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 done in a long time. Sure, I’ve been training for the Farmer’s Daughter with some hill training thrown in, but nothing this serious. (Speaking of the Farmer’s Daughter, I just found out that it has been postponed until August! So much for my training!)

We took a wrong turn in the beginning, but once we figured out which direction to go, we were all good. The first off-road section was on a dirt rail-trail of sorts with some muddy spots thrown in. Nothing too terrible. It was fun to ride!

There were lots of gravel roads with minimal road sections.

Some of the gravel was loose and chunky (see below), which made descending a little frightening in some spots.

The views were spectacular. It makes all of that climbing worth it!

Due to the wrong turn in the beginning, we rode a total of 40.8 miles with 3,858 ft of elevation! Yikes. It was one of the hardest rides I’ve done.

B2G2 was a fun, challenging, well-organized ride. The course was great with the perfect mix of gravel roads, minimal pavement, and even some off-road trails. Also, there was a nice aid-station at mile 23. I’ll definitely be returning to ride this again next year!