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| Cyclists ride in last year's Gran Fondo racing event. / Courtesy of Tim Travis of the Han River Riders Cycling Club |
By John Redmond
The Han River Riders Cycling Club (HRR) will hold two races for its 2014 HRR Gran Fondo in Seoul on Saturday. Beginning and finishing at Yangpyeong, the Gran Fondo is a timed, self-supported, long-distance ride where 150 cyclists will take to the streets of Seoul.
The ride will include two distances to choose from: 200 and 100 kilometers. Each course will take riders over some challenging terrain, but should be doable for a determined beginner rider.
The HRR was formed as a way to bring every style of cyclist in Korea together through a strong and interactive social forum.
In addition to meeting for various bicycle and social outings, the group also has a Facebook page.
The Korea Times spoke to Tim Travis of the HRR about the group and other events.
Q: What inspired the HRR?
A: The HRR began in 2010 due to my friend Arden John and I feeling the expat cycling community was missing unity. We felt that expats needed a stronger presence within the cycling community of South Korea.
Our goal was to see more riders on the roads and pathways. Currently, via group volunteers, we run weekday and weekend rides open to all comers. We will continue this style of riding in 2015 and continue to post our group rides on our Facebook page.
Q: How many members do you have?
A: The HRR currently has around 2,000 online members, generated through Facebook. Our active community membership is over 1,000 members. Our 2014 Han River Rider Gran Fondo reached our 150-rider cap and we currently have a long waiting list.
Q: What is the aim of the HRR?
A: HRR's aim is very simple _ we desire to be an avenue for all things cycling related in South Korea. We feel cyclists need a venue to chat, get advice, sell used gear and meet others with the same passion.
On our Facebook page we offer legal advice, bike track updates, buying and selling bike gear, networking and advice on bike routes. We also encourage riders to discuss cycling-related topics and share with us their cycling-related ideas.
In 2014, we started a new site called Cycling Seoul to Busan on Facebook, as cyclists needed a forum just on that topic. Questions about the cycling route from Incheon to Busan were tying up our forum on a daily basis.
Our Facebook page is growing rapidly and that's due to the word getting out that Korea's cycling paths are some of the best in the world. The page has members from all over the world that request info and maps daily.
Q: The Gran Fondo, how did that come about?
A: Our Gran Fondo came from the desire of our riders wanting long-distance events. Gran Fondo means rolling party and we felt the title fit our needs. They are meant to be fun, not a race. We also saw it as an opportunity to build a community event that could grow over the years. Our 2012 event was our first and was created by David Guitterez, Paul Toigo and myself.
The current registration filled in three weeks.
Q: Where do you see this all going?
A: Our number one goal is to continue to grow. Without members our voice is small. We want to have a loud voice in the Korean cycling community.
We really want to help cyclists in Korea move forward with the idea of, "Share the Roads." In 2015 we will continue with our Gran Fondo event and try to expand to include more riders from overseas.
Also we have been offered the opportunity to organize a fully- sponsored race team to compete in Korea and Asia in 2015. That is something we will strongly consider, but we're unclear if it has a future for us.
For more information on the HRR contact http://www.facebook.com/groups/HanRiverRiders/.
