Gravel Growler 2020

2020 Gravel Growler - Shawnee

The 2020 edition of the Gravel Growler was a blast. This year we headed south into some undulating terrain. It was a little cool at the start but warmed up significantly once we got going, well after the worlds longest and slowest neutral roll out. 

Freezing before the off...

I had been talking with one of my teammates and riding buddies before the race about how maybe we could ride together. Once we got going it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, she blew me away within the first two miles after the neutral start.... She went on to win the "old lady category" her words not mine with a smoking time 4:59:49. 

Bye Carin, you are at the front of that group.

After the fast groups had dropped me, I settled into my "race" pace. I was caught by a couple of teammates and we rolled along pretty well. After a stop to take off some layers we ended up riding at different paces and mostly that is how I rode the race, solo and unable to bridge up to draft people.

Out here doing my thing

The gravel was great

At the aid station around 43 miles in I caught back up to Zach. I was able to get in and out of the aid station pretty quickly and managed to get ahead of  Zach.  He caught back up to me and we rolled together for a little while before he dropped me again, he is riding really well at the moment. 

The miles were going by pretty quickly and there was almost no wind however the hills kept coming. 

more hills

and again

Empty roads

Before I knew it I was 80miles in and back in Shawnee.

Almost the finish, I caught the guy ahead of me. 

Another selfie, sure ok then. 

Results

I finished in 5hrs 20 min with no cramping and no significant loss of power, this is a huge improvement over last year at this race where I went out way to fast and blew up like a "champion"

24th place in my category

"Old people" category

Pro results

The Strava