A couple of weeks back we hitched up the wagon and headed west to Fraser for the Kowtown Gravel in Kremmling Colorado. We knew it was going to be a challenge since us flat landers aren't used to the rarified air that they have in the mountains. The elevation at the start was around 7300 ft and would climb up to around 9300 feet, most of that coming in a 6.5 mile climb that gained a pretty substantial 1930 feet of elevation. That's not even something you can train for here is Nebraska so we headed out a little early to get the lungs and the legs as ready as we could for Kowtown.
Since going to the condo in Fraser now for the last couple of years, I've noticed that elevation is a weird thing. Riding at elevation doesn't seem to be all that challenging, the climbing yes but the elevation itself not as much, but stairs are to be avoided at all costs. Especially if you have to do multiple flights, by the time you get to the top the wheezing and racing heart make you feel like you're 90 years old.
If you can get up and over the mountain, the views on this race are worth the price of admission alone. Just when I thought it couldn't get any more beautiful something popped up on the horizon to prove me wrong.
Pretty good group of us from Nebraska headed out and we were joined by Jackie's sister who lives in the Denver metro area. Not having the legs or lungs to be of any serious contention in the overall standings we all decided to ride it as a group and just enjoy the views and the day together and I think that was the right choice.
The event is only in it's second year and I'd recommend it for sure if you haven't done it yet but there were some growing pains. Probably the biggest of which was that they ran out of things that they shouldn't have run out of. Breakfast burritos were available in the morning but you were supposed to RSVP for them so they could get a count, those were gone before the long course even took off so the math on that was way. They still had two more distances following that group that got nada on the burrito front which didn't sit well with several people. They also ran out of the free beer at the end which I also thought was a poor showing since they had to know how many people there were in the event and that started. Some of the group was also underwhelmed by what they had to offer at the SAG stops, I'm not much of a SAG stop connoisseur so I didn't really notice but the main complaint was lack of variety and lack of much that was on the salty side rather than the sweet side. The finish was a bit of a let down also. Maybe that's because we are used to mid-west gravel where the finish line is like a party and dozens of people line the chute cheering you on... and the cowbell... not a single one could be heard. Also unlike mid-west gravel there were no patches, stickers, medals or anything of the sort for finishing. Those items are more what we are used to here in the mid-west than an actual requirement but it didn't go unnoticed by several in our group. Like I said, second year so always room to improve even with events that have been around a lot longer than that. The views can't be beat, I really enjoyed it, put it on your list and get those climbing legs in shape. You'll need them.
*Note*
I published the blog last night and thought about the critique of the event... are we becoming our own worst enemy? Number one complaint I hear lately about gravel events is the cost but isn't that because we've come to expect SAG stops and well stocked SAG stops, finisher patches, inflatable arches and all the fanfare? Sure gravel was free "back in the day" but in that day you were actually and factually self supported so there wasn't a cost to race directors. Have we, the 98% of the gravel field, let the roadie in us all get too whiny about the amenities we have come to expect at a gravel event? Maybe when asking why gravel is so expensive, the best person to ask is ourself.
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