Update! North O Rock Road Jackrabbit Hundy

More details have been listed and registration is open for the North O Roack Road Jackrabbit Hundy. The event is set to take place over gravel roads in the Omaha, Nebraska vicinity and will include a check point halfway into the course where drop bags will be allowed. Otherwise this is a self supported event with no event fee. You are responsible for yourself!

Check out the details on their site here. 

New Addition!: Colorado Crooked Roubaix

Colorado. Mountains. Backroads. Sounds like fun, eh? How about some Forest Service roads that are normally off limits to bicycles? Getting more interested? Then you might want to check out the first annual Colorado Crooked Roubaix.

Here's the press release in full.............

Wheat Ridge Cyclery Presents the 2010 Colorado Crooked Roubaix

A unique bicycle adventure tour comes to the high country of Grand County, CO

In the lore of cycling, one of the most difficult and demanding of all races is the Paris-Roubaix, an arduous 160-mile journey from Paris, France north to Roubaix.  The course features twenty-eight fearsome sections of cobblestoned pathways, the bane of many a professional cyclist.  An awesome sporting spectacle, the “Hell of The North” is the one day outside the Tour de France that the whole world watches cycling.

On September 11, 2010, Wheat Ridge Cyclery presents an altogether Colorado version of this legendary event:  The Colorado Crooked Roubaix.  Beginning and ending in Winter Park, the 90-mile route promises riders a truly challenging tour through some of the most majestic scenery in the state.  Featuring massive stands of aspen that will likely be autumn-tinged, rushing streams, mountain lakes, alpine vistas and 10,000-feet elevations, all enjoyed from a challenging and technically demanding course, this mostly dirt road route is sure to produce smiles.

Road bikes on dirt? Yes!  For a century, the grand tours of Europe have been raced on sections of dirt roads.  Many of the famed passes in the Tour de France weren’t paved until well after World War II, and this year’s edition of the Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) featured dirt roads.

Wheat Ridge Cyclery’s President, Ron Kiefel, raced Paris-Roubaix three times in addition to his seven Tour de France appearances.  He has logged many thousands of miles with skinny tires on dirt roads, and is regarded as one cycling’s greatest bike handlers.  “During my many years of training, our 7-Eleven team would venture onto the dirt roads above Boulder for the adventure of it.  It was fun to be off the beaten path and improve our bicycle handling skills along the way.”

Technical Director of the Colorado Crooked Roubaix is Paul Balaguer who brings his 22 years of experience in planning Ride the Rockies to designing a unique route that promises riders a mix of 65 percent unpaved surface and 35 percent paved county roads.

“This is going to be a great ride,” said Balaguer.  “There’s really something for everyone – great climbs and descents, as well as stunning scenery.  I have a hunch that a lot of our riders will be seeing most of this terrain for the first time.”

Colorado Crooked Roubaix sponsors include Winter Park & Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce, Specialized Bicycles and Winter Park Resort.

“Winter Park and the Fraser Valley welcomes this unique opportunity for cyclists to experience our valley and all of Grand County,” said Catherine Ross, executive director of the Winter Park-Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce.  “The Crooked Roubaix is a perfect challenge to showcase the various terrain in the area.  Our community plans to make this an unforgettable experience for all.”

Specialized, whose Roubaix model of bicycle was designed specifically for racing on the cobbles of northern France, will provide a limited number of 2011 Roubaix model bicycles for selected riders to ride in this event.

New Addition! Rawland Fall Gravel Tour

I was informed yesterday that the annual Rawland Fall Gravel Tour is set for October 3rd, 2010. This is a south central Minnesota event that is put on by the fine folks at Rawland.


Here is the flyer with the e-mail address for questions!

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/

New Addition!: 3rd Annual Oceana Cross-Country OXC

We were e-mailed the following information regarding an event in Michigan. Not a race, but a fun ride with a post ride cook out. Sounds like good times on gravel roads to me! Check it out.

 

 

 Announcing the 3rd Annual OXC (Oceana Cross-County) in Montague, MI., 10/10/10 at 10am

This is a continuation of a very popular gravel road and 2 track MTB tour across scenic Oceana County's rolling and scenic country roads. Course is a 33 mile route with only 3/4 miles of pavement! Course is an out and back totaling 66 miles (total pavement 1.5 miles!) Cross bikes and fat tires are exclusively recommended, possibly favoring fat tires due to a 5 mile fairly sandy section, called Sand Rd. This event is not a race.

There is no required fee but all donations will be used to fund the post ride cookout. October is the perfect time for this ride!

Contact Bryan Myers at northsider102@live.com or at "Owasippe Trail Users" group page on Face Book. 

 

 

Race Discussion: September Events

September is almost upon us and the fall season for gravel grinding along with it. Just because summer is almost over doesn't mean you have to hang up the gravel rig!

FrankenBike 50: On September 5th, the FrankenBike 50 will be set to take off at high noon. It will be a mixed terrain type ride with a little bit of pavement, some gravel, dirt road, and even a bit of single track ion the planned 50 mile route. This is a Southern Ohio event, so all those around the Columbus area should be looking into this.


Colesburg 40: This is arguably Iowa's oldest organized gravel race. This year's event is to be held on Labor Day Monday, September 6th. The Colesburg 40 is a serious racing event with cash payouts and classes. Check the flyer here for more info and check out the challenging gravel roads around Colesburg, Iowa.

The Oregon Stampede: From a handful of intrepid back road riders to an organized event with a name and a roster boasting some of the best gravel road aficionados anywhere, the Oregon Stampede has become quite a big event. Boasting a tough course of 123 miles, this event will happen on September 11th in, (duh!), Oregon!

Although the event has been capped off as far as the number of participants, the organizers are going to plan "two or three of these types of races next year". We'll be hopefully in the loop to put out the news here on Gravel Grinder News.

The Gentleman's Ride: Up in Minnesota on September 25th, there will be an unusual ride consisting of teams but low key called "The Gentleman's Ride". You'll have to go to the link to see how to qualify for entry, but suffice it to say that if you know one of the 400 or so riders that did the Almanzo 100, you've got a good chance of getting into this. Check it out here.

That's a wrap on the September scene. Remember, if you have info on any organized gravel or back road race, ride, or other bicycling event, let us know here at Gravel Grinder News by hitting the e-mail link at the right margin. Thanks.

Trans America Trail: The New Tour Divide?

I was tipped off to a network of back roads, trails, farm roads, and gravel roads that have been linked together to form a cross country trek for motorcyclists called the "Trans-America Trail" This was the brainchild of Sam Correro, who thought it would be a great adventure to go cross country using as little pavement as possible on dual-sport motorcycles.

The trail is set up to be navigated from East to West and there are "roll charts" already set up for purchase of the entire route. Much like the Great Divide Trail, there are sections where the trail runs on paved road, but for the most part, this is gravel and worse across the U.S.A. from Tennessee to Oregon. The route was  conceptualized to start at the East Coast, but for now is approximately 4800 miles as is.

There is also a north-south route and an out and back loop in Mississippi listed on the site.

Checking out the info available on the site,I only see that some of the water crossings might be an issue for adventurous cyclists, but if you think you can do the Tour Divide, then this could be the ultimate next step on bicycles. Self supported, a full length, coast to coast "Trans-America By Bicycle" could eventually be nearly twice as long as Tour Divide. Think of the adventures that would entail!

Even if doing a straight through race on this trail doesn't sound appealing, the route may provide the basis for more "trans-type" cycling events like Trans Wisconsin, which itself grew out of a motorized adventure route.

New Addition! Halcyon Holiday Gravel Grinder

Kansas is kicking it in December with a winter time gravel grinder to keep you motivated and outside cycling. This one will roll out of Lawrence, Kansas and will be a big loop course of approximately 73 miles. Here's some info from the MTB-KC blog on the ride:

"Route is 73 miles with lots of gravel roads and some pavement through towns. The first 6-ish miles will be on multi-use trail south of Lawrence and go across the Clinton Lake dam before getting into some nasty rolling gravel going south to Ottawa."

This event will be rolling on December 18th, 2010. For more details see the post on the ride here from the KC-MTB site. 


Editor's Note: This is another great event submitted through the e-mail link in the right margin of the Gravel grinder News site here. Keep the info coming in by submitting your event as well. This site is for gravel grinder freaks like you, and is kept running by rider/promoter submissions. Thanks!

New Addition! Colesburg 40

The Colesburg 40: This event has been going on for a long time, and it is a tough one to boot. Often used as a test of fitness for Chequamegon 40 riders, the Coleburg event runs some roads that I have used in Trans Iowas and on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational.

This year's event is on Labor Day Monday, September 6th, and takes place in and out from the tiny little town of Colesburg, Iowa. You can check out more details here. (Also, the race flier, shown here is clickable and has all the pertinent info.)

Special Announcement! 87K Gravel Road Race Benefit

Here's a special announcement from Dave Mable who publishes Iowa Momentum magazine, a publication about endurance sports in Iowa. A friend of cycling and well known XC mountain bike racer and race promoter, Bruce Brown, suffered damage to his home in a recent tornado, and a guest staying with him at the time was seriously injured. This event has been announced to benefit Bruce and the girl who was hurt. I'll let Dave's press release fill you in with the details:

Des Moines, IA: August 4th, 2010: Hey folks - you may or may not have heard, but the Mullet Classic has been postponed to October (TBD) due to the tornado that ripped through Indianola  - Bruce Brown, event organizer, had his house ripped open and a guest was  badly injured in the twister.

I'd like to host a low-key-big-turnout gravel ride/race/randonee' that day. It'll be free, but we'll be taking donations for Bruce and the girl that was  hurt. She's still in the hospital and only recently has been able to move  her feet or fingers at all - she's got a long road ahead - and this is our  chance to help - All money raised will be given to her and Bruce.

Here's the scoop as it stands now:
87K Gravel Road Race
Sunday August 15, 7:00A.M.
(so those of us that have to get home and mow will have the afternoon to
make our families happy... and it gets hot in August)

Start at the corner of 60th and George Mills Parkway -(West Des Moines)

Self Supported, wear a helmet
Obey traffic rules, all roads are open to traffic and intersections are not
marshaled.
Route will be available online and printed maps will be available at the
race - no course markings.
We'll put some fun prizing together and meet somewhere afterward for brews
and chews -

More details as they develop on www.momentumiowa.blogspot.com

 
Peace - Dave
Dave Mable, Editor

To get your name on the start list, e-mail Dave Mable here. 

Let's Get Out And Support This!