Sure, there is a debate / discussion there worth having….but, IMO, a pretty clear dividing line is if you can’t get a trail bike through, it isn’t suitable for a bike race.
But we are in full agreement re: their response to Sofia….and the not-so-subtle subtweeting is pathetic and immature.
Was much worse after a thousand people or so went through there and tore up the drier top layer.
“These are hard events. They are challenging, and the last thing we’re going to do is change a course to make them easier because someone doesn’t want ride through some mud, you know?”
What a douche. Ride promoters change courses all the time.
His wife runs marketing for the race and hosts a gravel podcast for women.
His response, and her reply to it, is super disappointing.
I was under the impression that the re-route wasn’t going to change the distance, just dispense with the death march, but then what do I know. I’m not the race director who gleefully asked how many first timers and how many people were racing the sun before saying “if this section is really bad we may route around it.”
“Everybody’s got a brilliant idea on how to do our jobs better than we do. But I think that the race speaks for itself,” he said
Well, apparently they are infallible and no one else could have a valid counterpoint.
"I don’t want to sound cavalier
Too late….and yeah, based on all your comments, I think you, in fact, do want to sound cavalier, Kimo.
And according to another post, they said the night before they would change it day of if needed. So they’re playing both sides of the audience.
They could have routed around the mud like last year. They chose not to. Mud can be good or bad how ever you view it, but its a bike race. Not a 8km hike a bike and then a race. If I wanted to walk I would do a duathlon.
Yes. How much damage & cost was incurred by participants this year from the conditions?? All the travel, registration, training, etc & then to have your race cut short bc of mud or mechanical. No thanks.
100% true as I was talking on Friday with the guys who brought this up at the Friday meeting.
He is free to put on any type of race he wants, but given his attitude I won’t be back again.
My respect for Sofia only grows. I wonder how they’re going to portray her this year in the Grand Prix recap after this 
The passive aggressive responses from the folks affiliated with the event are incredibly cringe and lame, but what do I know. I didn’t invent riding on gravel like they did.
More “spirit of gravel” drama that Ted King was alluding to on Instagram. Apparently the lead XLers agreed to take the first resupply stop together and then one of them bolted ahead of the group without waiting. Silly. I totally agree with him that the dynamic of people “racing” through these gas stations with little or no respect for the staff is completely unacceptable and at least in part a fault of the organizers. For the $300 entry fee they could pretty easily solve this with a more functional neutral water stop while still keeping the spirit of the event imo.
Moreover, they knew, based on previous years, that it would happen…
So why didn’t the organizers, at a minimum, prep the staff at the stores about what was likely to happen? That a bunch of self-absorbed cyclists were gonna blow into their stores, grab a bunch of stuff and just throw money at the whomever was manning the register and run out the door?
And honestly, that behavior is just so incredibly boorish. It is a 350 mile race…are you really gonna make the difference in an early gas station stop?
Show the people working there some common decency and respect…get your goods, pay for it like a normal person and leave.
This isn’t a “spirit of gravel” thing, this is basic respect towards people working and trying to do their jobs.
Sounds like absolutely disgusting behavior. Tossing money on the counter at the clerk and rushing out. smh Imagine the impression that the clerk has of cyclists now. Then he/she will tell their family/friends how entitled cyclists are
I’m okay with some sections of hike a bike if they’re short-ish and can’t easily be re-routed and just unknown/unexpected. That was not the case here.
Kimo’s arrogance in his statements is pretty astounding
The store was also full of mud from people’s shoes and the outside was a disaster zone as there didn’t seem to actually be any garbage cans (or they were all full) for everyone’s piles of plastic water bottles.
It’s be nice if lifetime have some level of assistance to those gas stations or they may decide it’s not worth being open for the race
If only it were a big enough event that Lifetime could afford to organize it properly so it’s a win/win for both riders, the local community and businesses.
I raced the 200. I had hopes of “beating the sun” and felt like I had the fitness to do so.
For some reason, I wasn’t that annoyed by the first mud section as I was doing it, but in retrospect, it was very disappointing that they left that in the course. Fortunately, it wasn’t hot yet. I wish I would have tried to at least jog this section and pass other people walking. It also makes me wish I pushed for the front earlier in the race. I think this added ~1 hour to my time.
I found a rhythm after the mud and rode with groups here and there. It started getting really hot though, and by the first aid station, I was burning up. The 3 feet cycling sag crew was great.
I was definitely fading as the warm weather continued. The rain and clouds were actually a lifesaver because they allowed me to cool off. Though for some reason I did not wear gloves, so the water mixed with gritty dirt turned to sandpaper on my palms. This made holding certain positions on the bars really difficult due to sheer pain. If I ever do this again, I will wear gloves and pack fresh gloves in each of my drop bags. I’m also thinking of putting wolftooth fat paw XL grips on my drops for additional dampening; we’ll see if that works. Maybe I can tape over them too.
My Wahoo died without warning at 190 mi. I should have checked the battery level sooner, but also they give alerts for every other accessory having low battery. Why don’t they alert that the unit itself has low battery?
I packed a headlight, which I thought I would only use in a worst-case scenario. Turns out this was the worst-case scenario.
Finished 16:48. I’m proud that I finished despite the adversity, but still feel like I could have done better. Was shooting for 14-15 h.
So I’m left in this weird spot where I don’t want to support the decisions and subsequent behavior of the race staff described in this thread, but I also want to prove to myself that I can do better. So I have a feeling I’ll be back.
P.S. I ran Tufo Thundero 44s with rimpact inserts f/r at 35/38 f/r (215 lbs). No flats, although after the race I noticed there were some deep cuts in the rear. These tires are fast and comfortable. My only mechanicals (if you don’t count my rear wheel seizing with mud) were dropped chains and my bar tape unraveling when it got wet. I was surprised that I used zero tire plugs that entire race. I thought hard about running 1x but kept my 2x. I think if I did it again I would run 1x.