Oh no doubt. Like butter.
When people can race gravel on 32c tires is it considered gravel?
Barry is a great race. I dislike the merging of over weight 5mph cyclists wearing ear buds with the im racing for 30th after 63 mile riders. It makes no sense and sent people crashing which i find the event at fault for.
Christ is every single road in MI unpaved and straight ?
I think something like 80% of the roads in Michigan are gravel. I don’t know where I heard that, but it feels true.
I thought it was a relatively chill event. I wasn’t at the front but top 30% and could have been a lot better if my group of twenty had more than me and one other guy willing to work at the front. A bit annoying everyone wanted to just be towed along.
The course was surprisingly easy compared to other gravel that I have done. Minimal big climbs (I didn’t even use my lowest four gears) and pretty smooth roads with just a bit of small stone. Very gentle gravel, at least compared to what I usually race in south east Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.
This thread has kinda been dormant, but can anyone tell how much training I’d need to race the Watermoo? It’s 112 miles, about 4000 feet of climbing.
I can do a 50-mile flat road ride in 5 hours right now. How much would I need to train to finish mid-pack at Watermoo in 2022? (Finish a 112-mile gravel ride in 7 hours)
Anirudh,
This is very hard to say but if you have luck on your side and “okay” technical skill I would say its a safe estimate to say 30% longer than your road times.
If you have poor luck with mechanicals and not the best technical skill the number will increase.
I generally find that I am going between 10-20% slower on gravel rides than road rides around Ann Arbor. That strongly depends on route, road conditions, and such. And if I remember correctly Watermoo has a river/creek crossing and some relatively tech sections so I would think you would need to be able to ride 110mi in at least 6:15 on the road to do Watermoo in 7.
Though I consider myself a decent technical rider and sometimes faster riders see less of a drop in time because the speed can help to ‘float’ over rough sections while the slower you are going the more bogged down you can get. So that 20% could quickly become 30+% slower if you find yourself out of your element on dirt.
The 100 mile race was pretty spot on 50% race 50% fun. Everyone was really supportive, lots of talking to each other, trying to work together when gaps opened, calling out things to each other. After things strung out and I merged with 60 mile racers vibe completely changed. I missed a couple groups, then think I was on with lead women and some dudes who didn’t make the early selections. None seemed happy I was there at all - wasn’t expecting the change in demeanor with the chatting and camaraderie I had with all the 100 mile folks. i ended up getting dropped when one guy complained with my positioning and when I tried to move I almost got taken out by the dude in front who came to a crawl on a small climb. Same kind of vibe with a few more groups that came through and I rode with for a bit each time.
6:15 on the road is 18-19 mph average. I do 14 mph average at best, so there’s a lot of FTP increase needed to get to under-7.5 hours gravel 100-miler.
There’s a huge difference between riding solo and riding in a bunch - on road or gravel. Before you give up hope, I would suggest trying some shorter organized rides where you can see what kind of average you can manage in a group.
Not sure where you are exactly, but It just so happens our club has a gravel ride this weekend - its in SE Michigan and its raising money for a good cause. You could go with the B group on the 40 miler - I’m sure you’d find people to ride with.
Good luck!
My Domane tops out at 32 mm, so I’m not sure those tires will be sufficient for the Exhale Ride.
Edit: I tried that ride a couple of years ago, and it was a tad too bumpy on my 32-mm Panaracer Gravel King SK tires.
I had the same experience as MI-XC. I had a great time this year and didn’t feel a bad vibe all day. In fact I ended up with a mechanical that had me basically sitting on the side of the main 36/62 route for an hour plus. The majority of people passing by were asking if I was okay or needed help. It was nothing but love.
It’s a bummer you may have had a less than ideal experience by your standards, but I think your statistics are flip flopped in the completely wrong direction. Don’t let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.
Yeah, well 112 mi in 7.5 hours is ~15mph. So not a huge jump from where you are now. But as someone else mentioned the skill of being in a group, getting an effective draft and contributing to the work will easily bring your speed up 1-2 mph. It’s a bit tougher on gravel with potholes, washboards, and loose surfaces but it still helps a lot. I would definitely not only keep training and upping your fitness but doing some group rides on both road and gravel to practice those group riding skills.
As a real world example, I just did the 62 miler of Barry Roubaix and was in the 3rd group on the road (essentially a bunch of Cat 2s and 3s) and we averaged 22.2 mph. And that was with some attacks and lulls and a bit of game playing so we certainly could have gone faster if the goal was the fastest finish time. By myself I maybe could have scratched 20mph
I think part of the discrepancy is what different people’s definition of a ‘fun race’ is. For some people that’s cruising along with a group of friends, chatting, taking beer hand ups, stopping at aid stations, and just having a nice day. For others it’s to go out, rip each other’s legs off, go as fast as possible and then laugh about how hard it was afterward. So I’ve always though of it less as 50% fun race and 50% fun but rather that these events can have anything for anyone. If you want to race for the win you can and if you want to enjoy the beautiful day with friends you can do that too.
I didn’t find this to be the case. I was standing in the front 25% and we were talking and joking and making some light hearted comments about people who tried to hop over the barriers to start closer to the front and other things.
But in the end, if you call it a race and have a $5k prize purse with podiums and trophies then people are going to take it seriously.
I’m currently not able to maintain 15 mph for 7.5 hours. Back and neck problems mean that I’ll be focusing on strength and core work over the winter rather than do base training for next season.
Stiff back and neck make my ride more punishing than it needs to be. Cycling hasn’t been fun with these persistent problems. (No surgery has been recommended, just sticking with resistance training and deep tissue massage)
Hey even if you dont end up doing Watermoo next year, check out the other gravel ride events in Washtenaw county. These rides are less of a race than Watermoo, but you will find a wide variety of people participating at many different speeds / seriousness. Entry is free - its basically an organized group ride. They are also good training for Watermoo. There are typically 50k, 100k, and 100-mi route options.
Pleasant Lake Ride
Winnewana
Blom
Cone Azalia
Sorry, I just assumed you had a gravel bike (as you were talking about preparing for a gravel race). I haven’t ridden it, but I would think the 67% unpaved Watermoo roads are pretty similar to the roads on the Exhale ride. Maybe you need another bike 
Domane is just fine as a gravel bike in Michigan in my opinion. I ride mine with 35c Gravelkings on all the rides I mentioned above, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it on Watermoo.
The older domane should fit 35c just fine. Mine is a 2017. I think the newer ones will fit 38c. This is all for disc brake of course.
