Before signing up for St. George this year I had previously signed up for the Chino Grinder. A 108 mile gravel ride through Chino Valley. I love these back road rides and thought it would be a blast to ride my mountain bike on the course. Looks like being swayed to St. George was the better way to go! My friend Colleen Venti was nice enough to give me her race report so my athletes and I can learn from her experiences. Colleen is an incredibly strong cyclist. She can give even the strongest mens cyclist a run for their money. This type of cycling however is not usually her thing. Based on her report it might be worth the investment of a gravel bike if I ever plan on doing this ride in the future! She would like me to add that the event was well organized and the bike support was top notch! Check out her report...
Chino Grinder- this kind of riding is new to me. I love
mountain biking on trails and enjoy road riding (on a road bike), but gravel
grinder courses consist of dirt roads, gravel roads, and some paved sections.
For this one the route goes from Chino Valley, AZ- elevation 4,600 and heads
north to Williams, AZ- elevation 7,545. At 22-miles into the route you are at
the lowest point, about 3,800 ft. So, it's up, down, up, on the way out. Total
climbing according to my Garmin was 8,734. It was supposed to be 108 miles, but
was 110.1. About 90% of the people riding (at least those doing the full 110
miles) do it on specific gravel or cross bikes which have drop bars just like a
road bike, but tires that look like something that would be on a hybrid bike-
thinner and less knobby than mt bike tires. I own a road bike, a tri bike, and
a mt bike, more than my garage can already fit- I never plan to do a race like
this again and could not even justify modifying my road bike or buying
different tires for my mt bike, so....mt bike with full knobby tires was my
choice. My friend Keisa, who I did all the training with, was doing it with me,
or so I thought… The race started at 7:30- at 7:10 she pumped up her tires and
the seal on her tubeless tire separated and all the air leaked out. She headed
over to bike support to get help, but they couldn't get it to seal, so she put
a tube in it and finally at 7:43- 13 min after everyone else started, we were
on our way. That part kind of sucked, we were on our own and the wind had already
started, so we had no group with us to help block it. Then, 10 miles into the
ride her tire blew, it sounded like a shot gun. The side wall had a slash in it
and after a few minutes of us evaluating the situation, we realized there was
nothing she could do to fix it. She had to call it a day and told me to go on.
Luckily this happened right near a support vehicle so she could get a ride
back. There are several distance options for this event- there's a 44 miler-
you go out 22 and turn back and there's a 54 miler (really 55)- where you go to
the top then get a ride back. I really didn't want to do 108 (110 I would soon
find out) on my own, so I told her I'd most likely go to 22 and turn back. She
and I chat non-stop on these long rides, making them go by so much faster, so
the thought of talking to myself for 100 more miles was not appealing. There
was not another rider in sight, so it was just me and the long dusty road. I
got to the 22 mile turn around and was feeling good and wasn't ready to head back,
so I decided to get to the 55 mile turn around and re-evaluate at that point. I
was taking a gel and electrolytes every hour, and filled up my camelback at
mile 33 where they had an aid station. My legs were feeling pretty shot by mile
50, but I was so close to the top that I decided to keep going (really, where
the hell else was I going to go??). The last 2 miles are the steepest and hurt!
I got to the turn around, heard some volunteers and other racers saying that a
lot of people were calling it a day and getting a ride back down because the
wind was so bad. I thought long and hard about doing the same, I just really
wasn’t having fun. After telling my brain to shut up, I grabbed more gels from
the aid station, filled my camelback up with water, used the men’s bathroom
(women’s was out of order), jammed an Uncrustables down my throat, and jumped
back on my bike thinking that it's mostly downhill and won't be that bad. HA!
The wind coming back was insane, 30mph with gusts up to 50. Never knew what
that felt like before, but it was an effort to stay on the road and my
neck/shoulder/back were getting sore because I was so tense going down. About
10 miles into the descent a guy I know (Joe) caught up with me and we decided
to ride together- I got behind and drafted him on the descents (or tried to,
the wind seemed to be coming from several directions at once), and he got
behind me and tried to do the same on some of the climbs. He told me this was
his 3rd time doing this event, the first two times he didn't finish. Once he
told me that I was determined to finish and get him to do the same. Also, it
was nice to have someone to ride with and not have to talk to myself anymore!
At about mile 80 I could no longer see out of my left eye at all, and the right
wasn't must better, I wear contact lenses and they were so dried up from the
wind. On a whim I decided to toss a fresh pair in my jersey, so at an aid
station at mile 87 I stopped and changed my lenses. I had to go into a camper
to do this, otherwise the lenses would have blown away. It was so nice to be
able to see again!! The climb out was tough, it started at mile 88 and ended at
mile 99. The last 11 miles are pretty much flat/downhill, and ideally should be
an easy ride back, but not with a 30 mph head/cross wind and 50 mph gusts. It
was almost comical. The gravel/dirt ended at mile 107 and the last 3 were on
roughly paved road. Right when we hit the paved part we saw a bike on the
ground on the right side of the road, and a guy laying on the left side- the bike
support van was with him already. We stopped and they told us an ambulance had
been called. The guy was literally blown off his bike and across the road. OMG
(later heard he was ok, stitches and road rash were the worst of it). So- the
one and only advantage of doing this kind of ride on a mountain bike- they are
heavier and don’t get blown around as easily, haha. We made the final turn into
a full-on headwind and just laughed, it was so ridiculous. I crossed the finish
where Mark and the kids were there waiting for me. While I spent the day on the
bike they had slept in, had breakfast, went for a hike, had lunch, went to see
Guardians of the Galaxy, went out for ice cream, and still got to the finish an
hour before I did.
 |
They decided they earned a spot on the podium regardless
of what place they finished :) |
Chino Grinder- this kind of riding is new to me. I love
mountain biking on trails and enjoy road riding (on a road bike), but gravel
grinder courses consist of dirt roads, gravel roads, and some paved sections.
For this one the route goes from Chino Valley, AZ- elevation 4,600 and heads
north to Williams, AZ- elevation 7,545. At 22-miles into the route you are at
the lowest point, about 3,800 ft. So, it's up, down, up, on the way out. Total
climbing according to my Garmin was 8,734. It was supposed to be 108 miles, but
was 110.1. About 90% of the people riding (at least those doing the full 110
miles) do it on specific gravel or cross bikes which have drop bars just like a
road bike, but tires that look like something that would be on a hybrid bike-
thinner and less knobby than mt bike tires. I own a road bike, a tri bike, and
a mt bike, more than my garage can already fit- I never plan to do a race like
this again and could not even justify modifying my road bike or buying
different tires for my mt bike, so....mt bike with full knobby tires was my
choice. My friend Keisa, who I did all the training with, was doing it with me,
or so I thought… The race started at 7:30- at 7:10 she pumped up her tires and
the seal on her tubeless tire separated and all the air leaked out. She headed
over to bike support to get help, but they couldn't get it to seal, so she put
a tube in it and finally at 7:43- 13 min after everyone else started, we were
on our way. That part kind of sucked, we were on our own and the wind had already
started, so we had no group with us to help block it. Then, 10 miles into the
ride her tire blew, it sounded like a shot gun. The side wall had a slash in it
and after a few minutes of us evaluating the situation, we realized there was
nothing she could do to fix it. She had to call it a day and told me to go on.
Luckily this happened right near a support vehicle so she could get a ride
back. There are several distance options for this event- there's a 44 miler-
you go out 22 and turn back and there's a 54 miler (really 55)- where you go to
the top then get a ride back. I really didn't want to do 108 (110 I would soon
find out) on my own, so I told her I'd most likely go to 22 and turn back. She
and I chat non-stop on these long rides, making them go by so much faster, so
the thought of talking to myself for 100 more miles was not appealing. There
was not another rider in sight, so it was just me and the long dusty road. I
got to the 22 mile turn around and was feeling good and wasn't ready to head back,
so I decided to get to the 55 mile turn around and re-evaluate at that point. I
was taking a gel and electrolytes every hour, and filled up my camelback at
mile 33 where they had an aid station. My legs were feeling pretty shot by mile
50, but I was so close to the top that I decided to keep going (really, where
the hell else was I going to go??). The last 2 miles are the steepest and hurt!
I got to the turn around, heard some volunteers and other racers saying that a
lot of people were calling it a day and getting a ride back down because the
wind was so bad. I thought long and hard about doing the same, I just really
wasn’t having fun. After telling my brain to shut up, I grabbed more gels from
the aid station, filled my camelback up with water, used the men’s bathroom
(women’s was out of order), jammed an Uncrustables down my throat, and jumped
back on my bike thinking that it's mostly downhill and won't be that bad. HA!
The wind coming back was insane, 30mph with gusts up to 50. Never knew what
that felt like before, but it was an effort to stay on the road and my
neck/shoulder/back were getting sore because I was so tense going down. About
10 miles into the descent a guy I know (Joe) caught up with me and we decided
to ride together- I got behind and drafted him on the descents (or tried to,
the wind seemed to be coming from several directions at once), and he got
behind me and tried to do the same on some of the climbs. He told me this was
his 3rd time doing this event, the first two times he didn't finish. Once he
told me that I was determined to finish and get him to do the same. Also, it
was nice to have someone to ride with and not have to talk to myself anymore!
At about mile 80 I could no longer see out of my left eye at all, and the right
wasn't must better, I wear contact lenses and they were so dried up from the
wind. On a whim I decided to toss a fresh pair in my jersey, so at an aid
station at mile 87 I stopped and changed my lenses. I had to go into a camper
to do this, otherwise the lenses would have blown away. It was so nice to be
able to see again!! The climb out was tough, it started at mile 88 and ended at
mile 99. The last 11 miles are pretty much flat/downhill, and ideally should be
an easy ride back, but not with a 30 mph head/cross wind and 50 mph gusts. It
was almost comical. The gravel/dirt ended at mile 107 and the last 3 were on
roughly paved road. Right when we hit the paved part we saw a bike on the
ground on the right side of the road, and a guy laying on the left side- the bike
support van was with him already. We stopped and they told us an ambulance had
been called. The guy was literally blown off his bike and across the road. OMG
(later heard he was ok, stitches and road rash were the worst of it). So- the
one and only advantage of doing this kind of ride on a mountain bike- they are
heavier and don’t get blown around as easily, haha. We made the final turn into
a full-on headwind and just laughed, it was so ridiculous. I crossed the finish
where Mark and the kids were there waiting for me. While I spent the day on the
bike they had slept in, had breakfast, went for a hike, had lunch, went to see
Guardians of the Galaxy, went out for ice cream, and still got to the finish an
hour before I did.
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