It’s official. I am registered for the Whistler Gran Fondo on September 7, 2013!!!
The Whistler Gran Fondo is a 122km ride from downtown Vancouver to Whistler with 1700m of climbing— I love climbing so this will be taking it to a whole new level!
Imagine riding across the Lions Gate bridge ON THE ROAD (and not on the sidewalk)… imagine having the entire Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler blocked off for bicycles ONLY. God that sounds better than sex. Wait.. wait.. that IS possibly better than sex.
Thanks to Gran Fondo Canada and Women in Cycling, I’m finally riding in a Gran Fondo and I will be sharing my experiences and training up until the race on this blog. That little push was exactly what I needed. I only heard about the Gran Fondo two years ago when I really got into cycling and have been wanting to do it ever since but fear was always held be back. Now that I’m registered, I’m not scared at all but I’m so happy and EXCITED. I am confident I can survive the entire ride to Whistler but I do want to take my riding to the next level and hit new personal bests.
As for training and goal time, I’m not entirely sure yet— I’m frantically panicking right now because I need to do more research on training and nutrition but excited for an excuse to get on my bike more. My main concerns are getting enough fuel for my body, not turning into a “cardio queen”, still being able to lift heavy weights and do my usual high intensity training at the gym— without getting burnt out. I want to do it all but I know I’ll have to make sacrifices… if only there were more days to a week. One thing I know is that I want to enjoy the race and take in everything riding along the Sea to Sky has to offer, perhaps have a glass of wine (or two) but I still want to beat whatever goal time I set.
And of course, since I’m doing the Gran Fondo this year, Boyfriend is obviously doing it too because he is my cycling buddy after all and how can he NOT do the Gran Fondo if his girlfriend is?! He would totally lose face! Hah. But of course, I know he is excited and he doesn’t “pretend” to love cycling just because I do, okay. I swear (my skeptical friends do not believe me on this). He actually wanted to ride in the Gran Fondo before I did!
So with all this said, prepare to see a lot more blog entries related to CYCLING! Of course I’m cross-training’s biggest fan so you will see read about everything else that is currently published here.
If you have any tips regarding training and nutrition for bike races, I would love to hear them!
