5,000 cyclists participate in Levi’s GranFondo in Sonoma County

About 5,000 cyclists ranging from pro racers to neighborhood kids participated Saturday in the eighth annual Levi’s GranFondo, an event organizers say is becoming as much a celebration of local community and charity as a test of athletic ability and endurance.

While many of the riders in this year’s event were hard-core cyclists, a select few were everyday kids who are beneficiaries of the charitable donations raised by the popular group ride. This year, a family route was added to accommodate them, said Carlos Perez, the founder of Bike Monkey, the Santa Rosa event management company that produces the GranFondo.

“We’ve really infused it with this community aspect,” Perez said. “The community groups are not only beneficiaries, but participants as well.”

Perez said the first few GranFondos were characterized by a strong competitive atmosphere. It still has that feeling, he said, but now it’s more directly involving the community groups it helps.

Just before the ride started, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, participating in the ride for the second time, praised the event’s founder, former pro cyclist and Santa Rosa resident Levi Leipheimer.

“It’s the greatest organized bike ride in the world,” said Thompson.

Moments later, riders fanned out on a dozen different route options, ranging from an easy 8-mile course to a challenging 116-mile day that took cyclists up King Ridge near Cazadero, out to the coast and back.

The GranFondo was launched in 2009 and grew in popularity to the point where organizers decided to scale back registration and limit participation. Perez said that one year, the ride drew 7,500 riders.

“We were bursting at the seams, so last year we set the limit at 5,500,” he said.

Before the 8 a.m. start, thousands of riders gathered at the line on Stony Point Road, near Finley Community Center.

Daniel Van den Bergh, 34, of Redwood City was among those tackling the GranFondo for the first time. Van de Bergh, who recently moved from Philadelphia to work in Silicon Valley, said he just started cycling because he enjoys endurance sports. He was a rower in Philadelphia.

On Saturday, he rode with his friend Daniel McAuley, 29, also of Redwood City and another first-time GranFondo participant.

McAuley said he’d heard a lot about the event’s scenic landscape, a nice distraction when taking on a difficult ride.

“People are going to be on a bike for seven or eight hours,” he said. “If you’re going to put all that effort, it’s got to be a special ride.”

Fundraising is a big part of the event, and this year for the first time participants were encouraged to raise money for charities of their choice so long as they are registered nonprofits and address the needs of at-risk youth. The event does its own fundraising benefiting such groups as Forget Me Not Farm, Social Advocates for Youth and B-Rad Foundation.

The event’s Festa Del Fondo dinner and auction, held Thursday night, has in seven years raised more than $300,000, according to organizers.

Ken Fredrickson, a partner with a Lompoc-based winery called Brewer Clifton, said the GranFondo’s setting in Sonoma County is hard to beat. He readied his bike Saturday morning for the 65-mile route.

“The beauty of the Sonoma Coast brings most of these riders,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish