Giro d' Gilbert

The first annual Giro d' Gilbert was run yesterday and will be an annual occurance going forward during the Giro d' Italia. It is a 50+ mile road ride from Chambersburg, PA that features an extremely steep climb up on Gilbert Road into the Buchanan State Forest which borders the Cumberland Valley to the West. The Giro d' Italia is famous for steep climbs that finish on heinous wicked grades up dirt roads - Gilbert is no different. The main climb is 2.6 miles that averages over 11% has sustained sections of 20% and peaks out at 25%. Noticeably, the top half is on hard-packed dirt. For the inagural run we had an all MBM turnout including: Joel Moats, Cathy Large, Chuck Buczeskie, and Darius Mark. Joel had the wisdom to bring a bike with cyclo-cross gearing.

The ride lasted 3 1/2 hours, 51 miles, and featured over 4,100 feet of climbing. Thanks to the long days we finished just after dark. Kudos to Cathy for bringing flashing bar lights. The ride profile looks like this:
Plan for this one next year during the Giro, as you can imagine we all had a great time.