SPIN THE DISTRICT GRAVEL AND ROAD FONDO DATES ANNOUNCED.
Just outside Atlanta, featuring all the gravel and all the road miles you can eat, plus beer and chili.
Remember the Fondo? The big ride, the Union City Fondo and Gravel Grind, the epic Spin the District finale? Back in 2018, 2019, and last October? Yeah, that was awesome. Let’s do it again.
What do you think about Saturday, October 22, 2022?
Because that’s the date. It’s on. We’re doing it.
As always, the Fondo will take you through horse country in beautiful Union City, Ga.—easy on the eyes and the wallet, and super simple to travel to, bike and all. Which bike, you ask? We can’t answer that for you. You must choose.
You see, with each passing year, we make our gravel routes (the ToughSkin Open and the Denim60) more and more…what’s the word…mental. Punishing. Ridiculous. Each time segment is unique, all favoring a different style—gravel, road, mountain or cyclocross—so unless you’ve been developing an enchanted groadtaincross bike, you’re going to have to decide which bike to bet on and make it work.
The mixed-gravel adventure comes in two sizes, 60 and 120ish miles long, each incorporating an unpredictable mix of gravel, pavement, mud, water, man-made obstacles and the constant up and down of the Chattahoochee Hill Country. There’s also 30-, 60-, and 100-mile road options that incorporate…road. Just road. Which is nice, too. Real nice, actually.
THE FONDO OF CHAMPIONS
People (mostly us, but sometimes other people) have been calling the Fondo “The Unofficial Mixed Surface Championship,” because it attracts the best of the best gravel riders from across the country. Why do champions flock to this ride in particular? Check it:
- It is, as previously described, spectacular. No other ride combines all these different disciplines into one supremely gnarly event.
- Union City is scenic and affordable in terms of travel and accommodations, and only a few minutes from Atlanta.
- Our rider support is excellent.
- Our after party is even better.
- Winners ride free.
So yeah, okay, maybe #5 should’ve been at the top. Each year, Spin the District invites the year’s gravel champs to register free of charge; this year, the first 50 male and 50 female entrants who have placed in any U.S. gravel race over 60 miles since January 1, 2021 will be granted free registration. (If that’s you, email granfondo@spinthedistrict.com about your free registration sooner than later. It would be devastating to find out your request was our one-hundred-and-first. Elliott Smith would write a song about you.)
Whoever finishes each of the day’s rides fastest will receive sweet custom medals, while the time segment winners in the road and mixed surface century events (men’s and women’s divisions) will be awarded wrestling-style championship belts.
Win or lose, all riders chill together as equals after the ride with food, beer and massages.
THE NITTY GRITTY
Registration opens on January 2, 2022 and can be completed online:
Spin the District 2022 Fondo Registration
Book accommodations in advance for the best rates:
Spin the District Accommodations via the ATL Airport District
SPIN THE DISTRICT
A REVOLUTIONARY EVENT SERIES
It’s simple: Spin the District is a bike race. Well—four bike races. Well—okay, they aren’t all races, and there’s a lot of other stuff, too, so it’s more like Spin is four weekends of cycling and parties, with festivals, beer crawls, training rides and more thrown in for added awesomeness. It’s Atlanta’s answer to Athens Twilight, 6 days of Berlin, RAGBRAI, and Rebecca’s Private Idaho, all in one family-size party pack. See? So simple!
Spin the District is hosted by the ATL Airport District, the official convention and visitors bureau for the cities of College Park, East Point, Hapeville and Union City, Ga. For more information about ATL Airport District, Spin the District, and the Union City Fondo, visit spinthedistrict.com.
