Greenland Gravel Grinder.

Today was the Greenland Gravel Grinder in Monument, Co. Just at the base of the mountains, this event offers alot in a 50 mile punch. We had gravel, pavement, dirt so hard it might as well be pavement and a huge and awesome suprise was the SINGLETRACK! The singletrack was my favorite part. Ripping fast and flowing singletrack at 18mph on a CX bike rules. A huge thanks to Ben Welnak and RIDINGGRAVEL.COM for hosting the event.

This event was underground and grassroots, as many of you know, my fav style. The tempo of the group was about what I expected at first, steady and hard. It wasn't until we took this left hand hop-over  a fence thingy to singletrack that the tempo got XC paced! It was so much fun. The group quickly blew apart and before I knew it, it was just me and this guy named Mike. Mike was on a MTB and had a motor! 15 miles down and we had no one is sight behind us. We took a right hand turn off a paved road section that lead to gravel but not before a train Xing came to stall us! We lost 2 minutes and 2 guys were now in sight behind us. This next section of road had the longest, if not 2nd to longest climb of the route, maybe a 400ft climb. Mike was having difficulty keeping up with my pace(I think losing time to the train mentally screwed him). I had to decide to take off and try for a solo win, or wait for him and the other 2 to bridge up. So I waited. I am secretly very competitive and I had a very hard time holding back. The course was not marked. I didn't know ahead of time, so all I had was a ghetto cue sheet and no GPX file in my Garmin.  I have a problem with getting lost, It happens all the time, I'm an idiot.

So our group of 2 became 3, the 4th dude couldnt hang and quickly got popped. About 15 miles to the finish I saw a climb on the horizon, looked at my cue sheet and said screw it, I've ridden this hard, I'll throw in an attack and see what happens. I quickly got a gap over the two guys and was riding strong, I had great legs today. So with only 2 turns left on the course, I missed a left hander on E Best Rd to take me back into town. I was pissed. I should have had the patience to wait until I knew where I was to attack those guys. I wasn't prepared and it's no one's fault but my own. I was convinced the turn was wayyyy back up the road I descended on. I stopped once I figured out I was lost and used my phone to GPS myself back into town... and yes, I rode on I-25!! First time in my life I've ridden on the interstate. It ruled! I backtracked just a bit and rode a few extra miles and still hung on for a 3rd place finish. I really wanted the W but there will be more races. Better make damn sure I'll have that GPX file in my Garmin next time! Great route, Great people and Great venue, perfect Saturday.

In true Kyle fashion, I tackled on some extra miles after the race. 

To ease my frustrations with what should have been a win, I decided to climb up Mt. Herman. It was a beautiful 2,100ft climb out of town into some amazing sights and snow at the top of the summit.