Coast to Coast, LA to Chicago

Don't ask me why but Michigan has always been one of those bucket list states for me, no family there or any real reason other than I always thought it'd be a cool place to visit. I was not wrong. Late last year we decided to sign up for the Coast to Coast Gravel Grinder in Ludington, MI and take a week to travel up there and take in the sites along the way. Jackie had done the Coast to Coast in 2021 but due to navigational issues she got lost and missed the cutoff time at the checkpoint so never finished it, so there was a little bit of redemption for her in there also. It didn't take much, well zero really, convincing due to my strange affinity to the state.


Last week we packed up the tiny teardrop and off we went on our adventure up north to see what there was to see and do what there was to do in Michigan... oh yea, and do a little gravel racing as well.




Jackie does have family in Michigan so we did stop and spend the night there and visit for a bit. Growing up in both the Seattle area and in Montana, I'd say Michigan is Pacific NW meets Montana, except that's technically Idaho geographically but for the purposes of this story we will go with it. Depending on where in the state you are it really reminded me of both, closer to the shores of Lake Michigan and it had that Seattle vibe to it, minus the smell of salt water, further inland and it was heavily wooded and reminded me of my youth in Montana, minus the mountains of course because where we were Michigan was somewhat flat... "Nebraska flat".




One thing I wasn't expecting was all the sand, not just on the beaches either where you'd expect to find sand but everywhere the entire part of the state where we traveled seem to be one giant sand dune. Talk about a great calf work out, try walking a few miles in fluffy, unbinding sand and that'll get those baby cows mooing.




Friday night we pulled into the campground just outside of Ludington and on Saturday we made our way over to Sterns Park on the shores of Lake Michigan to toe the line for the 2023 Coast to Coast. I have to say the backdrop for this race did not suck, water, beaches and the quaint little coastal town wasn't the most horrible place to have a gravel race.


As we were in the chute waiting for the start of the race, Mike came over and introduced himself. Mike is from the Chicago area and a reader of the blog, he recognized us from here and decided to come over and say hi. I'm glad he came over and we had a nice chat and again later on in the race when we saw him again... to be honest though it was kind of surreal at the same time, I mean I guess you don't realize that people actually read these things... you just sort of put it out there in the ether and never really think about it. It was a pretty cool experience also and I'm glad we got to meet Mike, thanks for stopping over and saying hi!




Race started at 8 am and to be honest for us Nebraskans it was almost a little chilly to start with, luckily there was about 6 miles of pavement before we hit the gravel so a bit of time to get warmed up before the real fun began.





Gravel was mostly a mix of really hard packed almost pavement like sections to a fair amount of loose sand at the beginning so you really had to pay attention to changing road conditions or you'd get sucked into a sand trap. Corn seemed to be a pretty common farm commodity in the area but man was it still pretty diminutive compared to the almost 4 foot tall stocks we have here already. Maybe Michigan is where baby corn comes from.





The first three hours or 45ish miles we were cruising right along, probably averaging between 15-16 mph... then the horrible, sandy double track started rearing it's ugly head and things slowed down considerably. I knew it was coming because Jackie lamented about how bad it was the year she rode it and there had been rain the day before on that year so this year was bound to be worse, and it was. It was literally like trying to ride your bike on the beach is some sections, one stretch of this sand volleyball like substance was about three straight miles of slip sliding and walking with the bike. I was never so glad to see a real gravel road in my life after that section.




The chill of the costal morning had also given way to the heat of the day farther inland, that combined with the longer stretches of sand had taken their toll and even after returning to more normal gravel the pace never did get back up to what we saw prior to those sections. We were still clipping along decently but instead of 15-16 we probably slowed to a more party paced 10-12 mph. Jackie had a bit of a battle with nausia, likel caused by the heat, the more difficult sections we'd just survived and the smoke coming down from the fires in Canada and Minnesota. None of that helped but we managed to keep moving and pushed on toward the finish line.





We came back in the same way we went out so that last 6 miles was paved, not going all roadie or anything but after 90 miles of sand and gravel the pavement felt butter smooth and fast. We rolled into the end of the 102.3 miles with a 13.4 mph average finishing in 7 hours and 37 minutes of rolling time and were given a finisher sticker and stem cap. We shed our helmets and hydration packs and sought shade to sit down in and enjoy a cold chocolate milk. Unbeknowst to us, Jackie had taken 2nd in the women's single speed and I took third in the men's single speed category. We found out by scanning the QR code for results that was sitting near the announcers tent of all the ways to find out. Not a bad showing for some flat landers from the land of corn. Coast to Coast was a great event, well organized and while challenging at times due to sand it was a beautiful course, I'd do it again... as a matter of fact we may go back next year. If you're looking for an event outside the Midwest with a gorgeous back drop this might be one to consider on your calendar as well.

 

2023 Solstice Gravel Grind

It's been a bit of a busy week so the Solstice Gravel Grind recap is a wee bit late but as they say better late than never. This year Jackie, Doug and I entered the 100 mile Co-Ed Team relay... we were all supposed to be single speeding it, I think, but Doug opted for gears the week before so it was two single speeds and some gears for the race. There isn't a single speed category, yet, so it didn't really matter what bike you decided to ride, so there is that.



When we rolled out of Fairbury it was already raining and it chased us to Beatrice which caused a rain delay and pushed the start back by about an hour while it down-poured and the thunder and lightening rolled through. Because of this, and the fact I've already destroyed one camera in the rain, the camera stayed in the car that day so most of the recap will actually be in the video since GoPros are waterproof.


I took the first leg of the relay and surprisingly the roads, for the most part, weren't horrible. Sure they were soft and there was some mud but overall for it just raining they were in decent shape. I managed to get out to a pretty good start and was cruising along until just before Harbine when we rolled onto a 4 mile stretch of super soft road that really sucked the power and the average mph. As I rolled into Odell we were sitting in first place in the relay but the 2nd place team wasn't too far behind and their second person was a young kid who was fast.

Doug rolled into the second check point in 2nd place, the youngster passed us on course, and Jackie took off trying to catch up to the now first place teams second rider. She did eventually catch up and they swapped places back and forth but in the end gears and youth won out as the finish was a slightly downhill finish and the other team had gears and we did not. They ended up pulling out the victory by roughly 13 seconds. It was a great effort by everyone and it was a great race, maybe the race of the day and to be honest we would have been happy with third if it had worked out that way. Below are just a few random pictures from the day, one nice thing about doing the relay is it gave all of us time to hang out and talk to other riders at the checkpoints.




I think the tables have been set already for a potential rematch next year but that's a long way away yet so we will see how things play out.

 

I have no responsibilities here whatsoever

There was a time not too long ago when I rarely if ever rode with a group of people and most of my cycling was a solo effort with the occasional meetup with a friend or two. It wasn't that I necessarily liked riding alone but prior to about 2012 all the rides I seemed to be able to find were fast paced road rides and I was not fast paced or really a road cyclist but I gave a few of them a go. Then I found the Cycle Works ride through Wilderness Park and I had found my people, sure it was a brisk pace but there were plenty of regroups and lots of friendly faces. Around 2014 the original leader of the ride moved away and it was rumored that the ride might just go away, not wanting that to happen I asked about leading it and as they say the rest is history. Hard to believe that some version of that ride has been lead by me or one of my friends for almost 10 years now.




Gravel as been a great medium for cycling, the people who ride it are friendly and the sense of community is great. It has also lead to more fun group rides popping up in the area and we've been taking advantage of a few of those.





One we have been hitting up recently is the Tuesday night gravel or TuNG that is put on by the Big Blue Biking Club in Beatrice, Nebraska. This one meets at and ends at a brewery and so far has seen a group of people with similar riding pace so they have been a bit spirited but nothing too crazy. While no drop is a really nice type of ride to have, it's also fun occasionally to "show and go" so to speak but even this ride has regroups so it's the best of both worlds I suppose.. or the worst of both worlds depending on your take.





Another great one we've been frequenting as of late is the Backroads gravel ride out of Marysville, Kansas on Thursday nights when we can make it. Living sort or in between both towns it has been convenient making both when we don't have other responsibilities keeping us from riding. Rumor has it that this one is maybe switching to Wednesday nights to avoid conflicts with shop hours on Thursdays so we will see if that comes to fruition or not. Both are great rides with a fun crowd and as much as I love leading the ride in Lincoln on most Saturdays, it's been a lot of fun being able to just show up and ride without having any responsibilities whatsoever.

 

At 9,000 Feet, Nobody Can Hear You Scream

To say it's been a bit of a hectic few weeks would be an understatement, heck even the weeks leading up to the Lazy Horse were pretty hectic but since then it's been even more so. Gravel events and friends weddings have kept us pretty busy and things don't look to be settling down all that much in June either with both the Solstice and Coast to Coast coming up. To quote Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."




In an attempt to try to embrace those words, we loaded the 1120s on the back of the Jeep and headed out to the Winter Park area in Colorado for a few days of riding and relaxing.




They had really good snowfall amounts over the winter in the area so many of the creeks were flowing at or slightly above capacity, nothing flood level just yet but they were full for sure. Heck there was even still a little bit of the white stuff in the valley along some of the shaded paths and there was plenty still to be seen in higher elevations.



Day one of riding was just a casual ride up to the Winter Park ski resort on the gravel and paved paths. With the all but one ski run closed for the season the resort was pretty much a ghost town but as soon as Trestle opens for the mountain bike season it'll be back to it's normal crowds. It was kind of nice to roll through there and not have to duck and dodge people and the Fraser River Trail is a fantastic trail for sights and sounds. As is often the case, after a day of riding we finished up with a stop at Camber Brewing for a cold one. Camber is definitely our favorite spot for after ride refreshments but if you want to try something different there are probably half dozen or so other breweries in the Fraser/Winter Park area to wet your whistle.






Day two we got in a little single track, some new at "Phases" and some familiar just up the road from us. Phases was pretty fun but had a lot more climbing than the single track in the Fraser area. The 1120s did exceptionally well on the somewhat technical single track despite not being the best tool for the job, there were plenty of times during the weekend we wished we had the full squish bikes but we opted to bring only one bike each this time and the 1120s are great all around bikes. Of course with all that climbing and single track called for a cold refreshment, Fraser River Brewery got the nod on day two.





Took the following day off from the bike and got in a little hiking around the Grand Lake and Adams Falls area, also checked out the town of Grand Lake for a little change of pace.





The last full day there started out bright and early with a coffee and muffin stop at a new to us coffee shop in Winter Park and then about 14 miles of new single track before meeting up with Jackie's sister's family for lunch. This was some of the more technical single track we've encountered in the area and while the 1120s never complained we both were wanting for a little suspension again on this ride. It was also some of the bigger climbs of the weekend and we both were wishing we had less flatlander lungs on several of the climbs, 9,000 feet is no joke.




After lunch we got a wild idea to follow the Fraser River Trail the other direction to Grandby and back. On paper this sounded like a great idea, in reality it was still a great idea but it was a little more exhausting and intensive than I think we expected. FRT heading to Winter Park is a great trail of smooth gravel and pavement with gentle climbs and lots of shade. By contrast the trail heading to Grandby turns to single track and is rocky, technical in sections and has an adundance of climbing and it's 32 miles round trip. Probably should have scheduled that ride for a bit earlier in the week but we got it done and ended the week with a solid full day of riding.


The cherry on top of the day was a cold one from Camber Brewing while soaking away the aches in the hot tub.