\u201cIt\u2019s a damn good ride.\u201d That\u2019s the vibe you get at any of the six annual Gran Fondo National Series events around the country. Coming from a pure grassroots background with no start-up capital for advertising and promotional hype, Gran Fondo National Series has always focused on the qualities cyclists value most: fun, safety, camaraderie, challenging courses on quiet roads, along with fair competition. And because of that, Series events continue to grow in popularity as many other road cycling events stagnate or decline.<\/p>\n
Gran Fondo: An Inclusive Competition<\/b><\/h2>\n
When he founded the Series in 2012, Gran Fondo National Series Founder & Director, Reuben Kline pioneered the timed-segment competition format to develop a fun and inclusive approach to road cycling in the United States. \u201cIn traditional road racing, riders are segregated into categories by age, sex, and past results. When I introduced the Series the options to engage in competitive road racing were not user friendly for entry level riders. Similarly, office park racecourses were unfulfilling for serious competitors who wanted to rip around on great back roads,\u201d said Kline. \u201cI wanted to create opportunities to race road bikes on fun roads and share the sport I love in an inclusive, enjoyable, safe, and fulfilling capacity. To accomplish that, I combined the camaraderie of group rides with opportunities to compete in segment races with professional timing, which also give more riders a real chance at winning.\u201d<\/p>\n All riders start Gran Fondo National Series events together and can choose from three distances. Gran routes range from 80-100 miles, Medio routes range from 50-70 miles, and Piccolo routes range from 25-35 miles. Rather than record athletes\u2019 elapsed start-to-finish time, Gran Fondo National Series only times distinct segments of the course. Each rider\u2019s individual segment times are added together and the lowest cumulative time wins. Awards are presented for male and female age group categories, as well as the overall fastest males and females in the Gran Route. There\u2019s even a team competition, which combines the times for a team\u2019s fastest three riders and deducts bonus seconds based on the total number of team members.<\/p>\n \u201cOur events are safe, social, and challenging,\u201d stated Kline. Timed-segment gran fondos encourage safe cycling by eliminating incentives to take risks or break traffic laws. Events are \u201crules of the road\u201d at all times, meaning riders are expected to stop at stop signs and traffic lights, stay on the right side of the road, etc. Timed segments are designated on stretches of road that are safe, challenging, and where cyclists have the right of way. There\u2019s also no time penalty for stopping at aid stations, which encourages riders to stay fueled and hydrated. And despite courses featuring significant elevation changes, Gran Fondo National Series avoids creating timed segments that are only KOMs. While segments avoid high speed, steep twisting downhills, they cover a variety of terrain. \u201cI want riders to compete based on their fitness and ability to ride, not their willingness to take big risks,\u201d Kline commented.<\/p>\n On the social side, timed-segment competitions encourage riders to regroup and ride together to the next segment, rather than press on to keep dropped riders from returning to the group. \u201cI love to see cyclists regroup after a hard timed segment to share stories and high fives before riding on together,\u201d said Kline. \u201cSharing miles with new friends and best friends is what cycling is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n A competitive cyclist himself, Kline isn\u2019t shy about designing hard courses. The Tour of Georgia Gran Fondo in Helen, Georgia, features more than 8900 feet of climbing in 90 miles. Gran Fondo Maryland in Frederick, Maryland, features 8400 feet of climbing in 87 miles. \u201cPart of that \u2018damn good ride\u2019 sentiment comes from the sense of accomplishment riders feel when they cross the finish line of a Gran Fondo National Series event,\u201d said Kline. \u201cWe don\u2019t rely on gimmicks or the mysterious appeal of riding with celebrities and retired pros. We give you the opportunity to ride a damn good course with damn good support and a damn good party and prize raffle when you get back.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2012, Gran Fondo National Series has presented the Gran Fondo National Championships, and starting in 2020 the event became the official USA Cycling Gran Fondo National Championships. The 2026 #GFNats will be contested in Frederick, Maryland in conjunction with Gran Fondo Maryland on September 20, 2026. In 2027, #GFNats will move to Gran Fondo Asheville on July 18, 2027, in Asheville, North Carolina. Cyclists don\u2019t need a USA Cycling membership or racing license to participate in Series events. They do, however, need a USA Cycling racing license to compete in USA Cycling National Championships. Cyclists must also qualify to race national championships, which they can do through competition results or participation in Series-owned events, partner events, USA Cycling State and Regional Championship results, and an annual E-Fondo Series on the ROUVY indoor cycling platform.<\/p>\n Gran Fondo National Series also rewards consistency and dedication with a season-long Points Series Competition. Riders are awarded points equal to their age group standings in each Series-owned and partner event they finish (i.e., 1 point for finishing first, 2 points for finishing second, etc.). Their best three results are tallied at the end of the season and riders with the lowest point totals are named Points Series Champions.<\/p>\n As traditional road racing opportunities for Junior and U23 cyclists dwindle, Gran Fondo National Series and Shimano have partnered to encourage youth participation in gran fondos. All Junior and U23 riders can register for Series-owned events at 50% off regular entry fees. And Shimano has committed to awarding complete Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupsets to the male and female U23 Gran Route winners at each Series-owned event. \u201cShimano has believed in and supported the Series for a long time. A $2500 groupset is a huge prize and potentially a massive component upgrade for a young rider,\u201d said Kline. \u201cAs far as I know, it\u2019s one of the most valuable prizes available to Junior and U23 riders anywhere in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/how-gran-fondo-national-series-quietly-built-the-countrys-top-road-cycling-events\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GFGeorgia-startline-GranFondoNationalSeries-scaled-e1786369624296.jpg”] Gran Fondo National Series Published August 18, 2026 10:01AM \u201cIt\u2019s a damn good ride.\u201d That\u2019s the vibe you get at any of the six annual Gran Fondo National Series events around the country. Coming from a pure grassroots background with no start-up capital for advertising and promotional hype, Gran Fondo National Series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2100275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2100275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2100275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2100275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2100275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gran](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GFAsheville-finishline-SteveBarker-IconMedia-scaled.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
How Timed-Segment Racing Works<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"Finishers](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GFFlorida-finishers-SteveBarker-IconMedia-scaled.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Why Cyclists Love Timed-Segment Gran Fondos<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"Gran](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GA.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Even More to Win: National Championships and Series Points Competition\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"USA](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GFNats-AllChampions-SteveBarker-IconMedia-scaled.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Opportunities for Junior and U23 Road Cyclists<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GFMaryland-JuniorFinisher-SteveBarker-IconMedia-scaled.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
2026\/2027 Gran Fondo National Series Event Calendar<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Partner Events:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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