Levi’s Gran Fondo

This race is awesome, adding some photos. I would definitely recommend it to all levels of cyclist 🙌🏼

This race isn’t just about the cycling, there was a full on festival afterwards with a main stage and loads of food trucks and shopping stands. You crossed the finish line, racked your bike and then headed for the free food and beer (both delicious). The atmosphere of the whole event was just amazing. The rolling start at the beginning with thousands of riders cruising out of Santa Rosa was really cool. Although, it was a little slow as I don’t think we started far enough in front. The first part of the course is mostly downhill and it was very cold in the morning (was so hot and sunny by midday though) so suggest bringing lots of layers! The marshalls were amazing and very helpful, lots on bikes which was cool. The aid stations were mega! Everything you could have wanted, people were hanging out there for ages it was so good 😂 loads of food and electrolyte water, sun cream stations and friendly people. There were 3 big aid stations along the route and we stopped at all of them! We weren’t racing for a fast time, just out for a fun day. The route itself is great, particularly the coastal stretch and the challenging Coleman Valley climb which is pretty steep. But, coming back to the finish in Santa Rosa you have to go for ages along a bike path by the river which was less good. The organisation was second to none and the festival atmosphere really made it an incredible event. The goody bag wasn’t great, and the T-shirt was a horrible terracotta orange colour but the festival after the race really made up for it. We parked with most people at Stony Point business centre which was free, and cycled a mile or so to the start/finish area. It was really easy. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone, it’s so much fun and great to make a weekend of it.