Originally Posted by
p1eman
Sorry, no idea! I'm English. I can describe it and you can decide whether you have something similar!
Basically it's a cycling event that you pay to enter, but is not a race. You sometimes get a small prize or certificate if you finish under a certain time. Often there is a choice of distance. The one I did was either 42 or 72 miles, the organisers provide a map and a chip and signpost the route, and provided 2 rest stops with 'free' energy drink/water/fig rolls/jaffa cakes/jelly babies/flapjack/cakes. It's not something I'd do often as I can cycle for free any time I want but it was nice to be able to ride with others (not interested in joining a CC yet), felt more motivated to push to complete the 72 miles instead of stopping when I'd had enough and I bumped into Pro cyclist Alex Dowsett using it as a training ride, who was in full Movistar kit and on a lovely Pinarello which got very dirty thanks to the farmer-mudded roads we were on, he even had to change his own puncture!!
Uh oh! I think this is going to be a never ending quest. So now, what are Jaffa cakes and jelly babies. Churchill was right!
In the USA we just call these organized rides. I guess the most aggressive of them are Gran Fondos, and some of them are done to raise money for charities. Friends and coworkers "sponsor" one's participation in the charity ride with donations to the charity to reward the rider's accomplishment.