No one on this side of the Atlantic seems to know exactly when and where the GranFondo concept originated.
Even Neil McKinnon, founder of the 4,000-rider event that will mark the event genre's first Canadian appearance on the Sea to Sky Highway Saturday (Sept. 11), admitted he only knows that mass-rider road cycling races have been taking place in Europe for decades.
And they're not all called "Gran Fondo" (big ride), though the concept is the same across Europe. It's "Cyclosportive" (or "Cyclo Sportif") in France, "Cicloturismo" in Spain and "Radmarathon" in the German-speaking countries.
Whatever they're called, though, Gran Fondos all operate on essentially the same principle as the marathon in running, with one notable exception: the distance of the full Gran Fondo can vary from around 160 to 225 kilometres, according to one website dedicated to the topic.
Even though the RBC GranFondo 2010 is only 122 kilometres, McKinnon said that because of the 2,000-foot net elevation gain from the Vancouver starting line to Whistler, riders' times will be similar to what they would be if they rode 160 kilometres on a rolling course with a net elevation gain of zero.
"You've added elevation gain, so you can subtract distance," he said.
As with a marathon, everyone including both elite athletes and weekend warriors are invited to participate; everyone gets a race number and a finishing time; and the ride is supported, with both refreshments and in some cases entertainment along the route.
Another key factor is that unlike less-formal, unsupported randonnées and other sorts of rides, Gran Fondo courses are traffic controlled, so no rider should be required to stop - though most probably will at one or more of the six organized rest stops along the route.
Because Saturday's event is the first of its kind in Canada - others are planned for launch in the Okanagan in 2011 and in both Ontario and Alberta in 2012 - "We're really interested in defining the Gran Fondo experience here," McKinnon said.
McKinnon, who runs a Vancouver-based event management company, had his Gran Fondo epiphany in 2007 when he and a group of friends went on a European cycling holiday and, "almost by accident," stumbled their way into a race called the Gran Fondo Nove Colli.
"It was a big event - 13,000 cyclists," McKinnon said. "I'd never been in an event of that scale on a bike and I was just inspired - not necessarily by the organization or the route, but just by being involved in an event with this mass of people and sharing this commonality, this common experience, with them."
He and his colleagues began working to organize Saturday's event in May 2007 on the same principles. They settled on the route and the date from the outset, and neither of those has changed.
"We knew the highway [Highway 99 upgrade] would be finished by then and we thought, 'What an amazing opportunity to stage a world-class event from a world-class city like Vancouver to a world-class playground destination like Whistler,'" he said.
"We did a test ride on the exact same date with 30 people last year, and all of them, without exception, said they didn't realize beforehand how different it would be from the seat of a bike - how beautiful it was," McKinnon said.
"When you drive it you see the scenery, but you're getting from one place to another and you almost take it for granted."
In this and all subsequent events, the breathtaking scenery will be among the star attractions, he said.
"What we're always looking for is THE majestic ride," McKinnon said. "Obviously, Vancouver to Whistler is a majestic ride. In Ontario, we're looking to start and/or finish at Niagara Falls. In Alberta it would be in Banff National Park."
That "grand" sort of experience is one reason organizers chose to call the event a Gran Fondo and not Cicloturismo, a Cyclosportive or a Radmarathon, he said - that, and the fact that the concept seems to be most popular in Italy, with a schedule of some 90 Gran Fondos every year.
"Part of it is about the initial experience that I had in Italy," McKinnon said.
"'Gran Fondo' also better depicted what we thought we wanted this to be about. The definition of the event that I was dreaming of was always designed to be grand, and 'Gran' certainly brings that to the fore."
