All Out Partners with SLO ALPHA to Bring You the Gran Fondo!

After a successful first year, the ladies at SLO Alpha decided to look elsewhere for their event production needs and we have officially partnered to put on the event on October 15, 2011.

What’s a Gran Fondo?

In Italian, it means “Big Ride.” It’s a great community event the brings road cyclists of all types together for rides en masse. Many Gran Fondo events feature big-name cyclists, and we hope this year will not be an exception to this.

But, in the meantime, no matter what shape or what kind of bike, think of this as a a huge, SLO “Bike Happening,” in which you and hundreds of other people who like bikes and maybe spandex ride the central coast’s most beautiful loop rides.

Starting in San Luis Obispo’s Mission Plaza, three different rides will take place in the fall:

• GranFondo – Over 100 miles on a challenging ride from San Luis Obispo up the beautiful northern coast to Piedras Blancas and back. If you are planning on doing this ride, you need to be fit. You will be accompanied by top riders from the pro circuit who will lead the way on a beautiful and equally challenging course.
• MedioFondo – This approximately 50 mile course shares the same routes as the Gran Fondo but returns after reaching the beautiful coastal town of Cayucos. This is a good ride for enthusiasts who want the chance to ride with the pros, improve upon times, and challenge themselves, their friends and teammates.
• PiccoloFondo – Just over a 25 mile loop through rolling countryside which unfolds onto the picturesque Morro Bay estuary. This is perfect for riders wanting to experience the beauty of the Central Coast but prefer to avoid the climbs and leave the challenging distance treks for the pros. Bring a friend, or maybe a bicycle built for two!

We’re also planning to have a major festival and a running event coincide with the ride, so all of you who might not be into road biking, we probably still have an awesome experience for you. More on that to come.

All of this will be directly benefiting SLO Alpha, a wonderful nonprofit that we’ll be telling you about more in the future on this blog.

www.SLOGranFondo.com

Ancient Peaks Mountain Bike Classic July 23-24

Fat tire lovers, mark your calendars now!

Santa Margarita Ranch and Ancient Peaks winery has officially approved the use of their 14,000 acres for our adventure race, but, more importantly, they’ve approved the development of some world class terrain for exclusive, event-only riding on the terrain pictured above.

Over the next few months, in between rain and mud, we’ll be developing cross country, slalom, and cross country courses worthy of drooling over. Why should you believe us? Have we ever steered you wrong?

This is a photo of the venue: beautiful trees, flat ground, and great retaining wall. Parking aplenty, and the trail system will start right from the site!

All Out is excited to bring the mountain biking community something new, exciting, and fun as hell. Stay tuned for more info. Our website is in development. You can find it at www.ancientpeaksclassic.com.

AR Camp and the Ancient Peaks Classic

It may be the off season for racing, but that’s not stopping us . . .

Stay tuned for an awesome post about our upcoming Ancient Peaks Classic mountain bike race coming this July to the Central Coast. We’ve got exclusive permission to build world-class trails on a previously untouched piece of private property!

And the big announcement, though we’re not fully ready yet:

Get ready for the Central Coast Adventure Camp (hey, it’s still CCAC!) coming to you on April 9-10! [Please note, the date has changed from initial release!]

Here’s what we have cooking:

So far we have the following instructors on board including:
Cyril from Dart Nuun
Christian Burke from Feed the Machine
Mark Manning from AR Nav
Hani Juha from Racing with Giants
More instructors coming soon!

The camp's format is still in the works, but it will most likely start with a big welcome party Friday night where we outline what's going to happen, then be broken up into two groups: a novice and more advanced group. The novice would rotate through workshops, blending classroom and practical applications. At the end of all the classes the groups would be split into race teams and participate in a mock race. If there is enough interest in doing a Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren E-Camp style thing (sadly, they’re not available), where the participants do a 24 hour race simulation with an instructor, we are down and we have a sweet course, but it really depends on people's interest. These are the topics we’re looking at offering.

• · Navigation
• Mountain bike clinics
• Transition skills
• Paddling skills (flat water, Ocean – could do rolling)
• Women’s Clinic
• Nutrition/hydration/supplementation
• First Aid and staying safe
• o Foot/body care in normal course of event

• Outfitting (what to carry, what to wear)

o Advanced gear selection (ie, building a bike, running shoes, kayaks, etc)

o Packing and carrying gear

• · Night course

o Mountain biking

o Navigation

• · Rope elements

o Ascending

o Descending

o Basic knots

o Equipment

• · Psych techniques (what to expect, how to stay positive and work as a team)

• · Solo clinic

• · Training

• · Bike mechanics

• · Team building (literally, like, forming a team, either permanently or just for the race)

• · Intro to adventure racing (history, theories, the sport)

What do you think? Feedback most welcome!

Why you should try adventure racing . . .

I happen to be one of those all-rounder athletes. Maybe not elite, but I get by and can usually make it through whatever anyone throws at me.

But I hate competitions.

Maybe you’re like me.

Or, maybe you’re not really an all-rounder athlete, but you’d like to be.

Or, maybe you’re a damn good runner or biker or something, but the heart’s going out of those races . . .

That’s at the heart of why All Out does what it does: we want you to love the outdoors, your sports, and the places we’ve been gifted with the ability to play in.

First off: you can do it. You can. If you can ride a bike, you can do it. If you can’t, well, learn! Don’t let that “can’t” get in the way of whatever it is you want to do in life.

Maybe you’ve never done a multi-sport, or maybe you’ve never done a real race. Certainly these things can be incredibly intimidating if you let them, but the fact is, it doesn’t have to be.

I did my first race/adventure race at the Adventure Sprint in May. I could mountain bike decently, I was suffering from plantar fasciitis and was worried about it being aggravating, and I am no stranger to a paddle . .  . so I decided to give it a try, asking a friend of mine who was in great shape and would be a great teammate to go along with me.

That day shall live in infamy. We took our time because it was a record-hot day and still came in respectably enough that it touched off my competitive edge (I haven’t repeated it only because my role in the race has gotten more integral) and it did something else: gave me a whole new perspective on myself.

People do sports generally for two reasons: because it just FEELS good and because it shows them that they can smash barriers. Whichever one is your drive, adventure racing does it nicely. As I finished the race, having done a course I’d never pre-run (despite my usually doing so), I had faith in the director’s ability to take care of me if something went wrong (he was, after all, my best friend), I had a partner who I knew could tolerate anything, and in the end, I did it all on my own, no complaints, and found out what I really had in me.

Not only could I do it, I could do it reasonably fast. After being off from surgeries, hanging around world class athletes, and being heavier than I’d like, it showed me something important: that my  body was worthy. That I was an adventure athlete. That I shouldn’t define myself into a box by things I haven’t done or didn’t think I could do.

And I’d say that’s a damn good reason to race.