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GFNY - NY Gran Fondo Race Report

scott dinhoferscott dinhofer
edited May 20, 2019 1:39PM in Races & Places 🏁⛺

GFNY – Race Report

If someone finds my crushed soul around mile 75, please pick it up and return it to me. That line about sums up this race. I'd also recommend the Leadville racers to read that and try to have their soul's crushed at mile 95.

In past years I’ve opted not to do this event that takes place in my backyard, the NY Gran Fondo which is a championship race of a series of GFNY Fondos around the world. The Race attracts serious riders from not only all over the Tri-state area and the US, but the world. In the cue during the morning and the lines for the porta-johns, the diversity in languages and accents was refreshing to say the least. (even though I realized that many were the from the local melting pot that NYC is!) This event takes place the same weekend as the American Zofingen Duathlon, which is the primary reason I’ve never done it.

My frequent training partner James and a bunch of other very strong riders were doing it, they convinced me that if we did a team entry, I’d be in a front corral and not have to deal with passing many people in the sketchy beginning part of the course. Wouldn’t you know it, the GFNY folks did away with that since everyone was forming teams.

I woke up at home at 4AM, had coffee, finished packing a few items, mixed my bottles, got in the car, got a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll for carbs from the deli and headed to Fort Lee NJ, the Western end of the George Washington Bridge. Parked in a garage right near the finish, got my stuff together and headed to the bridge, rode across just after sunrise to the Manhattan side and snaked around to the assembly area right off the Manhattan side of the lower level. Used the porta john a few times. I was in no rush to get out on the bridge and suffer in the reasonable wind that was blowing. Eventually made my way to my up to the bridge, was able to sit on the lee side of a van for a bit, and then got in my corral. According to my Strava file, I was exactly on the NY/NJ border.

The course is a true Arse kicker. I had always assumed that the course utilized the flat southern section of 9W, the popular road that manhattanites use to escape NYC and one of the brightest lines on the Strava global heat map, I found out in a training ride, that there is a road just below the palisades, or on the palisades that snakes along undulating for 8 miles just below the cliffs that rise up from the Hudson on the NJ side of the river. This section was quite fast and crowded, I was one of the people working the side and hitching up with others to get past the people who were more casually riding this as our corral assignments were reverse chronological order.

GFNY Course.jpg


Once we got up the Alpine climb to 9W and exited the park onto 9W, it broke open and the pace lines of more serious cyclists formed. This made for a very quick trip up the coast of the Hudson to Nyack NY (the western end of the Tappan Zee Bridge) where we hit the first of the smaller climbs. After two of these over 5 miles, I continued to seek pace lines and hooked up with a guy who was clearly a triathlete as he had 7 GUs taped to his top tube. He was strong though, and more talkative and louder than me, is that possible? But we held each others attention and focus and continued to work. At mile 40 we hit the first real climb up 9W and it was here that James and his group passed me. while not a great climber myself, I dispatched this hill that I’ve done (and hated) dozens of times before with confidence, cruised down the other side to a small flat stretch at sea level, before you start the 1900’ 4 mile climb up Bear Mountain. At this point, the race leaders, passed me going the other way, so they had a 8 mile lead on me.

I locked into the Bear climb having done it many times and knowing it quite well, felt solid at the top. I saw an open porta-john and quickly jumped in, then filled my bottles, grabbed a banana from a volunteer and got going on the downhill. With a closed road and no cars or motorcycles to deal with, I channeled my inner @John Withrow , only to get passed by 2 guys partially down, so I chased them down, got to the wider lower section of road and hammered. Climbed the hill on 9W again and still felt solid. The great thing is that every climb and downhill in places I've ridden for years, were Strava PRs!

At this point, I realized I raced the first 50 miles (bear is at 45) like I had a gun to my head. I knew the course, Pre-rode it, have ridden most of the roads numerous times anyway, and knew I had to be more conservative, I am not a great climber, but I can lock in to a power number, I am a very good descender roads are mostly closed, cops blocking all intersections, and just need to find a group for the flats to work with.

The Next series of hills work you along the edge of Bear Mountain & Harriman state parks, taking you up the side climb of Gate Hill Road, the proper Gate Hill is one of the hardest climbs in the northeast and the ‘easy way’ was anything but… after that is Cheesecoat, not sure where it gets it’s name from. I’ve seen it on maps, ridden past it in the valley, never climbed it until training rides for this event, Geezus.. who put houses on this thing and how do they get up and down in a snowstorm, max grade is 18%. After this it’s mostly rolling terrain, hooked up with a group, despite my developing anguish and the heat. The predicted high was 72, when I got in my car that was in a shaded garage after the event, it jumped up to 82 when driving home. But I digress, I worked with a group and really up until around mile 75 I was doing a good job of staying connected and climbing at or better than some people around me.

On a series of small rollers, I lost touch with the big train I was on, we turned south for a long stretch of flat roads, right into a southerly (warm) wind of 12-15. It was me and one other guy and we just kept taking turns every 2 mins working together. At about mile 80 I had a real test of will, I could abandon this race and go to Jill’s house, less than a mile away! I of course stayed with this guy and we continued to work it. He bailed at the next aid station, I had enough fluids, gels, and a cliff bar to get to the finish. After working a series of rollers and feeling terrible, a chatty Irish guy (from Ireland) that I met earlier, came upon me as we entered a 4 mile bike path. He got us going again and we worked together for a few miles.

After this we’re back on 9W and climbing home with the wind really punching us. We picked up a few others, got organized and literally had guys leading for 45” and rotating 5 or 6 of us… finally turn into the Pallisades park for the same undulating road in reverse that has 2-3 climbs, the last of which is a total Arsekicker. Emptied my bottle on the last climb, got to the flat on top and worked with a guy for the last 3k and finally finished. One of the mental conversations I had after my soul was crushed was about how James is clearly a much stronger biker and runner, yet doesn’t beat me in Ironman.

After getting my medal and approaching the jugs to refill my bottles, there’s James in the finishers chute, beaten down and as miserable as I was. He told me he only finished about 2 mins ahead of me and in comparing times after, he was 4’ faster for the day. It’s clear that BRC which was sandwiched between our training rides of this course and the event, that some fitness has come online.

Stats – as per below from Training peaks, official time for the course was 5:45 good enough for top 16th%ile of my AG..

If anyone is interested in this event for 2020, plenty of room at my Inn!

Even better than the results, is the analysis by course splits on how I continually climbed in rankings among others in the race, a testament to despite how it felt, how much better I was doing in surviving the hot, windy & hilly last 20 miles. I also compared this to James, I lost 2'30" on the Bear climb to him. I have the low hanging fruit on body comp to lose, he doesn't. We rode the mile 63-84 split exactly even and while I demoralized and suffering, I rode the final 16 miles almost a minute faster than him. If I had a more positive attitude in those last 25 miles, that could have been better!

GFNY OA.JPG
TrainingPeaks GFNY.JPG


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