Billed as a ride, rather than a race, Sunday's Gran Fondo Colnago (sponsor Colnago is an Italian bicycle maker) had competition nonetheless. The male and female riders with the best times up a mile stretch of Welsh Valley Road in Valley Forge were crowned King and Queen of the Mountain.
Those winners were Ben Popper, of Chicago, who climbed the hill in 4:13, and Susan Croswell, Of Gananoque, Ontario, who clocked 5:15.
But for most of the cyclists, Sunday's event was simply a chance to ride in the warm summer sun. For many, it turned out to be a tougher, hillier test than they expected.
"This ride hurt me," said Rich Lolli, 49, of Marlton, after finishing at the front of the pack in the shortest course, the 32-mile piccolo fondo to the Main Line and back to Fairmount Park. "Every time you came around a corner, there was another hill."
"It was a little hillier than I expected," said Mike Hartle, 33, of Phoenixville, who got out of the Army two weeks ago. He finished the 32-mile course in two hours and five minutes, passing lots of riders who dismounted to climb the hills off of Conshohocken State Road.
"There were a couple of hills where about 75 percent of the people were walking," Hartle said. "It was like, 'oh, no, there's another hill.'"
"I love exercise. I love biking," said Dave Stedfast, 58, of Langhorne. A retired scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey, Stedfast was riding with about a dozen other members of the Central Bucks Bicycle Club, distinctive near the front of the pack in yellow and red jerseys.
The club was doing the long course, the 103-mile gran fondo to Harmonyville, Chester County, and back.
Barbara Mako, 49, of West Conshohocken, was testing her stamina as a relatively new rider, tackling the 62-mile middle-distance medio fondo to Valley Forge and back.
