SBT GRVL 2023 Thread

Who’s going in the lottery? The two of us are registering as a group for the Red course. If we don’t get in, we might just try to volunteer since we booked our 2023 lodging when we checked-out in August.

Lottery registration opens this week:

12/1–12/5: Random Selection open

12/9: Riders who are & are not selected for SBT GRVL 2023 will be notified

Seems pricing has gone up for most of the courses. I’ll get to tell my future grand kids how I once rode the green course for $75 back in the day :melting_face:

https://www.sbtgrvl.com/registration-deferrals

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I really like the course and event. Have done it twice, but at $250 for the black course, that’s a hard no. The blue course was like $125 when I did it in 2019 and the black course for 2021 was 200-ish?

There are so many up and coming gravel races across the rockies/nebraska/kansas that are half that price and offer great things. $175 for the Green/37 mile course? Oh lord.

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BRUTAL.

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And my other half said no way are we paying for $$$ lodging “just” to volunteer… I guess it is a different world now :woman_shrugging:t2:

I did the Blue last year and it was a beautiful course and good support, etc. But other than the short stretch on private land you can ride that beautiful course any time you want for free. By the time you add in lodging, which gets more expensive for SBT GRVL week, it becomes an expensive week. I’m sure they will have more applicants than spots available so great for them but I’m starting to look more and more at smaller more grass-roots rides that offer a similar experience for much less.

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This is a stunning amount to pay to ride for ~3 hours, but kudos to them I guess if they can get people to pay it.

I did SBT last year as well and found it to be one of the better run events I’ve been to - tons of great aid stations, super fun expo, Steamboat is awesome, etc - but I also am not inclined to attend again this year. For me it’s a bit late in the summer and I think I’d rather just go to Steamboat at any point of the summer and ride for fun.

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I was one of the three people to win the Strava challenge lottery so I’m registered for Black (again). I joked about doing Leadboat but was skeptical about having to win entry via two lotteries.

Last year was easily one of my best weeks on the bike and I’m looking forward to going back.

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Leadville is Aug 12 this year, SBT GRVL is Aug 20th. Probably means no Leadboat this year.

Leadboat is just the run plus SBT Black this year??

I don’t know. I haven’t looked into it. I just assumed there would be no leadboat given the bike races are on different weekends.

I was one of the first people to answer the post race survey they sent out so have a guaranteed entry but as has been mentioned it’s a lot of money to commit to a race

I’ll likely ride this again. The fee is $250, compared to $290 for Unbound. And you get 3x more aid stations with SBT!!

Lottery Registration is open!

We realized that the shift to the race being a week later this year puts it in conflict with the start of my kid’s school year. I still have a few days to try to figure stuff out, but I think we’re going to have pass this year :sob:

Got roped into entering the lottery with a couple of buddies…one of them crashed last year and rode 80 miles with a separated shoulder. He needs redemption….and honestly, after a lackluster result last year, I could use a bit of it myself.

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I’m riding again this year. It’s more pleasant when it doesn’t rain :laughing:

Well done to your buddy for not pulling the rip cord. That’s a long way to ride with a separate shoulder.

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Yeah, it was a true hard man’s ride. When he crossed the line he was visibly very emotional….the camera crews came running up to him when he was with us and we had to ask them to give him some space so we could take him to the medics.

He had dropped of our pace and we had no idea he later went down. He could have stopped at any number of different points (my daughters were out there on course) or even just done the Blue route to get done faster, but he gutted it out. Super impressive.

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Went in last minute after getting the kiddo’s school situation handled. (Grandma is getting an extra nice Christmas present this year!)

Hoping to head back for a PB on the Red course, my faster half recruited a neighbor to be co-miserable with him all day on the Blue course.

These kinds of people just blow me away. I am not made of the same kind of stuff.

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Definitely…I woulda bailed at the first opportunity.

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Looks like lottery notifications have started to roll out, per SBT’s IG. Good luck to everyone, except the senders of every non-SBT-related email this afternoon.

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