The Gravel Grovel that starts and ends in Norman Indiana and crosses through the Hoosier National Forest was to be held two days after Thanksgiving on November 28, 2015. The Gravel Grovel is a 60 mile CX/MTB race with a mix of gravel roads, singletrack trail, unmaintained “fire roads”, and a small amount of pavement. The elevation gain over the course of 60 miles was estimated to be about 4,000 feet, with 7 category 5 climbs throughout the course.
Marc and his friends had been talking for months about doing the Gravel Grovel. Initially, I was completely uninterested because I am not a fan of singletrack racing. Riding a MTB through a forest on singletrack is incredibly fun and it offers some pretty awesome scenery through Brown County. However, racing on singletrack is an entirely different animal. I’ll be the first to admit that I am way too cautious of a road rider to go barreling down a singeltrack muddy descent and possibly jumping over tree roots, rocks, and dodging trees. I thought the race was too big for me. However, James, Jeff, and Marc all assured me that the race was 90% gravel roads and the singletrack was only two small sections. So with that reassurance, I told them I was in. Marc registered us both in the MTB class and he paid the $130 registration fee for the two of us. He told me “once I pay, there’s no backing out.”
A week before the race, the weather was looking awesome in Norman, Indiana. It was sunny and unseasonably warm, in the 50’s and 60’s. The weather for the weekend of the race was predicted to be dry, with temperatures in the 50’s. I was excited about that, because November weather, even in southern Indiana, can sometimes mean snow. However, as luck would have it, the weather took a turn mid week. Rain was predicted for days before the race, the day of the race, and for days after. The temperature was also dropping. I started to get nervous.
On Friday November 27th, we left for Norman around 1:00 PM. With the time difference and a stop to eat, that meant we would arrive at our destination sometime around 8:00 PM. Jeff had rented a cabin in the park just yards from the start/finish line for the four of us. It rained steadily the entire drive, and it continued to rain as we unpacked. It was 50 degrees, but the weather for the race was predicted to be in the mid-40’s, with rain continuing all day. I was secretly hoping one of the guys would bail out, and that would give me the OK to bail out too.
When we took the bikes off of the back of the car, Jeff noticed that my Trek had a rear flat tire. I was running tubeless tires and it didn’t look like any sealant had leaked around a hole, so this was not a good sign. Jeff pumped up the tire to 40 psi and we all watched as the sealant sprayed through the spokes of the wheel. Somehow sealant had gotten underneath the plastic rim strip. The guys had packed plenty of spare tubes, however, they were all 29″. My Trek Top Fuel is an old school 26″. That meant I was going to have to put a 29″ tube in my 26″ tire and hope for the best. Jeff said that it would get me through the race. He quickly changed the tire. I looked with dread as he spun the tire and it looked like it had a bulge in it. I was thinking it was seriously going to slow me down, but Jeff reassured me that it would be fine. I had no other choice at this point.
That night, I lay in my bunk and listened as it rained steadily. I got up several times during the night to go to the bathroom, and the rain was still coming down in a constant drizzle. The temperature had also dropped to the mid 40’s.
When we got up the next morning, I was secretly hoping the race would be cancelled. Of course I knew that was a crazy idea, because races don’t get called off because of bad weather. We got dressed and drove over to the park pavilion to pick up our packets. There was a small line of people in front of the “Pre-registration” table, and no one in line at the “Registration” table. I didn’t think there would be too many people jumping to register the day of the race if they hadn’t already paid the fee. There was an extremely muscular looking woman in line in front of me picking up her packet, and I remember thinking that I was way out of my league.
We drove back to the cabin to get our bikes ready and finish getting dressed. I forced myself to choke down an English muffin with peanut butter and a banana because I knew I needed it to race, but I had no appetite. It was also tough deciding what to wear. I had no idea how long I would be out on the course because of the conditions. I covered my wool socks with plastic bags and wrapped plastic wrap around the top of my socks to keep my feet dry because my MTB boots weren’t water proof. I also made sure to pull my fleece leggings and Amfib tights over the top of my boots so water wouldn’t run into my shoes from the tights. I then wore two base layers, a jersey, and a rain jacket. I wore my thickest Castelli gloves because even though they aren’t waterproof I knew they would keep my hands warm when soaking wet.
We then all gathered outside the cabin for a picture before we set off to warm up before the race.
I rode around the park to warm up, but it was difficult because of all the riders, and because I was dodging huge puddles of mud. I didn’t want to get soaked before the race even began, so it was a short warm up. Soon it was almost 10:00 and time to line up at the start. I got behind Jeff and Marc, as Marc promised to stay with me and pull for me during the race. The rain had stopped temporarily, and I was thankful for that. I noticed a couple on a tandem in front of me and I marveled that the woman was wearing makeup and lipstick, and she looked fabulous. I always ride what I call “race ugly”, without makeup, because it would be quite the sight with mascara running down my face. I laughed to myself and made a mental note to rock the hair and makeup the next race!
Soon we were off. I rode hard to stay on Jeff and Marc’s wheel as they moved to the left to pass riders. The start of the race was on pavement and was flat, so it was an easy start. I saw one woman on a MTB pass me at a good clip to catch the leaders. After about a mile or so, I began having trouble staying with Marc and Jeff. I had no energy, and I think a part of the reason was that my heart really wasn’t in this race. I was discouraged about the weather, and I felt I was surrounded by hardcore mountain bikers that were way out of my league. Jeff soon rode out of my sight, but Marc stayed with me. It seemed that we quickly turned left off of the pavement to a seasonal road that was in horrible condition. It was completely flooded, and we were dodging huge puddles. It was a mental game to ride as fast as I could while trying to calculate the best course along this muddy path that was supposed to be a road.
The next 20 miles were a blur, because it seemed that the seasonal road turned into an endless singletrack that twisted and turned along a creek. We had to cross the creek so many times I lost count. At one point Marc crashed and went all the way down in the water. I asked if he was OK, but he quickly got up, so I kept going. When this singletrack finally ended, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that most of the course would now be gravel. I was wrong. It seemed as if within minutes we were back on a singletrack on the Nebo Ridge Trail through the Hoosier National Forest. There were deep muddy ruts, and my tires were too slick to have any kind of traction. I kept slipping and sliding. This singletrack seemed never ending. I didn’t have enough traction to get up the steep ascents, so I had to haul my bike up the hills. I was getting exhausted. At one point I crashed on a descent and went down hard. I got back up only to crash again not even 50 feet later. I was covered in mud. I saw a man stopped at the trail crossing and I asked if he was OK. He said that he had been sick and he had twins at home, so he was finished. He said he had done the race last year, so he was fine with calling it off. I told him he had made a good choice, and to go home and hug his babies.
At this point, Marc asked if I had a map because he wanted to find a shortcut out. We had been on the course almost 3 hours and had gone only 23 miles. Marc said it was useless because we weren’t going to make the 7 hour cutoff at this pace. He wanted to quit. I told him no, because I was sure the singletrack was almost over and we could fly the rest of the race and make good time. Every time he wanted to quit I kept telling him we could make it. Then it started to rain, and rain, and rain, and rain…
The rain was cold. I was soaked and shivering, but I didn’t want to stop to put on my raincoat. I finally had no choice. I couldn’t get it zipped up, and Marc put chain lube on the wet zipper. My glasses also kept getting covered in mud and I couldn’t see, so I would take them off, then I ended up getting sand and mud in my contacts. It was a terrible dance. Glasses on, and I couldn’t see, glasses off, and mud in the eyes. Sometime mid race, I saw another girl on a MTB pass me. I now calculated I was in 3rd place.
About 30 miles into the race, a young girl on a MTB passed me. I knew I was in 4th place, so I struggled to pass her. We passed each other a few times, before she passed me and I didn’t see her again. I was really deflated them, because I knew any chance of a podium spot was gone. About 5 miles later, I saw the girl at the side of the road with her boyfriend/husband. He was hurting and he was doing leg stretches. They got back on the road, and she was soon beside me on a long, steady climb. She said it was her first MTB race and that she didn’t know how she was going to finish because she couldn’t shift. I told her to stop at the next SAG stop and pour water on her chain and derailleur because it was caked with mud. The next SAG stop was at the top of the hill and we both stopped. I filled my Camelbak and I think she got some water to clean her bike. The woman at the SAG stop said there were lots of flats and the record that day was a guy with 5 flats. He had 2 tubes with him and had borrowed 3.
At this SAG stop, there were two signs and I was confused which way to go. There was a man standing in the road, and I asked him which way. He asked how far we were going. I told him all the way, and he directed us to the left. This was the 38 mile mark, and if someone wanted to bail out they could go to the right. When we went left, this was a loop that would bring us back to the SAG stop and then towards the finish. When we finished the loop, I saw the super muscular girl at the beginning of the loop. She was talking to the man in the road, and I wondered if she was going to take the short route or try to finish.
Somewhere around mile 40, I got a cramp in my left quadricep that made me scream out in pain. I had never experienced this before in a race, and I was worried I couldn’t finish. I yelled at Marc and asked what I should do, and he said “Keep pedaling!” Soon, the cramps began alternating between my left and right quadricep, my left hamsting, and my left calf. It got to the point that I couldn’t pedal up even the slightest incline. I was also shivering from being wet and cold and not being able to move fast enough to get warm. Marc gave me his bottle of Skratch Labs hydration mix, and a caffeine energy gel. The rest of the race was a blur of painful cramps, and getting off and on the bike to try and ride it out. I realized that I had made a terrible mistake of putting only water in my Camelbak instead of a hydration mix. The electrolyte imbalance, along with the cold, had put me in a terrible place. At mile 50 or so, I saw that we were less than an hour from the cutoff time and I told Marc we needed to stop. I told him there was no way we were going to make the cutoff time and he yelled “You can’t know that! Keep moving!” By then, the gravel roads had turned into rolling hills that made it easier to try to get up enough speed to make it to the top of the next hill. I rode as fast as I could on the descents in an attempt to get up the next hill. On one extremely steep descent, I hit a pothole that I saw too late because my glasses were completely covered in mud. I yelled “NO!” as I hit it because I knew I was going down. Miraculously, I sailed over this pothole.
By this time, the pain in my legs had become almost unbearable. Marc yelled “The finish is right ahead! Move faster!” I looked down at my Garmin and saw that we were 2 minutes from the cutoff time to finish the race. I thought we could make it, but then I saw a bridge ahead that was barricaded. We had to stop and haul our bikes over the barricade. Marc yelled “Go! Hand me your bike!” I handed him my bike and I could barely raise my leg to get across the barricade. I cried out in pain and I limped to the other side of the bridge, and over the next barricade, where Marc handed me my bike. I looked at my Garmin. We were hundreds of feet from the finish line with less than a minute. We raced towards the finish, which was a creek crossing. I rode into the water and almost made it to the other side before crashing into the creek. I got up and ran my bike up the creek bank across the finish line. We were just over 1 minute over the cutoff time. Marc asked if we had made it, and Brian Holzhausen, the race director, said not to worry. We had finished!
I was completely covered in mud, and even my lips were coated with mud. We went to the cabin, and got together our things to go shower. After I showered, I headed into the park pavilion where food was being served. By this point, there were only a handful of people eating. I thought I had finished 3rd, but I couldn’t find results posted anywhere. I didn’t know where Marc, James, and Jeff were, so I sat in the pavilion and drank Power Aid and ate. I then heard the announcer saying there were women’s awards that had not yet been given out. The men’s award ceremony had been long before. He then announced the women’s CX results, and then the women’s MTB results. I had gotten 3rd place! It was funny, because most of the women had just picked up their awards and left before the ceremony. There were only three of us left, the women’s 2nd place MTB, me, and the women’s 2nd place CX. The three of us happily posed for a picture. Shortly thereafter, James, Jeff, and Marc came to the paviolion where I learned that James got 3rd place in the men’s MTB class!
Immediately after the race, I vowed I’d never do it again. But as I sit here thinking, I’d say that this was an extremely fun course through beautiful countryside that became a sufferfest because of the weather. So I would definitely do it again, but I think next year I will wait for the weather report and pay the extra $10 to register the day of the race!
