Around 600 or so miles to the south of Ohio lies Birmingham, Alabama, the state's biggest city by number of residents and a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Heart of Dixie must have seemed like a good location for a gran fondo in late September as temperatures in the northern US started to drop. It had closed roads as well!

And so John Hoopingarner of Wadsworth, Ohio, ponied up for Velo Birmingham. "I thought, 'wow, this sounds really cool' so I signed up."

The only problem was that the Birmingham in question was not in Crimson Tide territory, but the British city for which it was named -- 3,700 miles and an ocean away.

John Hoopingarner of Wadsworth Ohio finishes Velo Birmingham (UK). Credit: Velo Birmingham
On Sunday, John rode the 100-mile course through the English counties of Worcestershire and Staffordshire starting and finishing in the downtown of the UK's second largest city, once known as the workshop of the world.

"Well I made it this far, I may as well just go," he told the local station of the British Broadcasting Corporation in explaining his participation.

John definitely made lemonade from the lemons he had and thoroughly enjoyed the event with its field of 15,000 riders.

That's not Alabama! Credit: Velo Birmingham
"The people are great, the town's awesome, the guys that did the ride were really tremendous. It was a brilliant event.

According to Strava, John made it round the lumpy course with almost 5,000 feet of climbing in a very creditable six hours 11 minutes, a 16.3mph average.

"I am hoping to come back next year. I've been promised free entry so I'm tempted to take Velo Birmingham up on it," he said according to the BBC.

If you are planning on riding abroad or find you have made the same mistake as John see the Bucket Rider's top tips for doing a foreign gran fondo.

Where's Tuscaloosa? Credit: Velo Birmingham

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