After some 3 1/2 years of work to bring about the inaugural RBC GranFondo Whistler, the day of delivery is nearing for Neil McKinnon and the GranFondo Canada team.

McKinnon and Kevin Thomson, partners behind TOIT Events and GranFondo Canada, united in 2007 with a vision to conceive a mass cycling ride along the striking Sea to Sky Highway between Whistler and Vancouver. Now their dream is weeks away from coming true, with the first-ever GranFondo Whistler set to bring about 4,000 riders flying up the highway from Vancouver on Saturday, Sept. 11.

“It’s like being pregnant, I guess,” McKinnon joked on Friday (Aug. 20). He said his wife— with whom he has a three-year-old child — described this stage as the moment when they’re feeling a bit full, fat and tired, “but you can’t wait, obviously, for it to happen.”

Organizers are planning a joyful party for the new arrival, including extensive festivities at the end of the 120-kilometre ride, in Whistler’s Day Lot 4 that will be thrown open to the public throughout the day on Sept. 11. After a visit to the Aug. 17 Whistler council meeting, where GranFondo organizers were warmly received, McKinnon said they’ve truly been feeling the love for their new addition to the cycling calendar.

“The momentum just keeps growing and growing and growing,” he said. He’s also been seeing riders and teams streaming along the highway and through Vancouver streets on training rides.

Riders responded swiftly and emphatically to their creation, registering in droves to fill the complement of 4,000 spots by March. McKinnon said the original goal was to attract 1,500 participants in the event’s first year, but when 2,000 people signed on within a few weeks of registration opening, expectations and plans had to be recalibrated.

Organizers expected their baby would be popular, McKinnon said, but “we just didn’t realize it would go that big that fast.”

There are still some places remaining in the Giro race event, which is open to licensed Category 1, 2 and 3 riders and comes with a prize purse of $12,000. But racers should act fast — registration is expected to close soon.

For the lucky thousands who snapped up spots in the regular ride, the spectacularly scenic journey will involve a 120-kilometre odyssey with a total elevation gain of 650 metres over 2,400 metres of climbing and 1,750 metres of descending, traveling in a dedicated lane. Some riders will be doing the shorter, 60-kilometre Medio ride from Squamish to Whistler.

Riding the route is a unique experience for the area residents who frequently charge up and down in vehicles. McKinnon said a test ride with about 30 people last September reminded some how lucky they are to live in this setting, and showed the power of the switch from four wheels to two.

“It’s a completely different experience… You tune into the surroundings because you’re a part of it,” he said.

Whistler’s Gary Baker, who’s planning to ride the 120 kilometres with wife Brenda, said he’s “a bit apprehensive” about starting out among 4,000 other riders, but figures the ranks will quickly thin out, as in any race.

“We’ve always thought we wanted to do (this) but never sort of made the attempt to do it,” Baker said. They’ve been training with rides on the highway up and down the corridor, hitting D’Arcy, Pemberton and Squamish, alongside Gary’s frequent mountain bike races and rides.

McKinnon said about 250 athletes from Whistler, Pemberton and Squamish are expected to be among their ranks. Headline participants include a pair of beloved Canucks – ski racing great Steve Podborski, a champion Crazy Canuck skier, and Vancouver hockey icon Trevor Linden – along with stars such as mountain biking legend Alison Sydor, world champion Ironman triathlete Peter Reid and several Olympic champs and medallists, McKinnon said.

Whistler’s Will Routley, the 2010 national road race champion, might be among the Giro racers – but he’s also waiting to hear whether he’ll be named to the Canadian team that will ride in the significant UCI ProTour events in Quebec happening around the same time as the GranFondo.

The full-course riders are scheduled to start in downtown Vancouver at 7 a.m., rolling out en masse down Georgia Street after Vancouver Canuck anthem-singing stalwart Mark Donnelly lends his pipes to the cycling cause for a round of O Canada. With the sun rising and camera operators filming from a helicopter overhead, the sea of cyclists will surge across the Lions Gate Bridge to launch their journey to Whistler.

“It’s just going to be a magical experience,” McKinnon predicted.

When the riders roll into Whistler — McKinnon expects the arrivals to start around 10 a.m. with the Giro racers rocketing in — they’ll be greeted with a “very festive” scene, McKinnon said. They’ll ride along a decked-out Village Gate Boulevard, pass under the banner-laden bridge and head for the finish line around Municipal Hall and the “cycling city” in Lot 4, where they can celebrate their achievement with live entertainment, family fun like bouncy castles and face painting, and refreshments.

McKinnon is welcoming all Whistlerites to jump in and join the party, with riders expected to continue streaming in all day until about 3 p.m.

Volunteers are still needed and welcomed for roles in Whistler and Squamish. Check out rbcgranfondowhistler.com to get involved.