Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

GranFondo Whistler riders chasing personal goals

Fastest times just over three-and-a-quarter hours
68060_l

There will be 7,000 riders in the second running of the RBC GranFondo Whistler on Sept. 10, all of them with personal goals for the 122-kilometre ride from Vancouver to Whistler. For some it will be to win their category while others will be looking to reach a time goal or beat their time from last year. Some will only be looking to finish.

There are dozens of Whistler locals in the event, including a few disabled riders that will be entering for a second year.

Phil Chew, an amputee who pedals with one leg is looking to better his time from last year.

"I did it in 4:40 last year - I was trying to get under five hours but I had no idea. This year, optimistically I'd like to do 4:20. Realistically, I think I could have done it in 4:30 but I made a few mistakes," he said. "One mistake was stopping in Squamish and trying to get water, and the whole zoo there. I was so wound up and trying to do everything to be fast, and it kind of threw me off a bit. I was there for five, six, seven minutes, and it took awhile to get going again.

"(Another mistake) was after the Lions Gate bridge where about 500 passed me at the Clover leaf. A guy was directing me to come one way, and when I came out that way I realized that I had to go back. About 500 people passed me and I had to work my way through that group to really get going again."

Chew has also been training a lot more this year and will go into the 2011 race about 20 pounds lighter than 2010. He's also entered a race in Langley this year that was 144 km so he's done more than the distance - and was also under five hours in that race.

"Now I have a better bike and few things in my favour," he said.

John Ryan is no stranger to pain after pedalling his hand-cycle across Canada - a distance of almost 9,000 km - in 1999 to raise money for spinal cord research, and he plans to get through the 2011 race even if hurts.

"I had some issues with my elbows and shoulders from Squamish, so I was definitely in a lot of pain by the time I got home," he said of his 2010 GranFondo. "I'm kind of worried about that to be honest, because I haven't done enough miles in training. Fitness-wise I'm okay but I need to get more miles in the saddle."

Last year he came in 8:15 and this year he's hoping to better that and break the eight-hour mark.

"I'm going to take a lot more ibuprofen and will probably ice a bit on the way. I know I'm going to have issues, I'm already have issues on my two-plus hour rides right now, but I'll just work through it."

The worst part in 2010 was immediately after Squamish where there's a long slow climb with no downhill or flats to catch a break.

"You don't realize in a car how much elevation change there is," he said. "The first 12 kilometres out of Squamish was the big grunt for me, it's just all uphill. But I'm looking forward to it. I didn't finish last last year, and I hopefully will not finish last this year."

From start to finish the GranFondo course has over 2,400 metres of vertical climbing and 1,750 metres of descending, starting at sea level and finishing in Whistler Village at 750 metres.

The John Ryan Regeneration Tour raised over $1 million in 1999 to create a chair for spinal cord research at UBC (now under the international ICORD banner and endowed with over $6 million in contributions, much of it raised by Ryan).

Brandi Heisterman of Squamish is once again competing in the Giro race category, and will be coming into this year with a lot more experience. The 2010 GranFondo was her first ever road race, and she only got her nine-year-old road bike back from the shop the day before.

Still she led the women's pack most of the way, led several breaks and generally set the pace until the last 10 km, when the more experienced road riders began to put tactics to work. She ended up in eighth, just six seconds back of the leader.

Now, with a few more road races under her belt she knows better how to conserve her energy and time her attacks.

"Last year I just got my bike on the road the day before the race, but now I'm spending more time on the road bike so I'd like to try to do better. And there's lots of cash prizing in this one, so that's a little extra incentive. But I have to lay my cards out right because I don't have a lot of road experience compared to the other girls, and hope that the strongest person ends up on the podium."

The total prize purse this year is $12,000, which is luring some strong riders to the Giro race event.

Last year the top men came in just under 3:15 while the top women were almost exactly half an hour later. Andrew Pinfold was the top male by a bike length in 2010 in 3:14:29, while Leah Guloier surged to the front of the women's lead pack in the final spring to finish in 3:44:19.

Competitors and teams are registered from Canada, the U.S. and Japan, with local team Trek Red Truck bringing a full compliment of 15 riders - enough to control the pace of the race and get riders into every break. Sabastian Salas' and Whistler's Ben Chaddock of Team Exergy, based in Boise, Idaho, will be in the field as well.

 

GranFondo brings sustainability plan

The organizers of the RBC GranFondo Whistler are going the extra mile this year to make their event environmentally sustainable, hiring the Whistler Centre for Sustainability to develop a sustainability plan to ensure that the event has no net impact on the environment. Some of the initiatives include compost bins for food waste, using materials to reduce waste and replacing toxic materials with alternatives that can be reused or recycled.

 

EcoTrust Canada official charity of RBC GranFondo

EcoTrust Canada, an organization that is actively working on the Cheakamus Community Forest and with local First Nations, has been designated as the main charity of the RBC GranFondo Whistler. Through the RBC Blue Water Project the race is contributing $25,000 to EcoTrust Canada to assist with efforts to protect water and watersheds in the Sea to Sky corridor.

Exactly how the money will be spent is up to the public - you can vote for one of four projects at the RBC GranFondo Whistler page at Facebook:

• Helping to develop an ecosystem-based management plan with the Cheakamus Community Forest (owned and administered by the Resort Municipality of Whistler and local First Nations).

• Developing a cooperative approach to resource management in Sea to Sky while ensuring Forest Stewardship Council certification for timber harvesting in the corridor.

• Building the capacity of the Lil'wat Nation to manage local resources, including support for an ongoing GIS mapping program.

• Public education on local watersheds, involving First Nations.