I finally have a bike race scheduled for the year, which will hopefully motivate me to get on the bike trainer more! I’m looking forward to hitting some gravel on April 25 at the low-key Dickie’s Scramble event. The 75 mile gravel ride starts and finishes at JJ Tailgators Bar & Grill in Elgin, MN. The event will include:

I have a couple of options that are ready to go and we are looking at 68-80 miles of river valleys, climbs and rocky ‘B’ roads.

and

Throughout this ride you are responsible for yourself. No one is going to come get you. Ride safely and within your limits. Bring anything you think you will need. Do not assume what will be around the next corner. Cars, trucks, ATVs, cattle, and dogs (and even a pet pig) all share these roads. Follow the law, don’t pee in someone’s yard etc.,

There is a checkpoint at the halfway point. It is potluck style.

and who doesn’t want to finish a 75 mile ride with a sprint?

If you want to finish the course faster than your friend that will be determined by the Elgin town sign sprint.

A lot went into finding a ride for this year. Last year Almanzo was kind of picked for us and a group rode it. But they cancelled the race this year and then the city decided they wanted to keep it going this year. We had all counted it out and the timing doesn’t work for at least one guy, so we kept looking.

I did a decent amount of research, found some cool websites and some fun sounding events! April isn’t necessarily ideal for a ride, the pictures from last year’s event include snow on the road side. But really it makes it harder to get out for long rides on the road during training. So I was surprised at how many there were in MN in April!!

One resource that lists a lot of non-pavement rides around the country is Riding Gravel. MN Bike Trail Navigator has quite a list of events for the year on their blog. It was written in October, so it may be a little out of date, but it has a long list for the whole year and includes all styles of rides.

One ride that looks super awesome is the Mammoth Gravel Classic. It was so awesome looking, that I can’t actually ride it, well no one without a mountain bike can ride it. See:

The course will not be marked, so we suggest using GPS navigation. There are hungry bears in this area, and we will not have a course sweep – so you must take care of yourself out there. This multi-surface course will be roughly 50% gravel roads, 25% double track firelane, and less than 25% pavement. We absolutely recommend only riding a bike with mountain bike width tires on this course due to many very soft sand pits. DO NOT bring your Cyclo-Cross bike or any other skinny tired bike. The narrowest tire recommended is 40mm.

It does sound like a lot of fun. I would love to take my cyclocross bike over there are try some of of the firelane! But that is also probably where the sand pits are… maybe I could rent or borrow a bike. And the Gandy Dancer Bike Trail sounds like a nice place to ride as well. Maybe this summer!

Do you have any early season rides planned?