Tales of sun, rain, snow, and hurricane force winds
Last October 3 customers and myself hatched a plan to kick off the road bike season in early spring with another event put on by one of our favorite companies- Planet Ultra events – http://planetultra.com. In April 2013 a small group of us had gone to check out the Las Vegas edition of their Gran Fondo series. The route featured some serious climbs and a gorgeous loop through Red Rock canyon – and most of all warm sunny weather! Sun is a precious commodity when you live in Whistler, and it is a necessity for road biking. More importantly, the event was inexpensive ($65 entry fee), well organized with different course length options, and it only featured 100s of riders versus 1000s – the perfect recipe for riders who are new to the Gran Fondo experience.
So this year we decided to tackle the Zion edition and to bring more people with us (15 this time around) to share the experience. We figured that the desert had to be warm welcoming place in April, and it would be a great way to get away from the snow. The plan was for all of our group to converge in Springdale Utah – gateway to Zion national park, and to get 3 or 4 days of riding in around the actual event itself. This would set up nicely for the New York Gran Fondo in May. Yes we are bike crazy up here in Whistler!
Prepare for take off..
Training started in early January with our group meeting 3 x week on our indoor trainers to get some miles in the legs. The Saturday Sufferfest grew to be a local legend – our indoor rides were getting up 3 hrs long with multiple 20 minute climbs! We wanted to make sure that our team was more than prepared. We even held a 9 day Tour of Suffering Challenge where everyone had to complete a series of indoor bike sessions to peak our training. By the time April rolled around this group was itching to get off the rollers and outdoors
Let the fun begin!
Most people fly to Vegas and then rent a car to get to Springdale –it is about a 2 hour and 30 minute drive to get there. You can also fly via Salt Lake City to St George which is only 20 minutes from Springdale. We choose Vegas as we were planning on celebrating our accomplishment there on our way home. Some of our group arrived almost a week prior to the event to squeeze in some more rides. We arrived in the dark of night the Thursday prior. If you are lucky enough to make the journey here to ride make sure that you get to do the drive in daylight. We had no idea how jaw dropping the scenery was here until we woke up Friday morning. The town is surrounded by towering sandstone walls in amazing hues of red and orange – it is a wow experience just to soak it all in.
Friday morning we rallied with the troops in the breakfast room at the Hampton Inn (this is where you want to stay when you come here- it is brand new) and started planning today’s training ride. Skies were blue and temps were between 25 and 30 degrees – perfect for riding. There was some panic as the forecast was a freak winter storm on Saturday (race day), but it had been months since it had rained here last. It was sunny in the forecast on both side of the event. Some of the crew was contemplating riding the course today versus tomorrow just incase the weather turned sour. We decided as a team that it just would not be official if we did that and that we would just wait and see what happened tomorrow
There are only two options for riding in Springdale – you go right and head into Zion Park, or you go left and head down to Hurricane on the race route. So we went right and headed into the park and quickly forgot all about the potential for rain the next day. This place is magical – the roads are red and once you are in the park there are no cars- just the occasional park bus that will not pass you unless you pull over.
Saturday – Event Day
Well the weather forecast was correct – we woke up to temperatures under 8 degrees with rain, intense wind, and SNOW! What! We had come to the desert to get away from this!
Our crew converged on the start at 7:30 am with only 5 other racers showing up. None of us had proper rain gear or winter riding gear – we had packed for 25 to 30 degree weather. The event organizer was quick to warn everyone that getting hypothermic was a real danger especially since the first 20 miles was downhill and the winds were huge. Did I mention it was raining? Waterfalls and flash floods were appearing out of nowhere. In a split second that was it – the race was called off for safety reasons and we went in to the nearest coffee shop to regroup. Wet roads, freezing weather, and winds strong enough to knock a rider off their bike were not worth the risk. We did not feel so bad when we heard that a Tough Mudder event with 3000 people in the next town was cancelled due to the snow! By 2 pm we got a break in the weather so we all headed back into Zion Park (once you pay your $12 admission it is good for 1 week) to ride back to the Temple of Sinewava.
Day 3
The sun came back out to play on Sunday. I did not want the group to be disappointed so I had a special ride planned for them, I got some intel from a local we rode with on Friday about a ride up to Kolob Terrace Reservoir. It featured 5000 feet of climbing over 22 miles, had little to no traffic, and the red rock roads that this park was famous for. We turned the team loose on the climb and soaked it all in – there is nothing better than doing what you love in a new environment.
After breakfast we headed out to ride on the Gran Fondo course- but I made a detour at the turn off. It was a winner – and the group soon forgot all about the cancellation of the race.
