by I’ve been wanting to ride one of the Hincapie Fondos. With COVID over the last two years and the distance to the events, the right opportunity hasn’t there. That changed this year with the increase in vaccinations, the reduction in COVID cases, and the inaugural Lehigh Valley edition of the Hincapie Fondo. That was just a five hour drive. Early registrants got a cycling kit included with the registration. I’m a big fan of the Hincapie cycling wear and the retail cost of the kit was about the same as the registration fee. I was in.
A few other riders from Charles River Wheelers were heading down and Martin carpooled with me. We picked up our registration packets on Friday afternoon. As part of the registration we got got admission to the Preferred Valley Cycling Center event that night. It was Friday Night under the Lights. Not sure what that was going to be like. It turned out to be great.
We had a blast watching the cyclists race around the velodrome. Lots of strategy and tons of pure power. Go to a velodrome and see track cycling if you get a chance.
It was an early bedtime to get us ready for what looked to be grueling route: 77 miles with over 5,500 feet of climbing. Only a few big hills. But also not many flat miles. The course looked like it would be going constantly going up and down. (spoiler: It was.) The ride guide also indicated there were several sections of dirt road. The ride guide also pointed out eleven “bergs”, short steep climbs.
First, I managed to grab Big George before getting to the corrals.
After that brush with cycling celebrity, I lined up with Rachelle, Norma, Martin and Tariq. Mark joined us after the picture. All smiles before the ride started. Grimaces would come later. And more smiles.
The big question I had at the start line was how to treat the ride. It was well supported. At 77 miles it was long, but not that long. I’ve already done a few centuries this year. I could ride it socially. Or I could go hard. Maybe some of this crew would go hard with me. Maybe they could go harder than me.
The gun sounded. Confetti flew into the air. We could hear the click, click, click of the riders at the front of the corrals as they locked in their cycling shoes and started pedaling. It took a few minutes for us, located in the middle of corrals, to get across the starting line. Those first few miles were on wide commercial roads. The race organizers did a great job of getting local police to close roads temporarily and cork intersections. There was plenty of safe, wide road for my group to overtake other riders that started in front of us and for faster riders that started behind us to overtake us.
The course map showed the first “berg” at mile 3.5. That would be sure to stretch the riders out. We turned and went up that first berg climb. It was steep. It clearly put a lot of people at their limits very quickly. Me included. I kept my power near my heart rate limit, reached the top and saw that Martin and Tariq were still on my wheel.
Now the task was navigating through groups of riders while keeping the three of us together. As expected that berg had stretched out the line of riders.
The roads were beautiful. Up and down the Lehigh Valley hills. My heart rate had quickly recovered from the first Berg, so I decided to keep riding hard with Martin and Tariq on my wheel.
Then the second berg appeared. It caught many riders off guard. Riders walking up the hill. Riders were caught in the wrong gear, struggling to shift and struggling to keep moving up the climb. Several failed and tipped over onto the pavement. Those obstacles got my adrenaline going and carried me quickly up the hill. My heart rate came back down and I kept powering on.
I thought I saw Martin and Tariq on my wheel. I kept powering up the road and moving from group to group. When the groups of riders thinned out, I finally had a safe opportunity to take a long look behind for Martin and Tariq. They were gone. (oops.) Power on.
Mile 19 was a stretch of uphill dirt road with a timed segment. That was quickly followed by the first rest stop at mile 25. I was feeling good, so it was just a quick banana and a top off of my bottles. Not many calories. (That could have been a mistake.) I saw Tariq as I was getting ready to head out. I was feeling juicy so I plowed on ahead without him.
The next timed segment was just a mile up the road. It was a quick right turn onto gravel, with a steep berg climb. A lot of riders came in too fast and skidded on the gravel. Then accelerated too fast up the gravel and lost grip.
After that climb, the groups of riders thinned out. I was largely on my own with little cooperation among the few riders nearby. That lack of food at the rest stop did indeed catch up with me around mile 40. I was starting to bonk. Fortunately, the rest stop came up at mile 45. I took more time to eat and drink. I felt better. Tariq pulled in. I decided to keep eating and leave with Tariq.
Tariq and I were wheel to wheel through the glorious country roads. Up and down. Up and down. Gravel, dirt, tarmac. My strength came back whether it was the better eating, good company or both.
The miles flew by as we came to mile 56. The shorter Medio route merged back on to the Gran route. We had an extra 20 miles on those riders wearing the pink name tags. I have to admit that the merge and passing these riders that had 20 fewer miles in their legs gave me another burst of energy.
We also picked up Ryan. He had been riding about the same speed as us, but was clearly riding on his own. We would draft off each other. He would climb a bit faster at times and we kept catching him. At one point he went charging up a hill and I called after him “Ryan – where are you going.” We caught him. He shook his head and realized it would be better and faster for us to ride together.
Mile 65 brought us the third and final rest stop. I took a little more time to drink and refuel. We ran back into Norma and Rachelle who had taken the Medio route. I nodded over to Ryan “you still riding with us?” “Why stop now.”
It was just a few pedal strokes before we came to a big, big climb. This was the third timed segment.
Over the top we could see down into a valley and see the commercial buildings down there that nsignaled we were getting closer to the finish line. There were some ups and downs until we got to the “5 Miles to go sign”. Then I picked up the pace. No need to save energy. Just crank to the finish. Everyone else can just hold on to my wheel.
Maybe I was cranking too hard. There was sharp turn into the a trail behind the velodrome. I came in too fast and the surface was loose gravel. My back wheel spun out away from me. A crash was coming. Somehow I managed to get turned and got the wheel back under me and managed to stay up right. That near crash got the adrenalin flowing.
It was a few dirt turns and then a bump up into the velodrome for a lap. Full gas. That adrenalin was still flowing. Of course, I needed to look good for the picture as I came across the finish line. With Ryan and Tariq just behind.
Finishing earned a medal. There is a bottle opener built into it. Handy.
Some quick refreshments were in order. The velodrome infield was set up with beer, water and sodas to rehydrate. The concession stand was handing out food. It was a good day.
While hanging out in the infield, I met Vance Perry who is joining me on the MassBike board. Turns out we had been riding near each other all day long. I had said “HI” to him during the ride, as I did with many riders, because our names were on the rides number tags. I didn’t realize “Vance” on the road was this Vance.
While hanging out with Vance in the velodrome we came across Christian Vande Velde, former pro cyclists turned cycling broadcast commentator. He was nice enough to pose for a picture with me and Vance.
The Hincapie event in Lehigh Valley is already on my calendar for next year. It was a great event and a great route.
