“Gravel grinders” are defined as gravel road races and rides that combine riding on surfaces such as asphalt, gravel, dirt, some singletrack trails and maintenance or B roads. The courses vary from hard-packed dirt to softball-sized rocks. The distance usually ranges between 50 and 150 miles, but can be even longer. But if you ask the people involved you will get a very different answer. You will get their stories of epic rides out on the untamed Iowa gravel roads, the dog that chased them, the mile marker where they thought their race was over due to fatigue, the flat tire that was fixed, or that one view along the route that made it all worth it, but louder than any of those things you will hear the fun that was had that day.
XgravelGanza is Eastern Iowa’s premiere gravel race, a test of rider’s intestinal fortitude at 120 miles and 70 miles with the 120 mile course having well over 5000 ft of climbing. This year marks the third year running for the event, and a permanent move to McCausland Ia for the start and finish. We were able to work two start times for the distances which ended up being a great move; we started the 120 riders two hours prior to the 70 milers and everyone seemed pretty happy about that – organizers included!
The racers were off at 7:00 am and 9:00 am, with everyone feeling good and ready for the day. Both of the races follow the same course up to mile 24, there we were happy to have Moon and his trusty companion Frieda handing out good vibes, water, fruit, and other refreshments! We had the 120 mile group go through mile 24 at roughly 1:40:00 and all in good spirits. The 70 mile group rolled through mile 24 a little quicker at 1:30:00 and very much spread out. Moon and I saw every last rider through the checkpoint and waved them on their way, then headed back to the start/finish to set things up there for everyone’s arrival.
Back at the park at the start/finish we got the grill fired up and waited for the first rider to cross the line. Finally after 4 hours 17 minutes we caught a glimpse of the first soul to finish, here are there times:
120 Mile Course
- Jeff Barnes: 8:37:00
- Todd Gillihan: 8:37:01
- Nick Perrow: 9:13:00
- Andrew Brimeyer: 9:33:00
- Bruce Nelson: 9:45:00
70 mile course
- Joe Behan: 4:17:00
- Bruce Grell: 4:17:05
- John Harrington: 4:28:00
- Mike Giudici: 5:19:00
- Mike Pagniano: 5:34:00
- Lee Marbach: 5:44:00
- Tony Burnett: 5:58:00
- Fiona Arrizza: 6:20:00
- Steve Quiring: 6:20:01
- Eric Schaapveld: 7:43:00
- Tom Erps: 4:13:00*
- Brian Moore
We would first like to thank everyone that came out to race, you make the event worth having and we appreciate your support. I would also like to personally thank Moon V for stepping up and helping out considerably, thanks Moon. Thank you Butch and Bill in McCausland for all of the behind the scenes support, and our sponsors Healthy Habits Bicycles and Nutrition, Coffee Hound, Great River Brewery, and Quality Bicycle Products.
See everyone next year, tell your friends!