Granfondos, cycling’s future.

I recently attended a great event that I wanted to share with everyone. It was the launch of Team Revolution, a fundraising effort for the new Humber River Regional Hospital in Toronto.

Team Revolution will be riding the Granfondo Italia in October. What is so amazing is that most of the Team Revolution members are not cyclists, many of them are just buying bikes now to begin their preparation. I think that this is really exciting. Not only are they raising money for a great cause, but at the same time they will be getting into cycling and hopefully changing their lives.

At the launch I gave a brief talk about my experiences as a professional cyclist as they relate to what Team Revolution will be doing. I explained that for me the fondest memories from my career involved the team efforts, where we rode beyond what we thought our capacities were. For instance at the 2008 Tour de Beauce with Symmetrics when we controlled the race and helped Svein to the overall victory.

Everyone at Team Revolution will be supporting one another as they prepare for the Granfondo, both in their fundraising attempts and on the bike. Best of all, getting on a bike to suddenly start preparing for a 160 km ride will be a transformative experience for some of these guys, and they will need their teammates to support them.

This summer I will be at the GranFondo Ottawa, July 21st. Before the ride I will be helping with a clinic and guided ride to the Gatineaus getting some of the folks prepared for the ride the following day. The GranFondo Ottawa has a great course running up the Lower Ottawa Valley.

The Granfondo phenomenon that is starting now in North America will be a boon to the sport of cycling. I see it as a powerful means of getting people participating and riding their bikes. Not everyone wants to race. The fondos offer a good mix of challenging riding and a team experience. They are events that people can set goals and train for. The future for cycling is looking bright.

To register for the GranFondo Ottawa: http://www.granfondoottawa.org/

To donate to the Team Revolution fundraising go to: http://hrrhf.akaraisin.com/Common/Event/Home.aspx?seid=4701&mid=8

Recently retired from professional cycling, Andrew Randell has taken up a management/rider development role with the Jet Fuel/La Bicicletta team for 2012 and opened up his coaching services to the public. Reach him at arcoaching@gmail.com.