A New Direction for Cycling                       

The enthusiast road cycling world has long been divided intotwo distinct and quite separate camps: racers and tourists with littleconnection between them. This standoff looks to change though a new format oforganized road cycling called Gran Fondo (or Cyclosportif), already immenselypopular in Europe, that has begun to take hold in the U.S. 

“Cyclos or “Fondos” are timed events on long andchallenging, often professional, road courses, but designed for massparticipation. Young and old, fast and slow, everyone has a chance to testthemselves against the distance & conditions, and also against their agegroup. Some race hard, most ride with a combination of camaraderie, personalchallenge and the enjoyment of riding in a traffic-controlled environment.Think marathon runners who finish in a 3:00 to 6:00 hour window – that’s thegeneral mentality of a Fondo rider.

For our NYAC Cycling Club and its racing team, these eventsprovide an additional and accessible competitive outlet, one that will unitethe club in a common discipline. Our team of rowers turned bicycle racers willabsolutely shine in these pure power events. And our “Fondo” push will attractnew cycling club members, fit ones who might not want the cut and thrust ofracing, but who do want to test themselves on a bicycle. Every serious cyclistshould try one of these events – but only after making certain that theirfitness level are good.– the rides are very challenging, that’s the point ofthem.

We have two excellent ones in the region coming up: on May 6is the Berkshire Cycling Classic (which I organize), the official U.S.qualifier for the UCI World Amateur Championships for age group categories, andthe excellent Gran Fondo New York on May 20th.