GFNY - An accidental favorite

DagulRyder
Sep 23, 2019
4 min read

What is GFNY? It spells Grand Fondo New York, is also the world's largest Cycling Marathon brand... meaning GFNY is a personal cycling endurance challenge where you compete against others, the clock and yourself. It includes the Campagnolo GFNY World Championship in NYC and regional championships in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Middle East – Africa

Now the organizers brought the race to the Philippines from BOHOL last 2018 to Iloilo City this year! Sounds exciting right?

Well I haven't heard about this ever until a friend of mine suggested that I try this event to test my endurance in distance cycling AND since I have previously joined Audax events AND riding distance was a favorite of mine (well we all heard of that great sales pitch over & over again) * Raising eyebrows

I was hesitant to even look at the registration cost summary, you see the race offers 2 categories - 133 & 64 kms and both categories cost the same -$115.00! I shun the idea, thinking I can ride these distances here in Nuvali or Clark ... why spend this money when I can go to the buffet and treat everyone else... but the next thing you know I have already completed booking my flight and fixed all logistics heading into this event -- in short, na budol ako & ginusto ko naman din :p

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Step 1: Register first for the race and double check the race event day. Done!

Step 2: Book Flight Tickets - Done! To get the cheapest rate, find the flight with the un-earthly hour time.

Step 3: Reserve a room - Done! Open google maps, check where the starting line will be held and find an AIRBNB near the event. It will be a challenge but there will be some. Unless you have the budget, go for the nearest hotel so you will be comfy all throughout your stay.

Step 4: Bike Packing - Done! Shout out to my man Archie Majam aka Bisdak for blessing me with his old bike box. Honestly I was excited to learn how to pack the bikes and even eager on how to manually set it up w/o the help of a bike mech.

Hack: During your online flight booking, pls check the add ins and you will see "Bike Equipment". Cebupac offers Php1,000 for standard 15kg one way. If you feel that 15kg is not enough, call the hotline and over the phone they will upgrade it to 20kg with a much cheaper price of Php672.00 round trip.

Do the math, Cebupac charges P250 per 1kg excess.

Step 5: Strategize & train.

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Now with those out of the way, fast forward ilan tulog na lang & here comes the GFNY Event weekend... I arrived at Iloilo around 5am and was warmly greeted by a good buddy of mine... Señor Pyt Trimanez! Shout out to you bro for providing the utmost hospitality even on my first ever trip 8 years ago. We had breakfast, reminisce the good old days of ultra running and went back to my airbnb to get some z's and unpack the bike.

The place I was staying was Private Gil's Room in Villa Perla Subd, 1.5kms away from the business park. Room was almost 900 per day and at this point I was not anymore spending too much since this was not planned. The place was cool and quiet, owner was very entertaining taking care of whatever you requested.

In no time, my steed was already up and running & ready for battle. Shout out to Pao Bicycle Shop for helping me pack this one.

Race kit packets and claiming was held at the Festive Walk mall.

Merch for sale:

The only bad comment I have was the race briefing. It seems the organizers didn't prepare well for it. Like reading an office report in excel file. Sana nagawa nyo ng music video man lang to entertain the eager participants. Honestly, I slept thru the 30min briefing. As in.

The official jersey which you have to wear during the entire race. As a big dude, this is what we fear, hope it fits well.

Race day! Woke up at 4:30am got dressed and rode to the race venue. Since my place was so near, it wasn't even a warm up ride :) lol.

Well, at least it fits. Probably the only decent pic I got before the race.

The route.

And after 3 hours, I finished my first international cycling event! Honestly I was already huffing and puffing at the start since everybody was slamming the pedal at this early on... "parang nauubusan ng kalsada" as quoted by the local cyclists! "Siguro ganito nga ang karera" I told myself... well fuck it lets race!

The herd slowed down when it reached the climbing part... I enjoyed every moment and even the rolling hills. Everyone was cheering each participant, every the barangays ... which made me even appreciate the hospitality and preparedness by the locals.

Though I could shorten the time (if not for this cramping) on the last 10kms... again to remind you, I am a plus sized athlete and not a perfect one. Hope people would stop judging me coz I'm fluffy but it is what it is. I may not be fast but I'm dead sure I can finish what I have started. To the local cyclist who told me upfront "buti kinaya ka ng gulong mo"... smile lang ako, buti hindi kita binigyan ng isang malupit na body slam (which I can easily do) ....lolz :) *peace

I am 200lbs and finished my race in 3hours time. Now if that is not impressive enough for you I am sorry but it was the best PR that I ever did. All my training in Nuvali/Clark paid off and now time for some RnR. This event even supersedes my shittiest dnf at the Alviera Duathlon 2 weeks ago. I'm happy!

Overall, I was satisfied and happy to pull off a "W" for myself here in Iloilo. Thanks to everyone who wished me luck and provided support & to those who continue to hate & body shame..Fuck u & grow up!

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Whenever you are in Iloilo, please make sure to visit Pyt's Grill & Seafood Resto located at Burgos Street, La Paz. They serve the meanest seafood boodle fights, breakfast meals, Native coffee & hot Tsokolate!