On this very blog I have blabbed about my dislike for gravel races/rides becoming like road races. Well yesterday at the Westside Dirty Benjamin it was just that and I loved it! So yeah, I'm a hypocrite.
Brian, Jim, Tom, and I left the Cloud just shy of 6 am for Chaska and the start of the Dirty Benjamin, 107 miles of gravel. We arrived, checked in, changed, peed, lined up, and were off...perfect.
The first few miles were on pavement and was somewhat of a neutral roll out. Not too much jockeying of position, which was good since it was a bit more crowded this year. Once the gravel hit the pace amped up a bit but nothing serious. Some fast sections, some downhills, an uphill and the lead group was defined at around 30. The pace was pretty good now. I'd find myself up front for a bit, pull off to rest, and bam I was at the back digging to get back on. It was somewhat hard to hold a solid line. The gravel was soft in many places, causing you to "spin" out and lose all momentum. When this would happen later on in the race, it would take everything I had to catch back up.
Having the pace pretty mellow for awhile Dave, a new Revo Master's Rider, and I rotated through at the front with the help from Hurl. Eventually Jim drilled it off the front and it was on. This widdled the group down to 10 of us.
We, the Revo crew, had 4 of us in the break! This was the first time I was able to ride a race with some of the new riders on our team. It was a blast riding with them. The pace stayed solid but not eye bleeding fast. Once again Jim was off the front. We let him go and sat in on the others while they worked to chase him down. I think I could get use to this "tactic" thing!
Jim came back to the group and we rolled into the checkpoint together. A bit of confusion ensued regarding if it was the checkpoint or not. It was, bottles dropped and new ones grabbed. Jesse R. was the first on the make shift trail through the woods. It was awesome, nice addition! I was on his wheel and it was just us. The rest of the group was off a bit and we seemed to have a pretty descent gap.
At first I didn't know if I wanted to make the break stick so I sat on Jesse's wheel more than he did on mine. Actually Jesse pulled for what seemed to be most of the day...strong rider. I decided it was a good move so I started to do more work. When I saw Jim was close to bridging the gap I sat up a bit. With Jim on we started pounding again. Confusion with the directions had us stopped and again we the group was together.
Sometime later, while the group was cruising I rode off the front. Seeing I had a gap I thought what the hell and started to push the pedals harder. The course became a bit hillier with some turns, so I thought if I could get out of site I would be out of mind. Another new section brought us through a field. It was slow going for me but I was still out front but the gap was smaller. I turned on to the next road but was called back for taking a wrong turn. Turns out I didn't and we were back together again.
Miles 100-104 were the hardest for me. Jim was off the front and the three non Revo riders were trying to pull him in. I was struggling to hold on. The wind and loose conditions had me going into the red. I let my brain win and I sat up and let them ride away. This is the one regret that I have from the race. It took a few minutes and I recomposed myself and started to amp the speed up a bit. I was now with Dave and Ted. We rotated through at a moderate pace. Great guys to ride with. I felt pretty good so got on the front and rode there most of the way till the finish. We weren't going fast enough to catch the lead riders but we did pick up B.K. who apparently still is figuring out how much water to bring on gravel rides! About 50 yards to the finish B.K. pulled around but was countered by Dave and Ted, nice!
I ended up with 6th, a position I tend to get a lot! A great ride. Jim took the wind and scored an awesome set of Hed Ardenne's! We ended with a bit more than 110 miles and averaged 19mph.
Thanks to the promoters and volunteers.
I rode a few hours today to spin the legs. I noticed during the race yesterday that my right shift/brake lever was lower than the left. Today it started to bug me. Once home I unwrapped my bars and discovered my handlebars were snapped! WTF, I haven't even crashed on this bike. Glad they help through the race yesterday!
Good weekend of riding.
Later.
Brian, Jim, Tom, and I left the Cloud just shy of 6 am for Chaska and the start of the Dirty Benjamin, 107 miles of gravel. We arrived, checked in, changed, peed, lined up, and were off...perfect.
The first few miles were on pavement and was somewhat of a neutral roll out. Not too much jockeying of position, which was good since it was a bit more crowded this year. Once the gravel hit the pace amped up a bit but nothing serious. Some fast sections, some downhills, an uphill and the lead group was defined at around 30. The pace was pretty good now. I'd find myself up front for a bit, pull off to rest, and bam I was at the back digging to get back on. It was somewhat hard to hold a solid line. The gravel was soft in many places, causing you to "spin" out and lose all momentum. When this would happen later on in the race, it would take everything I had to catch back up.
Having the pace pretty mellow for awhile Dave, a new Revo Master's Rider, and I rotated through at the front with the help from Hurl. Eventually Jim drilled it off the front and it was on. This widdled the group down to 10 of us.
We, the Revo crew, had 4 of us in the break! This was the first time I was able to ride a race with some of the new riders on our team. It was a blast riding with them. The pace stayed solid but not eye bleeding fast. Once again Jim was off the front. We let him go and sat in on the others while they worked to chase him down. I think I could get use to this "tactic" thing!
Jim came back to the group and we rolled into the checkpoint together. A bit of confusion ensued regarding if it was the checkpoint or not. It was, bottles dropped and new ones grabbed. Jesse R. was the first on the make shift trail through the woods. It was awesome, nice addition! I was on his wheel and it was just us. The rest of the group was off a bit and we seemed to have a pretty descent gap.
At first I didn't know if I wanted to make the break stick so I sat on Jesse's wheel more than he did on mine. Actually Jesse pulled for what seemed to be most of the day...strong rider. I decided it was a good move so I started to do more work. When I saw Jim was close to bridging the gap I sat up a bit. With Jim on we started pounding again. Confusion with the directions had us stopped and again we the group was together.
Sometime later, while the group was cruising I rode off the front. Seeing I had a gap I thought what the hell and started to push the pedals harder. The course became a bit hillier with some turns, so I thought if I could get out of site I would be out of mind. Another new section brought us through a field. It was slow going for me but I was still out front but the gap was smaller. I turned on to the next road but was called back for taking a wrong turn. Turns out I didn't and we were back together again.
Miles 100-104 were the hardest for me. Jim was off the front and the three non Revo riders were trying to pull him in. I was struggling to hold on. The wind and loose conditions had me going into the red. I let my brain win and I sat up and let them ride away. This is the one regret that I have from the race. It took a few minutes and I recomposed myself and started to amp the speed up a bit. I was now with Dave and Ted. We rotated through at a moderate pace. Great guys to ride with. I felt pretty good so got on the front and rode there most of the way till the finish. We weren't going fast enough to catch the lead riders but we did pick up B.K. who apparently still is figuring out how much water to bring on gravel rides! About 50 yards to the finish B.K. pulled around but was countered by Dave and Ted, nice!
I ended up with 6th, a position I tend to get a lot! A great ride. Jim took the wind and scored an awesome set of Hed Ardenne's! We ended with a bit more than 110 miles and averaged 19mph.
Thanks to the promoters and volunteers.
I rode a few hours today to spin the legs. I noticed during the race yesterday that my right shift/brake lever was lower than the left. Today it started to bug me. Once home I unwrapped my bars and discovered my handlebars were snapped! WTF, I haven't even crashed on this bike. Glad they help through the race yesterday!
Good weekend of riding.
Later.
1 comment:
You don't need to crash to break bars when you're as strong as the Yeti! well done sir.
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