A funny thing happened on the way back from the bike races. But we will get to that later.

Up first is one of the best bike events we have ever experienced. So good that the plan is already in place to rent a big house next year and do the entire week of festivities that lead up to the race. The second one was 150 miles of legitimate suffering. Everyone who entered it was tested; it made me push so deep that my biggest catalyst to finish was the reassurance I never have to go back and do it again.

What makes one ride/race/event/outing so much better than another? How do you quantify and qualify such things? This is the epitome of subjective because each person is allowed to have their own perspective and prerogative. Some like it hard, some like it steep, some like it filled with straight angles, while I like the meandering curves. Flat and easy is also possible, as is any other iteration that can be brought to bear on a cyclist. For some, it’s about the people more than the route, but others believe just as strongly the other way. When all of your favorite factors come together, it’s absolute magic.

The races last week took place in Steamboat Springs and Lincoln, Nebraska. Steamboat might be the ideal location to ride a gravel bike- its got everything from a great town to rolling countryside to back of beyond roads with swooping curves and expansive vistas. Lincoln has angry people, dead straight roads, relentless hills and two monotonous crops (corn and soy beans) that line both sides of every road, like so much suburban sprawl.

SBT GRVL is on the list of events for 2024 perhaps because the race went so badly for me. Poor planning tactics leading up to the race meant that I loaded my bike up with water from the beginning with the intention of riding straight through the 100 miles. I went too hard with too heavy of a bike from the start, blew up, and had a very hard time recovering and ingesting all the water and food I carried — the last 50 miles of the race were a cramp fest. Lesson learned: it’s either fast and light, or slow and heavy.

Lincoln was supposed to be hot, so hot that I rode 3 hours in the heat of Denver (99) and again in Kansas (108) to prepare for it. But the lightning and thunder woke me at 2:00a.m. and the rain at the 6:00a.m. start line was so heavy that it was hard to see the ground once we started riding (lights and all). But my tactical plan worked to perfection! I rode strongly all day, even through the cussing of local farmers and awful conditions that made every racer want to quit.

All of life is a lesson to be learned. But, as the guy said at the start of Gravel Worlds said, “You don’t get to experience anything unless you buy the ticket.”

Up next in October are the Sugars, Little and Big, both in Bentonville, Arkansas. Tickets purchased and ready to be punched. Who’s in?

Cheers.