Ahead of all the amazing results from this weekend, I thought I’d give
a little update on the TCC sportive overseas event of the year, the
Gran Fondo Pinarello held on 19th July 2009.
We had 13 TCC’ers in Casule sur Sile, a little hamlet, near Treviso a
very beautiful town just North of Venice, which is home to Mr and Mrs
Beneton and also Mr Pinarello.
We lucked out totally with the weather. Yes, it was hot - 25 degrees C,
at 6.30am and in the 30’s for most of the day. However, there were no
clouds to be seen, so the mountain tops were in full view from the
low lying areas and once we were at the top of them there distant
mountains, the views were spectacular - for those of us who had enough
time to take them in ;-)!
We had 10 TCC punters signed up for the 120 mile long course which
included 3km of altitude gain; a category 1 climb - Nevagal (10k ascent
with 12% average gradients) and the San Boldo pass – at 800
metres, a really phenomenal climb with 18 hairpins. The last 4/5
hairpins at the top of pass have been blasted out of the rockface. It
was built in 100 days, by Russian Prisoners of War, to escape the
advancing Italians in 1918. Take a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJkBd16F9D8
for some drama.
We had 3 TCC’ers for the Medio route – 77 miles with 1.2950 km of
altitude gain.
Lisa – who has dedicated some time out to some serious pre-Pinarello
training - Tina and myself were honoured and in good company in the
elite starting grid for the long course, along with Mr Eddy Merckx and
the professionals which made for a very exciting start!
The first 25k on the flat was at TT 30 mph plus speeds and a phenomenal
experience as the body of the biggest peleton possible, was advancing
with great exhilaration towards the mountains.
Out of the vast numbers of people starting there were 1233 finishers on
the long course and 1781 on the Medium course.
As you can see from the results, there were some fantastic times from
the TCC’ers with Ray first in and twelfth in his category (if I
understand the system correctly), and Stewart in a very credible
second, closely followed by our international jet set travelling
chairman, Dave.
Jason, who’s also been putting in some serious local training, employed
a no-stopping strategy and made sure he was over the line before his
friend and rival, Johnnie B. Warren was 34th in his category while Mac,
determined to get the long route under his belt this year was 43rd in
his cat.
Lisa put in a stunning PB performance on the long course, coming a
fabulous 23rd in her category and the 45th woman across the line.
Zoe put in a very strong time on the ‘medio’ course. Gail was very
pleased, returning from serious injury, to finish in a good time too.
Now, last, but by no means least, were myself and Tina, who succesfully
completed the long route. After the San Boldo climb, we decided that
we’d make it more challenging for ourselves by making sure there were
no official signs to follow. We, of course, also wanted to fully
appreciate the stunning views, and the odd charming lakeside café. So
with the glorious smooth-surfaced roads to ourselves, after 9 hours 47’
50 seconds of riding time, we were greeted with the biggest warm
welcome party possible.
Seriously, most of our stopping time was spent convincing very friendly
local Italian organisers that we really were OK and didn’t need a lift!
Well done to Tina, who completed her first ever century ride, in great
style. Probably one of the toughest 100 miler + rides, you
could have chosen!
Well done to everyone - a great ride, a fantastic long weekend. And
importantly, no injuries, not even a puncture :-)!
I’ve loaded some pics onto the folders section of Team TCC. (Sadly, a
camera is too heavy to carry on the ride.)
Long course 120 miles
Pos
Pettorale
Cognome
Nome
Categoria Tempo
192 669
ROBINSONRAY
VE2 06:29:46.86
329 1371
WARD
STEWART SEN
06:45:22.86
486 1506
PECK DAVID
VE2 06:54:02.34
716 647
HARRIS
JASON VE1
07:28:06.40
945 687
BRENT
JOHNATHON
M1 07:54:14.40
1145 1342
WATSON
WARREN SG
08:41:32.59
1213 76
WEST LISA
D2 09:23:59.54
1223 696
MACNAMEEGRAHAMSG 09:31:10.90
Medium course 77 miles
625 2850
BIDINOST
DENIS VE1
04:23:04.53
886 4171
YENDELL ZOE
D1 04:39:57.52
1458 4172
BIRKETT
GAIL D2
05:27:37.03
Results File added to folder section, in case the formatting doesn't
work. www.granfondopinarello.com