Dear Elite Competitors,
Read this email in its entirety. Twice, if you can swing it.
There will be no in-person rider meeting this year. This communication is your official briefing, and it replaces that session. You are competing for a $156,000 total purse over 138 miles and nearly 14,000 feet of climbing. Adherence to the following protocols is mandatory for all elite Growler participants.
1. Race Day Schedule
- 6:45 AM — Rider staging opens on McLelland Drive.
- 7:05 AM — Elite Men call-ups.
- 7:15 AM — Elite Men start.
- 7:18 AM — Elite Women call-ups.
- 7:20 AM — Elite Women start.
2. Support Logistics
- Lake Sonoma Support (Mile 83): This is the only location where personal support is permitted. Full stop.
- Support Arrival: All team support vehicles and personnel must arrive and be staged at the Lake Sonoma/Warm Springs Recreation area by 10:30 AM. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y92k8pujczH93j4B7
- Extended Trash Zone at Lake Sonoma: An extended trash zone will be marked at the Lake Sonoma aid station. This is where you can safely discard wrappers, bottles, and any other refuse you've been carrying. Use it. Anything dropped outside of marked trash zones elsewhere on course will be treated as littering. See Section 4.
- Skratch Labs Neutral Bottle Feed: Skratch Labs will manage a neutral bottle feed at four locations exclusively for the elite fields. You'll find bottles of plain water as well as Skratch Sport Hydration Drink Mix prepared to Allen Lim's standard: 30 grams of mix in 600ml of water — a 5% carbohydrate solution with just over 900mg of sodium per liter, matched to average sodium sweat loss. Volunteers handling bottles with plain water only will be wearing orange vests in order to make sure that you know whether you're reaching for mix or water.
Bottle Feed Locations:- King Ridge (Mile 45)
- Lake Sonoma (Mile 83)
- Geysers (Mile 109)
- Alexander Valley (Mile 123)
3. Zero-Tolerance Policy: No Outside Assistance
Outside assistance is defined as receiving help from anyone not participating in your same route and gender category. It is not permitted, and if witnessed, will serve as grounds for disqualification from the Growler competition.
Assistance refers to anything that helps a competitor gain or maintain an advantage in the race, including but not limited to:
- Drafting with someone outside your category
- Giving or receiving mechanical support to or from someone outside your category
- Sharing or carrying supplies with or for someone outside your category
- Sharing information about the state of other competitors not in your category
- Receiving assistance from an on-bike marshal, moto, or SAG vehicle
- Assisting or receiving assistance from an athlete in another category in any other way
Disqualified means the offending participants will be marked ineligible from competition and removed from podium contention. If an infraction is deemed egregious or dangerous, the offending participant(s) may be banned from future participation in the event.
4. Environmental Stewardship: No Littering
We operate on a zero-tolerance policy for littering. Trash must be carried until you reach an official aid station or the extended trash zone at Lake Sonoma. Any participant caught littering will be subject to disqualification. This is non-negotiable — these are our roads, our communities, and our responsibility.
5. Podium & Prize Protocol
- Ceremony Timing: The podium protocol for both Men's and Women's elite fields will take place immediately after the top 5 women have crossed the finish line (projected: 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM).
- Attendance: Top finishers are required to be present in full team kit for the ceremony. No exceptions.
- Payouts: Prize checks for the top 10 finishers in each field will be available for pickup directly behind the podium following the ceremony.
6. Course & Safety
- Safety is our #1 priority. You must follow the direction and instruction of any moto marshals or face disqualification.
- Follow the RED course markings.
- The center-line rule is in effect at all times. Roads remain open to vehicle traffic.
- Time trial bars are strictly prohibited.
- Course Conditions: The course includes narrow, steep, rough, dark, and high-speed descents. Extreme caution is required at all times.
- Final Approaches: The final 7km will be cleared of riders on other Fondo routes. We hold them at a secure location to ensure a clear path for the elite men and women still competing for prize money. Within the final 500m, the first roundabout will split the elites from the other Fondo routes.
- Orientation: We highly encourage all competitors to ride the final 10km through Windsor prior to race day to orient yourselves. Course signage will be significant, but don't let a wrong turn cost you the result you came for.
7. USADA Anti-Doping Controls
- As you saw during the registration process, there will be anti-doping controls performed by USADA at the finish of the race. Riders selected for doping control will be notified at the finish.
8. Study Up
- For a deep-dive on the Growler, click here to interact with our exclusive course planning/mapping service called Lanterne Rouge. We've built something that's going to eventually be seen at many more events in the coming months. It is being debuted here for the first time.
Prepare accordingly. This is the biggest, richest, toughest day on two wheels on American soil, and you are the reason it matters. We look forward to a fair and safe race.
See you Saturday.
Levi Leipheimer and the cast and crew of Levi's GranFondo at Bike Monkey
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