Gravel Ride of the Week: Jeremiah Bishop's Alpine Loop Gran Fondo
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Spectacular mountain passes, top of the world views, daring switchback descents and best of all... world-class gravel. Who knew that Harrisonburg, Virginia, a college town located in the Shenandoah Valley, could offer all that and more! In this week's Gravel Ride of the Week, we had the great privilege of touring some epic spots along the Jeremiah Bishop Alpine Loop Gran Fondo, with the man himself: Jeremiah Bishop.
Jeremiah Bishop certainly doesn’t need any introduction and whatever brief bio I list here will vastly understate the extensive list of accomplishments that he has amassed over his lengthy career as a pro mountain biker. You can get a full view of this impressive list by heading over to Jeremiah’s website. If I must highlight one race, then it will be his participation in the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race that takes place in my home country of South Africa. He has truly raced all over the world throughout his illustrious career. In recent years, you might have seen Jeremiah take on some impressive adventures on the bike through his Impossible Route endeavors that he completed with the Vegan Cyclist. There simply seems to be no end to this man’s talent as he continues to perform at the top end of the sport, even finishing in an impressive 8th place at the 2021 Unbound 200-mile gravel race.
That short breakdown should make it clear that Jeremiah is certainly on another level when it comes to performance on the bike, especially when you compare him to an average rider like myself. Now mix in a challenging route and you have a recipe for an entertaining mismatch of riding capabilities. About that route…
The route for the latest Gravel Ride of the Week is something truly incredible. A wild adventure that takes you all the way from Harrisonburg, Virginia into the mysterious and rustic mountains of West Virginia and then back to the Shenandoah Valley via some mind-blowing mountain climbs. What I’m referencing is, of course, the Jeremiah Bishop Alpine Loop Gran Fondo. This handcrafted route that Jeremiah has designed for his annual Gran Fondo event is one seriously challenging route, but one that will also reward you with some amazing views along the way. The Jeremiah Bishop Alpine Loop Gran Fondo takes place during the last weekend in September, and you can find all the details about the event on their website.
The event offers multiple distances for riders to choose from, but the main challenge on the day is the Alpine loop, a massive 128-mile (206km) ride that includes around 11300ft (3450m) of elevation gain. Ouch! Who says that you need to travel to Europe to get a taste of the Alpine mountains? The event is in its 10th year in 2021 and sees the “return to gravel.” As bikes have continued to develop into the all-road category, an event like the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo can now easily venture onto roads better suited for bikes with wider tires. Jeremiah can tell you lots of stories from the early years of this event about how riders on standard road bikes struggled over the gravel roads, something that required a limitation to the gravel coverage in previous editions while the bike market caught up to the new genre.
I wanted to get a pre-event taster of what this route looks like and Jeremiah was kind enough to show me around the course. For this ride, we decided to head straight to all the best parts rather than riding the full route. Which, to be honest, I was very thankful for - I’m not sure that I would have been able to survive 128-miles while holding on to the wheel of a powerhouse rider.
I’ll let the pictures and video tell the story of just how incredible the views were around this course. Spoiler alert…there were lots of awe-inspiring climbs! Riding this route with Jeremiah was a big treat and I got to hear lots of fascinating stories about the event, the history of the area and his love for the state of West Virginia. A big shout-out also goes to Christin for the behind the scenes work she did to help record this day of riding. It was her first time doing motor pacing with cyclists and she rocked it, even up and down the steep gravel climbs.
If you are still looking for a late season event to go test out the fitness that you’ve build throughout the summer, then this event is most certainly the one to add to your calendar.
-Wiehan
