Grindurista

There’s a special place in my heart for small mountain towns out west. I don’t know if it’s from training out through these dusty quiet hamlets from a previous lifetime or the straight shootin’ locals, but there’s a feeling of being on a 1849 two-wheeled gold rush when I head up to Quincy, CA.

If I’m going to make the trip all the way across the country from Vermont to the high Sierras, I’m going to prioritize a keen focus on my equipment being entirely dialed and being darn sure I’m having a good time from arrival to departure.

My Grinduro issued Topstone Carbon was set to stoke-level 11. I had it built up a mullet drivetrain, SRAM Red eTap up front paired with AXS Eagle in the rear for an enormous gear range over 60 incredibly varied miles of topography. I’ve been toying around back home with new 650b Zipp carbon hoops and Rene Herse 48c tire. Measuring north of 2 inches inflated, this bike is a party on two wheels. The glistening Ted Burgundy Grinduro purple looks especially sweet with shimmers of carbon fiber shining depending on the angle and sunlight.

Having won last year I came to town with high hopes for a repeat. The brutally honest truth is that despite being a gravel race, a hardtail mountain bike — like my FSi in 2018 — is key to a race winning formula since minutes are gained or lost on the final 4.5 mile downhill single track section. But with this particular rig I was confident I’d put up a good fight.

All said and done, I had a great 3.8 out of 4 sectors. My only bump in the road of an otherwise silky pedal was a particularly sharp rock resulting in a slow leak flat on stage 2. I regretfully had to pull over and gas it up with a quick CO2 blast. I was back rolling maybe 20 seconds later and it sealed up this time around. I got back rolling with a magnificent sprint back to max speed. The other 0.1 less opportune moment was when another flat about 600m from the line caused me to ride the rim slowly and cautiously to the finish line. All said and done maybe a minute was lost on stage two.

But that’s where priority number two comes to play. Regardless of the results, it’s always time to have fun. Catching up with friends from our time living in California is always an enormous highlight. The cycling world is so tight knit that a month away or year is like no time at all. A slow roll back to the finish after what was the most gnarly conditions I’ve ever experienced in my four Grinduros — hail, rain, sleet, fog, and even some sun — is when the party at HQ really kicks into gear late into the night.