From operating room to open road: Simon Gower's ride to the 2025 Gran Fondo World Championships

Simon Gower was so determined to represent Australia on home roads at the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships that he qualified not once, but twice.

The 51-year-old is a doctor by day – and sometimes night, when he’s on-call.

“I do anaesthetics,” he says. The on-call part, which he’s just had an evening of, is for things that cannot wait. “Obstetrics, or getting up for putting in epidurals, or doing caesarean sections most of the time overnight.”

Outside of that, life for Gower, right now, is geared toward the Gran Fondo in Lorne and along the Great Ocean Road on October 19.

Simon Gower pictured at the 2023 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships. Photo: Supplied

The Geelong and Surf Coast Cycling Club member is set to compete in the men’s 50-55 age group in what will be his third consecutive participation at the World Championships, having represented Australia at the Scotland titles in 2023 and in Denmark last year, where he averaged 38.96km/h to finish the 152.9km road race in 3:55:27.

Gower, up until making his debut in Scotland, hadn’t necessarily considered himself a cyclist. He started off in triathlon while studying at university, before moving to running for 20 years. It wasn’t until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that he turned his attention fully to the bike.

“The whole journey started pretty much from COVID. I was sitting around with COVID, in fact, in 2020-2021, and thought it might be nice to have a trainer, so I could spin the legs over a little bit while I was locked up,” he recalls. “I bought one and then managed to qualify [for the 2023 Gran Fondo World Championships] at Amy’s in 2022.”

Gower had entered Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo knowing the mass participation event doubled as a qualifier for the World Championships but was not convinced of travelling to Scotland the following year. However, as a cycling fan, the allure of what was a Super Worlds in Glasgow - where 13 different disciplines, from elite road, MTB and BMX to the amateur Gran Fondo, combined to create one mega event - was too much to pass up.

“I’m like, ‘Well, that’s going to be a great experience,’ so travelled specifically to do that and thought I’ll get properly fit and make a bit of a go of it,” he continues.  

The UCI Gran Fondo World Championships has since become a regular fixture on Gower’s calendar. He has travelled to events in Europe and in Brisbane over the past 12 months in preparation, doubly ensuring his name is on the start-list.

“I don’t really see myself as being a particularly talented cyclist, but to be a fairly regular Joe and be able to get to experience a World Championships is unbelievable,” he says. “There’s plenty of opportunity to be able to qualify - you have to work for it, but it’s there and a possibility for a lot of people. Getting involved has been fantastic.”

Simon Gower pictured at the Peaks Challenge this year. Photo: Supplied

Gower has one stand-out memory from the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Scotland. It was the first thing he told friends and family about upon his return.

“The best part about it was the crowds along the course,” Gower recalls with enthusiasm.

“I’ve been to the Tour, Vuelta and the Giro each once as a spectator, but to be competing in that environment, with people lined-up along the side of the road, on the hills, with cowbells and running beside you,  which all happened in Scotland, and zipping through villages on your bike with the roads all closed, it’s phenomenal.

“I remember coming through this little village, and I knew there was a bit of a hill - there was a bit of a downhill, across a bridge, and up the other side. There were crowds everywhere and we zipped through, and the hill didn’t even seem to be there!

“I was on the back of the bunch seeing a picture in front of me, as you would from the video coverage directly out of the Tour. It was a phenomenal experience. That hooked me into it, and to get another chance at doing that? Grab it with both hands.”

Surf Coast Shire Mayor Mike Bodsworth anticipates that thousands of spectators will descend on Lorne and the Great Ocean Road region for the October 16-19 titles, with occupancy rates expected to hit 100 per cent from October 13.

“Road cycling events held in our shire consistently attract more participants than any other region in Victoria, and we look forward to that continuing with this cycling extravaganza,” Bodsworth says.

The 131km road race course in and around Lorne is a little too far away for Gower to train along daily, but he knows what to expect from the terrain that Australian cycling legend Simon Gerrans describes as “honest”.

“It’s always going to be a tough race, World Championships, no matter how tough the course itself is,” Gower says. “Having a climb straight out of the blocks certainly splits the group up immediately. It’ll be a matter of seeing what happens on the day, but that will certainly test everyone out.”

For Gower, the journey to each of the Gran Fondo World Championships he has and is set to contest has been as important as the destination itself. He’s enjoyed learning more about the sport, and the “one-percenters” that year-on-year have contributed to improvements in fitness.

“I don’t like to admit it but it’s probably a bit out of control as far as the amount of time and effort that I put into it these days,” Gower quips.

“It’s all guns blazing going ahead with it. Training, cycling, and all the one-percenters that I’ve learnt along the way have been almost the most interesting part of the whole process. There’s one person in particular who has had a lot of cycling experience and been super helpful in helping me to prepare and looking at everything – training programs, but also the add-ons as well, nutrition, strength work, which is really something I didn’t do before, looking at bike fit, also learning about training and how to do it properly, and negotiating a program.”

Gower in Lorne is aiming to do his best, noting that Gran Fondos in his experience have been more about individual effort than teamwork or tactics, and is hopeful the community will come out to support an event that he and more than 800 riders, who are currently registered to compete, have grown to love.

“It’s probably pretty hard to beat the Great Ocean Road for beauty, and spectacular location for it,” he says. “Hopefully the community gets behind it. Having everyone out there and supporting all the riders makes it.”