Riding the Super Course: The 2015 Gran Fondo, Ellensburg

As I was finishing up the drivetrain for the Super Course, I learned of an intriguing ride, which I thought suited the Super Course: The Gran Fondo, Ellensburg. I especially liked the idea of riding East of Snoqualmie Pass in a rural and forested area with the potential for some nice views. I'm not so familiar with the dry terrain just East of the Cascades - a nice adventure, just before Father's Day, I thought. I saw that the ride would be 90 miles (36 gravel), 7,500 feel of climbing, starting and finishing in Ellensburg (elev. 1,500 ft), and topping out at about 5,200 ft.

It would be an excellent test. Those hilly parts between about mile 31 and mile 67? All gravel. That first steep hill? It seems to climb about 2,700 feet in about 6 miles, that is, an average of about 9% for 6 miles, plus some more climbing before you get to 5,200 ft. That would be really hard - could be a sufferfest.

Trying to ride with élan and well within my limits, I finished in about 6 hours and 20 minutes, about 17% off the time of the first person to cross the line (results). I lost about 10 minutes fixing one flat at about mile 70 on the road, due I think to my poor choice of inner tubes (see earlier post).

Bummer, but after 5 hours, who cares. And, by getting off the gravel safely, I can't be too disappointed. It was all good.

The Super Course in Action, Gran Fondo, Ellensburg, June 20, 2015

Other than the flat tire and three or four scary moments on the downhills, the Super Course rode very well, doing well, but not great, on both the road and on the gravel. Could any bike be great on the gravel climbs, on the gravel downhills, and on the road? 

I rode with 60 psi in both the front and back wheels. (For the ride, I weighed in at about 158 lbs.) I think I could have ridden with maybe 40 psi in the front and 45 psi in the back but I wanted to avoid pinch flats and I didn't have confidence in the tires and rims at those pressures. As best I can tell, the wheels came out of the ride exactly as they went into it. And, the seatpost? It did not budge. 

On the steep climbs I had to stay seated to get traction; standing mostly didn't work. On the downhills I generally let the bike run, slowing conservatively into the turns. Thanks to the Reynolds 531 steel and the wheels, the ride was all things considered pretty smooth, except for some brutal washboard on some of the very steep downhill sections. On those sections I screamed to myself "Slow down, right now, dude." 

The route was very well designed and marked, and the ride was superbly run by Vicious Cycles. Very impressive. The vibe was friendly albeit somewhat serious, a combination which I appreciated. This was my first Gran Fondo. It reminded me somewhat of a cross-country ski Loppet, which I take to be first a collective celebration of life and second, for some, a competive test of fitness and skill. 

Specialized came to this Gran Fondo with a trailer of bikes, which you could sign up for and borrow for the ride, including the  Crux Pro Race UDI2 (MSRP $7,000.00) and the Diverge Carbon DI2 (MSRP $8,500.00).  These and similar very cool bikes can evidently be ridden on pretty much anything. I gather that lots of people wanted to try them out.

I believe these modern bikes weight about 18 lbs. or a little less. I think the Super Course weighs about 25 lbs., though I have yet to check on an accurate scale. Given an individual's fitness level and weight, its interesting to consider what kind of performance advantage these modern bikes might have over the Super Course. Not just in terms of weight but also in terms of the various rolling efficiencies in those carbon wheels, tubular tires, drive train, braking, and  so on. And, given an individual's skill level: How much faster on the downhills are these modern bikes compared to the Super Course? In whatever manner these questions are answered, I don't think they take away from the pure fun of riding whatever machine you happen to have.  Still, they are questions that I think are important, since they get to the heart of the cycling experience - how efficient can one be on two wheels?

In any case, I wonder if someone, not too unlike me, might try to fix up one of those bikes forty years from now, in 2055. What questions might they have? 

If you look carefully in the video below you might see those Specialized bikes and the Super Course in action, if only very briefly! You'll see the group heading West at the beginning of the ride, going about 20 mph I think, into a 10-15 mph headwind on a mostly flat road from Ellensburg to Cle Elum. Thank you Viscous Cycle on Facebook. 

Whoosh
Posted by Vicious Cycle on Saturday, June 20, 2015