Changing things up from last year where I didn't do much traveling for bike events , this year I mapped out a few happenings that I decided to check out. I flew to Salt Lake City and on to Ogden, Utah - first for the Enve builder roundup- a small show that featured around 20 builders. In the past I have sent a bike but have not been in person. This time , with the added incentive of the Grodeo gravel ride I made the trip and I'm quite happy I did. The show was small and had a relaxed atmosphere- a fair amount of people showed up for the viewing and also for an earlier ride. There was also an early morning builder ride with the Enve staff and some locals. I thought that it would be a nice casual meander through the city but it turned into a lung testing sprint up some urban single track- at least for sea level dwellers such as myself. Painful as it might have been at times, it was the right prep for the Grodeo that was to happen the next day.
The Grodeo is not a race but it is a real test , being 92 miles and about 8,300' of climbing. Much of the riding is in the 6,000-7,000' elevation range so the few days I had spent out there before the event , along with the two rides I had taken did a good job of getting the initial shock of riding at elevation out of the way.
These photos don't really come close to capturing the beauty of the high country outside of Ogden- you'll have to see it in person if you want to behold it the way I did. This ride had some of the most dramatic and beautiful scenery I have ever seen on a bike ride.
Riders were warned that the route's signage might not be that complete and it was recommended that people download the route on their Wahoo or Garmin. I have neither so I just followed other riders that seemed to know where they were going. This worked until I followed a couple of riders down a hill for about a mile. They stopped and flagged me down to tell me that not only was I off course , I was following two of the many people who were bailing on the ride early. Not wanting to do this , I turned around and rode back until I saw more riders. This was the first of two times I rode off course.
There were three pretty big climbs and the last one turned into a hike-a-bike for most of us. This last climb came at nearly 80 miles and 8,000' of climbing. At the top of this last section I stopped at the last of the aid stations to get a cold drink and some food. I asked some of the other very shattered riders how to get to the final single track section but they all shrugged. Here's where I left the course for good. I saw two riders exit the aid station and ride down a paved hill.......this sound familiar ? By the time I had descended about 1,000' I had the thought that I was no longer on course. To ride back up the steep grade was unthinkable to me at that point so I just waited until a few more riders showed up. We all rode back to the finish-missing the last single track but pretty much only about 2 miles of the total distance. I can say that I would have done a bit better if I had lower gears for the latter part of the ride. I also would have fared better if I had a Garmin with the route on it. That said, I think that it was a great ride and the Enve people really went out of their way to show everyone a good time and a really testing bike ride.
Here's the show bike at the end of the Grodeo, along with the happy owner who was nice enough to take the bike to Utah and let me use it for the show- not only that but he brought my bike back to Santa Cruz so that I didn't have to fly with it. We both survived and I will say that this journey was really worth it. Thanks to Enve for the invite to the show and for putting on a great event. I hope to come back next year, at least if I have the legs for it !
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