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Farmer’s Daughter Gravel Grinder – 8.15.21
After almost 2 years, the Farmer’s Daughter Gravel Grinder, the premier gravel event for Upstate, NY was finally happening! Jordan was supposed to ride with me but decided he wasn’t ready (he had knee surgery in March) so my friend Aubrey took his place. The two of us set a goal to finish the entire 65 miles. Each of the previous times I’ve ridden this I’ve bailed after 40 miles. But not this time, we were committed! Canceled in 2020 for obvious reasons, the 2021 event was postponed from May to August. This would give me ample time to prepare for the long distance and intimidating elevation. It also helped…
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ACL Recovery – 1 Year Post Op Update
Well, it has officially been over a year since my ACL surgery! There really isn’t anything new to report, however, one thing I did finally conquer was the box jump at the gym last month. This thing had been my nemesis after injuring my knee. Before my injury, I had no issues doing them. It may seem silly, but it was important to me to be able to do box jumps again. One day, at the beginning of my workout, I decided to just go for it, and completed 3 x 10 24 inch box jumps! I was thrilled! The key was starting at the beginning of my workout so…
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Training for the Farmer’s Fatty Gravel Ride
Last spring, Jordan and I rode the Farmer’s Daughter Gravel Grinder. We cut the ride short at ~40 miles since we hadn’t really trained for such a long ride. See my video below for a recap of the ride! On March 17, we’re riding the Farmer’s Fatty, a 25-mile gravel ride that consists of some of the routes as the Farmer’s Daughter. The ride is designed to be a fun, early season tune-up ride for those riding the Farmer’s Daughter in May. I set up my gravel bike on a trainer on the basement and have been following the four-week Zwift Fondo training plan in preparation for the Farmer’s Fatty.…
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Riding the Farmer’s Daughter Gravel Grinder
Riding a Gravel Grinder has been on my bucket list. Gravel grinders are challenging endurance bike events that are typically ridden on gravel or dirt roads. The best bikes for these events are gravel bikes, cyclocross bikes or even hardtail mountain bikes. Jordan and I both recently got gravel bikes, mainly because we wanted a bike to ride a gravel grinder! The Farmer’s Daughter starts at Crellin Park in Chatham, about a 30 min drive from Albany. There were no race bibs or timing chips, this was just a large group ride, with some serious riders! A total of 65 miles, the Farmer’s Daughter course rides along the hills of Chatham…