Levi's GranFondo was no place for ego junkies Saturday, especially when 7,500 riders were packed like sardines in a can as they crossed the start line. So when they passed, the first thousand followed by the next thousand and the next and the next and the next and the next and the next, the masses did it reverently, politely ... but Joan Ignosci wasn't taking any chances. Ignosci had no intention of getting within a wheel length of nearly all of the 7,500.
"You know," said the research scientist from San Clemente, "I have no problem with going inside an MRI. But with a group this large, it gets me in a panic. I'm a runner. I'm in good shape. It's not that I can't do it physically."
Ignosci has no interest in doing the Fondo. But her husband, Dan, is a cyclist. They did the shorter Piccolo route last year. There were maybe 30 riders, she guessed, behind them when they crossed the start line. Come on, honey. Let's do it together. Again, do it for me. And Saturday she did.
"This was what you do for a marriage," Ignosci said.
This time maybe there were 10 riders behind the Ignoscis. Were they a danger to others or themselves? No, because they were riding to their ability. They were smart, prudent and, especially, aware. This is critical because it's impossible to get 7,500 people together and have them all be smart, prudent and, especially, aware.
"This is a melting pot of ego and characters," said Attila Kogler from New York City. "If someone is swerving, I try to find a language to let them know they are."
Kogler speaks seven languages.
A cyclist can train for strength, for endurance, for weather, but no training is available for getting your bicycle around 7,500 of your closest friends and relatives. The only close approximation is to place you and your bike in the middle of the pack as it begins to run the Bay to Breakers. Keith Sayler from Great Falls, Virginia, was in his first GranFondo, and the start of the charity ride was almost as interesting to him as the ride itself.
"I'd like to see what goes down," said Sayler, a psychologist, "and hopefully it's not me. This is no time to be a hotshot."
It's no time to be claustrophobic, either. Sayler treats that anxiety disorder and said he would be surprised to see a claustrophobic at the Fondo. On the other hand ...
"This would be a wonderful exposure exercise," Sayler said. The patient, he quickly added, would have to be almost completely treated for that disorder to participate in sucyh a wonderful exposure exercise.
And now, for the other side of the coin. His name is Yousef Bidaki of Healdsburg. Yousef is "over 50." Six weeks ago he got on a bicycle for the first time, motivated by friends who kept telling him it was great exercise. A soccer player, Bidaki rode the Piccolo on Saturday. The 32 miles he rode — without stopping, by the way — were the longest distance he's ever traveled on a bicycle. Of course, it's been only six weeks since he's been on a bicycle.
"I was very comfortable," Bidaki said. "I blended in. And I like the side challenges of getting up hills."
As Dr. Sayler might have said, the Sardine Anxiety Disorder dissipates quickly once the wheels go round and round. Seventy-five-hundred produce a flow that takes the cyclist with it. As more than one rider told me, the air was laden with 7,500 breaths and 15,000 feet. It's like sitting in a stadium full of people. The hum of humans is loud, especially if they are going 20 miles an hour.
"You need to do this just once in your life, even if you don't cycle that much," said Leslie White of Redding. "Right after the start, things calm down. There were no egos I saw. I lost my chain later and two people offered to help me. It was that kind of thing. People were walking their bikes in places and that's OK, too."
Even those fueled by testosterone got the perspective. Chris Tilton of San Francisco said he "bombed a hill" and then looked around, didn't see his wife and quickly seized the moment to remember why he was here.
"It's a ride," Tilton said. Not Navy SEAL training.
I told Rick Lewis of Santa Rosa the Joan Ignosci story, that she was cycling to be a pal to her husband, and that maybe one day hubby might reciprocate and do a 10K run with Joan. Lewis smiled and said something that indicated Joan, not her husband, got the better of the deal.
"I've never seen a jogger smiling," Lewis said.
For more North Bay sports go to Bob Padecky's blog at padecky.blogs. pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Bob Padecky at 521-5223 or bob.padecky@pressdemocrat.com.
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