Gravel Worlds 2021

I'll start with: Nebraska ain't flat.

A bucket list event was Gravel Worlds, Covid delayed a year but the wait didn't disappoint. One hundred and fifty one miles of gravel - well 99% gravel at least - and 12,000 feet of climbing was the mission in Lincoln, Nebraska this past weekend.

I'd decided to focus on some longer events this year and 151 miles isn't the longest but I have a feeling it'll be the hardest. A 6am start in the dark meant lights at the beginning. Forecasted heat eroded with overnight storms and standing in the coral the 60 degree temps necessitated a flannel for warmth - not much more gravel then that, eh? We hit the gravel roads within a mile of the start and it started, the climbing that is. No long climbs, just punchy climb after punchy climb with minimal flats for respite. The first 10 miles was spent hunting for a group I could spent the day with. I let the pro front group go, no need to school Colin Strickland!!

Eventually, a group found me. The first group I tried to stick with contained a guy I figured was over 50, in my age group, but a long climb caused a split and I was sitting at the back. I didn't want to burn a match early so I patiently waited for another group for form. This group was eight strong, holding a decent tempo and half looked like they were also above 50. We had a race.

The first checkpoint came at 62 miles, I filled my hydration pack my single bottle and pretty much the group left together. The pace seemed about right to me to complete the course in under 9 hours, one of my goals for the day. But this is where the games started. We picked up another group of seven and I swear the majority were over fifty - 154 total had registered for the event.

I think everyone had determined that more than half of the group were close to retirement and there was a lot of looking around and checking each other out - nothing wrong with that, I was doing the same. My observation was that the riding skills of the group was lacking - downhills everyone was braking and in corners I could literally make up five spots. I started to 'sag' the hills, let gaps open and always caught the group and overtook others on the following downhills and corners - this was my strategy until I dropped a chain. Just around 75 miles I dropped a chain on my trusty Kona Major Jake and had to jump off to replace. Strangely this was a decisive moment for I caught the group reasonably easily and determined I may be one of the strongest in the group. My confidence soared.

We continued as a group until an oasis supply stop at 96. We'd rolled through a couple of others yet on this occasion members of the group were quite vocal on stopping and refueling. I didn't need anything, I'd planned for the check point at mile 116 and others were now starting to crack. Again, perhaps I'm in a better place than I was expecting, my confidence was up again.

At mile 116 we came to check point 2 at a local farm. I'd filled up with four hours of fluid at the last stop and had 35 miles to go, I didn't need to stop and so I entered the check point mid-pack and kept on going - I didn't attack in a feed zone, I didn't have someone else grab water for me, I had just planned for two stops total for the day by carrying that hydration pack and a single bottle. As I exited the farm field turning left onto the gravel road I looked back. Behind me was one of the younger chaps, possibly one of the stronger of the group: I sat up and joined him.

I pulled across the valley floor and let him lead the climb. At the 'summit' I looked back to assess what happened behind us - there was one individual a hundred yards back and the group maybe a quarter mile or more behind. My partner expressed 'if they want to catch us, let them work for it'. We hunkered down with a manageable pace for the next two hours and shared the work. Within a couple of miles the individual caught and joined us. We dropped him shortly after, he'd burned all his matches.

With roughly twenty to go I had my brush with fame for the day as we picked up MTB Hall of Famer Nat Ross. Nat shared some of the work as his colleague sat in. I started to cramp in both legs with around ten miles to go and I let me initial colleague go on a climb. Everyone was hurting for soon I dispatched Nat and his friend and was on my own for really the first time all day. This was a rough time for me, I was struggling for a bit - mostly mentally. The heat and sugary food and drinks were starting to get too me. I was still catching others along the way who were in a worse place than I, but my pace had dropped and I was looking forward to the end and a large bottle of freezing cold water. At mile five to go, in a left turn on the top of a climb I looked back: a group of four or five in familiar kits were catching me!!!!

My temperament changed immediately. There's no way I'd worked for 30 miles to be caught. I saw images of breakaway riders in the tour being caught in the last hundred meters and that wasn't going to be me. As I was out of sight hidden by a corn field, I got in the drops and gave my all in the descent. The next climb I worked within myself but again gave it all on the descent and in the turns - areas were I thought I'd had an advantage earlier within the group.

Within the last mile on a particularly rough dirt farm road I passed the guy I wanted to ride with earlier that morning and as I rode by I noted I had one on my tail. My wife had ridden the 50k race, her first bike race earlier in the day and during the day prior on our pre-ride she'd asked to ride the finish. I'm glad she had because the upcoming corner was a fast and loose slight left turn, with four inch or so concrete chunks making the transition and filling holes into a field, down a big curb and into the finishing straight. I'd talked my wife through this spot and about floating over the transistion, being light on the bike and maintaining speed. I figured that anyone who hadn't seen it, would just slow up on the loose corner and over the concrete chunks, so I went faster, I'd either flat or gain a chunk of time. I didn't look back I went flat out until I crossed the finish line, beat the next guy by twelve seconds. Lesson learned: know the finish, even in a long event.

I fell to the group under a shade: I was cooked. Medical staff ran to my attention 'old man down, we have an old man down'. I just needed a moment and that freezing cold bottle of water. I was glad to be done. Ninety ninth of the 795 registered and fifteenth of those over fifty, which mostly met my goals for the day. I'd hoped to finish under nine hours but narrowly missed that. If anyone's interested I added a 11-36 cassette to my Kona Major Jake along with a 48 tooth single chainring and was perfect gearing. I rode 42mm tires on wheels with 25mm internal width at 28 and 30 PSI giving a plush but efficient ride.

A GREAT event and a big challenge. Try it, you may like it.