Erdal's story: Turkcell Gran Fondo Istanbul

BaseCamp alumnus Erdal Yazicioglu shared his experience at the 2022 Turkcell Gran Fondo Istanbul.

After 3 years, especially being so reluctant of bunch start races, I finally put my wheels to start line this morning. I participated in Istanbul Granfondo with some quite tough climbs. I had Tim's and Amber's voices in my head all the time -- “control your pace, check your breathing, pace yourself” -- which helped me a lot when I hit the slope at around 16%.

I have completed 40km short course with 260NP and 221 Average Power in1h31min.

I hold myself back too much during descents as I did not want to end with another crash and broken collarbone. 😂

I secured 11th place out of 63 in my age category.

Once lesson learned - I should have used 11-32 or even 11-34 instead of 11-30 with 52-36 Chainring.

Thanks to Basecamp teaching me pacing, tempo, and more importantly not to quit.

Let’s go!