I’ve done both of these: 5x for the ALGF, 2x for Thunder Ridge. They are both great rides: challenging, great climbs, superb support and good after-party. The ALGF is a great day out whether you do the full GF route with gravel, or the all paved mountain route.
GFNY [www.gfny.com] has three events that I think qualify as Mid-Atlantic: New York on 19 May, Pennsylvania York on 16 June, and Maryland Cambridge on 6 October. I’m planning on riding the New York event.
GFNY is expensive ($300-$400), no longer offers a shorter-distance option, and is geared toward faster riders (min average speed ~11mph including any stopped time AND including the hills), but I love the fact that it’s a closed course where you NEVER have to stop… it’s just you, as fast as you can go, for ~85 miles and ~6400 feet of climbing.
Are there any other closed-course events like this, ideally ones that also offer shorter distances as options? I “raced” GFNY NYC last year and got through half of it… I’ll do better this year, I hope to finish it NEXT year (and I’ll keep doing it until I do finish the damn thing ), but I’d also like to seek out other events that are a better fit for my current ability.
@AgingCannonGFNY Maryland Cambridge appears to have a 48-mile option. It’s still pricey but very flat (255 ft total elevation gain). I’ve ridden this area once before and can attest to how flat it is. Beware the wind coming off of the Chesapeake Bay, though, if right up against the water. Most of the route looks to be sheltered, so should be a fast course.
Thanks, @rkoswald! Yes, that one looks like fun and I’ll probably ride it next year. For this year, I signed up for the New York Marathon on November 3rd where again just reaching the finish line (in about 6 hours) will be a major challenge, so driving 8 hours round-trip to do a hard bike ride a few weeks prior to the marathon would not be advisable.
Going forward, I think I’ll focus on a max running distance of half-marathon for a few years (until I lose 75 pounds…) so by October 2025 I might even ride the long course at Cambridge!
For NYC, it’s the hills that kill me: the first 54% of the distance has almost 62% of the climbing, and my 1.75 W/kg is not yet up to handling the 8-10% grade in some parts. This year my goal is 100km+1500m, which is about 73% of the distance and 78% of the climbing. If I can do that, next year I can finish it.
The Seagull Century is also in the same general area of Maryland. It starts out of Salisbury. There are 100 and 60 mile options. This event is very well supported by the local and state police. They hold the traffic for the cyclists at all intersections. I’ve done it the last 2 years and will likely do it again this year. It’s very well run. They don’t have gels at the rest stops though. I just grab bananas and bring my own gels. Home - Sea Gull Century Sea Gull Century 2023 · Ride with GPS
Thanks for the heads up on GFNY. The York, Pennsylvania race would be a good one for me. It almost rides through my home-town. However, it is the weekend before the Garrett County, MD Gran Fondo, which is my “A” event.
@BrianSpang Garrett County GF looks great. It’s on my “short list” but I can’t commit this far out. My schedule is a bit too variable with work and family commitments. If I did it then I’d likely sign up for either the 100 or 125, but both have significantly more climbing than what I have easy access to. They’d be great challenges for sure!
Thinking this will be one of my A races this season. I am also curious to hear about rolling or climbing road races, that aren’t crits, in the mid Atlantic that I could target as a second A event?
There’s not a lot unfortunately. The two that come to mind are Poolesville and Giro Di Coppi.
I did both last year and they were really fun. Poolesville is rolling and has a gravel section halfway through each lap followed by a few rollers up to the finish.
Coppi is hillier in terms of total elevation but still pretty punchy. None of the climbs are longer than ~2 minutes but it’s a constant up and down, hardly any flat stretches at all.
I just signed up for the Tour of Newport News (omnium) in April, and will be doing the Somerville crits weekend over Memorial Day (Easton Twilight Crit, Tour of Plainfield, Tour of Somerville). Did the Somerville weekend last year and it was a blast. Had fields over 80 all weekend and even a field of 120 for the Somerville crit. Amazing race weekend. Tour of Newport News will be new for me but it sounds really fun with a drag strip style sprint race on Friday night.
), but I’d also like to seek out other events that are a better fit for my current ability. 