Review: 2012 Garrett County Gran Fondo

Well, it’s June, so that means it’s time for the Garrett County Gran Fondo. Last year I rode the metric century (aptly named the Masochistic Metric). You can read my review from that ride if you’re interested, or just press on to read this. I’ll get you caught up as we go along.

When I did the MM last year, I had only ridden a handful of metric centuries, all of them on relatively flat courses. The Garrett County Gran Fondo was something else entirely. 8k feel of climbing in 62 miles was somewhat of a shock. I cramped up pretty bad on a climb 44 miles in and again on the final climb. I managed to walk myself and my bike up the hill and across the line, so technically I “finished” but barely. For the record, the 2011 finisher shirts had quotes around “finisher” so while it may have been poor punctuation, it was correct for me.

This year I put in a great deal more time in to training and decided to sign up for the Savage Century (102 miles with 12.7k feet of climbing). My brother and a friend came in to town and we rented a house with our families at the top of Wisp Mountain. There’s a lot of great housing and activities around Deep Creek Lake, and last year we stayed down on the lake. While that was great for activities in/around the lake, it was a bit of a bummer to get up and down the mountain to the start of the ride. This year we rented a place on top of Wisp which made for a very simple and stress free morning the day of the ride. We could literally walk out the front door, jump on our bike, and coast to start line.

Start and Segment 1

The start for the 120 mile ride kicked off at 7am sharp. The 100 mile went off at 7:20 which meant I had to be up before 6 to eat, shower, finish prepping my bike, and generally wake up. I usually have a rule about waking up before 7, so the morning was a bit brutal. But thanks to the location of our rental, I could still be a bit lazy and make it to the start on time.

Last year, the Gran Fondo had ~600 riders split between (I think) 3 different rides. This year, the organizers upped the registration to 1,200 and added a 44 and 25 mile ride. The start of the 120 mile ride was pretty packed.. I’d guess 300 riders. The Savage Century had a few less, maybe 200-250. We lined up at the back looking to avoid any craziness at the front. It was a chilly morning…. around 60F at the start line. Some folks had jackets, some just wore jerseys and shorts. I opted for arm warmers, which was a good call because the first 5 miles are basically all downhill. My Garmin says it was 54 at the base of the descent. It was definitely time for a climb to warm up a bit.

And climb we did. The first hill is a bit of an adventure. I remember describing the start of last year’s first climb as a “war zone” to a few people. The climb starts after a quick right/left combo on a short bit of flats. And I’m not sure if the hill caught folks off guard or what, but there were people scattered everywhere, jumping off bikes, etc. This year was no different. Someone actually yelled “hill” as a warning to the pack in the same way someone would yell out “gravel” or “dog”. Not sure if they were serious or not, but it was damn funny. Within the first 100′ up the hill, there were a number of people off their bikes, some actually riding back down the hill, a few people walking, and a number of max heart rate alarms going off from riders HRM’s. Seriously, it was a bit crazy.

Things settled down quickly, though. The first segment is relatively easy with only one major climb and the only actual flats of the entire ride as you enter the first rest station. A note about the rest stations this year… Last year some of the rest stations seemed to be unprepared for the size of the crowd. Some were out of water and others had very limited supplies and restrooms. This year was totally different. Every rest stop was fully stocked, fully staffed, and had plenty of restrooms. And the volunteers… wow 🙂 what a great, motivated bunch of folks. Everyone was smiling, helpful, and really fantastic. Seriously, from my perspective, the rest stops this year were fantastic. They definitely kept me alive and moving.

I tried to eat as much as I could through segment 1 and at the rest stop. I think I probably had 700 cals in that segment alone. I’m a big guy (195 lbs, 6′) and I burn ~700 cals/hour when I’m riding. I figured I would burn ~5600 cals by the end of the event, and I’d probably need to ingest 500 cals/hr to make it to the end without blowing up.

Segment 2

On paper, the second segment looks difficult. In reality, it is… 20 miles with 3.8k feet of climbing on five separate climbs. The last one, The Devil’s Half Acre is particularly annoying as you can see it from about 2 miles away as you start your decent to the base of the climb. While the view is gorgeous, the mental intimidation is a bit much. This segment is a bit of a blur as the climbs really hit one after another with very little break in between.

The rest stop at the end of segment 2 is at the top of Devil’s Half Acre; actually, you climb right up until you reach the stop at the Stockyard. Is it too much to ask for a few feet of flat land now and then? 😉 I had worked hard to keep my output under control and my heart rate down on the climbs. I felt better than I figured I would by this point in the ride and was looking forward to the rest of the ride. I tried to eat as much as I could but I didn’t make a lot of progress on this section because of all the climbing.

Segment 3

Segment 3 is where the real fun starts. There are only 2 climbs in this segment, but they are both serious events. Following a fun, twisting descent out of the second rest stop, Bowman Hill loomed large in front of the small pack I was in.  The hill starts politely at the beginning, then really dials up the fun with ~1/2 mile of 15%+ climbing. For a climb 44 miles in to a ride, Bowman Hill is punishing. Last year I walked half of it due to cramps.  This year I pushed to the top, tho I think my cadence was in the 40’s for most of it (I was riding a compact crank with an 11-28 out back). I felt strong at the top and actually passed some folks.

Shortly after Bowman Hill, the metric century route heads back to Wisp, so I was in new territory this year. The second climb on segment 3 is Killer Miller. Most of the previous climbs were relatively shady. This one was in the open. The road was hot from the sun and you could hear the tar bubbles in the pavement popping as riders went over them.  The grade on Killer Miller was unreal in spots. My Garmin got confused, I presume because of how slow I was going, and said the grade was “only” 11-12%. Inspection of maps later indicate that stretches were 20%+.  For the first time the whole ride, I had to get up out of the saddle and work the pedals. Towards the top I resorted to serpentining. I made it up to the top, but I was starting to feel the burn.

The rest stop at the end of segment 3 was at a bar/market/gas station.  They had music playing and some chairs out for people to sit in. People were very chatty and overall in good spirits. I ate quite a bit at this stop, sat for a while, put on more sunscreen, and generally tried to relax a bit.

Segment 4

Segment 4 is long. 30 miles from rest stop to rest stop. However, it’s also one of the prettiest parts of the ride. Leaving the third rest stop, the course quickly descends  through New Germany State Park and then along Savage River and the Savage River Reservoir. It’s a beautiful part of the state, and on a sunny day like we had it was really enjoyable scenery. The first 10 miles of this segment are basically downhill, starting out at a reasonably steep -5% and getting to a more gentle -1% slope. While that may not seem like much, it sure was a nice break on my legs. I was pretty spent by this point of the ride and having 30 minutes of basically coasting really helped get the juice going again.

Now, what goes down, must go up.  That is The Law of the Garrett County Gran Fondo.  And we had enjoyed a nice ride down. This segment only has one climb, but it’s a 3.2 mile, 1,000′ event. Parts of it are gradual, but the last couple miles are mostly 8% constant grade. Everything I had regained in my legs from taking it easy on the downhill was zapped by this climb.  30 minutes of grinding out that hill was hard work.  The last few miles of this segment was basically flat (at least by the standards of this ride) but it was all I could do to haul my butt to the rest stop. I was wiped out, both mentally and physically. There wasn’t much left in the tank by the time I arrived at the rest stop.  I ate and drank quite a bit at this stop and sat down for a while. I really wanted to get enough fuel in the tank to finish this ride and not have to walk up the last climb.

Segment 5

The last segment is basically 2 parts: dreading the final climb for 12 miles, and then actually doing the final climb. There are a few small but steep climbs after leaving the rest stop, but once those are out of the way, the course runs along Deep Creek Lake and stays relatively flat.  For the last few miles, I ended up with a good size pack of about 20 people.  Working together we made good time around the north end of the lake and wrapped back towards the base of the final climb at Wisp.

I’m not a very strong climber even on a good day.  After 100 miles of knee breaking work, I’m a pretty lousy climber. Once we reached the base of the hill, the pack left me in the dust. The ride organizers describe the final climb as “cruel” and I think that’s an apt description. I had to give it everything I had to make it up the hill and stay on the pedals.  I’m honestly not sure how I made it to the finish, but I did.  I was in a bit of a haze, to be honest. I handed in my timing chip, got my t-shirt, said “hi” to my family, then promptly went in to our rental and sat in a chair for about 15 minutes. I. was. spent.

Parting Shots

When my brother was trying to describe this ride to his wife that evening, the only word he could really find was “epic”.  People throw the word epic around for various things. However, I think I can safely say this ride is indeed “epic”.  It’s the most physically demanding and rewarding event I’ve done in my life. The hills are incredibly challenging and the countryside is amazing.

One of the things that really struck us when we talked about the ride was the roads themselves. It’s unclear why some of these roads exist or why they’re paved.  We would often ride for miles 3 or 4 wide, taking up the entire road.  There was so little traffic it was unbelievable. That aspect alone makes rides like this so much more enjoyable. Being able to just get out and ride and not have to worry about staying on the shoulder and watching for cars every 10 seconds is a rarity (at least where I train).  It also really helps when you have to serpentine up a hill just to survive 😉

Also, the Garrett County Gran Fondo was a great place for a little bike porn. The diversity of bikes in the crowd was amazing. From a pink Pinerello (ridden by a woman who seemed to love to climb) to a custom steel city bike with fenders and lots of bikes in between, looking at the bikes and talking about them all was a ton of fun in its own right.  Hopefully this ride doesn’t fuel my bike addiction and result in a new ride in the stable this summer…

Overall, this was a fantastic event. I had a few minor issues/constructive comments for the organizers last year in my post.  I have none this year. They had a KOM program that was well advertised, the rest stops were awesome, and having more riders on the course really made it more social.  I was impressed with the whole thing.  We’ve already got housing reservations for next year and I’ll be training for the Diabolical Double. Might as well do all the rides, I guess.

One last thing. I’ve only been seriously riding for just about 2 years now. In April 2010 I found out my father had stage 4 colon cancer.  The next day I got my steal frame LeMond out of my shed and started riding. I had that bike for 10 years and it maybe had 500 miles on it. Since that time I’ve probably ridden close to 5,000 miles.  His cancer really made me realize how important my own health is and how I should really do the most with the time that I have.  Finishing this ride meant a lot to me… it was the culmination of a great deal of hard work and preparation.  2 years ago I couldn’t imagine doing something like the Savage Century.  Tonight, I’m sitting on my couch wearing the Gran Fondo Finisher shirt. In all sincerity, I’d like to thank the organizers and volunteers of this ride for putting on the event giving me an opportunity to accomplish something as challenging as finishing this ride.