I did it! My second GranFondo from Vancouver to Whistler is under my belt! Not only that, but I achieved my goal of beating my first Fondo time. With Leah's help, I went from 5:08:43 to 4:49:21, which is almost a 20 minute improvement.
Aside from getting on the bike a bit more than I did the year before I have some other tricks that helped me to improve. Time on the road, combined with indoor spinning classes at Cadence Spin Studio helped to condition me for the ride.
I used a Garmin/GPS this year and could see how far I had gone and my progress in time. I spent a lot of my time calculating how fast I had to knock off 10 km of the 122km and achieve my goal. Having that incentive from last year really helped rangle my focus. I love to chase the clock and it brought me back to my rowing days!
Last year I was also too timid to Brittania/Squamish. In fear that my body would not be able to take the distance and time on the bike I was conservative. This year, I got on wheels of groups holding a fast pace after the big intro climb up Taylor Way. I raced myself to Brittania/coffee shop rest station and then the big climbs to Whistler began. To my delight, I was climbing stronger this year.
Thank you to everyone who cheered me on.
Next year 4:30 or under!
