News / Articles

Two years ago I wrote about my Steamboat Gravel race. It was my first time there, and a last minute decision to race while on a solo road trip from Georgia to California. They offer several distances, and I had decided on the 105 mile blue course (truthfully I was coerced into the blue course by a friend) which would be the longest distance on gravel for me at that point. Needless to say, it was a long tough day. But I loved the course and the town was so much fun. I knew as soon as I crossed the finish line I would be going back.

I threw my name into the lottery for 2023 and got in! So did fellow Sorella teammate and friend Kathleen Quinn. Hooray! (Kathleen has her own story about this race, and her months leading up to it, that I hope she writes about. It’s a great one!) This time I decided I wanted to do the Black course, the longest one at 142 miles with over 9,000 feet of climbing. It’s the iconic distance, the one all the pros do. How hard could another 40 miles and 3,000 feet be??? Plus, for 2 years I’ve had this crazy goal in my head - to cross the finish line and have them hand me the black trucker hat. The finish line swag is a really cool trucker hat, and the color of the hat correlates to the course you rode. So I have the blue hat from 2 years ago, which I love. But I really really really wanted the black hat.

Kathleen and I met up in Steamboat the Friday before the race. We had an airbnb near the ski resort area, very close to everything. As we were getting settled in Kathleen brought up the subject of beet juice. It’s supposed to help your body with oxygen and since we were at high altitude, I figured it couldn’t hurt so we stocked up on all things beet! We had beet juice, specialty beet drinks, Kathleen had beet candy (who knew?) and I even ordered a salad with beets. I was taking this beet thing very serious!

The race expo was a lot of fun. It’s held downtown and during the weekly farmers market. We walked up and down the streets and visited all the vendors. We ran into Lauren De Crescenzo and chatted for a few minutes which was really cool. We also crossed paths with Pete Stetina during our shakeout ride. He was flying down Cow Creek going the other direction with what I assume were other pro racers.

Race day was an early wake up. The black course started at 6:30. We were a short drive from the start and the nice thing is you can literally show up minutes before the start. I rolled up and found a spot in the middle of the pack and a few minutes later we were on our way!

My goal was just to finish. I remembered from the last time I was there how difficult the altitude and breathing felt. So I planned to just spin easy the entire day. Not burn any matches, just enjoy the day and fabulous gravel that Steamboat offers. Things were going great up through 93 miles. That’s the point where the blue course (100 miles this year) and the black course split. If I was feeling bad I had the option to turn off, and many people did. But I wasn’t feeling bad, I was feeling great. And remember, I wanted that black hat, turning off was not an option. So I kept going.

The added distance for the black course is an out and back with a big loop on the far side. Kind of like an odd shaped lolly pop. And it’s mostly climbing for the first half, with an aid station near the top before the loop starts. This is where it started getting challenging, and when that “feeling great” faded, and boy did it fade fast! Most of the climb is not steep, but it’s never ending. And for whatever reason, the gravel was mostly washboard body shaking stuff with some thick sandy sections that made it very uncomfortable. There’s also no tree cover and with full on sun it had heated up. It felt so hot, later I saw my watch had recorded over 100 degrees.

I won’t bore you with the details, but that additional 42 miles was not a lot of fun. I made it to the aid station and started asking questions. How bad is this loop thing? Is there shade? Are there steep sections? I didn’t want to know but I wanted to know. All the volunteers and racers around me were so great. They loaded me up with cold sports drink, convinced me to have some coca cola (oh my lord that was the best thing ever!) and sent me on my way promising to see me again on the return.

Another 25 miles and almost 2.5 hours later I did indeed see them again. But not before I had to brush off a very nice race support guy. Towards the last section back to the aid station, there is a steep paved section. I rode as far as I could but had to get off my bike and walk. A truck pulled up alongside me and the guy asked if I was ok, did I need a ride back? I said no, but I must not have been convincing because he didn’t leave. He kept rolling alongside me and asked me again. I stopped, turned to him, smiled, and said “No thank you, I am getting that damn black hat!” Back at the aid station they had run out of sports drink. But they had ice and coca cola, and one of the volunteers offered me their special hibiscus tea saying it probably had electrolytes. At least from here there would be a lot of downhill.

On the very last climb of the day I noticed someone up ahead waving. I squinted and couldn’t figure out if they were waving at me or someone else. Imagine my surprise when I recognized the Sorella kit, it was Kathleen!!! She had started much later than me, and our paths crossed on the final climb! We got to the top where Chamois Butt’r had an amazing stop, with bacon, bourbon, cookies, and cold drinks. There were 2 women there that were so nice and encouraging. Kathleen and I did a bacon toast before heading off to finish what we had started.

Twelve hours and twenty-two minutes after I started the race I crossed the finish line. It was another long tough day in Steamboat. But, it was also another great day on gravel no matter how challenging it was. I rolled up to the tent where all the hats were and proudly collected my black trucker hat - mission accomplished!