Updates

#NeverGiveUp
An Update on the 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo

We’ve been quiet on the event social channels over the past couple of weeks as we’ve navigated the challenges of ongoing circumstances impacting events. During this time, our event director has been communicating with local permit holders and other leaders; event partners and volunteer representatives; and learning about national, state, and local-level guidance and regulations. Our insurance provider and permit holders’ risk-assessment tools make it very clear that the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo, in its traditional sense, is a high-risk situation given the ongoing pandemic.

The event currently represents registrants from 18 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Canada, about half of whom are athletes over the age of 51, and including an inspiring cancer-battling and survivors community. While we want nothing more than to be together, we cannot risk the health of participants, volunteers, and the communities who host us.

Despite so much uncertainty in the world, some things are clear.

We are committed to the event and inspired to bring this great community together. Now, more than ever, we want to provide goals and challenges that will connect you, motivate, and inspire. We crave shared experiences and the camaraderie of big adventure. We want to support you and celebrate your victories. We want to reignite our conversations and engagement, to offer encouragement and share in your success. We have an outstanding group of partners committed to the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo. We want to use our actions to support causes that offer meaningful benefits to those they serve.

With this clarity and renewed purpose, and inspired by the Cancer Journeys Foundation motto #NeverGiveUp, the 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo is being transformed into a combination of decentralized real-world challenges and virtual competitions under the banner of the 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Challenge. This “my” is all about you.

Together the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo community can remain committed to our late-season cycling goals. We can stay motivated and inspired while remaining connected and enjoying the camaraderie of shared adventure in support of meaningful causes.

The 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Challenge encourages you to share your inspiration, stay committed to your goal, and make the challenge your very own.

Through this challenge, there will be four areas of focus:

• September 27^th single-day #MyGranFondo cycling adventure
• Collaborative month-long goal to ride 33,000 miles in September
• The Prostate Cancer Awareness Project KOM/QOM & Sprint Contests
• Support of the charitable mission

On September 27, we will share in the adventure of decentralized real world rides. In advance, we will offer several suggested routes easily and safely accessible from areas where Alpine Loop Gran Fondo participants reside, as well as offering guidance from Jeremiah about how to create your own incredible routes.

Throughout the month of September we will aim to collectively ride 33,000 miles in honor of the 33,000 lives annually claimed by prostate cancer in the U.S.

The Cancer Journeys Foundation will award jerseys to King and Queen of the Mountains Contest age group winners and Sprint Leaders based on virtual challenges that will be ongoing throughout September.

The option to fundraise in support of the Cancer Journeys Foundation – The Prostate Cancer Awareness Project will continue with new incentives recently added and inspired by the #MyGranFondo Challenge adaptation.

To support our athletes, the 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Challenge will provide training plans and coaching advice, new ways to engages as a community with shared goals, engaging collaborative story-telling projects, and an event-week box filled with items to help support, fuel, and celebrate your adventure, including:

• 10-Week Gran Fondo TrainingPeaks Training Plan by Jeremiah Bishop
• Access to Strava Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Club
• 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Event T-Shirt
• Cutaway USA Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Edition Neck Gaiter
• Ridge Supply 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Edition Socks
• Cancer Journeys Foundation Cooling Neck Band
• Partnered Sports Nutrition and Hydration Products
• Personalized Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Commemorative Bib
• Participant Medal on 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Ribbon
• Fun Surprises and Other Special Incentives

Currently registered athletes have received communications to let them know what to expect. Event registration has temporarily been paused while the registration site is updated to reflected the necessary changes in store for the 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo.

In coming days the registration site will reopen to invite a limited number of new participants to join in. If you are interested in joining and would like to be contacted directly in advance, please e-mail Erin.

As all editions of the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo, the 2020 #MyGranFondo Challenge supports meaningful beneficiaries.

The Cancer Journeys Foundation – Prostate Cancer Awareness Project inspires with the #NeverGiveUp motivation to propel us through 2020. Participants are invited to join in the optional opportunity to fundraise in support of the Prostate Cancer Awareness Project and spread the message of the significance of screening and early detection. Personalized fundraising portals are created for all registrants upon entry.

Contributions to the Gran Fondo Scholarship fund to increase participation among youth athletes will be redirected to the Richmond Cycling Corps to support their ongoing purpose. VIP Start Line and Additional Contributions will continue to support the charitable mission of the event, as designated. Start Line contributions will be recognized in new ways this year, and again at the start line of a future event. All contributions will be recognized in the 2020 Supporters List, and we will include these participants in special #MyGranFondo Challenge features.

Cutaway USA event jerseys are in production, with the option to purchase remaining open through July 22. These jerseys will be mailed with event-week boxes.

We hope the 2020 Alpine Loop Gran Fondo #MyGranFondo Challenge gives you renewed inspiration and motivates you through these unusual circumstances we are faced with.

We are excited to rise to this new challenge together.

The Alpine Loop – Going Back to its Roots

In 2018 and beyond, the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo will see its namesake route, the Alpine Loop, return to it’s original path up and over Shenandoah Mountain on Reddish Knob Road from Sugar Grove, West Virginia. The course adjustment will remove Forest Road 85, otherwise known as the Dark Side Climb, from the route after five years of use. Organizers cite degrading conditions on the Forest Road and a desire to respond to participant feedback as the primary motivator for the change. Anticipating higher interest in the changed route, the field limit of the event has been increased.

“When we first started the Gran Fondo in 2011, the Alpine Loop climbed back into Virginia on Reddish Knob Road – which at the time was an unpaved state-maintained road,” explains event director Erin Bishop. “Eventually that road was paved; and with the intention of preserving the allure of the experience of riding an unpaved mountain climb, we looked at the map and chose to reroute the Alpine Loop route to include Forest Road 85.”

Five years later, the forest road has experienced significant weathering and degradation. “It’s arrived at the point where the road’s condition is no longer a reasonable challenge to present to road cyclists while expecting them to have an outstandingly positive experience,” says Bishop.

For those cyclists who come for the challenge of steep unpaved mountain climbs, Bishop says not to worry. “We’ve always intended the event to be a challenging one, and that isn’t going to change with this revision. The climb up Fultz Gap is just as mean as ever.” There, cyclists will encounter 14-percent grades on a gritty dirt road, leading to the Alpine Loop’s iconic mountain top meadow.

Jeremiah Bishop says, “I personally am excited to get back to the classic route! It will mean less flats, and just as much dirt, with the same amount of climbing.”

The adjustment will see the introduction of a new timing segment added to all three of the event’s mountain routes.

Returning the Alpine Loop to its original route will bring the Gran Fondo back to its roots, says Bishop. “I really look forward to sharing this route, focusing on the camaraderie of the event, and seeing the excitement of a new challenge inspire our riders.” Based on her conversations with participants, Bishop says, “I’m confident that the time is right and that we’re going to have an amazing adventure.”