What's A Gran Fondo???

In the last year or so, new events are popping up all over the country, calling themselves Gran Fondo. What's that?

The Gran Fondo is a hugely popular and celebrated tradition in the Italian cycling world. Meaning "the big ride" or "the big endurance," a Gran Fondo is a long distance, mass-participation cycling event - NOT A RACE- that welcomes competitive, amateur and recreational cyclists of all abilities.

While not strictly competitive, Gran Fondo events typically have a mass start and are timed. Some of the Gran Fondos are named for and led out by a pro cyclist, like Levi Leipheimer, or sponsored by a big companies with a long heritage in cycling, like Colnago or Specialized.

Planet Ultra is just going to keep it simple. No pros, no corporate big wigs, and less than a thousand riders.

But like the big boys, Planet Ultra Gran Fondo events will be fully supported with at least four feed zones (we call them checkpoints) along the route and roving SAG. All riders will wear a timing chip, and results will be posted at the finish line and also on the website.

The truth is, while calling an event "Gran Fondo" is a new, sort of trendy concept, Planet Ultra has been bringing you these types of timed events for years...

We know that most folks participate in distance events for the pure enjoyment of riding through beautiful scenery with their friends and teammates, with the goal of simply completing an epic event. But we also know that some cyclists treat these events like races, and it's important to have an accurate time to compare to others. So we offer the best of both worlds.

Come join us! 

-Minister of Information