I raced the Fuego XC on sunday…was windy and misty and in the mid 50’s. The climb back up to Laguna Seca on Lookout Ridge had a good 25 mph headwind. It ended up being 28.8 miles and 3888 ft of climbing…ended up 16th in 50-59 out of 110+ guys.
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I couldnt imagine some of that single track on a gravel bike…the braking bumps were herendous. It was bad on a FS XC bike.
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Can imagine that single track on gravel bike now… 
First time for me, caught off guard by the nature of the route. Especially the first descent was quite a rude awakening. After that it was cat-and-mouse with mountain bikers around us: slower on the descents and faster on flats and climbs. And tipping over twice when getting stuck on a steep climb behind MTB in lower gear. But overall still really great experience.
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45mm Ramblers with CushCores 29psi/rear 26psi/front, Redshift stem & dropper was as close as I was getting my Gravel bike to MTB. I think the 31-46 final ratio helped too, but that’s a frankenstien mod that I removed right after I washed my bike.
Since I’m a) local-ish and b) interested in having the gravel race at sea otter be more gravel, I’m going to work with the race director on a more gravel friendly course. Granted there will still be some of the signature single track sections, but the stuff with three down arrows. Yeah those gotta go.
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Yes, those three down arrows… First thought that meant a 3-wide lane, later on the course it triggered the ‘oh shit’ response 
. Now that I understand the route it would be cool to do it again, but the description on the site might need some tweaking: combines forest service roads and smooth trails
Also a bunch of ultra washed out bumpy AF downhill sections that are right before a sharp turn that you need to brake hard for despite there also being a huge hole right where you need to start braking if you have any hope of making the turn without triggering Fight, Flight or Freeze response. 
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