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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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The Berkshire Backroads Gravel Grinder (B2G2) – 4.24.21
My first official gravel grinder of 2021 is in the books! On Saturday, I rode the Berkshire Backroads Gravel Grinder in West Stockbridge, MA! A 38-mile ride with lots of vert was the perfect opportunity to test out my “new” bike setup. The weather was also ahhhh-mazing. We had the most perfect day for a ride! The ride was scheduled to start at noon, however, they offered an early 10:30am start to slower riders (yes, please!) I met my friends Margaret and Jeff there, and off we went. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous before this ride. BikeReg stated there’d be over 3500 ft of climbing, which I haven’t…
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Riding the ADK Ididaride Gravel Course – 11.7.20
Last weekend my friend Aubrey and I got out on the gravel bikes. The weather was looking amazing, so we decided to ride the ADK Ididaride Gravel Course. The Ididaride is a bike event that takes place in North Creek (In the Adirondacks) every summer. I was planning on participating in the event this past July but it got canceled (along with everything else) due to Covid. The past few years they added on two gravel options, a 22 mile and a 30 mile route. We arrived at the North Creek Ski Bowl area around 10 am on Saturday. The temps were already in the 60s, which is pretty uncommon…
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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…