In 1986 when a single friend participated in the Microsoft IPO, his first purchase was a fancy second bike. At the time, we thought this was ridiculous. He already had a good bike. Why did he need two? Well, fast forward a few years: Ed and I now own four bikes each! (City bike from 1982, road bike, mountain bike, and now — gravel bike!) A gravel bike has the same shape as a road bike but is heavier and designed for riding on gravel, fire roads and trails. With Covid-19, bike riding of all types has exploded, and new bikes are in very short supply.  And, gravel biking has become an emerging adventure sports category.

Once we purchased the bikes in June, we decided to sign up for a local event, “Rebecca’s Private Idaho” — a gravel bike extravaganza in Sun Valley on Labor Day weekend.  Rebecca Rusch, the Ketchum-based female world champion in ultra-long distance bike racing, hosts the event.

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Let the Gravel Bike Training Begin

To begin with, we signed up for an online training program where an Olympic bike coach helped us get ready for the ride. This program (RPI Basecamp) worked with the Garmin Computers on our gravel bikes and tracked our progress. But, we soon discovered that the training program was designed for 30-year-old jocks, not middle-aged, casual riders. Each week a training schedule was downloaded automatically to our bike computers and an app on our Macs:

As a result, the computers on our bikes tracked our progress.

As you can see, we quickly fell off the daily training regimen. But, we enjoyed training at our own pace on the local fire roads. The training took us to remote areas where we rarely saw any other riders.

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We saw lovely vistas and infinite dirt roads.

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Sometimes we shared the trail with wildlife or a flock of sheep. The scenery was quite rural, which was similar to our other rides in Idaho and Missouri but different from riding in California.

One of the aspects of gravel biking is that it is a “rain or shine” sport.  On one of our training rides, we got caught in a downpour, and the backs of our jerseys displayed the dirt streak–a badge of honor. 

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Race Day!

The Labor Day event was a scene.  Rebecca’s Private Idaho hosted 1500 riders from around the country.  Riders could select from 3 distances — the Baked Potato (100 miles), the French Fry (50 miles) or the Tater Tot (20 miles). Although we had initially signed up for the French Fry, we switched to the Tater Tot; it seemed a better fit.

On “Race Day,” the riders set out in waves, depending on the distance. 

We gathered with our fellow Tater Tot riders in 46-degree weather.  Everyone “masked up” at the start as we were standing close together. 

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The ride was beautiful. The morning transitioned from chilly to sunny as the sun poked through the trees. The riders started together. Everyone rode at their own pace, and the bunch quickly separated. Our 20-mile ride climbed 1400 feet. The champion woman came in at 1:06 hours (average speed 17.4 mph).  Jan clocked in at #52 out of 70 women on the Tater Tot … 1:48 hours (average speed 10.5 mph). Ed’s score was similar.

At the end of the race, there was a bike fair. There were lots of esoteric bike items for sale:

A favorite (and necessary) item for long-distance bikers is Chamois Butt’r.  (You can use your imagination as to its application.) These gals were giving out free samples, which the crowd welcomed.

In addition, author Sharisse Steber was selling her book, which encourages women of all ages to try adventure sports. The book features Rebecca Rusch and other athletes.

And, as finishers, we received coupons for a free wood-fired pizza baked by Scott Mason, a local chef celebrity. Delicious!

At the end of the ride, we celebrated our participation with a pic at the podium. We might not have placed in the top ten, but we had fun and were happy to enjoy the surrounding areas with so many enthusiastic riders.

Final Notes on Gravel Biking

Before the ride, Rebecca warned all riders that there would be no “SAG” (Support and Gear) Wagon. SAG is “a vehicle that follows behind bicyclists (as in a race) to pick up those who drop out or to carry gear.”  She expected everyone to finish because she describes herself as the “queen of pain.” However, if she needed a SAG Wagon, perhaps she could have selected this quaint Sun Valley wagon usually pulled by horses or a tractor!

In conclusion, for the 102-mile Baked Potato, the champion bike rider was 29-year-old Griffin Easter, a professional cyclist who finished the ride in 4 hours and 50 minutes, averaging 21 miles per hour over 6,271 feet of elevation. His Wikipedia page states that he finished 9th in the Tour d’Azerbaïdjan in 2016. I wonder how that scenery compared to this ride? (Note to self: we’ll probably never know!)