Race Thread

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Low Gap tomorrow. I'm here and in marginally enough shape to do the ride. Sharp ups, so I hope my back doen't give me problems. My wife is mentoring the fastest HS girl here, so they are pushing for her to win.

Stetina the biggest Pro name here, but some really good riders. Should be fun.

 

[stonerider]

Low Gap tomorrow. I'm here and in marginally enough shape to do the ride. Sharp ups, so I hope my back doen't give me problems. My wife is mentoring the fastest HS girl here, so they are pushing for her to win.

Stetina the biggest Pro name here, but some really good riders. Should be fun.

Give us a race report! Good luck.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Give us a race report! Good luck.

Stetina won in a sprint. Coutney won by several miles. I pulled the ripcord after the first climb and rode back to the start, as the pain in my back was not better, and I had no desire to ride for 5 hours with that much pain. My wife's mentee (They pair high school girls with pros and other people who are talented racers - my wife wins or gets a podium in here age group, at every race...until today), won the HS race...but my wife flatted and couldn't plug, and didn't bring a tube that worked with a 50mm rim (glad she did it today, and not at Unbound. Lesson learned), so she had to wait for an hour and fifteen minutes until someone arrived with a tube that worked, so no placing gor her. All in all a great weekend, because Ukiah is really pretty this time of year.

 

[jono]

Her rim is 50mm wide? Didn't realize that was a thing.

Anyway, nice report! Didn't know Stetina could sprint.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Her rim is 50mm wide? Didn't realize that was a thing.

Anyway, nice report! Didn't know Stetina could sprint.

No, 50mm deep. She needed a tube with a long valve stem or an extender, and she had neither.

I'm not sure I'd call him a sprinter, but it was more that he was the highest level pro there, and played the sprint well.

 

[Bolder]

Romain Bardet wins first gravel race, Montsterrando UCI.

Guess that road fitness is still there! He's always been good at hard races in bad conditions so he could do quite well in gravel.

 

[Captain Sensible]

British gravel title won by reign champion Connor Swift with his cousin and team mate Ben 2nd .

 

[Wyndbrook]

Womens race won by Lizzy Hermolle with descending skills that even Sarah Gigante would call awful.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Better to learn that lesson at Low Gap than in the middle of the Unbound flint hills where support is miles away

Doing it again, next Sunday. Glad they changed the course this year, and stopped using that initial road climb. That climb would be fine, if it were 10 miles in, instead of heading straight the **** up, a mile after the start.

PS: Yeah, she learned her lesson...and Unbound went really well for her. This year, she's shooting for 12 hours. I'm hoping to be finished by midnight.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Low Gap change in course was a great change! It was cold AF, though. I was freezing the entire time, and I had decent clothing on. The coastal mountains are just like that. Misty and frigid in winter. really beautiful course though.

 

[JR1012]

Wörthersee Gravel 2026 | UCI Grave World Series | Elite Men Race POV

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4pu128NjY


This POV shows you how hard it is to fight for position if you are not at the front.
Unfortunately the camera shut off after around 90 minutes, so this isn’t the full race.

 

[jono]

Interesting happenings in the Canadian gravel championships this past week. Michael Woods had a 1 minute lead over Ben Perry and Andrew l'Esperance (pretty good gravel specialists) going over the final climb with 35km to go... when the race was called off due to excessive heat.

Another one for the growing list of race organizing decisions where the interests of amateurs and top professionals are not aligned. Some elites did finish the race, but as of right now the results have been annulled (currently under review).

Quite the mess.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Interesting happenings in the Canadian gravel championships this past week. Michael Woods had a 1 minute lead over Ben Perry and Andrew l'Esperance (pretty good gravel specialists) going over the final climb with 35km to go... when the race was called off due to excessive heat.

Another one for the growing list of race organizing decisions where the interests of amateurs and top professionals are not aligned. Some elites did finish the race, but as of right now the results have been annulled (currently under review).

Quite the mess.

Yeah, that's not good. What was the temp?

 

[jono]

Yeah, that's not good. What was the temp?

Race director is quoted saying "mid 30s Celsius".

In Woods' substack he explains that riders were going to aid stations with heat exhaustion, that they were running or had run out of water, and the medical support resources were used up.

https://michaelrwoods.substack.com/p/no-medal (lengthy, but worth reading even if you skip to the race content in the second half)

Tough call for the race organizer. I think it would be good (and cool!) if Woods were awarded the jersey, but I have a hard time seeing a way to that outcome.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Race director is quoted saying "mid 30s Celsius".

In Woods' substack he explains that riders were going to aid stations with heat exhaustion, that they were running or had run out of water, and the medical support resources were used up.

https://michaelrwoods.substack.com/p/no-medal (lengthy, but worth reading even if you skip to the race content in the second half)

Tough call for the race organizer. I think it would be good (and cool!) if Woods were awarded the jersey, but I have a hard time seeing a way to that outcome.

Great substack! "In gravel, I believe, there is an understanding that you signed up for this." Yep