Old Man Winter and the Search for the Holy Gravel

Winter can be a hard time to get motivated to venture outdoors for a bicycle ride, let alone a hundred kilometer race.  Feeling like you have just recovered from the post holiday hangover, and faced with challenges such as freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and limited daylight are all motivation sponges for sure.  Add in alternative options like skiing and zwifting, and it can be a hard sell to want to ride outside.  Fortunately events like the Old Man Winter Rally exist to get us off the couch, out of our comfort zone, onto the saddle and into the cold!

Started in 2015, the Old Man Winter Rally has a variety of options to choose from, including a 10k run, a 50K or 100K Wide Tires Beach Bike race, and a run/bike combo event.  Being a sucker for suffering, I signed up for the 100K 26 Inch Folding Mountain Bike race, which is about 63 miles, and features just over 5,000 feet of elevation gain.  The morning of the race was cold and clear, and the initial roll out of 305 participants was fast.  Most people were riding some configuration of all-road or gravel bikes, but there were definitely quite a few mountain bikes as well.  I chose to ride my custom Atlas, which has clearance for 33mm tires, pretty much a road racing Double Disc Brakes Road Bike, with disc brakes and clearance for knobby tires.  I elected to run a pair of 45North Xerxes 30mm studded tires, that feature some decent tread.  Not the fastest rolling tires, but I felt the combination of the  medium tread and studs would get me through the worst sections with the rubber side down.

The race quickly left the pavement about 5 miles in, and this gravel was a lovely combination of hard packed snow, ice, and, at least for me hanging on to the rear of the front group, quickly getting muddy from the warming temps and many tires.

A few people wiped out in corners and lost bottles in the washboard sections, making everyone nervous, cautious, and excited.  The course soon hit a few small hills, and spread everyone out, which was a bit of a relief.  I saw a few other riders on Alchemy's, and tried to strike up a quick conversation before getting dropped.

Follow along the Alchemy Journal with us as our search for the Holy Gravel continues, including some special one off custom race bikes that will be coming soon!