Very Big Gravel Week

 Just finished an incredible week of gravel riding in and around the Custer South Dakota area. As I mentioned in my last post, I met up with a group of Colorado gravel riders. I kind of crashed their party. They have been riding together for many years doing a Thursday night gravel pot luck ride. And this was their get away week trip to South Dakota to ride different roads. They contacted a local guy named Lucas of BlackHillsGravel.com to design some routes for their trip. He went above and beyond to make some of the best possible routes. All around 50 miles or so with spectacular views, and a very minimal amount of paved roads. He even included several out and back cut offs to see special places, all extra climbs but very rewarding. 

Some of the rides started from Custer and others started in Hill City or along the Mickelson Trail. Every morning I would meet the group at the designated parking spot for a 8am start. You had to make sure you had proper clothing for a big temperature change this time of year. We left the parking lot at 50 degrees and as soon as we went down in the valley next to the river the temperature dropped to the mid 30s. But of course as we started climbing and the sun got higher we could peal layers for a beautiful 70 degree day. 

The group was very good at looking after one and other, making sure everyone was on course, very conscious of possible mechanicals or flats and stopping for snacks or nature breaks. Of course there were multiple picture stops each day. No one was in a rush to get back. The difference in pace of climbing some of the longer hills did make for some waiting. But it was normally just a few minutes. As the ride got to the back half of the course groups did form and did roll on to the finish. 

I am writing this as kind of a combined post since it would be very difficult for me to separate the different days. I rode Wednesday- Saturday with the group and Sunday with just Chris and I. It was a total of 251 miles for me in 5 days of gravel riding and I went for a 52 mile road ride by myself on Friday. (More on that later)

I want to thank everyone for allowing me to crash their party and giving me an awesome week riding with people again. 

Here are a bunch of highlights from the week.