Yunnan Gran Fondo Serk Package

The best multi day cycling event in China is coming up in beautiful Yunnan in early November. All the details on the event can be found on the official website here – http://www.granfondochina.com

We participated in 2014 and it was a fun experience. Great weather, Yunnan cuisine and culture and an opportunity to ride through the landscape on closed roads. It’s also a great race and with age categories for male and female competitive riders have the opportunity to aim for the podium and prize money.

However it is a multi day mass participation event aimed at Chinese cyclists so the logistics / hotels and service is lacking for foreigners.

As a previous participant and experienced race team organizer in China we’ve set up a package to make it easy for you to participate, enjoy your time in Yunnan to the max and improve your competitive chances.

The Serk Package

Pre-race

Flight bookings / registration / airport transfers

Better Hotels

We will book seperate hotels to the race organisers. We will book high quality good reputation hotels – at least 4 star where available

Why ?

The race Hotels are not the highest standard and more importantly they are filled to the brim with other cyclists.
At the race Hotel expect ;

Pushing through the masses at the front desk to get your room card every day (you change hotel almost every day).
Waiting around at reception after the race while your room gets sorted
Waiting 15minutes to go up the elevator with your bike (100 other riders have the same idea)
Queuing for breakfast
Walking up and down flights of stairs with your bike (some lower hotels dont have elevators)
Riders working on bikes in the corridors making noise to the wee hours of the night

What Serk provides ;

We will find and book the best Hotels close by to the race.
Our staff will organise room cards so you get to your room
Wifi passwords / Hotel info when you arrive
Easy in and out of the hotels – more time for you to rest / refresh or get out and see the town

Transport

We will have a van for transporting riders and a truck for transporting bikes with professional bike handlers.

Why ?

There are 100’s of riders participating in the event so the event official transportation is slow and cumbersome.
Race transportation expect the following ;

Waiting around for the last participants to finish before the bus departs (this can be hours on a 180km stage)
Fighting to get access to your kit bag on the bus post race. All the bags are positioned on a bus and its always chaos as riders get onto the bus to find bags / change clothes and refuel. Some days it will be cold and windy and fighting with other riders on the bus to get to your kit is the last thing you want to do after a hard stage.
Race buses will do a loop to all the Hotels – sometimes you will have to wait at other Hotels for riders to get on and off the bus. Sometimes the drivers get lost. This is time consuming and frustrating. you could be chilling out in your room or checking out the town.
Last year riders were required to pack their bikes into bike boxes for every transition – what a pain in the backside. In 2014 bikes were transported in big trucks and many bikes were damaged from poor handling.

What Serk provides ;

Our van is waiting for you at the end of the stage. Cold drinks, direct access to your kit bag, warm clothes – we’ve got you covered.
After the stage we drive direct to the Hotel. You’ll get there before everyone else which means you have more recovery time, waste much less energy fighting, packing and unpacking and you should have a chance to go out and enjoy the local sights.
Professional bike handling. Our driver will carefully pack your bike in our truck with protection between each bike.

Food / Drinks

Coffee. We bring a SegaFredo Coffee machine on tour with us. Fresh coffee in the hotel room each morning. Drink as much as you want.

We will also bring a supply of nutritious and delicious museli for breakfast.

Post race we will have a range of drinks available – Cold coke / Pocari Sweat / Water

Pre / Post Stage Support

We’ll have someone by the start line that you can hand your phone and jacket to just before the race starts. At the other end someone will be there to show you where our van is and help you out. November in Yunnan is not warm. With 300 starters some days it is advisable to get to the start as early as possible so you are out of trouble of the front row. You might need to wait 30 minutes in the cold wind. With a support person you can stay wrapped up and hand over your clothing moments before the start.

Training

We’ve arranged a 6 week personal training program with world class Australian Coach Radek Valenta. Radek was an Olympian on the track and has 20 years of coaching experience. He is expert in bike fit / training techniques / race strategy / efficient riding technique. He has coached World Champions and Olympians – he even coached Shannon to 7th place overall in the Elite Yunnan race in 2014. He is offering a one time intro deal to coach riders one on one for the Yunnan race. He will develop a specific weekly program for you and provide unlimited we chat video support to help you reach your goals. His coaching comes highly recommended. His standard 12 week program is usually 4300 RMB. The 6 week Yunnan program is only 2000 RMB. Check out Radek here.

Costs