I always love doing an event the second time after learning the ropes on the first one. Last year it was Snowmagedon in Love Valley, this time it was going to be warm?
Rewinding back to February, I decided to jump into the gravel/endurance race plan in the Time Crunched Cyclist book that I’ve had laying around for a couple of years. I’ve followed the CX plan and felt like it was just okay, but with a couple of gravel events early in the year, I figured I would jump into the gravel one after a week of relaxing from Short Track.
They say if you write something down, you stick to it. It has worked well for the last 6 weeks. I get a joy of checking off the boxes of the rides I completed. The volume on the weekends that the CTS plan calls for is a little too much for me and my schedule, but I don’t have any rides/races over 70 miles, so I don’t think it will hurt too much.
All week leading up to Sunday, I’ve been contemplating running my Mr. Pink with 28mm Gravel Kings, or the Aloominator with 32mm Roubaix Pros. I went back and forth with my decision knowing that whatever one I picked, I would probably regret it. I decided to stick with the bigger tires, even though reports have said the gravel was as smooth as glass. Both are tubeless, but the Aloominator is almost 2 pounds lighter. With a 48 mile course with over 5,000 feet of climbing, I chose the weight over the steel smoothness.
Okay, in the Love Valley Lot. Last year I got popped off sooner than I would have hoped, and this year I wanted to at least be in the 3 hour range for finishing. Last year in the snow the winning time was 2:52, so it seemed realistic. I run into a couple people I know and hope to stick with, Levi and Tyler. Levi is running his road bike with 28mm’s, and Tyler is running his gravel bike with 38mm tires. What a strange event and strange setups that somehow make the playing field level.
I line up near them at the start and see other fast peoples. The race leaves out of the town and rolls into the first hill, Fox Mountain, which compared to the rest of the day, isn’t much of a climb. I try to stay as close to the front and with good wheels. I know Kerry Werner is a solid wheel to follow, so I try and follow him and his efforts on the first hill. Leads me to good things, I’m still with the front group, granted the effort was pretty average at most and kept the group mostly together. It seemed rather tempo-ish, or I’m feel better than I remember last year.
One guy takes a flyer off the front and everyone is content to let him go, and apparently, it’s part of the team tactics for the day for this one crew. Levi bridges up to him and no one seems worried about chasing them down. We start descending on some gravel and I immediately and so happy I brought the wider volume time. The gravel is smooth but there is some golf ball size crap all over the place, randomly scattered. Pings of rocks on bike frames/wheels, people, it’s not sketchy but just sounds scary.
It’s pretty normal/together for the next 7 miles or so before the first big gravel climb of the day, which I happily am the last person in the group up the hill. Tyler is the last person to make the gap to the front group on the split up on Gilreath. There is a lead group and us, the mortal group, which I’m in. I was glad that the 1×1 was just right for me climbing up this thing. I was able to stay seated and spin, pick up some wheels and find Tyler who is regretting going with that move. We get into a good group once we hit the road on Bethany Church, still pointing uphill. I smoked the anticipated time I had; was hoping for 33 minutes, hammered out 29:50. Now I’m worried I left it all my gas on that section. I think we are 5-6 people at this point? Tyler sits on the back but wants to take the lead down Brushy as he knows it well. This is where I am worried that 40×11 is not going to be enough to get down this mountain with a group. Tyler tucks down and I spin as hard as I can to get in the draft. We pick up Levi and one other guy on the descent down Brushy which is smokin’ fast with some wild corners.
On paper, the section between this and the Balls Mill/Cherry Grove climb looks rolling and boring, but the couple of rollers on the pavement that really take their toll. According to Strava flyby and memory, our group was: Tyler Labelle, Levi Porter, Michael Potter, Matt Wisthoff, Justin Raynes, Andrew Baker and Alex Ryan. We pick up two other guys, Jules van Kempen and Patrick Raines, the eventual winner of the 50+ group. and are in a pretty big group with a couple of people I have seen racing other disciplines. The group is kind of confused on what to do, ride smooth or push the pace. I spin out on some descents at the front, which is probably the best place to be for them, but otherwise I’m very excited to still be in a big group at this point. We lose about 3-4 people on one of the rollers which was kind of a shocker. I think everyone was worried about the next big climbs that they got caught off guard.
We make the left onto 115 before Balls Mill and almost get hit by a truck because the guy ignores the dude blocking traffic, so we kind of let everyone group back up before we push the climb. This is where last year, I was in a group and got completely shelled. I blame it 50% on fitness, 50% on 34×28 gearing. This time, I know I have enough gear, hopefully the legs cooperate.
We lose some riders right off the bat, but Levi is still here with 3 or 4 other dudes. I’m one of the lighter ones so I make good time on the steep section but pay for it dearly and drift back to last wheel to hold on for dear life while it gets to a single-digit pitch. Thankfully I only have my time/mileage on my Garmin, because any information I would have gotten would not have been helpful.
We get pretty thinned out up the rest of the climb, I’m holding on to the last wheel I have, who I think is Andrew Baker. Everyone is kind of just doing their own thing at this point. It comes back together on the big descent down Vannoy Ridge, and various people take different lines and try not to die going down this. At some point a couple other guys descend faster than us, and the two groups split. Not sure if we will see them again.
The back end of the group catches a HUGE break as we are able to use the first groups “all clear” and really roll a stop sign and close back before we hit the next section of gravel on Smith Grove, where just about everyone is content to just hang out at this point. Patrick Raines is saying we should pick up the pace, but no one is really interested. I pull through but no one comes around, so that was squashed quickly.
Did I mention my water bottle cage was loose? Earlier this week, my seat tube one was loose, and I tightened it, but now somehow the down tube one was loose. I noticed it pretty much the first gravel section and just hoped it would stay place.
The group is trying to figure out how this is going to play out, a couple people are content to sit on and not pull through, and I’m kind of feeling that way too. Alex Ryan verbally says, “I’m not pulling through, I’m tired”; if one of the fastest local CX guys feels that way, I should too, right? He’s behind me at this point and I suddenly feel this metal clang sound of my pedal smashing my water bottle cage and bottle still in it. Uh oh.
I hit it about 5 times before I can realize the top/front bolt of the cage is gone and I’m about to rip this cage in half with my left foot. It forces me to stop pedaling and a gap opens up while I bend it back into place where it is safe. I’m now in a tough place; try and close this gap to the group, or wait for the guy who said he was pooped? I choose neither. I don’t have the gas to put in an effort and I just ride my pace. Kind of kicking myself now, but I knew I wasn’t in any sort of place to put in a big dig I left my matches on Balls Mill.
I keep looking back to see if the Alex is going to catch me. I hit the last big gravel climb which is Fox Mountain and suddenly it turns into this pea gravel crap that is super hard to put any power down on. I feel like I’m making no progress and continue to keep looking over my shoulder and hope that I see nobody. Out of sight, out of mind, right? This is the perfect course for it as it almost is never a straight line/sight path. I later find out that he flatted, so I was stressin’ for no reason.
I crest the top of the climb and I’m home free, just need to descend this last bit of gravel and back to the car. A long sweeping left almost takes me out as I’m coming in way too hot and almost fall of the edge of the mountain. I drift just to the end and save it, live to fight another day.
I’m getting closer and closer to Love Valley and I’m happy I have my map. The course was well marked but having a little squiggly line to follow is the bees knees. I see Kerry heading back out to either cheer or get some more miles in, and he thankfully yells “IT’s A RIGHT” as I’m turning left. Do a little loopty loop and get back on the right path, into the dude ranch, just as I see another guy from our group earlier in the day, Justin Raynes. Thankfully I can cruise it into the finish line with a time of TWO HOURS AND 38 MINUTES.
What? That’s 22 minutes faster than I anticipated. Wild. I completely crushed my goal times up the climb segments and was totally stoked to finish It’s nice enough to have some BBQ and enjoy the warm sun and chat it up with some new people. This is really a well-run event. I wanted to stick around to see where I placed, I learned I was 5th in the 30-39 age group and 8th overall. Which is mind blowing.
I’m really stoked to finish out the rest of this chicken scratch drawn calendar and see what else comes out of these legs.
jamespearl 