Fondo to Qualify for Worlds
 

A qualifier for Masters Worlds (Poland?) is doing a Fondo at near twice the distance. All groups racing together. It came sooner than I thought.

* UCI Prizes for top 3 finishers in 9 age categories, a chance to represent your country at the World Championships, and fun prizes too.

–6:35 a.m. | 100 mile UCI Gran Fondo World Championship competitors (20-27mph+)


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Is that a gold finisher medal for the winner, or a generic finisher medal?

If the former, why does it say finisher?!

It does not look as if "racing" is so dead.

https://www.cachegranfondo.com/thingstoknow-ALL 1st finishers on the 105-mile course and KOM/QOM will receive a official UCI Gran Fondo World Series jersey, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will receive a special winners medal.
-You get an UCI rainbow jersey for winning! (no junior cats)
-In any of M/F for Age groups: 19 – 34y, 35 – 39y, 40 – 44y, 45 – 49y, 50 – 54y, 55 – 59y, 60 – 64y, 65-69y, 70+y.
-Qualifying races that are 50% longer than that actual thing - are weird.

I did this ride two years ago. Beautiful course and a lot of good opportunity for racing. I know some guys from my team are going to race it this year. 2 years ago when i did it, I didn't know what to expect from a gran fondo so I stopped for the first aid station to refill bottles. Big mistake. Front group rode away without me even trying.

Truth is.. these rides are super fun and just as competitive as any race I've ever done. I'd be doing it this year if I could, but it's the same day as the biggest gravel racein Utah that was one of my A-priorities for the year.

Finishers medal.

Other medals for winners. It's a pretty common thing.

They do it at most of the northeast hill climbs. Running races and tris, too. Those, like fondos (and running races) have different folks doing different things. Some are racing for a win, and some are just trying to finish. In this way you remove some of the logistical barriers that a race like a crit creates.

Raced the Gran Fondo Frank Schleck in luxembourg as a UCI Worlds qualifier. The level in these events is generally very high, Winner ended up with a 25+ mph average over a 100 mile reasonably climby course. Just be prepared for massive peloton action and the craziness that ensues from that. rolling 28+ mph in a 400 man bunch was pretty damn sketchy.

Great fun though, especially while you can hang onto the front bunch.

Around here (not worlds qualifiers) the GFNS events do timed climb segments. Not overall finish time. For Asheville and the other one. The 100 miler has 4 as the qualifier. So it is NOT a point to point race to the finish line. By all means, you could group ride/chat between the climbs quite slow if you're a competitive AG'er or overall contender.

Not sure what GFNS has to do with the UCI thing though.

https://www.granfondonationalseries.com/rules-faqs/

I was not aware it was a common way to qualifier for UCI World Championships. UCI rainbow jersey's for winners is also new to me.
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1000w

I favor the race together thing, primarily as being less expensive it offers an alternative to just canceling the event. I do think there is a cheapening of the "real" racing which to me has fields big enough to have a breakaway, a chase group and a pack. Unfortunately, that is becoming more difficult.

Wasn’t responding to you.

I would be embarrassed to wear a rainbow jersey I got for winning a gran Fondo.

Why?

A Gran Fondo can be as difficult to win as a categorized race.

If I win rainbow strips - I'm going to wear them. Regardless of the event.

Would you be embarrassed as a woman with a national silver in a track event with three entries?

No, because it's a race.

Does everyone in all categories racing for all things go off together? Or are their waves? Can people work with people from other waves? It just seems like winning a big group ride, but I dunno. Maybe I'm missing something.

Have you been to a running race? A tri? Your caution seems to be that it’s easy, or some artificial distinction with the word race. Come do Mount Washington. If you won your age group I promise you won.

I think what the distinction I'm likely making, even if I'm not thinking about it much, is that a bike race should either be solo/team against the clock, or should have tactics, ideally without mixed groups racing together. Obviously mixed groups happens at smaller races, but I don't like it for a world championship.

And I’m already saying that happens, as well as things that make championships seem arbitrary, across a wide variety of disciplines and other sports.

Other than all categories starting together, how is a Fondo different from a road race?

Right, I get that.

And I think my point is that bike racing is different. That's part of why I like it. It's not basically an ITT with lots of other people at the same time, it doesn't have huge bottlenecks at the start.

Others can disagree, and I know these mass rides with a combined category race are the only thing that's going to save the sport (because the "just here to have a good time and finish and challenge myself" crowd outnumbers the "if I don't win I don't care" crowd by 100 to 1 and their entry fees support the whole thing), but that doesn't mean I have to like it or think something is being lost.

The world's fondo where the stripes are awarded has starts for 5 year age groups every 5 minutes. The age group fields are larger than a local 35+ 123 race, but you're racing against your competition. The local guys that have won the world's fondo are high quality racers that have won multiple nat'l championships.

"Bike racing" encompasses a wider variety of things than you're giving it credit for, and has for a long time. Mountain bike (like 5 disciplines in there at least)? Gravel? BMX? It's cool that you're not into, but to say someone should be embarrassed for winning a jersey is kinda silly.

I don't know my point here, but a fact anyway.
For several years the Valley of the Sun SR in PHX has had 1 (one) in a category. No offence to that one, but that is not racing. I don't subscribe to the way "we"/USAC slices and dices anyway. There is tremendous overlap in ability.

A fondo style does make clear relative ability and does not have the idiotic equipment restrictions on some groups. Then you just give the prize to whatever division you want.

I'd like to see this style replace all the USAC nationals where seems to me nobody has a clue about where the most competitive groups are. This would make that very clear.