GLAP: 2014 Midwest Gravel Riding Schedule

Hey All,

Winter is almost behind us (almost). Anybody planning to jump on the gravel train this year? I compiled a list of Great Lakes region gravel rides/races. Let me know your plans.

http://www.greatlakesadventureproject.com

T 

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on March 9, 2014 at 7:55am

I would be interested in some rides, not races. Also, I'd be riding a fixed gear. Any clues on which rides an aging bikie might be able to tackle without too much walking? 

Permalink Reply by PC on March 10, 2014 at 1:51am

Nice compilation and site!  Planning on the Barry Roubaix, Grumpy Grind, Dirty Mudd'r, Gravel Metric, DK 200, and 10 Thousand.

Permalink Reply by Tommy H. on March 10, 2014 at 4:31pm

Thanks man.  The site is a work in progress but starting to gain traction.  Nice selection of rides. I will be joining you on the Grumpy Grind, Gravel Metric and 10 Thousand.  I am always looking for contributors for the site - by all means, but a race/ride review, gear review or anything related to the Great Lakes my way.

tom@greatlakesadventureproject.com

Peter said:

Nice compilation and site!  Planning on the Barry Roubaix, Grumpy Grind, Dirty Mudd'r, Gravel Metric, DK 200, and 10 Thousand.

Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on March 11, 2014 at 12:34pm

Great Site! Thanks for the race list. I am doing my first Barry-Roubaix, and will be heading back for my Second Almanzo 100...might add a few more to the calendar, TBD at this point.

If anyone is looking for some advice on getting started in the Gravel Racing scene, Velosmith Bicycle Studio is hosting an Endurace Race Class on Thursday March 20th (link below)

Velosmith

Permalink Reply by Tommy H. on March 11, 2014 at 2:58pm

Skip,

I will do some research and let you know. 

Tom


Skip Montanaro 12mi said:

I would be interested in some rides, not races. Also, I'd be riding a fixed gear. Any clues on which rides an aging bikie might be able to tackle without too much walking? 

Permalink Reply by David P. on March 12, 2014 at 4:22am

I am riding Barry-Roubaix for the first time this year, but treating it (as per my default) as a fun-challenging ride rather than a race since I suck too much to be vaguely fast. But I'm great at enjoying myelf on a bike. May do the Lowell 50 again this spring. And, of course, there will be simply finding unpaved roads in the country and riding around on them!

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on March 19, 2014 at 11:15am

Grumpy Grind organizer is asking that you message him if you intend to ride.  It's on the blog page and easy to miss (as I did until talking to him about something else).  He needs to get a handle on number of riders so he can order the right amount of T shirts and post ride food.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on March 19, 2014 at 4:40pm

I'd like to ride at least in the Grumpy and the Dairy Roubaix.

Permalink Reply by Tommy H. on March 19, 2014 at 8:00pm

Mark,

Good looking out - I just sent him a note to add me to the list.  


mark stetson said:

Grumpy Grind organizer is asking that you message him if you intend to ride.  It's on the blog page and easy to miss (as I did until talking to him about something else).  He needs to get a handle on number of riders so he can order the right amount of T shirts and post ride food.

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on March 19, 2014 at 8:49pm

Hey Peter,

There's supposed to be camping at the farm where the start is.  The facilities would probably be better at White Pines (17 miles east of the start) or Prophetstown State Parks (30 miles from the start, a few miles S of I-88), but the camping season may not start until May 1.  I made arrangements for some tourists to camp at another state park last March.  You might try calling the parks ahead of time if you want to camp there.  There are commercial campgrounds in and around Rock Falls.

I don't know the exact route.  It does get pretty hilly the farther you go west of the start, but it's harder to find connecting gravel out there.  I mapped an 80 mile training loop from the start that's 80% gravel.  It has about 2,800' of gain.  That's about 2x what last year's Gravel Metric had (both mapped on RWGPS).  That's about what I expect, considerably hillier than Dekalb but nothing super long or steep.  I still haven't done the training loop, as some roads in the area weren't plowed all winter.  We need some consistently warm days to get rid of the snow and ice but are still not seeing them in the forecast with lows around 20 this weekend.  I tried to ride the Canal path in Rock Falls Saturday, but it had enough ice that I went back to the streets as soon as I could.



peter moormann said:

 

 

Mark,

I'm planning on riding the Grumpy.

Does that get into some hilly stuff towards the west or just the roluers.

I hope to camp out some where out there and  be well rested.

That will be my first grind of the year....all my trails are still iced over as of today.

Looking forward to some country-time.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on March 20, 2014 at 1:55am

Mark - What resources are you using to find and map your gravel route?

mark stetson said:


 I mapped an 80 mile training loop from the start that's 80% gravel.  It has about 2,800' of gain.  That's about 2x what last year's Gravel Metric had (both mapped on RWGPS).  That's about what I expect, considerably hillier than Dekalb but nothing super long or steep.

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on March 20, 2014 at 11:00pm

I use the IDOT county maps for road surface:

http://www.dot.il.gov/bikemap/state3.html

They are not completely up to date.  There's several miles of roads near me that show as gravel, but have now been oiled and chipped.   

Download Hancock county for a look at one of the more gravelly counties.

I use DeLorme Gazetteers to find the interesting terrain.  They show contour lines and wooded areas, so I look for closely spaced contour lines, crooked roads, and green shaded areas and try to work them into the routes.  Once you have a route, you can preview it to a certain extent on Google Earth.  It can be hard to follow roads in wooded areas though, as they can be completely hidden by the canopy.

Pics are from a ride last year in Brown and Schuyler counties that I mapped without ever having ridden there.  Met a friend from STL in Mt. Sterling and we rode some fun roads.   

 

 

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