I have long viewed Gran Fondo rides from afar and thought wouldn’t they be an awesome experience. With racing finishing shortly, no big races for me on the horizon and an expanding waistline, I thought why not do my own Gran Fondo.
On September 29 I will set out from Calliope at 4am (yes that’s early to some of you) to make the most of the cooler part of the day and attempt to make it to Rocky via Biloela (245k's). Now I will not be setting a scorching pace but rather a gentlemen’s pace around 26kph to give myself every chance of making the distance. I plan to ride nonstop to Biloela and have breakfast and a brew before heading off to Dululu which is about 75 k’s for another stop to just stretch the legs and top up water bottles. From there the road heads up ever so slightly to Mt Morgan which is only 20 odd k’s away and where I plan to stop for lunch (I should get there about 1pm). From Mt Morgan there is about 6 k’s of up before the descent to Rocky starts and is pretty much down hill for about 25 k’s with a small bump to go over before some flat to finish off with. We plan to stay overnight in Rocky and hit Sizzler that night before passing out not long after that.
I do of course have a backup vehicle manned by my beautiful other half that will meet me at various stages throughout the day.
So far there are 2 others making the journey with me. Don’t feel like you can’t because you haven’t prepared for it because neither have we. I would like to think this will be a yearly trek and who knows what might happen in time. Like they say, ‘from little things big things grow’.
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