farmguy

Hello everyone,

My first post here so I will start with a invitation to a great ride. Ephrata's Gran Fondo. 78 miles of fun. This will be the 2nd year for this ride, last year we had almost 50 riders from around WA State. The ride is roughly 50/50 split between gravel and pavement. You leave town under escort heading uphill to Norton Canyon Rd, gravel for a few miles (6-8?) grades hitting the 6-8%, then blast down Johnson Canyon, pavement till Baird Springs road where you will be a grind up a paved section for several miles to more gravel and then on up to the highest point(road) in Grant County. This is all through rolling dryland wheat fields. Now a down hill blast on gravel for 15+ miles, you can hit 30mph+, just pucker up on the washboards and the corners. Pavement at Crescent Bar then ride towards Wenatchee till you turn on Palisades RD. Refill and rehydrate there before heading back towards the 3 Devils roughly 10 miles in. The gravel starts at the bottom of the first Devil, at aprox 50 miles into the ride, 20% grade, maybe 1/4 mile long then 2 more just not quite as steep but is almost over. Short pavement section then more gravel till you climb to the top of Sheep Canyon RD and pavement, then down the 4 mile canyon, if you have partners 40mph + is easy to hit then a short ride back into EPhrata for a meal and swag.
This is a GREAT way to start the spring.

Last year the top 3 bikes, all within 5 minutes of each other in just over 4 hrs
1. Road bike
2. 1X9 cross
3. 29r MTB

Keep checking the link, as we preride the course, more details will be posted, contact info on the link as well.

https://https://www.beezleyburn.com/index.html

ChinookPass

Interesting. Got any stats on elev. gain, cost, start time?

farmguy

I am going working on memory from last year, my garmin info is not on the new computer, $40.00, start was around 8:00 am and I am thinking it was around 4500ft gain. I will be riding with the ride orginizer tonight and will "refresh" my memory, post tomorrow.

farmguy

Course map and all the details are now posted, hope to see a few folks there.

https://www.beezleyburn.com/2011%20Gran%20Fondo.html

farmguy

Just a teaser of the road through the Devils

ACree

I did this last year and thought it was a great event. It was a refreshing change to be on roads that rural. I was hoping to make this years too, but moving it to the same weekend as the Seattle bike expo and the Echo Red to Red mtn bike race makes it tough.

pwdeegan

looks like a fantastic ride!

farmguy

Jake (the promoter) and I just pre-rode the course Sunday, there is a new section that might get included, a little less pavement and more climbing plus a section of road that is little more than 2 lanes in the rocks and dirt, not very long. We both rode cross bikes with Schwalbe Marathon tires, 700X25's. 79.37 miles in just under 6 hrs. We left with 19 degrees, over cast and a light snow. Conditions ranged from good pavement to snow packed roads with truck tracks to follow, 4-6 inches wide, through the snow, a few light drifts to have fun with. Mud was very light, we left tracks no more than 1/2 deep anywhere we rode. By "race" day they should be drier and a lot faster, the Devils were perfect, hard packed dirt with no gravel, very nice traction for a 20 % slope. We did almost 5000 ft of climbing

It will be a CHALLENGING ride this early in the year, it ride as hard as any century I have done. Bring a buddy and some warm clothes and ride the dry land hills and canyons of Eastern WA