Gran Fondo

Literally, it means "long distance" and has been a cycling staple in Italy for decades. As the American appetite seems to be refining its taste for cycling in the traditional style (without a swim prior or a run after) events such as the Tours of California, Missouri and Virginia are gaining notoriety and continue to generate a lot of good cycling buzz. It should come as no surprise then, that the Gran Fondo is now on the horizon.

Those of you (all of you?) who follow the RCVman saga, are familiar with the events run and operated by Graham Fraser. Think, Ironman Canada first, and then, chronologically, Lake Placid, Coeur d'Alene, Arizona, Florida and Wisconsin. If you know Ironman, you know Graham. He and I hammered out the original agreement to film his events for RCVs. Here is how that negotiation went:

RCVman (then simply KML): "Here is my idea"......blah, blah and more blah, until I had the picture of the Real Course Video fully pixelated (in twenty minutes).

GF: "OK, sounds great, get with Shane and make it happen."

And we haven't stopped since.

Graham is a gentleman, a savvy businessman, a talented athlete and a visionary. He is also a nice guy, something rare with all the above attributes, although this could be because he is Canadian, but I'm not sure. As more back-story, Graham this year sold his interests in all the above mentioned IM's to the World Triathlon Corporation, with the exception of IMC. Did I mention savvy? As a result of the sale he suddenly found himself with time to burn, and decided to bring the Gran Fondo concept West via his start-up Centurian Cycling.

This is exciting news. On a number of levels. You know what they are.

It is also going to be fun. Fasten your chin strap and calibrate your CT. The Gran Fondo is coming West. Put these on your 2010 'must-ride' list kids:

Boulder, CO, July
Madison, WI, August
Mammoth Lakes, CA, September



Thanks Graham.