Race Report: Good Life Gravel Adventure/Gravel World Championships

The inaugural Gravel World Championships were just held last weekend (August 21st) in Lincoln, Nebraska in conjunction with the Pirate Cycling League's Good life Gravel Adventure. The event featured a loop course of approximately 150 miles and consisted of non-stop hills punctuated by several "Minimum Maintenance Roads" like the one in the image here.

The 96 official starters braved temperatures in the high 90's with heat indices well in excess of 100 degrees. This caused several in the event to succumb to an early end to the day, despite the courses three checkpoints and "Oasis" stops along the way, volunteered by local residents. These stops featured shade and refreshments, but between them the riders were on their own, self navigating by cue sheets provided by the event organizers. 

The Men's Overall was won by Mike Marchand, a previous winner of the Dirty Kanza 200, with a sub 9 hour time of 8:51. Second place went to Mark Savery@ 15 min, third place went to Ian Moore @ 28 min, fourth to Lance Andre @ 49 min, and fifth place went to Dale Pinkleman @ 58 min.

The Woman's Open went to Kelley Kostman with a time of 12:15 and the Single Speed women's winner and Woman's Overall winner was Janna Vavra @ 11:15

The Single Speed Men's class was taken by Chris Hansen @ 10:06.

There were also category winners for masters in Men's and Woman's categories as well. 

Full results and images can be accessed here: http://piratecyclingleague.blogspot.com/