Posts Tagged ‘gravel grinder’
2024 Rock Cobbler Pre-Race Briefing
Coach Adam discusses best strategies for Rock Cobbler. Everything from course features to aid station strategy. Even equipment review like, “is there a tire that works equally well in both MUD and LIVING ROOM CARPET?” Find out those answers and more! How much can coaching help you improve? How much can coaching help you improve?
Read MoreBWR as Seen Through the NoFcks Given Gravel Lens
Source Endurance athlete Casey Cohenmeyer gives us her colorful recap of the Belgian Waffle Ride California
Read MoreMid South: Becoming Faster and More Spicy
The quality of the athletes at the pointy end of races like the Mid South has dramatically improved. Gone are the days where local heroes battle it out for glory amongst the rare traveler from far away lands. The time is now and the races resemble more of a Monument than they do a gravel race.
Read MoreGravel Worlds: Comparing Jay Thomas’ Championship in 2012 to 2022
The year is 2012 and Jay Thomas is a young 43 years of age and newly minted Gravel Worlds Champion. Even though he is officially an “aging athlete” Jay was very much holding his peak form from his mid-30’s. Jay came home with a victory, brand new rainbow-ish striped jersey, a sabre* and the swagger of a Gravel Worlds Champion. The winning time was 9 hours and 6 minutes.
Read MoreBelgian Waffle Ride Cedar City: Course Musings
Photo: Jake Orness The folks at Monuments of Cycling wanted a weekend of proper reconnaissance and feedback on the finalized Belgian Waffle Ride Cedar City course. A few of us made the trek with the mindset of learning what this course was all about and how it felt at speed. What follows is my initial…
Read More5 ways to NOT DNF at the BWR
The Belgian Waffle Ride has a 30-40% Did Not Finish (DNF) rate. That is roughly 1 in every 3 people who start BWR don’t finish and need to be picked up by support or get their own ride home. With proper preparation and following these tips you will make sure you are not one of…
Read MoreGravel Upgrades You Don’t Know You Need (Or at least would be a good idea)
It’s getting to be epic gravel season again and many more of us have set our goals to take on the challenge of events like SBT GRVL, Crushar in the Tushar, Rooted Vermont, FoCo Fondo, Belgian Waffle Ride, etc. All of us have read countless articles about the “best things” for gravel in far too…
Read More2019 Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp- Day 2
Day 2 was the big one: 100 miles, 8400 ft of climbing, and a LOT of dirt….errrr mud. It rained a bunch the night before and when we started bright and early, it was still drizzling. Good morning, Day 2! All ready to go with a sleek Orucase saddle bag. Castelli came to the rescue…
Read More2019 Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp- Day 1
Day 1 of the Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp kicked off with getting everyone settled- getting Canyon Bike demos dialed, goodie bags distributed, IRC tires mounted, and Castelli Cycling custom BWR Survival Camp kits distributed. Danny Munson of DMunson Photo captured the whole weekend for us. Yes please! Campers got all sorts of goodies from…
Read MoreCycling Training: Workout completion over perfection
October is an odd month for cycling athletes. In many ways it’s a great time of year: fall is here, the leaves are changing, warm weather sticks around sometimes and can make for some great riding and training. October, November, December are also when athletes are most likely to look backward or inward. If you…
Read MoreHow to get a Bolo- Tie at the FoCo Fondo
The FoCo Fondo has all the makings of an iconic gravel event that flirts with the mountains and is based out of Fort Collins, Colorado. The 2018 event started and finished at New Belgium Brewery and I think that should be a requirement for all epic gravel events. Coach Zack and Co. put on the event…
Read MoreBlaize Baehrens Tips for SPNDX Stampede Big Bear Edition
SE athlete Blaize Baehrens shares his insider knowledge on the upcoming SPNDX Stampede Big Bear Edition: If you haven’t seen it yet, Hornbeck has been dropping some knowledge to get you prepped for the upcoming SPNDX Stampede Big Bear Edition on the SPNDX Stampede website. He’s got some Tips for Riding at Altitude and a nifty 45 second…
Read MoreNeil Shirley's Final Thoughts on Unbound Gravel
As we’re all slowly crawling out of our post- Unbound Gravel hangover, I wanted to do one last blog post with some final thoughts about the work that Neil and I did together. From the feedback Neil gave me during our debrief, here’s a quick summary of my notes: Neil didn’t think that he needed…
Read MoreUnbound Gravel 2018 Recap with SE Coach Adam Mills
What an adventure! I went to Unbound Gravel to experience the event and to cheer on all my friends, as well as the many Source Endurance clients we had there. While I’m sure I didn’t see each one of them, I’m proud of them all. I entered the 100 mile event knowing that any substantial…
Read MoreSaving Your Season
Where is the line between procrastination and irresponsibility? We don’t mow the lawn the exact day it needs it. Yet, if we wait too long, the city sends us a citation. We don’t depart an extra hour early just to make sure we are on time, yet if we’re consistently late it’s deemed irresponsible. And…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Blaize Baehrens comes from injury to Top 10 at BWR
Blaize Baehrens had lofty goals after an unexpected crash at Rock Cobbler leaving him with broken ribs and a collapsed lung…plus a series of winter colds leaving him off the bike for over a month. Nevertheless, he continued to move towards his goals, slowly and meticulously with the help of his coach Adam Mills. He…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Jerry Bueno smashes the Land Run 100 Double
SE athlete Jerry Bueno not only finished Land Run 100, but also the Land Run 50K Ultra Marathon the day before, for the Land Run 100 Double. Brief event/course description: 50K run (Friday) followed by 100 mile gravel (Saturday) How’d the race go down for you? Stillwater, Oklahoma is a lot hillier than I anticipated!…
Read MoreHelp! BWR is only 4 weeks away!
Check out our Emergency BWR Training Plan It happens, life gets in the way of our goals. You can still make some big gains in four weeks you have and have a successful BWR! [maxbutton id=”2″ url=”https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/cycling/gran-fondo-century/tp-113681/4-weeks-to-belgian-waffle-ride-bwr-help-me-from-the-officially-licensed-bwr-coac” text=”Emergency Training Plan” ]
Read MoreBelgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 Recap Day 3
The Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 ran January 12-14, 2018, for three days of course reconnaissance of the BWR course. Check out our photo journal from Day 1 and Day 2. The day focused on all the technical gravel sections which take many tired victims every year. All photos are by DMunson Photo. Day 3: …
Read MoreBelgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 Recap Day 2
The Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 ran January 12-14, 2018, for three days of course reconnaissance of the BWR course. Check out our photo journal from Day 1. Day 2, riders rode 100 miles with the arduous Black Canyon climb as the ride’s peak (no pun intended). All photos are by DMunson Photo. Day 2: …
Read MoreAthlete Highlight: Jason Knight secured first gravel grinder podium at Oklahoma Gravel Growler
Jason Knight secured his first gravel grinder podium at the Oklahoma Gravel Growler in the Men’s 100k race. The course had only 10-20% road with the remainder gravel- a tough course! Here’s how his race went down: How’d the race go down for you? We were riding with a group of 15-20 and Rob Bell…
Read MoreChoosing a Tire for Your Next Gravel Adventure
“Hey man… what’s the best tire for this event?” That’s something I’ve been hearing a lot over the last few months as more and more mixed surface and gravel events come on the calendar. I remember back to my full time cyclo-cross (CX) days riding with the KCCX team and all the conversations we had…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Sonja Johnson smashes Unbound Gravel goal by nearly two hours
Sonja Johnson recently competed at the Unbound Gravel, the famous 206.7 mile Gravel Race across the Flint Hills of Kansas finishing in the top 10 overall for women and beating her personal goal time by nearly TWO HOURS. And all on about 12 hours of training per week. She kindly shared her prep and race…
Read MoreSE Coach Zack Allison's 5 Take-Aways from BWR & Unbound Gravel
This year was SE Coach Zack Allison’s first time doing the Belgian Waffle Ride and DK200 (now Unbound Gravel), much less both in the same year. We asked him to share his top 5 takeaways from his own experience: Hydration – Yea we know, hydration is key, I’m not one to make vague articles. Know…
Read MoreAthlete Highlight: Casey Cohenmeyer takes the BWR Hardwoman Award
SE athlete Casey Cohenmeyer completed the 2017 Cervelo Belgian Waffle Ride despite suffering a separated shoulder just over a month before. This 132 mile (41 miles of dirt), 12k feet of climbing race is already a beast on it’s own. Casey showed a lot of grit and determination to stay focused on the prize and…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Trey Harrison conquers Masie's Ride for Pride Gravel Grinder
Name: Trey Harrison Event Category: Masie’s Ride for Pride in the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas Course description: 104 mile gravel race in the Flint Hills w/approximately 8000ft. of climbing. How’d the race go down for you? With a good sized field with quite a few fast racers, the pace went out pretty hard. The…
Read MoreBelgian Waffle Ride Survival Guide by Neil Shirley
By Neil Shirley Neil Shirley is a two-time Belgian Waffle Ride winner, and five time finisher. He is also returning to the BWR Survival Camp as a ride leader. If you’ve never done the Belgian Waffle Ride before you’ll find it’s a bit of an anomaly compared to just about any other road cycling event…
Read MoreBWR Survival Camp: Meet Mentor Janel Holcomb
Janel Holcomb began her cycling career in a way most of us only dream of…she picked up a bike in 2006, started racing in 2007 and was racing professionally in Europe by 2008. We interviewed her recently as we have the honor of having her as a mentor at our upcoming Cervelo Belgian Waffle Ride…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Robert Ellis finds success at Gravel Worlds
Name: Robert Ellis Event and Category: Gravel Worlds Masters 50+ Course: 146 Mi hilly 7000 ft + Coach: Adam Mills Event Day: Things that worked: Eating every 45 min. Riding in groups for drafting. Not spending very long at rest stops. 3 water bottles sufficed. This is the first distance gravel ride I have done…
Read MoreHow to Choose a Bike for a Gravel Event
Gravel riding and racing has really taken off throughout the U.S. in the past couple years along with types of gravel events. It seems that every day new styles of gravel bikes and equipment pop up. While training is an essential part for a good gravel experience, equipment choice can be the difference between…
Read More5 Nutrition Myths for Long Gravel Grinders
As we quickly approach the weekend of Unbound Gravel, along with many other long distance gravel events, it’s important to think about nutrition in addition to the riding component of your preparation to avoid the undesirable “bonk” and miserable crawl home. Cycling traditions include big pasta dinners the night before and eating when you are…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Jed Schneider's Top 20 at the Belgian Waffle Ride
Jed recently had a great result at the Belgian Waffle Ride and a big personal accomplishment of finish the Tour of the Gila in the Men’s 1,2 field in Silver City, New Mexico. He’s kindly offered up some advice on time-management with a career and training as well as how to choose a bike for…
Read MoreGravel cycling tips for women from Karen Pritchard
Meet Karen Pritchard. She’s a member of Source Endurance sponsored gravel team Panaracer/Stan’s NoTubes p/b Bicycle X-Change, with some fantastic results such as Unbound Gravel- 2015: 2nd place finish in age group and 7th overall female Land Run 100- 2015/2016- 1st in age group and 2nd overall female Karen loves gravel and was so kind…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Casey Cohenmeyer
Casey recently completed her first Belgian Waffle Ride after volunteering last year. She’s been riding bikes for about a year and a half now. She not only finished the BWR, but finished 24th out of 40 female starters and 407 out of 548 overall starters for men and women with a time of 11:35:55. Way…
Read MoreIntervals to prep for your next gravel grinder
Gravel riding and gravel racing is a unique cycling venture. With long durations like road racing but equipment similar to cyclocross, training for gravel races is different from other styles of events. By applying the same principles that guide us through all aspects of coaching- specificity and overload- we can design new workouts specific to…
Read MoreSeven Things you Should Know Before Your First Gravel Cycling Race or Epic Gravel Ride
Gravel racing is booming in popularity…it’s not quite mountain biking and it’s not quite cyclocross or road riding. This might leave you with some questions on how best to prepare for your first big gravel grinder. And there are quite a few coming up like the Belgian Waffle Ride. While this list isn’t all-inclusive by…
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