So Rapaha put on a gravel ride out in Stockton, IL (close to the Iowa border)….needing some long gravel miles (and more importantly, hills) I drove out for it. Plan was to simply work on my pacing and nutrition and not “race” (even though it WS technically not a race, we all know it would be🤪)

Best laid plans and all that….4 miles in we come down into a gulley to what was clearly gonna be stream crossing. They had warned us that there was a section of babyhead gravel and I knew this was gonna be it….I back off to give myself room and sure enough, it was carnage. Guys hitting the deck, flats all over, etc. one woman had to go to the ER for stitches.

I get through it unscathed, give it a little gas up out the gulley to close the gaps that had opened and we are then just riding easy, waiting for everyone to get back on….one guy I ride with was there but the buddy he came out with ride up and said he had a flat, so they stopped. Next thing you know, there are only 5 of us at the front with a huge gap….we’ll schitt. I did NOT want to be there!! But I kinda had no choice so off we went. Just told them to roll steady, not kill it and if anyone catches back on, they catch back on.

So we are rolling pretty steady, but I can tell these guys have more watts on the climbs than I do….sure enough, an hour into the ride (73 miles total) I get dispatched on a road climb with a pretty steep beginning.

Now it is windy AF (20mph winds) and I am stuck in no man’s land with 55 miles in front of me. Rather than just revert to my original plan to proper pacing, I tried to keep it rolling at a decent pace. Big mistake. Really suffered from about mile 25-40. One guy passes me before the water stop at mile 35 and there was no chance I was getting on his wheel…he was riding really strong. A few more guys ride past the water stop while I am there, as well.

Get going again and start to feel a bit better after a few more miles and a short tailwind section. Pick off most of the guys who passed me at the water stop….but damn the wind just wouldn’t stop. Was pretty much a head or crosswind the entire day. Between that and the climbs it just wore me down.

Go though a town at mile 50…shoulda stopped for a coke, but I pushed on. Paid for it in the last 10 miles or so, but I had a big enough gap on those behind me that no one caught me.

Long day…73 miles, 5600 feet of climbing, 50/50 gravel-asphalt. But a really fun ride and nice to get some actual hills in. The Climber feature on the Hammerhead computer is pretty cool….

Now need to work on some VO2 max efforts and drop a few more lbs…I have about 4 lbs that I just can’t get rid of and I felt it yesterday.

Next up is a 100 mile gravel ride outside of Indianapolis in about 3 weeks…more climbing ahead!!