The first I’d heard of a gran fondo was for Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Gran Fondo last fall. It along and the Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego last year were the first gran fondos in the US. This year more than a dozen are planned.

So what is a gran fondo? In Italian it means “big ride”. Like century bike rides, a gran fondo in the US is generally around 100 miles with shorter options for those that don’t want to ride that far.

If a gran fondo is 100 miles, why isn’t it just called a century ride? Unlike most century rides, gran fondos are mass start events and are timed. Gran fondos also generally have a cycling celebrity on the ride. Outside of Italy, the rides are also called cyclosportives

Although in Italy gran fondos are ridden as true races for the top riders, in the US many courses aren’t closed to traffic and state that they aren’t a race. Some give medals to riders that finish within a certain time or have a special times section. Of course when there’s a pack of cyclists, there’s nearly always at least some of them riding like it’s a race.

Although several gran fondos have taken place this year, there are still several coming up. Below is a list of ones later this year although a few are already sold out.

• July 18 – Centurion Colorado – Lyons, CO
• Aug 8 – Centurion Wisconsin – Middleton, WI
• Aug 8 – Gran Fondo Colnago Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA
• Sept 19 – Centurion Canada – Blue Mountains, ON
• Sept 26 – Portland/Columbia River Gorge Gran Fondo – Portland, OR
• Oct 9 – Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Gran Fondo – Santa Rosa, CA
• Oct 23 – SLO Gran Fondo – San Luis Obispo, CA
• Oct 24 – Gran Fondo Colnago Los Angeles – Los Angeles, CA

– UltraRob

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