Sierra_rider

Nicely done! That's a racy looking ride.

sir_crash_alot

It is a faster bike than I am a rider!

sir_crash_alot

Changes I will be making after my first ride:
1. that Topeak top tube bag is far too stiff for ease of access in a race scenario. Will be replaced with either a Revelate MagTank or an Apidura Racing bag.
2. I don't mind the eggbeaters, but I'll be switching to the Look X-Track pedals, largely because I already use Look pedals on my road bike, and have the long-term goal of getting the new power meter pedals from Look which allow me to switch out the sensing spindle from pedal body to pedal body.
3. Seymour, the stuffed red panda attached to my seat, needs a) a more secure harness, and b) a pair of goggles. Any ideas I'm all ears.


Why do I intend to bring Seymour with me? In the words of Sarah Sturm: "It's supposed to be fun!". It's Seymour's job to remind me that I should never put watts ahead of fun.

sir_crash_alot

So I learned that my first gravel race this season is more of a time trial, i.e. no mass start, just whether you want to be timed or not, and then you start throughout the day of the event. So I was thinking: what if I went max TT aero for a gravel bike?

And I kinda liked the idea.

Actually, I fell in love with the idea.

So I'm starting an experiment with what might be called an "eccentric" build, because life is too short to approach it overly cautiously. It'll be interesting trying to figure out the middle ground between aero and control, so "experiment" is appropriate.

Stay tuned!

Eric F 

Interesting. I wasn't aware that kind of event existed. Please share pics.

An event I did last year (Bovine Classic in Atascadero, CA) included timed segments. The winner was the rider with the lowest combined time for the segments. How fast or slow you rode between segments didn't matter.

sir_crash_alot

I do hope that gravel time trials become a more common event type. There would have to be some things figured out though, as gravel events tend to be really long and it may be against the ethos of gravel in some ways, but a part of me thinks it might be cool for those who are speed-oriented.

sir_crash_alot

Is this even still gravel racing?
Asking for a friend.

Eric F 

I've seen whackier stuff from bike folks. That said, I don't think it's a choice I would make for myself, but you do you, man.

sir_crash_alot

I am definitely living my bliss, haha. In any case it'll be eye-catching. It's also a good opportunity to have a display board for some of the ideas I believe in with regards to not just gravel ride/race, but society more generally. There will be a big pride flag on that giant disc wheel, haha.

sir_crash_alot

Aero gravel bike

I've put about 100 miles on this bad boy, and am preparing to take it into race season. I've been trying to spend as much time in the aero bars, and get used to handling the dish wheel in wind. Results have been promising, as it just feels good. Not sure if it makes me faster overall (the bike is undeniably a bit on the heftier side, but I think that it was never going to be the lightest gravel bike given the choice of comfort+robustness over outright weight savings, e.g. alloy handlebar+stem, the CFR leafspring seatpost, and Force groupset, plus not the lightest carbon wheels in the world).

Is it eccentric? Absolutely. Faster? maybe.

But most importantly, is it mine?

Yes.

merlinextraligh

Given the current state of participation on BF, I think there really needs to be fewer sub forums, not more.

Many sub forums go days without a post, which discourages people from checking in, which exacerbates the problem.

If I were BF, I would merge most if not all the racing sub forums into the 33. You could always create gravel specific threads in one overarching forum

Also as racing is going in the US, it appears that for many people, in many locations, gravel racing is replacing, or at least passing traditional USAC road racing.

sir_crash_alot

I would agree that there are a lot of sub-forums, which does make it harder to keep up in general at times. Regardless of if/how consolidation happens, a sensible place for people to talk about gravel racing would be great. Until then, this thread will have to suffice I suppose.

I did not actually think I was going to do gravel racing, but there just are not many road races in the upper midwest anymore it seems, especially those reasonably close to where I live. It's exciting though to have moved into the gravel space (while keeping a toe in the road scene), as I am enjoying the versatility of the gravel bike.

Sierra_rider

I just got back from doing Stetina's Paydirt today. I'm at the tail end of a difficult couple of weeks of cycling and didn't not taper for this event at all, so my plan was to just show up and treat it like a supported ride. I even rode my XC bike, as the tires on my gravel bike would've been terrible for this race(S-works pathfinder pros 42mm. Also, the XC bike was going to be my excuse for not racing well.

Anyway, I kept feeling better as the race progressed and I eventually was flying(for me) up the final climb of the day. I eventually finished 15 O/A for the men's long course(out of 300+,) which is by far my best gravel finish to date. I consider myself a very good XC racer, but I've been struggling to cross over to gravel and almost always have pretty "meh" finishes. I'd say the only damper for me, is that I realize the format and terrain probably suited my strengths really well. The race is broken up into segments, rather than just one long race. This meant a lot of the course that really would've disadvantaged a MTB, wasn't actually timed. Out of the 3 timed segments, the first(and longest) was the only one that heavily favored a gravel bike. The other 2 segments were mostly non-technical singletrack, and I felt at no disadvantage to being on the XC bike. In fact, I heard some guys grumbling that it was too MTB-friendly.

Eric F 

I’ve done one race with that format (Bovine Classic in Atascadero), and it seemed like a pretty cool alternate approach. Regardless of the format, however, I’m never going to be competitive at the pointy end of any category.

Congrats on a good finish!

Sierra_rider

I was talking to Ben Delaney at one of the aid stations, he was joking about how this format is going to ruin his gravel racing in the future. It's just so much more fun to not race the entire course. Even with it broken up into segments, there was still roughly 36+miles of actual racing.

Thanks, I've kinda lost the expectation for myself to ever finish well in a gravel race, so a top 20 was a big surprise to me. Especially considering that I did just about everything you shouldn't do, when preparing for a big race.