levi's granfondo 2014 rider guide

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FondoFRIDAY

norcalcycling.com :: 425 College Ave, Santa Rosa, California :: (707) 573-0112

PROVIDING THE ULTIMATE

CYCLING EXPERIENCE

IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIAWomen’s Ride & Brunch | Happy Hours | Clothing Liquidation Sale

norcalcycling.com for details

http://norcalcycling.com/fondofriday.htm

http://clifbar.com/

WELCOME PARTICIPATION

ROUTE

RACE NUMBERS ★ PARKING ★ STAGINGROUTE CUTOFFS & COURSE CLOSURESMEALS ★ INFO DESK/CONNECTIONS

MAP & ELEVATIONS ★ CLIMB PROFILESCOURSE SIGNAGE ★ ROAD CLOSURESREST STOPS ★ EMERGENCY VEHICLESSAG ★ WEATHER ★ ON-BIKE MARSHALS

CATTLEGUARDS ★ POTHOLES ★ GRAVELDECREASING RADIUS TURNS ★ PACELINESDISMOUNTING/WALKING

BASIC MAINTENANCE ★ TIRES ★ GEARING

GEAR NOTES

TECHNIQUEFESTIVALFONDOSONOMA

CHARITIES ★ VOLUNTEERS

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NSO

RS

Schedule

AltrusimThe Night Watch

http://clifbar.com/

I’ve always been impressed with how the GranFondo works, but I’ve become more involved in the past year. I’ve been able to get closer to the mechanics of the event, to see processes take shape that I never really thought about before. I watched how they all come together to produce the best day out on two wheels.

More than that, what really came home was the level of personal investment so many people have in the GranFondo. I’ve watched so many volunteers be so generous with their time, year after year, taking the same care with this event that they would if their own name was on the archway. That so many would work so hard only confirms how lucky I was to find this community and to create the GranFondo under its care.

I hope that you, while taking in the GranFondo’s expanse and exhilaration, find time to recognize just how many people in this community are welcoming you into it, if only for a day.

See you out there.

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http://www.newbelgiumbrewing.com

As you line up on Saturday, it will have been six years from the first time Levi Leipheimer introduced you to his absolute favorite place to ride. Standing there, first time or sixth, I’d like you to think about the sheer scale of work required to prepare over 130 miles of red carpet on every route, all for you.

Levi’s GranFondo is a rider’s ride and that makes it a great leviathan of a production. Large numbers of people have worked immensely long days for months, all to culminate in this weekend. Paving crews patched crumbling roads. Over 60 volunteers stuffed registration packets, folded t-shirts, and filled swag bags. Seventy traffic control personnel, 150 riding marshals, 25 motos, 50 EMTs, and a phalanx of California Highway Patrol officers secured the corridors that lead you to the Pacific Ocean. Over 300 people service our farmers market-esque rest stops. Another 300 await your return at the FondoSonoma Festival with food, drink, shade, secure bike parking, and whatever else you need to complete the arc of your ear-to-ear grin.

By spending the day in their service, you’ve enabled us not only to produce the best event in America, but to also give back through the GranFondo charities so near to our hearts. We are unceasingly grateful for your continued support and participation in our favorite day of the entire year.

See you at the finish line.

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6:00-7:30 AM Same-day packet pick-up

7:30 AM All riders staged

8:00 AM 2014 Levi’s GranFondo rolls!

10:00 AM FondoSonoma Festival opens ★ Est arrival for first Piccolo rider

10:30 AM Est arrival for first Medio rider

11:00 AM New Belgium beer taps are open

12:00 PM FondoSonoma Festival’s live music begins

12:30 PM Est arrival for first Gran rider

4:30 PM Presentation by Levi and friends

5:00 PM GranFondo course closes

6:00 PM FondoSonoma Festival closes ★ Rider timing system shuts down

SCHEDULE

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1 Available feature. 2Do not operate slide-forward function while CRS is occupied. 3Ward’s Large Cross/Utility Market segmentation. MY14 Pathfinder vs. 2014/15 Large Cross/Utility class. 2014 EPA fuel economy estimates, 20 city/26 highway. Actual mileage may vary with driving conditions. Mileage listed for Pathfinder 2WD. Always wear your seat belt, and please don’t drink and drive. ©2014 Nissan North America, Inc.

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NISSAN PATHFINDER.RTWO-BY-TWO MEETS 4x4.

With the perfect mixture of capability, comfort and best-in-class fuel economy,3

our Pathfi nder redefi nes the word “versatile.” Between its Intuitive 4WD system1, EZ Flext Seating2 for seven and Tri-Zone Entertainment system1, you can share the adventure wherever the road goes. Or doesn’t go.

Intuitive 4WD1 | EZ Flext Seating2 | Tri-Zone Entertainment1

http://www.nissanusa.com/pathfinder

WHEN CALLED TO ARMS, THE CLASSIC-WINNING ROUBAIX REACTS AS THOUGH SIMPLY AN EXTENSION OF MIND AND BODY. “THIS BIKE HAS PLAYED A PART IN MY GREATEST VICTORIES ON COBBLESTONES. IT’S COMFORTABLE, RESPONSIVE, AND STIFF. IT’S ALSO SOLID; AN ESSENTIAL QUALITY FOR A RACE AS DEMANDING AS THE PARIS-ROUBIAIX.” - TOM BOONEN

“THE SINGLE BEST PLACE TO ENHANCE EVERY RIDER’S EXPERIENCE IS WITH THE TIRES. IT AFFECTS EVERYTHING; HOW FAST THE BIKE ROLLS, HOW WELL

IT CORNERS AND BRAKES, TIRES ARE THE FOUNDATION OF EVERY RIDE.”- MIKE SINYARD

INTRODUCING THE NEW S-WORKS TURBO TIRE WITH GRIPTON COMPOUND. THIS PROPRIETARY, ALL-NEW COMPOUND DELIVERS, WITH LOW ROLLING RESISTANCE AND SAFE HANDLING UNDER ALL CONDITIONS, EXTREME GRIP TO ALLOW SUDDEN STEERING INPUT AT HIGH SPEEDS AND EXTREME LEAN ANGLES, AND ALL-ROUND RELIABILITY.

NOTHING IS SMOOTHER AND FASTER

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Believe it or not, the true cost of a cycling event of this scale is, to put it lightly, prohibitive. The sheer magnitude of riders coupled with our commitment to a high quality of service marks a mountain of resources, many of which would threaten to send registration fees into the stratosphere. Thankfully, we have partners who share that commitment to quality and who want to work with us to make Levi’s GranFondo a cycling event they can be proud of as well.

Because of this, we want to state unequiv-ocally that this event couldn’t happen without the care and investment of our sponsor part-ners. These are the people who regard the GranFondo enough to stand behind it and all the good people who line up to ride it, past, present, and future. To them, we offer our thanks and our hopes for a long relationship together.

SPONSORS

Ask any skydiver: the best part of jumping out of an airplane is when the parachute opens correctly. While much is made in these pages and beyond of the experience you’re going to have on your bike, it’s only one part of your time under the auspices of Levi’s GranFondo. Because we believe that how you finish is at least as important as the finish itself, we’ve created the FondoSonoma Festival, a seven-acre fantab-ularium of food, beer, music, kids’ activities, and rider comforts.

Once back from your time in the saddle, drop off that trusty rig at our new and improved bike valet. Pick up the bag you dropped off that morning and snag a shower and fresh togs. Grab some water, grab some recovery drink, then grab some food from one of eight local food vendors comprising the best of cuisine from our backyard to halfway around the world. Seek out the massage tent and untie some of those knots you saw fit to produce out on the road. Get your mitts around a New Belgium beer and take in the music from one of two stages. Once you’ve got some strength back, stroll around exhibits from over 25 vendors from the cycling industry and beyond.

Most of all, bring the family and bring the friends. The FondoSonoma Festival is for everyone, whether you ride the event or not. It’s free and open to the public all the way until sundown.

Come and welcome back those who gave their all out there on the great winding way. Cheer on riders who’ve committed to one of the best days out on two wheels. They’re going to need someone to prop them up at this point.

FOODAdam’s Grub TruckBling Bling DumplingCharlie Bruno’s ChuckwagonCurry Up NowGerard’s PaellaKeith’s Barbecue BeastLydia’s Lovin’ FoodsOaxacan Kitchen MobileUp And Under GrillUltimate SouvlakiUltra CrepesFlying Goat CoffeeReal Cool Frozen TreatsRevive KombuchaSmoothie PatrolThree Twins Ice Cream

EXHIBITORS2nd Wind PrintingBar Fly

BuffClifDHBetty Bicycle GemsDude GirlEnduraElevengearGUGunn CollectionK-EdgeKnights of MoLexi MillerNissanNorCal Bike SportOculus EyewearOliver’s MarketPowerCranksREACH Air Medical ServicesREIRouttaSmith OpticsSpecialized

Sports BasementSRAM/ZippStack 52Sycip DesignsTonik TransAmericaTrek Store Santa RosaTrek TravelTri Sports JewelryUber BikeVelotozeWahoo Fitness

SERVICE/FAMILYForget Me Not FarmAunt Stacey’s Face PaintingBiology For KidsSamagse Massage

FESTIVAL

PHOTO BY BRAKETHROUGH MEDIA

RACE NUMBERSYour rider registration packet is waiting for you at the Finley Center starting on Friday morning, the day prior to the GranFondo. We’ve made it easy to pick up and easy to enjoy yourself with beer, music, merchan-dise, and exhibits from our dear sponsors. Our hope is that you’ll come by and leisurely grab what you need rather than wait until Saturday morning when you’re trying to juggle parking, clothing, a full bladder, an empty stomach, and that ill-advised seatpost adjustment that triathlete blog told you was necessary if you didn’t want to abandon the event.

Regardless of when you get your hot little hands on the packet, what we want to communicate is how you need to hang the three pieces contained therein. First off, they should all have the same three numbers on them. If that’s not the case, get back over to registration so we can fix it quick-fast. Second, make sure there are three items in there: a number plate; a larger, more flexible jersey bib; and a small white adhesive strip.

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http://www.capocycling.com/

All good? Good.

★ The large racer bib goes on the back of your jersey, affixed with safety pins. It has a tear-off ticket stub (don’t tear it off yet) that you’ll redeem for your rider meal. This number is also how you’ll get your rider beer and conduct the drop off/pick up of your bike at bike valet. ★ The small, rigid number plate goes on the front of your handlebars, affixed with those tiny, cute zip ties. This plate should be placed as vertical as possible with no bending of the plate itself. Deforming this thing will cause the timing chip on its back to break, meaning your results will be inaccurate or nonexis-tent. DO NOT WRAP THIS AROUND YOUR HEADTUBE, no matter how race-y you think it makes your bike look. A race without a result is no race at all.

★ The long sticker tag is wrapped around the seatpost such that the number faces flat out to one side of the bike. It should look like a little spoiler or rudder coming off the back your post. Don’t deform this one either. It’s the backup chip to the one on your number plate and we need them both to have reliable results.

You’ll also notice that these plates are coded to your chosen route. Should you opt to ride a route longer than your chosen route, those riders who paid for that privilege will immediately notice that you did not. They may mention this to you. They may not be nice about it. If you want to upgrade to a longer route, let us know before the GranFondo. We’ll get you sorted and you’ll have the proper number plate that signifies both your ambition and your achievement.

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http://www.bicycling.com/apparel

http://patrontequila.com

PARKINGPutting aside the negative externalities asso-ciated with the concept of parking, let us just say that driving to the GranFondo isn’t the best choice. There’s a lot of you and, while we’ve got a fair bit of parking available, there’s still a lot of you. Carpool when you can, or simply ride to the start from your area crashpad. We’ve got a bag check service that’ll allow you to stash whatever you’ll need for the end of the day and the start/finish sits directly adjacent to Santa Rosa’s main bike path.

Should this interest you not at all, we do outline all our parking advice at levisgranfondo.com/gettingthere and won’t go into the specifics here. What we will say is that you best allow yourself an extra 10–15 minutes to find a spot and get from it to the start line on event day and for you to use the business park lot off of 9th Street, just east of Stony Point Road. You’d need to access 9th Street from Dutton, since Stony Point will be closed because, you know, really big bike ride.

Should you opt for a private shopping center lot near the start, be prepared for the consequences. There will be signs indi-cating that this is a bad idea and you’d hate to tack on a ride to the impound yard on top of your 103 miles on King Ridge.

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STAGINGOne of the core components of Levi’s GranFondo can be put in words so clear, they should be stamped on a plaque and permanently sealed onto our Stony Point Road start:

WE GO FORWARD TOGETHER. This means that you’ll be lining up with riders from all over the world, of

all ages, appearances, and abilities, in order to take on your chosen route and achieve the best day possible on two wheels. It’s a noble goal and our mass start is a celebration of the bike-bound bond every one of us shares.

All of which is well and good, but the nuts and bolts require a bit of head to go with that healthy helping of heart. It’s a lot of people. Everyone starts coming together starting around 7:00 and, by 7:45, the lineup stretches about a half-mile back from the start. It’s vital that you take the time to find a spot in that distance peopled with those of your ability and skill level. We’ll have signage and volunteers standing by to direct you, based on your projected finish time and average miles per hour. If you’ve ridden the GranFondo in the past, then you either know your finish time or can check it at levisgranfondo.com/results. If this is your first time, then pick the hardest ride you’ve ever done and compare it that. We’re only slightly kidding. Your average miles per hour is going to be a reflection of a route that’s full of hills, not your time trial course record from that hot lap in Miami or Iowa. We’ve got topography here, folks. Finishing the Gran route with a 21mph average is basically a pace that would crack records set by pro cyclists. Median times from the Gran route last year clocked in at about 13mph and there were a couple thousand folks rolling slower than that.

Our point is that, in order to provide a safe and pleasant first several miles, we need you to be realistic about your abilities. A rider who can’t keep up is going to force other riders to move around him or her, making everyone else’s job that much harder. If in doubt, stage further back. If you’re riding the Medio, stage further back. If you’re riding the Piccolo, stage way

PARTICIPATION

further back. It’s easy to catch a few fast folks, but if you are clogging up the quicksilver flow of a few thousand cyclists, that’s a stigma you don’t want to have hanging over your head. Ease back, find good people, and relax. It can’t be fun to have people breathing down your neck anyway.

Should you heed none of these words, march up to the front at 7:58, and blaze on, at least have the courtesy to ride as far to the right as is possible so that the legions behind you can get around you rela-tively safely. But c’mon. Heed these words. For everyone’s sake.

Once out on the road, keep that chin up, keep the pedals turning, and look well ahead at the road. We don’t want you staring at the wheel of the rider in front of you. We want you aware of any hazards ahead and following the natural ebb and flow of your new pack-mates. Save the stem staring and tight drafting for less close quarters. Be smooth, be predictable, be relaxed. Staging with riders of your abilities will help you do just this.

PHOTO BY KATE BURGESS

ROUTE CUTOFFS & COURSE CLOSURESIn order to keep riders from coming in at all hours of the night (and to allow our volunteers to even-tually go home), all Gran route riders not making it to the intersection of King Ridge Road and Cazadero Highway by 11:00 AM will be directed to take Fort Ross Road instead. This is a great road, with lots of climbing, beautiful scenery, and relative quiet. If you don’t believe us, ask the Tour of California organizers. They were pretty partial to it in 2012. Expect a 23-mile reduction in course length and (somewhat) less climbing before rejoining the Gran route just past the Ritchey Ranch rest stop, giving you a chance to secure food, water, etc. before hitting the big descent down to the coast. If you want to hit up that stop, you’ll need to turn right and go up the road about a 100 yards to tap into those fine services.

We’ve found that those who have a hard time getting to Cazadero in three hours are going to have an even harder time getting up and over King Ridge. This 10 mile-long cutoff tends to keep a smile on everyone’s faces and gets us all home before night falls over the land.

As for the larger course itself, all routes close at 6:00 PM. At this point, the timing mats are removed, the rest stops are all struck, and all on-course support ends. We’ve got to close it down sometime and, well, dark seems to be

a pretty good time to do this. This may trouble some people who have worked to complete this ride, but the truth is that a rider who’s been out for ten hours on a challenging course and who’s now coming home in the dark represents a significant safety risk. More than anything, getting people home injury-free is the first priority of this event and, for that reason, we’ve got to pull riders off the course then.

For those folks not making the 6:00 PM cutoff, have no fear, we’ll have food and beer waiting for you, even if we can’t give you a finishing time.

If you have concerns about finishing the Gran route in the time allotted, you can always opt to ride the Medio instead. You can even make this decision as you ride. Riding a route shorter than the one you signed up for will never be a problem. It shows prudence and a desire to get back and enjoy the rest of the party, two things you’ll never hear us chide. It’s those that opt for a longer route in the middle of their ride who vex us all a bit.

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getting people home injury-free is our first priority.

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RIDER MEALS (AND THEN SOME)As we’ve said on other pages, that jersey bib of yours is your ticket for both your rider meal and your free New Belgium beer. It’s also how you claim your bike from bike valet, so don’t go tossing it off as soon as you cross the finish line.

The complete listing of food vendors can be found in our FondoSonoma Festival section, but expect to see food ranging from BBQ, curry, Chinese, Mexican, crepes, Greek, downhome, uptown, paella and a host of other options to soothe your savage digestive beast. We’ll have express, no-waiting, rider-only canned beer stations for riders coming off food pickups or, if you want a tall pour of any number of New Belgium’s choice varieties, we’ll have draft stations located throughout the Festival for that.

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Designed to Win.

Blue = PMS 293

RITCHEY VECTOR EVO SADDLE SYSTEM

The first lightweight saddle to offer honest, epic ride comfort.

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INFORMATION DESK/RIDER CONNECTIONSFor everything we haven’t covered here, we have the good folks behind our information booth. We’ll have one of these staffed at Friday regis-tration as well as at the FondoSonoma Festival. If you need anything, that is the place to ask about it. This would include anything about the GranFondo, obviously, but can also encompass a restaurant recommendation, a fashion question, or just the need to hear a free compliment.

Where this booth becomes of particular importance is in connecting people with riders whom they expected to see, but haven’t yet. We have a network of HAM radio communica-tion stations throughout the course and our emergency services have their own dedicated networks as well. We use our information booths as interfaces for the internal networks so that we can find out about your missing rider and determine if something serious has taken place or if this person simply didn’t train as hard as they should have. We will be restricted by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, which is not an animal), both in the information we receive and the information we’re allowed to give out, should an accident have taken place. But be assured we will work to the best of our abilities to connect affected riders (and their bikes, should they be separated) with their

emergency contacts. Even when, nearly every time, it’s simply that the course is harder than any one rider may have communicated, we still understand what it’s like to be left wondering and we’ll do the best we can to make sure your mind is put at ease as soon as possible.

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the info booth is particularly useful in connecting people with riders they expected to see, but haven’t yet.

http://oliversmarket.com

PHOTO BY DARRELL PARKS

CAZADERO

MONTE RIO

DUNCANSMILLS

RITCHEYRANCH

KINGRIDGE

PORTUGUESEBEACH

COLEMANVALLEY

(water only)

SANTA ROSAOCCIDENTAL

WILLOW CREEK ROAD

KING RIDGE ROAD

HIGHWAY 101

HIGHWAY 116

SEAVIEW ROAD

FORT ROSS ROAD (bailout)

CAZADEROHIGHW

AY

COLEMAN

VALLEY

ROAD

HAUSERBRIDGEHAUSERBRIDGE

MEYERSGRADE

MEYERSGRADE

REST STOP

STEEP DESCENT

DIRT ROUTE OPTION

GRAN ROUTE

MEDIO ROUTE

PICCOLO ROUTE

The centerpiece of the GranFondo is no doubt the land itself. Sonoma County is the cycling paradise it is because of slipping faults, surging oceans, stretching redwoods, and windswept grasses. That we’ve got a network of roads to access all this is simply fortune at its finest.

As far as we’re concerned, our efforts focus solely on making sure that you can enjoy this place with as little distraction into the tedium as is possible. Let us handle the food. Let us worry about your broken bike. Let us take care of you should injury arise. Let us dispense our local knowledge to describe the road ahead.

Our job is to gild the lily. Your job is to marvel at it.

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Willow Creek (optional gravel road climb)

ROUTE ELEVATIONSLike a heart rate readout, these profiles are a single-dimension expres-sion of endurance, agony, and exertion. Trace the edges with your finger upwards and fill yourself with dread; check the pitch of the line on the other side and feel your insides tingle in a careful intestinal cock-tail of fear and exhilaration. We’ve got more in-depth analysis in the

coming pages, but the big picture is laid bare here in this space. Note: the Willow Creek option climbs higher and on a far more rugged surface than the Coleman Valley leg. In no way is Willow Creek the “easy” route. Also, there’s currently a large lake-like puddle at its base which we are calling the price of entry for those of you willing to give your bottom brackets a mud-bath this year.

ROUTE

CLIMB PROFILES: KING RIDGE CAT 2The first 30 miles of the Gran route are an exercise in complacency. So much excitement, so much raw enthusiasm. The smiles don’t stop coming, the legs are so ready for anything. Redwood canyons, vineyards, lazy creeks. Bob Ross couldn’t paint a more universally appealing picture. For a solid ninety minutes (or more), you’ve got this thing in the bag and are already tasting the paella at the finish line.

But then you see the road kick up. A lot. It cants left and leaves the low babble of the near-dry creek behind. You muscle up it. You’ve got this, after all. But then it does it again. And again. And again. You’re getting hit with a staccato of 13% pitches, each one too short to sit in, too long to sprint over. Eventually, you’ll attain the sky-ripping ridgetop for which this whole two-wheeled celebration is named. Should we have a clear day, the visibility will be unmatched in nearly every direction. You’ll look ahead and see a steady stream of speck-sized riders on the Butcher Knife. You’ll look behind

and see the same trailing into the forests below. You’re on top of the world and there was no small amount of work you had to put in to get there.

After a series of bumps and drops, the true end of the major climb comes at the King Ridge rest stop. You take stock and find your ledger is out of balance. It’s as red as the handful of strawberries you just grabbed. You check the mileage. 36 miles done. Only 67 to go. And that ocean’s still way away...

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1250

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KING RIDGE CLIMB%

mi

11.6 10.7 13.0

10.3 -2.7 -1.

6 5.2 4.9

4.3 -2.9

8.8 11.7 4.7

-1.5 -1.9

2.1 -7.0 1.2

-3.9 3.1 2.3

6.5 3.6

1 2 3 4 5 6

All elevations are relative to the base of the climb, not sea level.

CLIMB PROFILES: HAUSER BRIDGE CAT 3The hardest part about this climb is getting to its start. If you’ve made it to the metal bridge over the secluded Gualala River, you’ve managed to get down from King Ridge on a road that most refer to simply as “going off the cliff.” You didn’t build up Chernobyl-level heat on your rims, you didn’t blow through a curve that whipped around faster than you could. This is the ascent where you gradually unpucker everything you clinched up on a descent that’ll haunt you for days after-ward. The adrenaline hangover keeps this steep-and-steady climb from truly slowing you down, but that doesn’t mean it passes by unnoticed.

Find your pace as you wind through the wooded canyon wall, creeping up across the contour of the slope before emerging atop Seaview Ridge, our outermost coastal battlement. From here, look to riders smarter than you, the wise ones who are starting to meter their efforts. No one makes it this far without spending some dear currency, and there’s no shortage of hills ahead. You aren’t the same person who started this ride some 50 miles back. You’re halfway home. The real work’s about to begin.

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%

mi

10.3 10.0

9.1 10.

2 9.2

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.8 9.9

8.3 4.5

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0 7.2 12.5

6.9 1.7

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Hauser Bridge canyon

All elevations are relative to the base of the climb, not sea level.

CLIMB PROFILES: SEAVIEW CAT 4By the numbers, these are the easiest climbs of the day. This is precisely why they’re the most insidious one-two combo on course. Seaview Ridge itself is a miracle combi-nation of forest and shining ocean, tucked high away from the chilly sturm und drang of the waves below. If prevailing winds hold, you can taste a tailwind in the breaks between the trees. The cruising alti-tude beauty and deceptively rolling terrain encourages one to turn up the pedal strokes, find a friend or twelve, and make up some time.

But the toll these two climbs exact goes oft unrealized until miles down the road. They come one after the other, with only a couple of miles separating the two and they represent the slow drain this road can take on what reserves you’ve got left. You may feel better than ever, you may have a full belly, you may be drooling hard for the torpedo tube to the coast that’s coming up on Meyers Grade. But keep it steady here. Deny the urge to power through and stay with a group that’s keeping it just below that point where your tongue is wagging in the wind.

Seaview is a beautiful stretch. Enjoy it. You’ll need what you held back later, we promise.

ROUTEAll elevations are relative to the base of the climb, not sea level.

3.8 4.9 4.1

3.8 4.2

4.9 7.0 3

.9 7.4 7.8

5.5 2.7

1.4 5.5 8.8

6.4 7.3

3.2 2.1 0.9

3.8 6.5

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.1 1.2

Seaview Ridge first ascent%

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seaview ridge second ascent%

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10.3 6.3 6.2

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CLIMB PROFILES: WILLOW CREEK CAT 3 Decision time. Sneak behind the world’s least likely location for a Tandoori restaurant or motor on down the coast with some small slipstream army? Choose wisely, little traveler, as this inland duck near the mouth of the Russian River is no simple shortcut, but a toll road with sharp glaring teeth all its own. Additionally, there are little to no SAG and support services for this option until you rejoin the main route near Occidental 10.3 miles later.

The lower part of Willow Creek is a pock-marked moonscape of a road, with craterous potholes and sharp-edged patches of relic asphalt. It’s been flooded again and again, so much so that ephem-eral creeks have since chosen to treat the road as their own path of least resistance. You going to find some that are still stuck there.

Dodge enough of the bombed-out hazards on the lower stretch and the pavement melts away before turning up up up. Right about here is where you’ll see signs indicating the start of our Willow Creek Hill Climb segment, courtesy of our friends at Specialized. This one’s for Strava users only (which could be any of you), but everyone uploading a time on the official GranFondo Willow Creek segment before 4:00pm is eligible to win a new S-Works Evade helmet from Specialized. Look for upload stations at Specialized’s booth at the FondoSonoma Festival.

Regardless of whether you’re in it to win it or claw your way up top, the way ahead is moderate, but unrelenting. You can find that pace, stave off the cramps that are, by now, right at the edge of every pedal stroke, and achieve a relative peace with the climb ahead. The gravel is not too loose and the occasional lack of traction is made up by the quiet forested beauty around you.

Until you hit the Sisters.The Sisters aren’t terrible in themselves. Their

particular evil is in their timing. The hard-won

equilibrium you found to this point is shattered right smack in the middle of the climb. You were ready to spin a dedicated pace, to attain the top by stringing together a series of consistent strokes, and these two ruined everything. Instantly, you’re out of the saddle. If you’re smart, you saw them coming and shifted down. If not, you’re cracking your derailleur to find a gear, somewhere lower than the one you were pushing. If you’re really unlucky, your shifting revolts and you sit on the side of the road, your chain an ophidian roadkill with you trying to play Lazarus. Should you make it to the top of these twin pitches, forget resuming that delightful non-aggression treaty you and Willow Creek shared. It’s hate and grandeur all the way to the top, which, we should mention, is higher than the Coleman Valley climb for which so many of your cohorts opted. Attain the top and enjoy the view. The pavement is about to resume and you’ll be headed home.


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CLIMB PROFILES: COLEMAN VALLEY CAT 3Whoever built the stretch of Coleman Valley Road that emerges from the coast must have been scared to death of some-thing emerging from the briny deep. Why else cut a swath of road straight up the hillside, gravity and engineering be damned? This is the one from the pictures, the ones where the background is all blue, but because of the tilt of the land, that blue’s all ocean, not sky. This is the one that should have been a staircase or an escalator or a gondola.

Fortunately, it’s not much longer than it is tall. The worst of it goes quickly, but you will make hideous faces while climbing it. Your eyes will likely bulge a little bit and that spittle thing you have in the corners of your mouth when you heave and moan will likely surface. But then it’s done and you’re finally pointed back east to the welcoming bosom of sweet sweet Santa Rosa. Thankfully, you didn’t spend everything on that last climb because you know that the real hard part of Coleman Valley isn’t that coastal pitch, but the seemingly endless, body blow rollers that transport you inland.

You did save something for those, right? Of course you did. We’ve seen people creep up these little bumps in their lowest gear, spin-ning like they’re scaling the Tourmalet. It’s sad to watch, it’s sadder still to experience. Remember to think ahead here and you’ll arrive in Occidental ready to make the hero tow back to the finish line.


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COURSE SIGNAGEWhen you pick up your rider packet, you’re going to notice the conspicuous absence of a route map. You can fish around the inside of the registra-tion envelope and the rider swag bag for a cue sheet with turn-by-turn directions, but you’re not going to find that either. Our idea of an amazing time on the bike does not consist of fishing around your jersey pocket as you constantly wonder how far off the course you may have gotten.

No, it is our intent to craft a signage program so intuitive as to force riders to have to work to get lost. We’ve marked every turn, every hazard, every route split with every sign you may need to find your way around any of our little routes. We spend days (see “The Night Watch”) putting ourselves in the rider’s position, wondering what they’d be wondering so that people don’t have to toil in uncertainty when they should be reveling in cycling bliss. Look not only for navigational and safety signage, but also signs indicating miles between

rest stops so that you can plan your point-to-point buffet accordingly. It should be noted that these hazard signs are not placed with the lowest

common denominator in mind. We are not trying to baby anyone out there. These signs are erected by cyclists with decades of local knowledge. When we say “Dangerous Descent Ahead,” we mean for you to take it seriously.

we’ve marked every turn, every hazard, every route split with every sign you may need to find your way.

ROUTE PHOTOS BY BRAKETHROUGH MEDIA

ROAD CLOSURESEvery day we gotta share. This is right and correct and we’ve all known it since we were in preschool. But for one day, for one short stretch, we’ll put this lesson aside. For one day, our great mass, our legion of wheelbound humanity will suffice to command the pave-ment as we charge into the western hills and the promise they hold. For one day, we will be all the traffic our roads will ever need.

At least, that’s the idea. While we’ve tech-nically closed the roads, you will see vehicle traffic on course at any time, including the start of the GranFondo. You should not be spending time across the yellow center divider line. We can close roads, we can notify residents, we can provide extensive signage, but we can’t close down people’s driveways. It’s entirely possible that someone will pull out onto the route on Saturday morning, utterly clueless of the GranFondo and wondering why it’s so hard for them to get to their reiki therapy/pottery class/MMA practice. The GranFondo is a centerline event, which means that for the duration of your ride, you must stay on the right side of the yellow center divider line painted on the middle of the road.

Once the riders reach Monte Rio, signage will split the Gran route from the Medio route. From there, the lead group can expect police to control the intersections so they can continue unfettered.

The remainder of the pack should plan on obeying all road rules and regulations unless otherwise instructed by the California Highway Patrol.

For Piccolo riders, you will be held in Occidental, which is the turnaround point for your route. The reason we hold you is so that all the other Gran and Medio riders can pass through town en route to Monte Rio. This may take as long as a half an hour, but if Piccolo riders stage at the back of the start line group as indicated, that wait time will diminish to near-zero.

Rather than detail the complete rolling closure, it’s sufficient to say that riders will have one hour to travel the 8.5 miles from the start to the turn at Mill Station Road, then another hour to travel another 12 miles to Monte Rio.

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plan on obeying all road rules and regulations and stay to the right side of the yellow center line.

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REST STOPSThe worst thing about our rest stops is how well-stocked, well- serviced, and well-staffed they are. We’ve heard allegations of on-course weight gain, bike repair miracles that upset rider’s home maintenance standards for years later, too-gentle bike parking, and distractingly gorgeous scenery (although we still don’t get the one guy who said the portalets were “suspiciously” clean).

More seriously, we consider the rest stops a key part of the rider experi-ence, not only because good food, clean water, and available mechanical/medical support are vital to a successful ride, but because you are our guest. The rest stops are the single most logistically intense, most expensive areas to build, staff, and stock. They’re also the best places for us to communicate the most basic component of hospitality: the desire to attend to your needs as if they were our own. For thousands of people, this is a challenge and it’s our happy work to accept it.

You should plan on seeing Clif Bloks at these stops, as well as cut fruit, whole wheat PB&J sandwiches, roasted potatoes, pretzels, cookies, and mixed nuts. We’ll have water as well as Gu Energy’s new electro-lyte Brew formulation available to keep your insides from looking like a raisin in the sun. Expect substantial, lunch-type fare, likely cold sand-wiches, at Ritchey Ranch. Expect water only at the top of Coleman Valley. Everywhere else falls somewhere in between these two extremes. We’ve got gluten-free food for you celiac-types by request, but supplies are limited. Don’t tax those specialty items unless you really need them.

Bike mechanics will be on hand to resurrect your ride and perform marvels hitherto unknown by the eyes of man or beast. Emergency medical personnel will be on hand to address any inju-ries or kiss boo-boos. Each stop will have about 25 staff and volunteers milling about, so enjoy being in their good hands.

But don’t enjoy it too much. We built these rest stops in anticipation of

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good food, clean water, and mechanical/medical support are vital to a successful ride. you are our guest.

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addressing your every need, but you’ll notice a copious lack of seating at each one. We get that you’re tired and want to take a break, but it’s a long day—especially on the Gran route—and we don’t want you burning 30 minutes at a time at each rest stop. That’s four hours, for those doing the math, and we suspect that, despite the lovely surroundings, you’d rather spend those four hours over a plate of lunch/dinner

and a pint of suds. Additionally, your body won’t thank you for getting every muscle fiber hot and lathered, then sitting down for a half hour before asking it to get hot and lathered again. Get in, get food, get bottles filled, smile, roll on.

If you’re riding any route other than the Piccolo, PLEASE do not stop at the first rest stop in Occidental. It’s only there for Gran and Medio riders to use when they’re inbound from the

coast many miles later and/or as the turn-around point for the Piccolo riders. Once past Occidental, the first rest stop for the Gran route is in Monte Rio, where the Gran and Medio routes diverge. The first rest stop for the Medio riders is just a bit further down the road in Duncans Mills.

REST STOPS & MILEAGE

GRAN ROUTE MILESMonte Rio ........................................................21Cazadero .........................................................30King Ridge .......................................................47Ritchey Ranch .................................................58Portuguese Beach ..........................................74Coleman Valley (water only) ...........................81Occidental .......................................................87Finish Line/FondoSonoma Festival .............103

MEDIO ROUTEDuncans Mills .................................................24Portuguese Beach ..........................................34Coleman Valley (water only) ...........................41Occidental .......................................................47Finish Line/FondoSonoma Festival ...............63

PICCOLO ROUTEOccidental .......................................................16Finish Line/FondoSonoma Festival ...............32

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OVER 40,000 SERVED

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EMERGENCY VEHICLESWe work with many local, state, and private organizations to insure that your ride remains a safe one. We have plans, meetings, binders, drawings, the works. All of that means nothing, however, if emergency personnel can’t get to the people in trouble. It is imperative that all riders yield to any and all emergency vehicles at any and all times. More directly: GET OUT OF THE WAY.

This goes for motorcycles, police cruisers, fire trucks, ambulances, and yes, helicopters. If they’re on the route, there’s a very good reason for it and the best help you can provide is moving aside for them as fast and as safely as possible. This includes clearing a landing zone should that helicopter have to perform an evacuation. In this instance, everyone adjacent to the emergency will be advised of a safe distance.

It should also be mentioned, once more, that emergency vehicle access takes precedence over road closures. These vehicles may be trying to reach a downed rider or simply trying to get through our big peloton to reach a local resident in dire need. Let ‘em by.

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SAGFor fewer than every 100 riders, we’ve got a support vehicle out there for you. Some are piloted by SRAM and Zipp’s Neutral Race Support. Some are provided by our friends at Nissan. The great majority of them are private vehicles driven by dedicated cycling event volunteers who’ve done this at rides across the U.S. They’re there to help you when you need it, be it a physical or mechanical concern. Between their expertise and the services at our rest stops, it’s entirely possible that a day-ending mishap can be turned into a prideful strut across the finish line.

It is important to note, however, that they are not running a taxi service. If you’re tired or homesick, the SAG can’t drive you back to the start/finish. They will take you to a rest stop where, at the end of the day, we’ll

provide a sweep shuttle (a big ol’ yellow school bus with a box truck for your bike, actually) back to the FondoSonoma Festival for both you and your bike. Unfortunately, we can’t provide rides back to the start/finish outside of this protocol; we’d need hundreds more vehicles to pull off a service like this. Besides, would you really want that out there?

It should also be mentioned that, while these are all experi-enced cycling event drivers, they’d appreciate you letting them by from time to time so that they can service everyone on the course, not ride behind you waiting to give you your personal wheel swap.

WEATHERThere’s a reason that talking about weather is viewed as the smallest of small talk. The rain falls on everyone equally and there’s little one can do about it, save wear smarter clothing. In service of the latter, we’re going to suggest that, should past patterns hold, we’ll be off for a cool start in the morning of the GranFondo. You’ll see vests, you’ll see arm warmers, and this is the reason we started making our own this year. By about mile 30, though, you’ll see bare arms, jersey backs, and pockets bulging with the wads of nylon that kept everyone warm up to that point. Once out on the coast, those warmers may come right back out, thanks to the marine layer that sits over the ocean like a blanket and air conditions most of our Sonoma County summers. Then they’re back off again as soon as you turn inland.

Point is, be prepped for a varying weather pattern and plan on carrying those extra clothes with you. We don’t do bag drops at rest stops and we don’t carry gear back to the finish line. Your relationship with the weather is yours alone. We have had rainy, cold GranFondos. We’ve also had sunny, hot ones. Be ready and let a smile be your umbrella.

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ON-BIKE MARSHALSOne of the route support programs that stirs the most pride for us is our rider marshal roster. It’s a dedicated, standing room-only crew of locals who have made it their mission to help out at the GranFondo shoulder to shoulder with those people riding it. They provide great feedback to us suckers stuck back at GF Command and help main-tain some order out there amongst the thousands of zippy riders.

Look for these guys and gals to get you to the roadside help you need, answer questions you may have along the way, or help remind you of the rules you agreed to when you signed up for this thing. They’re unmistakable in their new Capo jerseys (trust us) and will have unique number plates as well.

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We have no doubt that the cumulative experience of the cyclists at Levi’s GranFondo represents the great bulk of cycling skill in our hemi-sphere. However, the bike is a cruel mistress, one who always reminds us that we’re ever the student and never the master. While this is a valuable lesson, we here at Levi’s GranFondo are hoping to mini-mize such “teachable moments” while we’re out riding together.

To wit, we’ve identified some of the things that have caught our riders unaware or ill-prepared over the years. Keep in mind, these are some suggestions based on local experience. We’re not telling you how to safely operate your bicycle. You’re more than welcome to take ‘em or leave ‘em. Either way, we want you all safe on our big open road and that means being ready for the unique and *ahem* provincial character of our less-than-silken ribbons of asphalt.

CATTLEGUARDSThere’s a reason that no one riding the GranFondo has to stop, dismount, and unlock any gates before riding any further. We have the miraculous invention called the cattleguard to thank for this convenience. While this is a common staple on the roads that thread through the rangelands and working landscapes of the west, it may startle some of our more well-heeled and cosmopolitan participants. After all, racing downhill at 40-plus miles per hour only to find the road ahead replaced with a series of steel bars and large gaps is enough to capture anyone’s attention.

Thankfully, they’re easier to contend with than they sound. You’ll want to hang on to any momentum and come into the cattleguard square on without engaging the brakes. Riding perfectly perpendicular to these steel grates will cause you to roll right over with little more than a second or two of low rumbling vibration. Treat it like a rough, short piece of road, with your hands gripped firmly to the bars, arms and shoulders relaxed, weight off the front wheel, and in control of your speed and you’ll wonder why we even

bothered to write about it. Overthink it, however, and you’ll have problems.The last thing you want to be doing is trying to slow down while you’re on

one of these. Brake too much and you run the risk of losing traction on the smooth steel bars. Lose traction and you could get your wheel sideways enough to slip into the gaps, bringing you and your bike to a very sudden stop.

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hang on to momentum and come into the cattleguard square on without engaging the brakes.

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Any language in this guide regarding operation of a bicycle is solely suggestive and not intended to be instructional or directional. Bike Monkey, Levi’s GranFondo, and Levi Leipheimer himself are not liable for how you choose to operate your bicycle before, during, or after Levi’s GranFondo.

So it’s easy. Don’t worry about them. They’re designed for traffic of all shapes and sizes to roll right over them. You are doing the great dance on a razor width of rubber, you’re not some cloven-hoofed ungulate looking for a greener lunch. They’re the ones that are vexed by these guards. Don’t make their problem your own. Roll on.

POTHOLESRoads deform like humans: in small portions, year after year. We try to keep up appearances, with things like exercise, hydration, and a rigorous appli-cation of botox, but inevitably, the ravages of time come home to roost.

Potholes are no different. Over time, road surfaces expand, contract, shift, and, in some cases, twist. On top of that, roads like King Ridge were built by the farmers and ranchers who used them, with technology and design that would make an engineer choke on his pocket protector. Let them all sit in the sun and the wind and the rain and the cold for a century or more and you get potholes.

Now, you’ve likely heard that we at the GranFondo have taken on the task of patching potholes on key Sonoma County cycling roads, starting with our own GranFondo routes. We’ve chucked over $37,000 worth of hot asphalt into these Sarlacc wheel-gob-blers and while we’re committed to this long-term, we’ve got a long way to go. Truth is, you all are going to have to plan on dealing with potholes as you ride, despite our efforts to smooth the road ahead.

Thankfully, the best solution is simple: pay attention to the road ahead. The best way to avoid a pothole is to not get surprised by one. Keep your eyes on the pavement, stop staring at your stem, and be aware of how close other riders are to you. You’ll also want to keep a regular, constant grip on your bars at all times. You need to take another selfie, get off the bike and do it. When you do see a pothole, slowly and, over the course of several yards, steer around it. When the pothole catches you off guard

and you have to jerk to one side to miss it, you’re probably going to take out the rider to either side and/or the rider you just swerved in front of. Should hitting one of these become unavoidable, relax when your front tire nears the hole and do not hit your front brake. Distribute your weight across the whole bike and lessen the impact and ejection potential of smacking that pothole. Alternately, you could bunnyhop the little crater and receive a healthy helping of golf claps from nearby spectators and forest animals. This is one of several thousand reasons you should ride mountain bikes as well as road bikes. This is also the part of the rider guide where the mountain bikers are facepalming while they read.

Once clear of the pothole, keep your chin up, keep looking up or down the road, and always train your eyes on where you want the bike to go, not on what you want to avoid. The pothole you just endured won’t be the last, so plan on getting good at this constant vigilance.

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GRAVELIt is very much in fashion now to ride one’s road bike on gravel. There are events built around this idea and equipment that’s designed for just this purpose. It’s perfectly acceptable for long days in the saddle to include stretches of road that are utterly devoid of asphalt and run rough from ditch to ditch. While the rest of the world has a whole new vocabulary to describe this approach to cycling, we simply call them “bike rides.”

Here in Sonoma County, the road sometimes stops being a road. Be it because there’s no pavement left or because there was never any pave-ment to begin with, it’s entirely possible you may find yourself on rough patches of the course that last longer than you’d expect. Like anything, the key to getting through them unscathed starts with simple awareness.

Since you can’t avoid some of these patches, you’ll want to enter them with your head up and eyes forward. Pick a line that avoids washboards, larger rocks, and pavement edges. Stay off that front brake and let momentum carry you through in as straight a trajectory as is possible. No sudden moves or you may lose traction. You should have a firm grip on the bars, but with little weight on them and a relaxed pair of elbows so that you can weather the small bumps. Pay attention to the resumption of pave-ment, as that often comes with a rough transition that would require you unweighting the front wheel so as to avoid a pinch flat or rim damage.

DECREASING RADIUS TURNSOne of the things that comes with traveling along the handbuilt roads of yore is a certain adventurousness when taking a curve. Often times, the road was designed as it was being built, which is never more clear when one experiences the raw, creeping terror of the decreasing radius turn.

Any curve is a portion of a circle, which means the distance to its center-point can accurately be described as its radius. When that radius starts at a certain distance and gets smaller as one travels the perimeter the circle,

the effort required to stay on that perimeter increases. Add two-wheeled velocity to this equation and all of sudden a bargain basement geometry lesson turns into a yard sale of parts, both bike and body. Put differently, in a decreasing radius turn, the road is going to appear to melt away from you as you find yourself further and further into the outside of the turn. Since there may be oncoming vehicle traffic, this can be a problem.

Knowing these buggers exist on course is, like GI Joe says, half the battle. There’s only a couple, but they are on descents on the Gran route. Best way to guard against their ills is to look for your exit out of these, and any other, curve. The bike goes where the eye knows. Enter the curve in control and try not to call hard on your brakes. If you’ve gotta squeeze down on them, try to feather the levers as much as possible and use the rear more than the front. Remember, you’re just trying to regain some control, not slow down substantially and you’re trying to do so while wondering how the road could double back on itself so quickly. The whole idea is to not come into these turns too hot, so well begun is half done here.

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PACELINE ETIQUETTEAh, the lone cyclist. Such a romantic image: the long, soli-tary stretch of road, the distant horizon, and the rider, alone with their heaving breast and thumping heart.

That ain’t happening at Levi’s GranFondo. For one, there’s 7,500 of us. Even along 103 miles, you won’t find yourself often out of sight of other riders. For another, it’s a waste of vital energy to go it alone. Numbers vary a bit, but what’s inarguable is that getting in the slip-stream of another rider (or better, a big group of riders) offers a keen aerodynamic advantage, sometimes as much as a 40% cut in exertion. One can rest, avoid crippling winds, and make up lots of time when working with others to share the effort of plowing down the road.

Most of us know this, but practice it poorly. Firstly, do not ride up behind someone and start drafting without saying something. Even

if it’s a low grunt, let them know you’re back there. It’s a safety thing, as you’ll want to be about six inches behind their rear wheel to get the drafting advantage, and that’s tight quarters. It’s also a courtesy, since now that person is doing you a service by breaking a lot of wind (Editor’s note: yeah, we know). It’s also fully expected that, in a couple of minutes, you’ll do the same. If you’re back there camping out, sucking that person’s wheel, you’re freeloading and that’s never good form..

Secondly, once you’re up front and pulling your new friend(s), point out road hazards with hand signals. This isn’t semaphore and there’s no code, so all you have to do is mentally put yourself in the position of the riders behind you. Most of what they’re looking at is whatever jersey graphic is covering your hairy back. They won’t see the patch of gravel or the pothole or the dead possum like you can. You’ve got an obligation to let the rest of the group know that there’s a change in the line coming up fast before they crash themselves and the rest of the group out.

Once the group does come together, take your turn at the front. Whether it’s five minute pulls or 30 second ones, whether it’s 12 riders or two, you need to do your part. If you’re in a fast group and barely hanging on, get out of there. You’re holding everyone else up and trust us, there’s another group that’s slightly slower just a mile or two behind you. If you’re feeling stronger than the group you’re in, take your turn at the front, then ride away decisively, ideally with a “good luck” to everyone as you leave. Don’t just surge from the front repeatedly and shift the dynamic of the group just because you’re feeling saucy. Keep it steady so everyone can be efficient and safe or change up to a group that fits your level.

Lastly, be constantly aware of what’s going on in front of you in the paceline. Do not follow so close that you end up overlapping wheels on either side of the rider in front of you. Rubber in line with rubber; half-wheeling is a recipe for disaster. Hang back just enough so that you can avoid hitting the rider in front of you if they had to slam on their brakes.

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One more thing: if you’re bad at this, say so. You’ll find a group that’s willing to work with you at some point. With a crowd this big, they’re out there. We all had to practice to figure this out, so admit to maybe being a bit squirrelly, watch what other people in your group are doing, and become a faster, more efficient rider by day’s end. Some honest chatter is key in a successful group. It’s not an accident when this marvel of athletic efficiency comes together and no one should expect to leverage the strength of others without a bit of communication. Don’t deny yourself that pleasure by shying away because you’re legs aren’t shaved close enough.

DISMOUNTING/WALKINGWe realize no one wants to get off their bikes and walk. That some do and maintain a smile on their face is testament to their strength of character, even if the strength of leg may be wanting. Our intent with this section is not to demonize this behavior, but rather to create some awareness about it.

Nearly all of the walking we see at the GranFondo takes place on the Coleman Valley Wall. While this is indeed a steep climb, it’s thankfully not endless. It is, however, on a part of the course that’s open to traffic in both directions and takes place on a winding narrow roadway. Should you need to dismount

and walk, we beg of you to look behind you to see that your sudden uphill stop won’t impact riders immediately to your rear. Comical as it may look on YouTube, a roundhouse kick to the face in cleated shoes to the rider immediately behind you will not be welcome behavior.

Once off the bike, move as far to one side of the road as is possible. Many other riders are having a hard time scaling this climb and having to dodge walkers only makes it harder. Legally, you’re now a pedestrian and must walk on the left of the road facing traffic. Should that not be practicable, we leave it to you to determine which side of the road allows you to be the most safe and the least obtrusive.

It’s important to mention too, that the desire to walk may not offer a real advantage. A properly geared bike (see Gearing section) should allow you to shift down and spin your way to the top. As we’ve said, the Wall, while steep, is not terribly long. Dismounting and pushing your bike up it as you wear shoes whose soles aren’t designed to really touch the ground is going to take a long time and expend a lot of effort. Remember, once you’re done with the Coleman Valley Wall, you’ve still got plenty of rollers with which to contend before you’re back to the flatlands of the Santa Rosa Plain. Don’t waste that effort pushing a bike up a hill in carbon-soled ice skates.

TECHNIQUE

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BASIC MAINTENANCEBike maintenance, like anything, is no accident. It’s going to sound preachy or like something you’ve been trying to forget your dad droning on about, but the old man was right: take good care of your gear and your gear will take care of you. We’ve talked with our SRAM mechanics and their diplomacy in describing the condition of some of the bikes out on course is impressive. You’ve never heard someone so invested in the mechanical function of a bicycle be so kind when that function has been so ignored. Squeaky chains, worn tires, non-existent brake pads, worn cassettes, rusted cables, loose cranks/bottom brackets/hub bearings/anything else: you name it, they’ve seen it, and they’ve tried their best to undo the neglect in order to get riders out and enjoying a ride they’ve come a great distance to experience.

Our point is not to gossip, but to illustrate an inconsistency. Many people will coordinate a family/work schedule, hop on an airplane, drive hours, pack and unpack a bike with the greatest of care, but turn their backs on the very device that can decide the course of the event for which so much trouble was undertaken. Don’t be that guy. Take a minute, or even 60, to measure the chain. If it’s stretched, replace it. If you’ve waited too late, replace the cassette as well so that the new chain actually has something to bite into when you drop that sweet wattage of yours into it. Whether you end up with an old one or a new one, lube it, then clean it. Check the tires. Fill them to the proper pressure (see below). Check the tube in that ratty old seatbag. Wiggle everything, and we mean everything. Grease and tighten any bolt that needs it. Want to feel like you got a new drivetrain? New cables and housing will banish all the old shifting inconsistencies you’ve unwittingly put up with for the last six months. Spin the wheels. If they wiggle funny, imagine what that’ll be like at 40 mph. Adjust the brakes. They should actually stop the bike and do so quickly and repeat-edly. Clean it. For the love of all that’s holy, just make it shine a little bit.

If you can’t find the time or don’t have the knowledge to do this work, that’s alright. The trained professionals at your local bike shop are probably far more efficient and effective than you are anyway. That’s why they’re professionals. Avail yourselves of their years of knowledge

GEAR NOTES

take good care of your gear and your gear will take good care of you.


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and near-perfect work stations. It’ll cost a bit of money, but compare that to the cost of taking the sweep wagon home. Or worse.

What we’re trying to say is find some time to give the bike the atten-tion it deserves. We’re not talking about massive upgrades costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. We’re talking about the simple stuff, the stuff you know you haven’t had time to address. You’ve already given yourself the gift of participating on a great day out on two wheels. Don’t sell yourself short, or endanger others on course, by turning your back on the machine you trust to take you across the line.

TIRESIf you haven’t figured out that the GranFondo takes place on surfaces that are less than perfect, then you’ve clearly missed nearly every message we’ve sent out about this ride since we started doing it six years ago. I mean, we’ve got our own pothole paving program, for chrissakes. Point is, that low thread-per-inch racing tire you’ve been waiting to use should probably be saved for that time trial in Switzerland. We’re a bit rougher around all our edges here.

Thankfully, the latest trends in tires are right in line with what’s needed on the roads that host the GranFondo. We’re all moving to lower-pressure, wider-profile tires and we can say absolutely that this is a good thing. In that spirit, we’re heartily recommending the Specialized All-Condition Armadillo Elite. It’s got a bit of tread for foggy, wet mornings, puncture and tear-resis-tant for debris and gravel, and ranks low in the rolling resistance. At just over 300 grams, you’ll have to find some other excuse for not going hella fast.

As far as inflation, we tend to look at the range printed on the sidewalls and go for the low end of that. It technically could increase the amount of pinch flats, but, in our estimation, that risk is worth a smoother ride, mile after mile. It allows for a wider tire profile, with just enough deformity in the turns to actually increase traction rather than lose it. Should you want to start your morning off right, Chad, our longtime GranFondo mechanic

from SRAM, recommends over-inflating your desired tire pressure by no more than 5psi the night before the GranFondo. By the time you line up, you should be right at the pressure you want without having to remember to top off your tires while you’re trying to enjoy your morning coffee.

Whether you rush out and buy new tires or try to squeeze a few more miles out of your old ones, at the very least inspect them for signs of dry rot, warn casings, or those small slashes that just love letting glass and more into your tubes. The fastest upgrade to your ride quality and to your peace of mind is new tires. If you were waiting for an occasion to do just that, we humbly suggest that our little stroll around the county is just such an occurrence.

Lastly, we know we’ve gone on and on about support on-course, but there are miles between rest stops and SAG vehicles may take a few minutes

GEAR NOTES PHOTO BY BRAKETHROUGH MEDIA

to catch you struggling to repair a flat on the side of the road. You’d be crazy not to bring along a pump and/or CO2 inflator, a spare tube, and a patch kit. There’s just no reason to abandon all semblance of self-sufficiency.

GEARINGWe often find ourselves beating the same drum over here and one we hit a lot is that you’re far from the flatlands at the GranFondo. These aren’t the carefully engineered roads of high mountain passes, where all due consideration is made for a steady, even grade in order to cross the next summit. No, these are far more of the “hey diddle diddle, right up the middle” types of roads, the ones that seem to pull you down for every unit of force you exert just to go up. It’s hard and it’s brutal and it’s beau-tiful. We wouldn’t have it any other way, which is why we conform our bikes and bodies to fit the land rather than the other way around.

In their Wi-Fli gearing, SRAM has created, intentionally or otherwise, the perfect ratio of cog and chainring for our fine fair country. Fitted with a 11-32 SRAM cassette, there are few hills, pacelines, or descents found around here that would leave you grinding your knees into powder or spinning your legs like an over-caffeinated dervish. Should your rear cassette resemble a corn cob rather

than a pyramid, might we suggest looking into expanding your range so that you’re not grunting and heaving any more than you need to be.

SRAM also makes a long-cage Wi-Fli rear derailleur just for this cassette, should your rear derailleur cage not be long enough to accommodate the extra chain wrap.

For those of you scratching your head and wondering if you need a compact crankset in addition to a wider range cassette, we’re pretty comfortable leaving that one up to you. We see both out on course and both seem to work well. We can say that some guy named Leipheimer rolls a standard crank/chainrings with an 11-32 cassette and thinks that combo is just fine for anyone who can pull off the Gran route in six hours or less. You make the call.

GEAR NOTES

you’re far from the flatlands at the granfondo. it’s hard and it’s brutal and it’s beautiful.

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CHARITIESWe here at the GranFondo are lucky. Many of the charity rides that we see are long on cause and short on ride. By that, we mean that most people out at these other events are driven by the passion for the charity the ride supports, not necessarily the ride itself. Interestingly, we’ve got the oppo-site problem. We see thousands enthusiastic about riding the GranFondo, but a fair portion of them don’t even realize that Levi’s GranFondo is a non-profit event with over a million dollars in giving since its inception, much of it to small, local charities right here in Sonoma County.

We feel like this is a good problem to have. It’s easier for us to talk about a great cause than it is for someone else to sell their ride, so we like where we are. But we’ve got work to do to get people to understand why we ask so

many to line up on that fine autumn weekend. It would be easy to go into depth here about

the GranFondo’s original charitable inspira-tion, Forget Me Not Farm, and the subsequent needs we’ve discovered, like those of our rural fire departments, our far-flung country elemen-tary schools, and the budding athletes at the NorCal High School Cycling League. We’ll talk your ears off about why investing in professional cycling events, park access, and cycling route improvements are vital to nurture our strong cycling culture and keep Sonoma County as a two-wheeled destination any day of the year.

Since this space won’t suffice for such an explanation, we’ll just have to let the numbers do the talking and hope that you’ll catch the fever for community building that we’ve tried to foster with this event.

GranFondo CharitiesFORGET ME NOT FARM ★ The Farm is a working farm that not only cares for abandoned animals but also acts as a therapeutic refuge for at-risk children, including those who have been victims of abuse. forgetmenotfarm.org 2009–2013: $466,887

VELOSTREET’S COMMUNITY GIVING ★ Administered by the GranFondo’s non-profit, VeloStreet, this program is the umbrella for all our community giving done by the GranFondo to organizations like schools and fire departments along the GranFondo route as well as a funding source for cycling-forward projects, like pothole paving, park access, and support for the City of Santa Rosa with the Amgen Tour of California. levisgranfondo.org 2009–2013: $497,094COMMUNITY GIVING RECIPIENTS, PAST & PRESENT: GRANFONDO ROUTE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENTS, RURAL SONOMA COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, POTHOLE PAVING ALONG SONOMA COUNTY CYCLING ROUTES, DEMPSEY CENTER FOR CANCER HOPE AND HEALING, LIVESTRONG, PABLOVE FOUNDATION, LOCAL SPONSORSHIP OF THE TOUR OF CALIFORNIA IN SANTA ROSA, SONOMA COUNTY REGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION, ST. DOROTHY’S REST, CAMP MEEKER PARKS AND RECREATION, CAZADERO COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT, WEST COUNTY HEALTH CENTER, AND MORE.

NORCAL HIGH SCHOOL CYCLING LEAGUE ★ The League provides a healthy, structured competition environment that gets kids outdoors and on bikes, providing a rich foundation for a lifetime of cycling. norcalleague.org 2012–2013: $60,000

ALTRUISM

VOLUNTEERSNo mention of charity can be made without acknowledging the back-bone of the GranFondo: our volunteers. This tireless army is at work for weeks before your arrival, making sure area residents are notified of road closures, stuffing thousands of registration packets, hanging several hundred pounds of signs and banners, driving support, flag-ging traffic, and doing a number of tasks of such multitude that we had to hire not one, but two, people to organize them all.

These are the folks who are coming from down the street and across the state to take part in this event, many without even touching a bike. They’re constant, they’re generous, and every last one is a sheer inspiration to those of us working on this event year-round. They pay us the finest compliment any of us can receive and that’s the gift of their precious time. None of us have a lot of it and we’re thankful when others are so giving of theirs.

Every year we plan on seeing about a thousand volunteers working an average of ten hours each. Some of them even opt for shorter routes than they’re capable of riding, simply so that they can come back off-course and spend the rest of their day supporting the GranFondo. They work hard, they work early, they work late, and they work long, all for you and the event we’re all proud to have built together. Give ‘em a smile next time you see them. It’s likely they’ll return that favor too.

ALTRUISM

the granfondo’s volunteer army works hard, works early, works late, and works long—all for you and the event we’ve built together.


THE NIGHT WATCH

Any successful event makes sure the way forward can be found nearly instinctively, with riders moving across the land as if they’ve lived here their whole lives. The most intuitive way to do this is still through good, old-fashioned physical signage, which requires a dedicated crew moving through the course over many days, ending in a 36-hour devo-tional, building and rebuilding the route across multiple sunrises.

Their role covers far more than simply slapping up signs. They see to course hazards, mark troublesome sections of road, sweep glass, rock, and staples from the road. Thanks to vandalism and general mischief, their signs are a target from the moment they’re mounted to the moment they’re collected.

They are our night watch. We cavort in the land they make safe for us. They are the vanguard in a van and one of them, a fine story-teller named Kevin Scott, saw fit to give you all a window into what he experienced in 2013 while you slumbered so sweetly.

On our way back home, we watch fiberglass roadside flappers pass like improbable fence posts along the windshield. They light like flares in the headlights, nod like penitents in our wake.

Another good place for a sign, she says. I squirm in my seat. My ass is asleep. We are sick of being in vehicles. A half hour passes and the car chunks over a pothole. That needed paint, I say. The GranFondo event is over, but for a month it will mentally play itself out.

The weeks leading up to the Fondo we place four to six hundred course signs. We drive just shy of one thousand miles inside one county. We paint or patch between one and two hundred potholes. We apply grip tape to cattleguards, shovel debris off of roadsides. Bottles. Rockfall. Roadkill. We hike down gullies and retrieve signs tossed by the disgrun-tled into poison oak brambles, often scrawled with inane, pedantic slurs. We meet with people whose properties the ride transects. We speak with wild-eyed pre-riding cyclists broken mechanically or otherwise, or

bristling with the enthusiastic mania of a zealot. A jihadist. ‘This course is so awesome!’ They say. ‘It’s so awesome! I mean…’ They stare out at the sea sprawling below Meyers Grade, hand raised, stunned, lacking a proper descriptor. The sea edges away into the horizon, into the sky, no delineation. A conceptual dream piece. Vivid. Hallucinogenic.

What more can be said? I say. And we’re back in the van and gone.

The Friday morning before the event we drive the Gran route for the sixth time. Weary, crusted, the event pressing down with less than twenty-four hours before 7,500 riders follow your lead. Every time it shaves a bit of you away. Driving out of Santa Rosa, signs are missing or turned to bear false directions. Replace or fix as needed and onward. The County has changed their mind about what objects can be posted upon. Drama has ensued. Phone calls. Text messages. People communi-cating. Covertly threatening. We take signs off of one group of objects and look for other likely objects on which to post. There in the bike lane newly broken bottles glowing amber. The King of Beers. Sweep and go. All is well on the Medio route. Last year the Clampers reunion camped along the Medio route in Duncans Mills. This year no Clampers, thank Christ. The Clampers are a determined lot. E Clampus Vitus. They stripped the course of signs three times. They told me so.

In Cazadero signs are again turned on their flappers and written upon. On righting them, sharp shinned

hawks arrow away through oak trees. At Seaview and Kruse Ranch, a quarter yard of gravel is moved from the sweeping left hand turn. At Fort Ross School, signs made by students address Levi and the giant peloton in rainbow colors. At Meyers Grade a cyclist in lotus pose facing west. He is eastern bloc. He does not speak English well. Through universal aping we conclude he is hungry. He cadges half a turkey and swiss from us.

Back at Command Central. We shower, feed ourselves, crawl into bed with our minds humming along on the road out there considering what has been missed. It is four pm. We shut our eyes and pretend.

Ten-thirty pm. Coffee, again. Always coffee. The event goes off in eight hours. Get in the van, lean forward and squint through the windshield into the dark.

Didn’t we put a sign there? I say. My wife is tired of me doing this.It’s up ahead.I don’t think so.It’s up ahead.It’s gone. They ripped it. I’ll sign the next flapper.It’s up ahead.Yeah, well. I don’t see it and you don’t either. Do you?I pull over, sign the flapper, get back in the van and onward.

On the next flapper, a clone of the sign I just hung.It’s up ahead, she says. Always.

Coleman Valley Road, three-thirty am. Owls everywhere, ghosting across our windshield. We pull over a moment to stretch. In the sudden great silence their calls are as soft and pleasing as prayers. We have sea legs from the rocking of the van. It is difficult to get back in but to go to sleep.

At 4:43 am, the riders leaving in hours, our eyes full of sand, I stop the van in the middle of Sullivan Road.

What are you doing?Tree, I murmur. I lift my hand. She turns her head. In the head-

lights a live oak has fallen across both lanes. Its trunk is big around as a cow. I think it funny that I think this. I start laughing. My wife looks at me and she doesn’t really look good. Like someone pulled her chair away and she sat down hard. Powerlines are tangled in the treetop like raveling sutures. I look at the clock and pick up my phone.

Ten minutes later we’re re-routing the course, unclipping posted signs, first those leaving Santa Rosa then for the return route as well. At the fallen tree, seven or eight firefighters stand around in the wigwag glare of blue and red lights. Can’t touch it. It’s a County thing, they say. The sun is rising painfully on the nocturnal. The signs are not making sense anymore. We have to think and consult on each one. Finally my wife tells me to pull over and wait. The call wakes us up at 6:57 am. The road is open again. The County, with a show of solidarity and force, came out and miracled the offending tree through a 24” Morbark wood-chipper. We backtrack once more to undo what we’ve re-done, stumbling like zombies, the sleep-deprived window of grace closing fast.

There is nothing left but to make it back to Command Central and sleep. There is one trip around the course remaining, but it is an amusing affair, going against the tide of returning riders who wear all manner of facial gestures, every pain face imaginable. In bed, with the shades pulled tight, we stare at the ceiling and listen to the sum of a weeks worth of force and strangeness vibrating within us. The riders are now on the road. What can be done has been done. The fifth year of Levi’s GranFondo spreads across Sonoma County, a great surge of blood and heart and muscle gliding through one of the best road loops in America.

THE NIGHT WATCH

OCTOBER 3, 2015

REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 12, 2015

See you next year.

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