos! Really nice riding w you and hopefully we can do this awesome ride again next year.

Hector

yochris 

Nice shots. That route looks pretty badass...

plpete

Thanks everyone and yes the route was very badass!

Hector, great riding with you too! I'm definitely doing it again next year!

WC89

Love that Castelli Giugno jersey I just bought same one 2 wks ago.

plpete

Love it too. Great fit and looks good too