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Re: Gravel distances [Carl Spackler] [ In reply to ]
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Carl Spackler wrote:
Think it depends on who you want to attract. People new to it? Maybe. Existing gravel riders and cross-over roadies? Not likely, especially in So Cal with number of events offered. They don't need to be 135 miles but 33 with even 4200 of climbing is fairly tame. Crusher in the Tushar (you'll meet the founder of it next week) is less than 70 miles but like 10k of climbing, and at elevation. So it's overall difficulty for a lot of the existing set, I think.

i would be interested to have you out, you ride it, see what you think. i can certainly add distance. that's no trouble. and, good distance, not just distance. but then i add costs and that adds money. waffle/wafer is $180/$145. crushers is $155. i was hoping for something like $95/$65.

but i can make it outrageous...



it's only 48mi. but i doubt i could do this ride.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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"Good distance" is spot-on--not just crappy miles with lousy scenery for the sake of it. There was a race that started/finished near Los Banos called Tainthammer, which, aside from being aptly named, was more or less that--lots of flat, boring farm roads with long sections of not much to see. Don't think it's around any longer.
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Forgive me for asking a foolish question, but did this go anywhere? I've spent about 15 minutes looking for another mention of it without any luck. I was riding through Wrightwood the other day and now I am wondering if this event got off the ground.

Chad
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Other than distance (time), elevation is going to be an automatic field limiter depending on who you want to attract.

More elevation, less average riding folks will come out.

This topic was posted before I think about gravel stuff. I responded saying you need variety. Can't just be a climb and descend fest, can't just be a boring flattish windy farmland tour.........balance.



........if you want to win points.........ban TT bars from your event.
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Re: Gravel distances [cdw] [ In reply to ]
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cdw wrote:
Forgive me for asking a foolish question, but did this go anywhere? I've spent about 15 minutes looking for another mention of it without any luck. I was riding through Wrightwood the other day and now I am wondering if this event got off the ground. Chad

we have our course. some folks flew in for this. we just rode it friday. it got ridden again yesterday, and we're going to ride it again in a couple of days. it's 33.5mi, and it's 4,700 feet of climbing. we have a lot of video. i'll be editing it into one 10min or so video.

it's spectacular. it's over a lot of private property, ranches, but i've gotten the permissions. and the rest is in the natl forest. it's 7mi of pavement, the rest offroad. nothing particularly technical. but it's not easy.

i'm not interested in fitting this into a template, the right distance, the right amount of vertical. i'm not interested in banning particular equipment. this ride is what it is. it's the course nature made.

there were some options i didn't know about, that the locals recommended, i've added those in, and i'll make a route on ride w/gps and post it here. off to swimming now. i'll see if i can have that done by tomorrow.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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My first go as a gravel RD this year will have the long course as 48 miles.
I'll probably do a short version of about 35 miles.

Around here there are no short gravel events and I think the gravel noobs are under-served.
Not everyone wants to do an epic day.
Being able to finish in 2-4 hours, hang out with some friends after and have a beer is great community building.
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Well, that sounds great. I've ridden a lot of the foothills and there are a lot of ranches that you have to try and find a way around. It should be fun. Have you ridden the mountains further east on both side of the Cajon and Silverwood Lake? I did not know it when I moved here, but this area is a wonderland of mountain passes and spectacular views. If you have not ridden Cleghorn, that is one of the best with an amazing view of Cajon Pass.
I'm looking forward to more details.
If you look to extend this in the future, there are a bunch of moderate to brutal options you can add in from Phelan.
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Re: Gravel distances [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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The thing that's deceiving about Dan't Wrightwood Gravel Ride the mileage, a seemingly paltry 33+ miles.....it's a long ride. It's a long ride because...a) Wrightwood is a 6,000ft and I think the low point of the course is 4,000, b) there's a long descent that is all dirt and requires attention, c) there's a section that has a fantastic series of short punchy descents and climbs - like a saw-tooth.

Many of us endurance junkies would look at 33.5mi and think..."meh" but it's a very solid ride. And, as it's been mentioned here, it's beautiful!

Ian

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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as my local sprint series is not happening because of lack of permits :( .. I have free money to spend on something like this now. = interested.
31 years this series has been going on... f'n sad.
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Do you have an idea of what time of year this would take place?

PS - Maybe we can organize a trail run the following day for those who are fulfilled with 33ish miles of gravel?
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Re: Gravel distances [Pathlete] [ In reply to ]
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Pathlete wrote:
Do you have an idea of what time of year this would take place?

PS - Maybe we can organize a trail run the following day for those who are fulfilled with 33ish miles of gravel?

this'll be in may. early enough to still have good water in the creek (2 creek crossings). and to not be too hot. late enough for the snow and ice to be off the first forest descent. and for it not to be too cold. -D

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Count me in. Good luck with the planning.
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Once posted on RGPS can it be ridden by anyone given the private property?
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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26 or so miles on gravel is plenty .. 4700ft is pretty good too. 33.5 in total will feel like closer to 60, which is kinda a sweet spot to be able to enjoy yourself afterwords in my book.
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Re: Gravel distances [seeyouincourt] [ In reply to ]
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seeyouincourt wrote:
Once posted on RGPS can it be ridden by anyone given the private property?

it cannot be ridden by anyone. only with permission.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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 As a former 800 and1500 m track runner, I have never understood why swimmers and runners will happily travel to race between 10 seconds and half an hour, but cyclists always seem to need epic hundred mile events, before it’s considered “worthwhile“.

There is something to be said for really racing shorter distances, rather than just riding long distances with a group.
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Re: Gravel distances [The Guardian] [ In reply to ]
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here's the current route.



this route lost about 2 miles of length due to an apprisal, by a local, that we were missing the most scenic part of it. so, i replaced about 5 miles of pavement with 3 miles of dirt, making the route more like 31mi, and also cutting off about 300' of vertical. ride w/gps shows this as 4,150' of vertical, but our GPS units are getting about 300' vertical more than the map is giving it.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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I'm actually signing up for my very first gravel event, a couple of weeks from now. Figuring it in to my tri training/racing to have some fun without introducing too much fatigue to recover from, I'm signing up for a 40k. Plenty of elevation, so I expect it to be challenging without taking up a whole day. Context... I almost exclusively race sprints these days.
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Re: Gravel distances [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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just dont make it the same time as BWR in may.. I plan to do the wafer this year...after being in Ireland this year for a school related trip. :(
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Re: Gravel distances [spntrxi] [ In reply to ]
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spntrxi wrote:
just dont make it the same time as BWR in may.. I plan to do the wafer this year...after being in Ireland this year for a school related trip. :(

my hope and intention is to space this 2 weeks apart from BWR. as in, 2 weeks after or thereabouts. that would be good timing for us, weather wise, and the county fire dept comes along once a year with a blade on the major technical road (it's up and down, twisty like a slot car track), and it's much more fun after the blade runs over it. they do that early/mid-may. so we don't want to be too early. you should google earth that section of panorama motorway, and see if that doesn't get your saliva running.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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