It’s been too long, pals. They get this whole pandemic on, and we’ve all been lone wolves for weeks. And that’s a good thing. By not getting together, we might be protecting ourselves and the elderly cycling community…especially Don Marsh. 

Isolation has been a challenge. Not for me, obviously. Aside from group rides, my day has barely changed, and that’s more depressing than the lack of social interaction. But it has been a bummer to see so many of our favorite spring races, events, and group rides kicked to the curb, or at least to August. Since we all want to get outside and see where our fitness is, we’re kicking off SOLo Kolo on March 30. 

For four straight weeks, we’ll offer one competitive Strava segment. At the end of the week, we’ll take the top men’s and women’s time and declare a winner! Over the course of the four weeks, we’ll also add up your times for a general classification title. The winner of each stage will get a $10 gift card to Brew or Taproot. The overall winners will get $50 gift cards for CRUSHING IT!

Want to ‘race’? All you have to do it make a $25 donation or more to our GoFundMe page. We’re raising money for the Father Fred Foundation in an effort to support families in need. You can donate right here.

Or here.

Here, too.

Stage One. Our first stage is one for the roadies. The Peninsula Drive North segment is a pan-flat, nine-mile effort that just so happens to take most folks around twenty minutes; if you’ve been putting off power test, here’s your shot. This one is a great chance to open up some big time gaps and is the second-longest segment…at least by time! 

Stage Two. The second stage is a fight uphill. To celebrate the end of Chubby Buddies for 2020, we’re sending you up Wayne Hill. It’s ‘only’ .58 miles. But it’s 273 feet at 9%, with pitches as steep as 12%. It’ll be another chance to open up big time gaps for the climbers, but they’ll need it if they’ve already lost time on Old Mission.

Stage Three. Is it a climb? Is it flat? The hardest efforts are the ones that are tough to measure. The final road stage of the competition is up Blue Water. It’s 154 feet of elevation gained over a mile, but there are three descents along the stair-case type of climb, too.

Stage Four. The finale. What would SOLo Kolo be without a rip on the 2019 SOL course? 11 miles long, it’s the longest by distance and by time, which means it’s the chance to make up a lot of time if you’ve struggled on the two short climbs.

FAQs

• The competition starts Monday and ends Saturday evening at 5 pm each week. 

• You can do the segment as many times as you want! 

• You HAVE to ride alone. We’ll be doing ‘doping controls’ by checking fly-bys from riders at random. 

• For the GC, it’s just men’s and women’s. No age groups. Sorry. 

This is a friendly competition. Don’t worry about winning; think of it as a way to stay connected your pals, stay fit, and have fun. At the moment, social distancing looks to be a fixture of life for another month or more, and we want everyone to stick to guidelines from the League of American Bicyclists and USA Cycling to either ride solo or ride inside. It’s up to us to take things seriously. Yes, as seriously as we take SOL.

Let’s stay together, folks. Just separately.