BikeOhio1000

It is promoted as “Ohio’s Toughest Gravel Race.”  Got my vote.

The Funk Bottoms Gravel Grinder; for me, hands down, the single toughest day I have experienced on a bike.  My training going in wasn’t great, but I had really worked on hills when I could.  Coming off the Barry Roubaix, same distance (62 vs 67 miles) and about 3,000 ft of climbing in 4 ½ hours. I knew that the elevation for the FBG was 6-7,000 ft. and I had an internal goal of sub 6 hrs.  The hills and some hydration issues kicked my butt. Not ashamed to admit that on 3 occasion I had to dismount on an ascent.

The FBG is an unsupported (support is against the rules) ride. One water stop at mile 21 and a natural spring around mile 38 that I missed. There was a little general store around mile 35 in Nashville, but I opted out, that was a mistake.  Totally out of water with nearly 20 miles to go, lead to some calf and hamstring cramping.

With that being said, had a great time. There were many challenges with the changes in both surfaces and elevation. They say “fatigue makes cowards of us all” , well that is wrong. Fatigue generally leads to higher risk taking, like balls-to-the-wall descents on some very sketchy surfaces.  When you expend so much energy on climbs, no one wants to scrub speed off on the downhill, even though there were many blind corners, etc.

Coming into the race, one of my concerns was navigation. No one likes to make a wrong turn in the middle of no where and ride extra miles.  The course used the nautical red for left (port) and green for right (starboard) signs along with some paint on the road.  All worked very well. Nice job!!

The bike-n-hike at mile 8 was a trip. I am not a mountain biker, but I think even that set up would be hard pressed to navigate the bike-n-hike quagmire. Both fun and interesting, it was an 8/10 mile uphill walk-carry your bike thru a mud section.

Here a pic of the course profile.

The last few miles were the most creative.  Gravel to single and double track trails. Carrying your bike over a short, ratty old bridge, traversing a creek about 30 feet in knee deep water, and then a cruise thru a wet sandy rock quarry.

Very classy finish as many riders that had completed the course an hour or more before me were there to cheer on other finishers.

If you are into creative course designs with hills and true gravel racing, you need to check out the FBG.

If you have time, take a hike in Mohican State park or check out some of the local Shawshank filming locations.

 

Happy Trails  –  Bike Ohio 1000