Montana Gravel Challenge

Well, it’s been a while… again. Apparently the combination of school, work, and training can fill a large portion of available hours. In any case, back here for an early-season update.

                This past weekend was the inaugural Montana Gravel Challenge. It’s basically a combination of what were previously two separate events: the Montana Hell Ride and the Rocky Mountain Roubaix. Now, the sadistic powers that be decided it’d be a good idea to combine the two… and throw in a time trial as well, because why not? All in all, the weekend came out being a three-day event: hillclimb time trial on Friday, Hell ride on Saturday (50 miles), and Roubaix on Sunday (70 miles). Initially, the Roubaix was to be 100 miles, but due to the never-ending winter around Montana the snowline prevented climbing too high. This weekend would prove to be a test piece for the early season legs, and a quick snapshot of how training has paid off… or not… Oh, and it was largely on gravel too, and I have no clue how to road race.

                Day one was the hillclimb, so nothing too interesting there; basically just go as hard as you can for the lightning-quick two mile uphill. By the finish line though, I was well within zone five and feeling the effort. Ended up with the third fastest time, so was really happy with the result going into the two real days.

                The second day consisted of four laps of a circuit, plus the intro and exit on gravel roads, and finished on quite a brutal punchy climb at the end. Off the gun it felt as though people were frothing to go and get off the front. A few attacks went but were quickly pulled back by the leading main group. Finally a few really strong guys went and got a decent gap out front. Being the unwitting loyal servant I am I dug deep and pulled the group back. Only slightly aware that I was burning too many matches too quickly, I kept going hard throughout the laps, letting one group of three go clear. By the time I realized I’d been pushing boundaries for about an hour, it was a little too late. Doing my best to recover what I could I jumped into drafts and attempted to save energy for the final lap and exit. Once we jumped onto the gravel for the final lap the attacks went, and the group blew up. When we finally finished the lap there was one person from the original break, and our chasing group of about 20. Flying over the dirt roads we swung into the finishing straight, and everyone suffered through the final punch to the finish. In the end one person stayed clear, and we all sprinted for second. Since my sprint is a pretty depressing thing, I was somewhere near the tail end in 11^th. All in all, I felt good about my efforts throughout the day, even if I went too hard too early… hey, I don’t know how to do this road bike stuff.

                Day three was the Rocky Mountain Roubaix: 70 miles, half on road and half on gravel. After the starting gun went off, the drizzling rain began. Even though it only kept up for a few minutes, the roads became sloppy and wet. Everything started out a bit mellower than day two, but I was still pushing a high tempo throughout the first climb. Jumping onto the first long climb of the day, everyone was still all together in one main pack. A few attacks went here and there, but the length of the race was a deterrent for anyone to go solo too early. After a relatively relaxed climb and descent, the group began to get a little antsier for action, and when we hit the dirt road it was game on. Once the pace went up, the group began to shatter, and the rough road conditions didn’t help keep everyone in contact. I made an attempt to go forward with another strong rider, but we weren’t able to make it too far away from the group, but the acceleration dropped a few more off the back. When we rounded the corner to descend, the dirt and potholes made everything feel more like a cross event on a wide road than a road race. Mud and sand flew everywhere, and tire-eating potholes hid around every corner sending an already adrenaline-infused ride into sheer sensory overload, complete with a lot of quick reactions. Hitting the familiar exit road from the previous day, it was clear everyone’s legs were toast, but no one was willing to give up, especially since we were sprinting for the overall win. Rounding the finishing corner to the punchy climb once more I dug deep and buried myself, gaining a few spots on the sprint but still finishing around 10^th… consistency is key, huh?

                Overall it was a great intro to race season, and a way to wake up the legs… especially with the Whiskey Off-Road coming up in two weeks. Lessons were learned, largely revolving around the fact that I had no clue what ‘proper’ road racing tactics are, how to pace over longer distances, and high-intensity sprints at the end of an event are a definite area of weakness. All in all it felt good to suffer a bit, and the Montana Gravel Challenge turned out to be one for the books, and I’ll definitely be looking to come back next year… hopefully with some more fine-tuned skinny tire skills.