2017 Goldendale Gran Fondo

On April 9, 1017 Jerry & Odette rode the Goldendale Gran Fondo on their Ibis Forte.  They were the last team in the standings, but they finished the course.

Here’s the course – 90 miles with about 25 on gravel.  6,000 ft. of climbing.

here’s a link to the map in (ridewithgps)

here’s the map (in cyclometer)

One guy’s narrative is here.  The event website is here.  No photos, but beautiful country:

Here’s the queue sheet

Here’s the certificate saying I finished – and here’s Odette’s.

The hardest climb of the ride was after leaving the Klickitat river and turning off onto Horseshoe Bend – a dirt road just before mile 75.  We stopped at the rest stop before the climb and put on the parking brake.  We didn’t take the brake off and couldn’t figure out why we were having such trouble getting the hill.  I finally couldn’t do any more and got off the bike to lie down.  I went to walk the bike a little after that and realized that it didn’t want to move.  The rest of the climb went much more easily.

A couple more images:

And another version of that map: